by Desiree Hart
"I talked to my boss about Danny," he told me while we were eating. "He said he's going to call him in for an interview."
"Good," I said, wiping pizza sauce from Meadow's chin. "I hope he gets the job. Then he can stay here."
"That would be nice," Mischa agreed.
After we finished eating, we let Sage stay and play the games for awhile and then went back home, where we watched a movie and then went to bed.
I was awakened at about two in the morning by Meadow's screaming. I checked on her and found that she was burning up with fever. I gave her some liquid Tylenol and rocked her but still couldn't get her to settle down. We were both awake until the wee hours of the morning. I was awakened by Mischa's gently shaking my shoulder.
"Oh! I need to call the doctor," I mumbled. I called Dr. Tanner's office, and the nurse asked me if I could bring Meadow in at ten. "Sure," I said.
"I'll take her," Mischa offered. "You've been up all night with her. Stay here and rest."
"Thank you" I replied, creeping to my bed and falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Sage and I were just finishing breakfast when they returned.
"What did the doctor say?" I asked anxiously.
"She has another ear infection." Mischa sighed. "He said he's going to have to operate and put tubes in her ears. The surgery's scheduled for two weeks from now."
"Oh, no!" I groaned.
"It'll be all right." He came to me and embraced me and stroked my hair.
"Thanks," I said. "I feel better now."
A few days later, I was going in to work when I saw Danny working as a security guard in the parking lot. "I'm so glad you were able to get on here," I told him.
"Yeah, me too." He grinned. "I just started today. Hey, tell Mischa I said thanks for talking to his boss for me. I wouldn't have got the job if it weren't for him."
"I will," I promised. "Adam's gonna be happy, too."
The emergency room was slow that day, until about five minutes before I was supposed to get off, when a young woman who'd fallen off her bicycle and broken her arm came in, accompanied by Chris.
"Hi, Chris," I said with a forced smile, thinking about Lisa and wondering how she'd take this. "How have you been?"
"Great!" he said. "I'm glad Lisa and I decided to take a break. All that pressure was really getting to me, you know what I mean? I just met Natalie here last weekend. So far she's been a lot of fun."
I finished with Natalie and left for the day, wondering what I'd say to Lisa the next time I talked with her. I got home a little bit later than I'd expected to. Mischa had already prepared and served dinner, and he and the kids were just finishing up.
"I'm sorry I'm a little late," I told him. "A patient came in with a broken arm and I had to take care of that before I could come home."
"No problem," he replied. "Things like that happen."
"Danny's working there as a security guard now," I continued. "He told me to tell you thanks for helping him get the job."
"That's great!" said Mischa.
As I was eating, I couldn't get the incident with Chris and Natalie out of my mind. "You seem awfully quiet," Mischa remarked.
"It's just that...the girl I was telling you about who broke her arm? Her name's Natalie, and Chris came in with her. They've been seeing each other."
"Is that so?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I don't know what I'm gonna say next time I talk to Lisa."
"Well, they did decide to date other people, remember?"
"I know, but still..."
Mischa shrugged. "I guess she'll just have to get over it."
I sighed. "Maybe the thing between Chris and Natalie is just a temporary fling. I hope so, anyway."
A part of me dreaded hearing from Lisa again, but as it turned out, she called that very night.
✽✽✽
"Hey, girl! How are you?" Lisa asked when I answered the telephone.
"I'm all right," I replied. "How are you?"
"Great! I just met the coolest guy!" she exclaimed. "His name's Aaron, and I met him at the gym. We had apricot smoothies together at the bar yesterday and got to talking together. Turns out we have an incredible amount in common. He's taking me out to dinner tomorrow evening. I'm so excited!"
"Boy, you sure got over Chris fast." I felt both relieved and disappointed. Now I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to tell her about Chris and Natalie, since she'd found someone else herself. On the other hand, now chances of Chris and Lisa getting back together seemed bleaker than ever.
