by Cara Malone
She put Mercedes’ hand on her stomach and sure enough, she could feel the baby moving beneath her palm. Mercedes grinned and Lily gave her a quick peck on the cheek just as the door opened.
“Hey, sis!” Jewel said, pushing the screen door open for them. “Come on in. You’re just in time – Michael’s just about to pull the burgers off the grill. And you must be Lily.”
“Lily, meet my sister, Jewel,” Mercedes said, making the introductions. The two of them shook hands and Mercedes knew they would get along. Jewel was the type of person who always had a warm smile on her face, even when she was annoyed, and she could find something in common with anyone – and Lily, well, Lily was amazing, so who wouldn’t like her?
“Mercedes has told me a lot about you,” Jewel said. “Come on in.”
“You have?” Lily asked, raising an eyebrow at Mercedes as she went into the house.
Busted – and all good things. Not a word of it was about that nice ass, Mercedes thought, sneaking a peek just for the hell of it as she followed Lily inside. Jewel led them through the house – a little too small for four people and cluttered with toys, books and the detritus of living. Even though it wasn’t anywhere near a hoarder house, the visual clutter made Mercedes’ chest feel tight. Everything in her apartment – and her house back in Seattle – was neatly arranged, all the books on her shelves were lined up perfectly, and she kept as much as she could packed tidily in storage bins rather than leaving it out.
But this was not her house. This was Jewel’s house, and there were four people – including two kids – living here. It was a reasonable amount of clutter, but she was still a little relieved when Jewel led them to a large deck looking out over the back yard.
The relief must have been written on her face because when Jewel saw her expression, she asked, “Did you think it was going to look like Mom’s house?”
“No,” Mercedes said, then added, “Well, maybe a little.”
“Hoarding isn’t contagious,” Jewel said.
“Where is Mom?”
“Playing tag with Faith and Mikey,” Jewel said, gesturing over the balcony.
Michael was down there with the grill on a big brick patio, and in the yard beyond, their mother was running around as if she were in her thirties instead of her late sixties, chasing after her grandkids and laughing. It was almost unsettling, trying to reconcile the version of her mother that lived in a mountain of junk with this one – the one that played with her grandkids and used to give her and Jewel a ‘play hooky’ card at the beginning of every year that they could use to skip a day of school just because. Of course, they usually ended up going shopping, but that was another matter.
“Want a beer?” Jewel asked. “Lily, I’ve got lemonade, iced tea, water-”
“Lemonade would be great, thanks,” Lily said.
Jewel disappeared inside the house and Mercedes slipped her arm around Lily’s waist, then they waved down at Michael on the patio. Jewel reappeared a minute later, handing Mercedes an early-season Christmas ale and asking, “How’s it going at Mom’s house, by the way?”
“It’s going,” Mercedes said. “Slowly. Are the two of you back on good terms now?”
“We know how to compartmentalize like champs,” Jewel said with a laugh. “We’re not talking about her house, but everything else is great.”
“You should come to see Dr. Silva with us sometime,” Mercedes said. “I usually just sit in the waiting room, but he could book us a family session.”
“That’s a good idea,” Jewel said reluctantly. Then she looked at Lily and got embarrassed. “But we shouldn’t be talking about all this family drama with a guest present. I’m being a terrible host - come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone, and then you can tell us everything about your trip to Phoenix!”
Jewel went down the stairs to the patio first, and Mercedes leaned in to whisper in Lily’s ear, “Well, we won’t tell them everything.”
They met Michael at the grill, where he was putting the final grill marks on a dozen thick, juicy burgers that made Mercedes’ stomach rumble just looking at them. As Jewel was making the introductions between her husband and Lily, the kids spotted the new arrivals and left Mercedes’ mother to be ‘it’ as they ran over.
“Aunt Mercedes!” Faith called as she ran full force and threw her arms around Mercedes’ waist, nearly knocking her over. The kid was affectionate, treating Mercedes like she’d been in her life this whole time instead of sending her love in gift cards through the mail all these years.
