Learning to Fly by April Henry

Author:April Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: oregon, april henry, claire montrose
Publisher: April Henry

Chapter Twenty-five

Friday, October 20, 1:40 p.m.

The taxi hadn’t even come to a complete stop before Craig was flinging open the door. Within seconds, he had grabbed a wheelchair from just inside the hospital entrance, helped Free into it, and thrown a bill through the cab driver’s window. Moving so fast that he banged one wheel into the still-opening automatic door, Craig pushed Free into the emergency room. The half-dozen people waiting straightened up to get a better look at her.

A woman wearing a white blouse with a blue bow tie looked up from the desk. “Craig! What brings you in here?”

“Laurel, this lady’s is 23 weeks pregnant. She passed out about ten minutes ago, may have hit her belly on a mailbox when she went down, and now may be in labor. You need to get her back STAT.”

“Okay,” Laurel said, already halfway around the desk. “Let’s see what’s up.”

A few minutes later, Free found herself in a tiny curtained cubicle, her dress pushed up above her waist, her feet in stirrups, and a gloved hand examining her. It was deja vu all over again, except this time there was no drape and she had an audience. In addition to the doctor who was examining her, there was a nurse, two men in green scrubs, and Craig, who was explaining to the older doctor exactly what had happened. The others all watched intently, as if the doctor might suddenly perform magic and pull a rabbit out of a hat or a baby out of her belly.

Free was too worried to be embarrassed at the number of people now viewing her most intimate areas. She panted as she again felt her belly harden, forcing her words between exhalations. “Maybe you should contact my doctor, Peggy Davenport. She said I should page her if I went into labor.”

The other doctor nodded without speaking. He had silver hair and looked like he was old enough to have retired ten years ago. He slipped his stethoscope into his ears and laid the flat silver disk on the skin of her abdomen, listening intently. The people behind him were quiet, although from another curtained cubicle Free could hear the sound of a confused old man querulously asking for his shoes.

The baby was still within Free’s belly. There was something wrong with it. She had hurt it when she fell, it was dying, it was already dead. Free’s thoughts chased each other, each one worse than the last. The doctor looked at his watch.

“One-hundred fifty-nine beats a minute. I think its probably sleeping.” He ran his hands over her belly, his eyes intent. She winced when he came to her left hip, and he pressed lightly on the spot again. “You’re already developing a hematoma here.”

“What?” Free’s anxiety returned.

“A bruise. And a nasty one, by the looks of it. Other than that, I see no signs of trauma.”

“Am I in labor?”

“No.”

Even though his answer was curt and without further explanation, Free found herself taking the first deep breath she had since witnessing the accident.

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