"Well, maybe Chris and I just weren't meant to be," she replied. "If so, better to find out now rather than after getting married."
"Just be careful and don't rush into anything," I cautioned her. "You know you're still on the rebound from Chris, and you just met this Aaron."
"Of course I will be," she said airily. "How are Mischa and the kids?"
"They're fine! Mischa just re-connected with some friends he hadn't seen in a long time, and the kids have a new puppy named Simba. Meadow also has to have tubes put in her ears in a couple of weeks, so I'm kind of worried about that."
"Well, I don't have any kids myself so I can't really say I know how you feel, of course, but I hope everything goes well for her."
"Thanks." We chatted for a few more minutes and then said good-bye.
"Well, it turns out Lisa's met someone new too," I told Mischa when I got off the telephone.
"That's good," he replied.
"I was kind of hoping she and Chris would make up," I said.
"Well, perhaps it just wasn't meant to be."
"Maybe not." I sighed. "I'm just glad we're still together and that things are going so well."
"Forever and always." He embraced and kissed me. "I'll always be so grateful you gave me a second chance."
As the date for Meadow's operation drew nearer and nearer, I got more and more nervous about it. The night before we were to take her to the hospital, I paced back and forth anxiously in the bedroom.
"She's just so young to have to go through this," I fretted.
"She'll be fine." Mischa hugged me from behind. "This time tomorrow, it'll all be over with and we won't have to worry about it anymore."
In his arms that night, I finally drifted off to a troubled sleep. We got Meadow up early the following morning. Sage had spent the night at my parents' and was still there.
"Want toast!" Meadow demanded.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," I told her. "But you can't have anything to eat before your operation."
Meadow began to scream angrily. "Sh, sh." Mischa held her and bounced her and sang to her in Russian. Fascinated, she stopped crying and just looked at him. As he pointed to various parts of her body, she giggled.
"What song was that?" I asked him when he was finished.
"It's called 'Mouth, Nose, Ears, and Eyes," he told me. We walked out to the car, he fastened her into her car seat, and we were off.
We arrived at the hospital, signed in, and waited to be called. Meadow dozed in her stroller as I nervously looked around the waiting room. There were a couple with a little boy of about six, and elderly couple, and a young man in about his early twenties who seemed to be alone. The little boy wandered over to us and stood staring at Meadow.
"My name's Justin," he told us. "What's hers?" He pointed to Meadow, and I told him her name.
"I'm getting my tonsils out," he said.
"Meadow's having tubes put in her ears," I told him.
"Justin!" called his mother, and he hurried back to his parents.
"Cute kid," Mischa remarked.
After awhile an attendant came with a gurney to take Meadow back. I lifted her from her stroller and held her tightly, reluctant to let her go. Finally I laid her on the gurney. "I love you, sweetie," I told her as I kissed her forehead. I watched her blonde curls until they disappeared behind a set of double doors.
I felt
Mischa's arms around me, holding me tight, and rested my head on his shoulder. "It's going to be all right," he said softly.
While waiting, I picked up one magazine after another but failed to find an article that held my interest. Mischa read a book in Russian that he'd brought along. "What is it?" I asked him.
"Anna Karenina," he told me.
After what seemed like a very long time, a nurse came to talk to us. "The operation went well," she told us. "We're going to keep her here for observation for a couple of hours, and if everything continues to go well, you can take her home today."
She led us to the recovery room, where Meadow lay fast asleep in a crib. To me she'd never looked so tiny. I walked to her side and just stood there stroking her hair and watching her chest move gently up and down. Mischa stood beside me and took her small hand into his own.
It was perhaps thirty minutes or so later when her eyes fluttered open. "Juice," she said weakly. I took her into my arms and held her sippy cup to her lips. She took a few sips and then drifted back to sleep.
It was around lunchtime when they let us take her home. We stopped at my parents' to pick Sage up on the way. Mischa carried a sleeping Meadow into the house.