Michael Junior was a little more stand-offish, but he still gave Mercedes a warm hug when his sister finally relinquished her hold, and Mercedes pulled a couple of fridge magnets out of her back pocket that she’d bought at the Phoenix airport. “I was pretty busy with the… conference… so I didn’t have time to get you guys more exciting souvenirs, but I did grab these for you.”
The kids took them happily and Faith threw her arms around Mercedes again in a grateful hug. It made Mercedes’ heart hurt – she hadn’t been here and she didn’t deserve this kind of unconditional love. She was a little bit relieved when Faith finally let her go and when her mother wandered in from the yard, slyly tagging Mikey, his father put an end to the game and announced it was time to eat.
Mercedes took Lily’s hand as they followed the food over to an outdoor dining table on the patio and as they all sat down, she smiled at Lily and said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
12
Lily
When Lily got back to Lakeside on Monday, she found Chloe’s enthusiasm had kicked into overdrive.
“How was your trip?” she’d asked in a sing-song voice the moment Lily set foot on the pediatrics ward. “How’s Mercedes?”
Lily half expected her to break into a rendition of Lily and Mercedes sitting in a tree and she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or blush with embarrassment. “It was fine. A very informative conference.”
Chloe arched her eyebrow. “It was for OB/GYNs, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Lily said defensively, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t get a little professional development out of the topics as well. I’m in a related field.”
“Sure,” Chloe said, unconvinced. “And you shared a hotel room with Mercedes – how did that go?”
“Chloe!” Lily chastised. She looked around but it was early and the interns who had already showed up for the day were all in patient rooms getting updates before rounds. “We’re coworkers.”
“And girlfriends?” Chloe asked, grinning expectantly.
“You are such a hopeless romantic,” Lily said.
“As if that’s a bad thing?”
“It is when you don’t stop pestering me while I’m trying to read the morning’s charts,” Lily said, grabbing a tablet off the nurses’ station and acting more annoyed than she actually was. She’d spent the night with Mercedes at her apartment after the barbeque and they drove to work together this morning. It had been wonderful, but she wasn’t about to give Chloe that kind of ammunition.
“I don’t know how you can stand being in an undefined relationship,” Chloe said, taking one of the other tablets and reluctantly getting to work. “Would it kill you to call her your girlfriend?”
“Would it kill you if I don’t?” Lily shot back. “Besides, it is defined – we’re having fun while she’s in town, and it’s going to end when she goes home at the end of December. If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not get too attached.”
“I don’t know,” Chloe said, scrutinizing her. “I think it’s too late for that.”
Lily rolled her eyes, and then the interns began to gather for morning rounds. They only got about halfway through them when Lily’s pager started to vibrate on her hip. Chloe’s did, too, and said, “It’s Krys – a burn patient just arrived in the ER.”
“Let’s go,” Lily said. She handed her tablet off to her star intern – Dr. Ellis – and told her to skip the rest of rounds and get the the interns started on the morning’s wor
k.
Lily and Chloe rushed down to the emergency department, taking the stairs because they were faster. At five months pregnant, Lily was beginning to feel a little heavier on her feet and it was harder to keep up with Chloe on the stairs – soon, she’d be taking the elevator everywhere and she would no longer be taking the stairs two at a time. For now, though, she could manage.
When they arrived in the ER, they found Krys at bed number five with a screaming kid. There was a whole crew of people swarming around the bed - Veronica, who was Krys’s favorite ER nurse, plus Alex and her paramedic partner, Sarah. Lily could still see the ambulance lights flashing beyond the ER doors, but there were no parents around.
“What happened?” she asked as she grabbed a pair of exam gloves from a nearby cart.
“Thirteen-year-old male,” Sarah reported. “Home alone, attempting to make bacon and knocked the pan off the stove. He got splashed with hot grease, mostly on his arms.”
