by Gina Wilkins
They shared a buttered popcorn during the movie, their hands brushing with almost suspicious frequency as they reached for popcorn at the same time. Funny how Geoff always seemed to be hungry at the same time she was, she thought with a glance at his blandly innocent profile.
When the popcorn was gone, he abandoned subterfuge and simply took her hand in his, entwining their fingers in a loose, warm clasp. He sat closely enough that their knees brushed, and even through the fabric of his jeans and her chinos, she felt the impact of the contact.
It was a good thing the action-packed and plot-thin film required little thought or attention, Cecilia decided. Geoff had her so addled that she couldn’t even remember the names of the characters.
Even though they had both agreed their relationship was temporary and based on a specific purpose that had little to do with romance, he still seemed to enjoy these nice gestures. Flowers, dates, holding hands. A charming man, this Geoff Bingham—the family politician, she reminded herself.
Still, she couldn’t help but enjoy his attentions. What woman wouldn’t?
As the film came to an end—finally—Geoff lifted their hands to his lips, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. “My place or yours?” he murmured into her ear.
“Mine’s a bit closer,” she whispered back, as anxious as he seemed to be to be out of the public eye.
The credits rolled and the theater lights came up, and Geoff pulled Cecilia to her feet. “Let’s see how fast we can get there.”
It sounded like a good plan to her.
Chapter Seven
Because of the usual rush for the exits, it took Cecilia and Geoff a few minutes to get into the aisle. They had almost reached the back of the rapidly emptying theater when Cecilia noticed a very pregnant young woman still seated about halfway down one of the rows of high-backed seats. The woman was doubled over, apparently in pain, while an anxious-looking young man sat beside her, talking to her.
Cecilia had to stop. Stepping around one of the theater employees who had entered to pick up trash between screenings, she walked sideways down the aisle to get closer to the woman while Geoff waited curiously behind her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked the woman, who was moaning quietly in a way that had Cecilia’s midwifery instincts kicking into overtime.
The young man, whom she would guess to be about twenty-two, looked around quickly. “Katie—my girlfriend—isn’t feeling good. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten so much candy during the movie.”
Cecilia bent down to check the pregnant woman—girl, she corrected herself when the extremely pale Katie looked up at her. This mother-to-be couldn’t be older than seventeen. “Where does it hurt?”
Katie’s brown eyes swam in tears. “Everywhere.”
“When is your due date?”
“Next month. The fifteenth.”
Three weeks away, Cecilia figured rapidly. “My name is Cecilia Mendoza, and I’m a nurse-midwife. Tell me about the pain. Is it steady or does it come in waves?”
Looking relieved to have an expert at hand, Katie whispered, “It hurts all the time, but it comes in waves, too. They start in my back and move around to the front. I…I don’t think it was the candy.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Cecilia murmured, watching as Katie stiffened against another sharp pain. “How long has this been going on?”
“About…about an hour. Maybe a little more, wasn’t it, Rusty?”
“I told her we could leave if she didn’t feel good, but she wanted to see the end of the movie,” Rusty said defensively. “She said it might be a long time before we’d get a chance to come to another movie because of the baby and all.”
Geoff leaned closer to Cecilia. “Should I call an ambulance?”
Because Katie had already doubled into another contraction, Cecilia nodded. “Tell them to hurry.”
Geoff already had his cell phone to his ear when Cecilia turned back to Rusty. “Let’s see if we can get her to the aisle. I can’t get to her now to see what’s happening.”
Bobbing his sandy head in assent, Rusty got on one side of Katie, grabbed her arm, and yanked upward. Wincing, Cecilia placed a hand on his shoulder. “Gently.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure. So you think she’s like in labor or something?”
Katie let out a moan that ended as a near wail.
“I think it’s a definite possibility,” Cecilia replied.
“Oh, man.”
Staggering to her feet, Katie took a few halting steps, then cried out again. “It really hurts, Miss Mendoza.”
They were attracting attention now, as the theater employees stopped their tasks to gawk at them. Geoff moved forward. “Here, let me help.”
Without further hesitation, he bent to sweep Katie into his arms. “Where do you want her?” he asked, not even appearing to strain beneath the weight of the heavily pregnant young woman.
At least this theater was pretty much empty for the moment, she thought—and could stay that way until after the emergency crew had arrived, she decided abruptly. “Let’s just lay her in the aisle. Randy, sit cross-legged so we can rest her head in your lap. Geoff, let the manager know what’s going on so they can clear a path for the emergency crew. Were you given an estimated time of arrival?”
“There was a multicar wreck on the mountain highway on the other side of the county,” he replied as he helped arrange Katie as comfortably as possible. “The dispatcher said there could be a delay. Want me to get my car? We could probably get her to the clinic faster than the ambulance.”
Cecilia bit back a grumble. Poverty-stricken Merlyn County was a victim of difficult financial times, and emergency services had suffered in the resulting cutbacks. Having a state-of-the-art medical facility was a blessing, but they had to get the patients there first, she thought with familiar frustration.
She watched as Katie bowed upward, a ragged cry escaping her taut lips. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’d rather deliver a baby here, if necessary, than in the tiny back seat of your car.”
“D-deliver?” Rusty stammered. “You mean the baby’s coming now?”