"Oh, sweetie!" Mom cried, patting my daughter's back. "Did everything go all right?" she asked me.
"Everything went fine," I told her.
"Thank goodness!" she exclaimed.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Sage cried as he ran toward us.
I put a finger to my lips. "Meadow had an operation this morning, so she doesn't feel very well," I told him. "You're gonna have to be a good boy and keep quiet so she can rest."
"OK, Mommy."
When we got home, Mischa put Meadow in her crib and then kept Sage busy with drawing and coloring and, when he got tired of that, watching a video. I watched Meadow closely to make sure that she was comfortable and didn't seem to be suffering any complications. They'd told me to call right away if there was any bleeding or swelling. She woke up at dinner time and ate a few bites but, other than that, slept for almost the entire day.
"Boy, long day," Mischa yawned as he joined me in bed that night.
"I'm sure glad it's over," I agreed. I snuggled into his arms, and we were both fast asleep soon.
✽✽✽
Fortunately, Meadow recovered from her operation quickly and was fine within several days. Spring break arrived, and Sage was out of school for a week. On our days off, Mischa and I tried to keep him busy with trips to the park, the zoo, and movies. On Friday I bought baskets full of candy for the kids and a couple dozen eggs to dye different colors for an Easter egg hunt. I spent most of Saturday evening boiling and dying them and sitting them in holders to dry.
"Looks like we're going to be eating eggs for awhile," Mischa remarked as he strolled into the kitchen. I swatted his behind, and he hugged me and kissed my cheek.
That night before going to bed, I found a large basket to put all the eggs into and put it in the refrigerator. Early the next morning, Mischa got out of bed in his slippers and went to hide all the eggs in the back yard. He was already back in bed and asleep by the time I got up myself.
"Sage! Meadow!" I called, going into the kids' rooms. "Time to go see what the Easter bunny brought you!"
Both kids scrambled out of bed excitedly. I made sure they were both wearing shoes before they went outside.
Sage began looking for eggs right away. Meadow was still too young to really understand, so I had to direct her on what to do. "Why don't you check underneath that leaf, Meadow? Look, there's one!"
Within moments both the kids' baskets were full of eggs. "I bet I found more than her," Sage said as he walked over to us.
"That doesn't matter," I said shortly. We were headed back to the house when Mischa walked out, already dressed and grinning.
"Daddy!" Sage said excitedly, running toward him. "Look what the Easter bunny brought me!" He was swinging the basket so wildly that a couple of eggs fell out.
"Careful, don't lose them all!" Mischa laughed as he went to fetch the eggs my son had dropped.
"Daddy! Eggs!" Meadow crowed as she toddled up to Mischa.
"So I see!" Mischa scooped her up and kissed her cheek.
We went back inside, where I hurriedly fixed breakfast for us and made the kids eat, as I knew that there would be absolutely zero chance of their eating a bite of breakfast once I gave them their Easter baskets. I was just clearing up from breakfast when Mischa walked in with a big grin, carrying both baskets.
Sage grabbed excitedly for the one containing the race car, and Mischa handed the one with the doll inside to Meadow, who squealed with joy when she saw it.
Within almost no time, both kids were smeared with chocolate from head to toe. "What a mess!" I laughed. Mischa got his camera and took pictures.
Later we went to my parents' for lunch. Mom had cooked a ham and made potato salad and green beans and biscuits, and there was coconut cake for dessert. Adam was there with a girl I'd never seen before. "This is Jill," he said proudly.
Jill had dark blonde hair and big blue eyes. Adam introduced everyone to her and and she smiled and said hello.
"So how did you meet my brother?" I asked her.
"In the supermarket," she told me. "Adam helped me find the Tahini. Then we got to talking and he asked me out."
"Cool!" I said.
"Adam told me how you and Mischa first met each other," Jill continued. "I thought it was so romantic how you finally got back together after being apart for so many years."