“It hurts!” the poor kid screamed. He was trying to hold his forearms but Krys had him pinned down by the wrists – touching the angry red burns would only make them hurt more. “Make it stop!”
Lily stepped in beside the bed and Krys moved aside for her. She put her hand on the kid’s shoulder, making sure to keep her voice calm as she said, “Hi, I’m Dr. Thomas – you can call me Lily. What’s your name?”
Chloe was looking at her with urgency in her eyes, as were Alex and Sarah. Chloe hadn’t been working with kids long enough to know that sometimes it paid to take a minute to build a little goodwill before you started in on the medicine, and Alex and Sarah were paramedics - they just weren’t used to slowing down.
It paid off, though, when the rise and fall of the kid’s chest calmed just a little to a more normal rate and he said, “Ethan.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Ethan,” Lily said. “I’m going to take good care of you. Chloe here is going to insert an IV with some pain medicine.” She nodded to Chloe to go ahead, gesturing for her to use a vein in the back of Ethan’s hand where there was no sign of injury. “Ethan, are your parents here with you?”
“No,” Ethan hissed as Chloe poked the needle in as gently as she could.
“I called them,” Sarah supplied from the other side of the bed. “His mom works the night shift and his dad had already gone to work. They’re on their way.”
“Thank you,” Lily said. “You guys can go – we’ve got this under control.”
Sarah and Alex stepped away from the bed, folding up the portable gurney that they’d brought Ethan in on, and waved goodbye to him before heading back out to the ambulance.
“IV is in,” Chloe said.
“Hear that, Ethan? You’re going to be feeling better soon,” Lily said. “And your parents will be here any minute.”
The poor kid looked terrified but he was putting on a brave face. Lily motioned Chloe to stand near the top of the bed and keep him engaged while she took a look at his injuries. Chloe needed no further instructions – she stepped right in and started chatting with the boy. “So, you were trying to make bacon, huh? Turkey or pork?”
“Pork,” Ethan said adamantly, as if any other choice was patently ridiculous. Chloe laughed and Lily turned her attention to Ethan’s arms. The grease had gotten him pretty good and the majority of both forearms were patchy with angry red blisters beginning to form.
He probably wouldn’t need grafts – they were second-degree burns at worst – but he’d been lucky.
“I’m going to get you cleaned up and bandaged, okay?” Lily said. “The pain meds should be working by now, but just let me know if it starts to hurt too badly.”
“Well, this is a pretty extreme way to get out of school, huh?” Chloe joked with him, and Lily was pleased to see that Ethan was feeling well enough to give her a sarcastic smile in return.
She was just finishing up the bandaging on his right arm when Ethan’s parents burst into the ER about fifteen minutes later. His mother draped herself over the bed, cradling Ethan’s head in her arms and cursing him out for using the stove at the same time that she was comforting him.
“I told you that you’re not old enough to cook by yourself yet!” she said. “Oh, I was so worried, you little punk!”
Lily continued to bandage Ethan’s other arm, and when his mother calmed down, she walked both of his parents through care instructions for his bandages. He hadn’t been hurt badly enough to need to be admitted, and about an hour later, Lily walked slowly with Chloe out of the ER.
“Let’s take the elevator back up,” she suggested.
“You doing okay?” Chloe asked as she pushed the button to call the elevator.
“Yeah,” Lily said. “I just don’t have as much energy as I used to.”
When the elevator door dinged and slid open, Mercedes was standing inside and Lily wasn’t sure who grinned the biggest out of all three of them. Chloe nudged Lily with her elbow and said, “I can think of one reason that doesn’t involve pregnancy.”
“One reason for what?” Mercedes asked.
Lily stepped into the elevator and Chloe got in behind her, saying with a sly grin, “A reason why Lily’s exhausted.”
“Oh my god, Chloe, I can’t believe you just said that!” Lily said, flustered. “I can’t take you anywhere.” She turned to Mercedes and asked, “Are you getting off?” then immediately shot Chloe a don’t you dare look. She knew what she said.
