Promises to Keep

by Promises To Keep (lit) (NCP)

  "You needn’t," Sarah said. "It could be several hours."

  Garran shrugged. "I’ve nothing better to do."

  Maxxa rubbed a hand over his face, probably trying to erase the exhaustion that showed. "Yeah, me neither."

  Shaking her head, Sarah left them and followed the doctor into the clinic. As they passed inside, Sarah was struck by how attractive and modern the ship’s medical center was. Only in her last year of school had she seen anything to match it, when she’d been allowed a brief visit to a hospital for the upper crust of Earth’s government. At the top of her class, she’d toyed with taking the residency they’d offered until she’d discovered how rare she’d be called upon to act as an obstetrician. Not even the rich were having babies on Earth.

  She’d taken her only other offer because at least at the city hospital she’d been able to ply her trade rather than discuss body-toning surgery for an indolent class of men and women.

  Better a hospital with worn-out furnishings and archaic equipment than that.

  Now she walked through rooms with top-of-the-line equipment to deliver the baby of a lowly comm-officer. In spite of the emergency, Sarah felt elated at the prospect.

  Turning a corner, they arrived at the room being used as a birthing room.

  First of all, there were too many people in the room, Sarah decided. In addition to Meridan, the young woman whose distended belly rippled under a contraction just as Sarah entered, there was a disheveled young man with panic in his eyes, three nurses, one for each of the young mother-to-be’s hands, the third gazing frantically at the sensor display, as if struggling to comprehend what they were telling her.

  Sarah took one glance at the screens and understood their story at once, the tale filling her with dismay. If her guess was right, she’d have a tricky procedure to perform, difficult without the right equipment.

  "I don’t suppose you have a portable holo-viewer," she asked Jeffrey.

  To her amazement he nodded. "Of course." He gestured to one of the handholding nurses, and sent her scrambling for it.

  Hope rising, Sarah took over the room. After one more fortifying gulp of her javi, she abandoned it to approach Meridan and take her hand. "I’m Doctor Johnson and I’m going to make sure you and your baby are going to be just fine. Let’s get the lights lowered, and flatten you out. You," she pointed to the man. "Are you her husband?"

  "Yara...yes, I’m him." He swallowed nervously. "That is, yes, I’m Yara, Meridan’s husband."

  "Wonderful." Sarah spoke soothingly. "I want you to sit with your wife. Next time she has a contraction, I want you to focus her breathing through it, like this." She demonstrated and Yara picked up on the joint breathing exercise in the moment.

  By now the lighting had been dimmed, and additional pillows added to the narrow bed to cushion the laboring mother. Looking far more relaxed, Meridan managed a smile as her husband kissed her hand.

  The holo-viewer arrived and Sarah positioned the half-cylindrical reader over Meridan and flipped it on. Pleased, she noted how fast it fired up, and watched the crisp blue-green images form in the space above. The internal structure of the mother’s womb and position of the baby were crystal clear.

  This wasn’t just as good as anything she’d dealt with on Earth. It was a far improvement.

  Another contraction began and she watched the images displayed above the viewer as the muscular wall of the womb rippled. At Meridan’s head, her husband began breathing with her, slow and even, encouraging her to match him. On the display above them the sensors spiked, then lowered as Meridan relaxed into the slow breathing pattern.

  Jeffrey and the nurses stared. "Just the breathing does that?"

  Sarah spared him a glance. She spoke quietly as to not disturb the young couple. "It’s an ancient technique. I read about it in some very old twentieth-century journals on natural childbirth. Focusing on breathing relaxes the mind, removes the anxiety and the body relaxes as well. Better than drugs, better than neural blockers which can interfere with the child’s health."

  In the holographic image above viewer the baby moved and the umbilical cord twisted. "Here," She pointed, "That’s the problem. The cord is in the wrong place and becomes compressed with each contraction."

  "What do we do?" Jeffrey asked.