"And we'll never be apart again." Mischa slipped his arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"I haven't met too many people around here yet," said Jill. "Mom, Andy and I just moved here a few weeks ago, after her divorce."
"Who's Andy?" I asked.
"My younger brother. He's sixteen."
"So where's your Dad?" I asked.
"My stepfather still lives in the same place. I have no idea about my real Dad. I've never met him. He and my Mom had an affair when she was a dancer in Las Vegas. He left a long time before I was born, and my Mom married John. He's Andy's father. I do have a picture of my real father, though. My Mom gave it to me a few years ago."
She took a photograph from her purse and showed it to me. I gasped, shocked. It was Lisa's father.
Jill frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said quickly. "It's just that...your Dad looks familiar, somehow."
Nothing else was said on the subject for the rest of the visit, but the subject came up immediately as Mischa and I were on our way home. "All right," Mischa began with a mischievous smile. "Who is he?"
"He's Lisa's father!" I exclaimed. "My brother's dating Lisa's half sister!"
"What?" Now it was Mischa's turn to be shocked.
"It had to have happened right after her parents got divorced," I continued. "That was when her father went to Las Vegas."
"And she never knew her father had another daughter?"
"Not as far as I know."
"She's certainly in for a surprise," Mischa said softly.
"I don't think I should be the one to tell her," I told my husband.
"No, you shouldn't," he agreed. "But she does have the right to know, I suppose."
"Of course she does. What we should do is to get the two of them together and let them find out on their own. Have you ever seen the movie 'The Parent Trap'?"
"Nope."
"It's about these two girls who are really identical twins, but they have no idea until they end up at summer camp together."
"Well, it's not exactly the same situation, is it?"
"No, but there has to be some way to get them together. Maybe we could throw a party and invite them both."
"We've never thrown a party together before," Mischa said. "That might be fun."
I knew I wouldn't make the mistake of putting up an announcement on the bulletin board in the emplo
yee lounge at the hospital again. I definitely didn't want Debbie to show up at our party.
✽✽✽
As it turned out, the plan to bring Lisa and Jill together ended up being postponed indefinitely, as there was just too much going on in our lives at the time. One day in early May, Mischa came home with a big grin on his face. He picked me up and spun me around, then kissed my lips. "Guess what!"
"What?"
"I've been accepted to the police force! I start in two weeks."
"That's great!" I was really happy for him. Although I knew I'd miss being able to have lunch with him at the hospital, I also knew that he'd wanted to be a policeman for a long time and that this was a dream come true for him.
"How about if I take us all out to celebrate?" he suggested.
"But I've already cooked dinner," I said.
"No problem! I'll take us all out for ice cream afterwards."
After dinner he took us to Dairy Queen. I got a chocolate sundae for Sage and a strawberry one for Meadow. Mischa and I both had banana splits.
"I can't wait to see you in your uniform," I told him. "I've always thought cops were very sexy."
He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose.
"Now you can arrest bad guys, Daddy!" Sage exclaimed.
"That's right!" Mischa ruffled his hair.
A couple of weeks later, I got a rude surprise when Dr. Brown asked me to assist with an obstetrical complication. "It's a woman with a placental abruption," he told me. "If I don't perform an emergency C-section right away, she could bleed to death."
My heart was in my throat as I followed him to surgery. I knew that placental abruption meant that the placenta had separated from the uterine wall prematurely, resulting in severe bleeding.
When I got there, I saw that the patient was already lying on the operating table, white as a sheet. She was bleeding profusely from between her legs, and several towels were already drenched with her blood. But what absolutely floored me was my first glimpse at her face. She was Tina!
There was no time to recover from that shock, as I had to jump right in with assisting Dr. Brown. I helped him prep for surgery, then watched as he made the first incision into Tina's abdomen. I'd assisted with many C-sections before so was accustomed to the sight of blood, yet my heart beat faster with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Would the baby look like Mischa? How could I bear it if it did?