“Not anymore,” Mercedes said. “I was just going to grab some supplies as an excuse to stretch my legs, but this elevator ride just got far more interesting. I think I’ll send an intern to do it.”
The door slid shut and Lily pushed the button to take them to the floor that pediatrics and obstetrics shared. Then Chloe turned to Mercedes and said, “So, Ivy and I are having some people over tomorrow night for dinner – nothing fancy, just Chinese takeout. Are you two free?”
Mercedes glanced at Lily, who nodded that it was okay, and said, “Sure, we’d love to come.”
“Great,” Chloe said. “If I don’t see you, give your order to Lily before the end of the work day tomorrow and I’ll have your food ready.”
They got out of the elevator without any further prying questions or embarrassments – thank god – and Chloe went ahead to check on the interns. Lily hung back for just a minute and Mercedes wrapped her arms around her.
“You don’t have to hang out with my friends if you don’t want to,” she said.
“Are you kidding?” Mercedes asked. “Chloe seems like a trip – I can’t wait.”
Lily smiled and said, “Good,” before Mercedes gave her a kiss and then took the elevator back downstairs to grab those supplies after all.
13
Mercedes
Mercedes was in the delivery room at the end of the following day. She’d been there almost exclusively since early that morning, helping an anxious first-time mother through labor, and that meant missing her usual lunch break with Lily – not to mention the occasional opportunity for a make-out tryst in one of the call rooms.
She also hadn’t had a chance to think about her Chinese food order, so by the time five o’clock – and what should have been the end of her shift – rolled around, Mercedes’ stomach was growling and she found Lily knocking lightly on the window outside the delivery room.
Mercedes smiled at her, then turned to the family in front of her. “You’re doing great, Bethany. You’re at nine centimeters dilated – only one more to go and then we’ll be ready to bring that baby boy into the world. I’m going to check on my other patients and then I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay,” Bethany said. “Hurry. It’s going to happen any minute – I can tell.”
“I will,” Mercedes promised. Bethany had at least another twenty minutes before she was ready to start pushing, but Mercedes knew better than to let a birthing mother worry.
She ducked out of the room, leaving Bethany and her husband with one of the delivery nurses, then met Lily in the hallway.
“It’s quitting time, I know,” she said apologetically. “I can’t leave yet-”
“It’s okay, I understand,” Lily said. She pulled Mercedes out of view of the window and gave her a quick kiss, then said, “How much longer do you think you’ll be?”
“Probably an hour, two at the most,” she said. “Why don’t you go over to Chloe and Ivy’s party without me? You can text me the address and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
“You better,” Lily said, a smile spreading across her lips. “Because we have something to celebrate.”
“Oh yeah?”
Her smile got bigger, and then she pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pocket of her white coat. Before Mercedes had a chance to take it from her, she leapt into her arms and said, “We got the grant money!”
“Really?” Mercedes asked. “Already?”
“Yeah,” Lily said as Mercedes set her back down on the ground and gave her another kiss. “I guess the foundation we applied to was already looking to explore 3D technologies in a clinical setting and they jumped on our proposal. Mercedes, I couldn’t have done it without you – five million dollars!”
Mercedes hugged Lily again, then said, “Yes, you could have – I just convinced you that you deserved it. And I was right.”
“You have to tell me what you want to eat tonight,” Lily said. “What’s a celebratory Chinese dish?”
“General Tso’s?” Mercedes asked.
Lily laughed and told her she’d make sure whatever Mercedes wanted was ready for her. She scribbled Chloe and Ivy’s address on the back of the piece of paper – a print-out of the email congratulating her on securing the grant – and then she handed it to Mercedes.
She paused for a moment and Mercedes asked, “What?”
Lily shook her head, smiling, and said, “I’m just really happy right now.”
Mercedes smiled back. “I am, too. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Then she watched Lily walk out of the obstetrics ward and made a quick loop around to check on her other patients before going back in to check on Bethany. Hurry up, honey, I’ve got a party to go to.