  "Back in the old days, they’d cut the mother open and remove the child that way." Sarah shuddered at that primitive technique. "What we can do now is move the cord out of the way, using a small tractor-probe."

  "You’ve done that before?"

  "Many times...but this will make it so much easier." Sarah pointed in gratitude at the holo-viewer. "With this I can see what I’m doing rather than make guesses."

  One of the nurses provided a tractor-probe, a miniature version of the tractor-beam generator used to bring The Dove’s escape pods onto The Promise. Like the viewer, the probe was beautifully designed, better than anything she’d used before.

  With surgical precision Sarah used the narrow beam to shift the cord from the bottom edge of the womb, and with the next contraction the sensors measuring the baby’s stress level spiked only a normal amount.

  She and Jeffrey exchanged smiles and after the next several contractions showed the same result, she turned off the holo-viewer and moved it to the side to allow Medidan more freedom of movement. With the cord moved to safety, and the mother relaxed, the birth could proceed normally.

  Jeffrey nodded at the viewer as she slid her hands appreciatively over the sleek casing. "I guess you’re used to working with equipment like that."

  Sarah laughed bitterly. "Not in the least. Usually I’d have to move a patient to intensive care to get access to one. If I couldn’t do that I’d have to do that procedure blind, trusting the sensors on the child to tell me when it was out of the way...or I resorted to surgery to save a mother and child when there wasn’t time for anything else. I even lost a child once.…"

  Her voice trailed off and tears filled her eyes at the memory of that one failure in her career, her helplessness holding the tiny blue-lipped baby who’d died before entering the world.

  She gave the machine a pat. "I’d have given anything for one of these back on Earth. This is a beauty, as well. I’ve never seen one like it."

  "You wouldn’t find many on Earth. It’s Gaian-made and we hold the patents. One of our best engineers came up with it and the design for the probe you used."

  "Well, I’m very grateful to the inventor, whoever he is."

  He tilted his head and amusement lit his warm brown eyes. "You could tell him when you leave. He’s out in the waiting room."

  Sarah stared at him. "Garran? He built these?" She shook her head. "I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, he said he was an engineer."

  "One of our best. Great with his hands. He’s a multitalented man as I’m sure you’re finding out."

  Multitalented. She winced. Well he’d certainly known what to do with his hands this morning before she’d stopped him and they’d fallen into a fight.

  She glanced over at the doctor. "Jeffrey, could you tell me what a ‘quezzle’ is?"

  * * * *

  Garran paced the small waiting area. Occasionally he’d sit and turn on the media screen, search for some kind of entertainment, something to engage his mind. When nothing did, he turned off the screen and went back to pacing.

  Maxxa had taken over the couch nearest the medical center doorway, and from the soft snoring had resumed his nap.

  Garran watched him enviously before deciding that the man had the right idea. Giving in to the hour and his lack of sleep, Garran stretched out on the couch.

  That’s where Jeffrey found him two hours later. Groggy, Garran rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, making room for the doctor on the couch. "How are things going?"

  "Wonderful, thanks to your wife." Jeffrey smiled. "She knew exactly what the problem was and got it fixed."

  "You’re done with her then?" Garran couldn’t keep the impatience out of his voice
. He wanted to get back her back to his quarters.

  "She doesn’t seem eager to leave. She told Meridan and Yara that she’d deliver their baby, and right now that’s what she’s doing." Jeffrey stared at his folded hands. "Doesn’t that seem odd to you, that a newly wedded wife would rather deliver a baby than be in bed with her husband?"

  Garran growled. "She’s probably just being conscientious. She took over the delivery, so now she feels like she needs to finish it."

  "Oh, I’m sure that was part of it. Still...I don’t think you were asleep when I called. I definitely got the feeling I was interrupting something and not something I’d hope would be happening on a wedding night."

  Garran felt a heated flush take over his face. "Are you taking up marriage counseling, Doctor?"

  "If needed. You might remember I have some experience with being wed to an Earth woman. What was going on?" he asked bluntly.

  Garran frowned, but couldn’t argue the point. It might even be a good idea to get a fresh perspective. Bethan and Symon already loved his wife and would likely take her side. Maybe Jeffrey would be more objective.

  "We were fighting when you called. I was just about to hit her..."

  "Hit her!" Jeffrey broke in, scandalized.

  "With a pillow!" Garran finished angrily. "Don’t interrupt. Besides she’d just thrown it at me!"

  "Why would she do that? I know she’s feisty."

  Garran sighed. Everyone knew about her slapping him on their first meeting. It was going to be recorded as the most significant slap in Gaian history if he and Sarah ever managed to make their marriage work. The slap heard round the universe.

  "I called her something...not something I should have."

  Jeffrey’s lips twitched. "Not a quezzle."

  He groaned again. "I suppose she asked you what it was?"

  "I just told her it was descended from the Earth cat. I didn’t tell her it mated for life like we do."

  And like Sarah would, Garran realized. She was closer to being a Gaian woman than he’d realized. She was even still innocent in a way he’d never expected an Earth woman to be.

  "I assume she mentioned she was still a virgin?"

  Garran stared at Jeffrey, fury seizing him. "And you would know.…"

  "Because I’m a doctor, Garran. I’ve seen her records just like I saw everyone else’s. It was rather unusual. Did she have an explanation?"

  "One that made no sense. She doesn’t like being touched...but then she has dreams of a man making love to her."

  Jeffries brow crinkled in concern. "Attachment dreams?"

  "Like them. A dark haired man with big hands and no face."

  "Hmm." Jeffrey’s gaze fell on Garran’s hands, sprawled across the top of his thighs. "Big hands.... Very interesting. I wish you’d let my wife in on this... She’d have some idea as to what it means."

  Garran shook his head. "She can’t be brought in until I know Sarah will stay on Gaia. We can’t let the quezzle out of the bag yet."

  "I suppose but I’m already in trouble with her over last night’s dinner. We can’t hide her forever."

  "Just a couple of days. That’s all I need."

  Jeffrey stood. "I better get back inside and see how things are going. The sooner that baby gets born, the sooner you can start courting again. And this time stick to courting, no name calling or pillow fights...unless it’s in fun!"

  * * * *

  Sarah lifted the squalling, squirming, red-faced bundle of fury and displayed it to its tired but ecstatic parents. "It’s a boy!" she caroled.

  She laid the baby on his mother’s stomach and had the father snip the cord that had been so troublesome as the mother played with her son’s perfect tiny fingers.

  Sarah watched the new family with a mixture of happiness and longing, her usual emotions on delivering a healthy child, something she’d hoped would have ended on coming into space with the NLC.

  She’d even hoped that the next time she’d performed this role she might even be expecting a child of her own.

  Instead she was still a virgin.

  Sarah sighed and tried not to remember how close she’d come tonight at losing that undesirable status. If she hadn’t stopped him, Garran would’ve made love to her. She’d taken the precautionary contraceptive tablet before entering the marriage meet, so she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant, but at least she’d known what it was everyone else raved about.

  It might have been worth it. Her body still tingled at the mere thought of Garran touching her. Not even her dream lover had been as good with his hands.

  Of course, how could a dream be as good as the real thing?

  Her job finished, Sarah took a last look around the medical bay, at the efficient and well-designed space, the gleaming equipment. She’d never operated in this quality of environment before, and she found she liked it.

  It was wonderful to have monitors that worked consistently, probes you could rely on. And that holo-viewer!

  A troubling thought threaded through her. This was Garran’s world, his medical bay, on his ship. If this was representative of what she’d find on Gaia, and she had no reason to believe it wasn’t, she’d never work in a substandard hospital again.

  If she stayed with him, she could work like this at all times. She’d never lose a patient due to broken or absent equipment. She’d never hold another dead child she could’ve saved but for some government official’s credit-hoarding.

  And it wasn’t just the work environment, there was more. Garran wanted her, wanted to give her children, and unlike any man she’d known before, his touch fed her desire instead of repressing it. She might never again meet a man whose touch she craved.

  For a moment she envisioned herself in Meridan’s place, with Garran’s arm supporting her back as she stroked their firstborn’s face. It was appealing, that vision.

  All she had to do was say yes. That was all. Tell Garran she’d stay his wife and she’d have it all.

  She’d have a medical environment she could be proud of and practice quality medicine in.

  She’d have Symon and Bethan as family. Good friends like Jeffrey and the others at the party last night. She’d eat well, drink well, live well, in comfort. Garran owned a home along Crescent Lake. She could live in beautiful surroundings all her life.

  She would have children, beautiful children fathered by an attractive man of exceptional intelligence.

  So very tempting. A man she desired, a man she could respect if only for his achievements. A family with him.

  All that would be missing was love.

  Her euphoria from the successful birth dissipating, Sarah rose to leave. Mouthing her congratulations to Meridan and Yara she left them in loving contemplation of their son’s perfect fingers and toes, Jeffrey and one of the nurses in attendance.

  On her way through the still quiet medical center Sarah found a food service panel and ordered a fresh mug of javi. Sipping the rich brew, she sat on a convenient stool. She needed a few moments before finding her husband, time to consider the ramifications of what she was considering.

  The benefits.

  And the consequences.

  She could have everything she ever wanted--more than everything. Her wildest dreams of the future had never been imaginative enough to anticipate what she’d found on The Promise.

  If she stayed with Garran she’d lack for nothing--except love. Garran claimed to love her now, but she doubted it would last if she could never return his feelings. While she might desire him, respect him, and possibly even like him, deep in her heart she knew she could never love him.

  How could she love a man when for five years she’d done nothing but hate him? If she didn’t love him wouldn’t his love fade away? If she couldn’t love him, could she live with him anyway? Maybe.

  Would it be fair to either of them, a loveless marriage? Probably not.

  But life was so seldom fair.

  All he’d asked for was a chance to prove what a good life the
y could have and she’d already agreed to give him that chance. She could learn to tolerate him as a husband. The way her body tingled she could learn to enjoy sex with him. If it wasn’t love, it would still make a child.

  Wouldn’t that be enough?

  Uncertain of the answer, Sarah finished her cup and put it into the panel’s sanitizer.

  It was time to find Garran. Sarah continued down the hall to where she’d entered the medical center, then stopped short and suppressed a laugh.

  Well, that wasn’t hard. She found him asleep on the couch in the waiting area, his faithful bodyguard, Maxxa, snoring near the door.

  She paused, considering him. He seemed younger, the stress gone from his face, dark hair covering his neck and cheek. She resisted the urge to push it back, knowing it would wake him, wanting a moment more to examine him.

  He really was very handsome, her husband. Dressed in a loose fitting blue shirt and brown pants he could have been any Gaian, not the stern-faced General. When she’d first seen him on The Promise he’d worn black, but she hadn’t seen the color on him since.

  Was he trying to change his image? Perhaps. The light blue complemented his hair and complexion, which she could see was far too pale. He’d probably spent a lot of time on his ship and little time in the sun.

  Something else that would change. He wanted to return to his home on Gaia and he wanted her to come with him.

  Would that be enough to remain his wife?

  Troubled by questions she had no answers for, Sarah reached out to gently shake him awake. His eyes opened and gaze fell on her and a smile teased around his lips.

  "Good morning, Sarah mine. What was it?"

  What was.… "Oh, the baby! It was a boy."

  "Congratulations. Jeffrey told me you did a wonderful job." He stretched and yawned, his shirt riding up to show the dark line of hair leading into his waistband. The sight caused a small thrill in Sarah’s core. When he stood and reached to stroke her cheek, his admiring smile warmed her clear through.