“I won’t know until I check.” She spoke calmly, reassuringly. “Geoff, maybe you’d clear the employees out of here on your way to notify the manager? I think Katie would be more comfortable without spectators. And see if you can find some towels—paper, if necessary,” she added as a dark, wet stain spread rapidly across the front of Katie’s light-colored maternity jeans.
Geoff met her eyes for a moment, mutely acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, and then he efficiently took charge of the scene.
The theater manager, a stocky, auburn-haired woman in her forties with kind eyes and a brusque manner, appeared with a blanket and a couple of towels. “I heard what’s happening. I keep these in my office for emergencies. I’m holding the showing of the next film until the ambulance arrives.”
“Thank you.” Cecilia draped the blanket over Katie, who was weeping quietly now between racking, near-constant contractions. “Things seem to be moving very quickly. I’m a midwife, so I can handle things in here if you’ll take care of everything out there.”
“No problem.” The manager leaned over Katie. “You listen to this lady, honey. She’ll help you till the ambulance gets here.”
Writhing and panting, Katie still managed to nod in response to the manager’s maternal advice. “Yes, ma’am.”
After dashing through a curious milling crowd to the nearest bathroom, where she did the best she could to wash up with plenty of soap and warm water, Cecilia hurried back into the theater to find Katie still moaning, Rusty looking even queasier, and Geoff doing his best to keep both of them from panicking.
“You’re being very brave, Katie,” Cecilia encouraged, reaching beneath the modestly draped blanket. “I’m going to take these wet clothes off, okay? If you can lift up for me, I’ll arrange these towels beneath you—the best we can do by way of a sheet for you to lie on. We’ll keep the
blanket draped over you so no one will see anything except me.”
Katie was arching again, her hands flailing. “I don’t care. Just make it stop hurting so bad.”
“Lift your knees, sweetie. I’m going to do a quick check to see how far along you are.”
“Oh, man,” Rusty muttered, and he had gone so pale and glassy-eyed that Cecilia wondered how long it would be before he hit the floor in a faint.
Geoff, on the other hand, was perfectly calm. He knelt beside Katie and took her restless hands in his, looking directly into her eyes.
“Katie, do you remember that my name is Geoff?” he said, speaking loudly enough to be heard over her moans. When she nodded, he continued, “Cecilia delivers babies every day, so she knows exactly what she’s doing. I want you to hold on to me and squeeze my hands if it helps when you feel pain. Rusty’s going to wipe your face with the damp paper towel I just handed him, aren’t you, Rusty?”
“Uh, yeah.” Apparently grateful to have something useful to do, Rusty wielded the towel with more enthusiasm than finesse.
“Oh, my goodness,” Cecilia said a few moments later. “This baby is in a real hurry to get here.”
She suspected that Katie had been in labor longer than the hour or hour and a half she had admitted. Had the girl really been so eager to see the film, which Cecilia hadn’t even considered very good? Or had she been too young and inexperienced to recognize the signs as something more than the usual discomforts of late pregnancy?
“When was your last prenatal checkup, Katie?”
Katie was too busy to answer, her face contorted as she squeezed Geoff’s hands hard enough to make him wince a little. Cecilia gave him a quick smile of encouragement before looking to Rusty for an answer.
Rusty cleared his throat, his eyes darting nervously. “It’s been a few months. We don’t have insurance, see, and we couldn’t afford to go running to the doctor all the time. Everything was fine last time she went, so we thought it would be okay to wait.”
Cecilia bit back an exasperated sigh. Money couldn’t have been the only obstacle to prenatal care, since the clinic provided income-based services when lack of insurance was a factor. More likely they lacked transportation or time or simply the incentive to make the appointments. She had seen all too many deliveries complicated by lack of adequate prenatal care.
At least Katie seemed to be reasonably healthy. Her pulse was steady and strong, and she was already completely effaced and almost fully dilated, so the delivery should be relatively uncomplicated. Cecilia saw no signs of drug abuse or other health concerns—but, damn, she wished that ambulance would get here. Delivery in a theater aisle was bad enough. But doing so with absolutely no medical supplies available was even more difficult.
“Aah,” Katie cried out, her entire body contracting in pain. “It hurts, Miss Mendoza. And I need to push.”
Rusty blanched as pale as his white tennis shoes and began to sway. Cecilia gave Geoff a look before turning back to her duties.
“Rusty,” she heard Geoff say a bit sharply. “Stay with us, you hear? Katie needs you to be strong now.”
“I’ll—” Rusty cleared his squeaky voice, speaking a bit more clearly next time. “I’ll be strong,” he promised. “I won’t let you down, Katie.”
“Good man,” Geoff murmured, and then he smiled down at Katie again. “Just concentrate on holding that baby in your arms, okay? You’ve got a lot of help here.”
It didn’t surprise Cecilia in the least that both Rusty and Katie seemed to find reassurance in Geoff’s steady, confident manner. To be honest, she felt much the same way.
“You were absolutely amazing this evening.” Geoff gave Cecilia a dazzling smile as he spoke, making her heart beat a little faster in reaction.
“I was simply doing my job,” she demurred.
“No, it was more than that. You kept those kids calm, even when they were on the verge of panic. And considering the circumstances, you delivered that baby as easily as if you had all the clinic facilities at your disposal.”
Self-conscious about the praise Geoff had been heaping on her for the past hour, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It helped that the ambulance arrived before the baby did.”
“By all of ten minutes.”
She gave a brief, tired laugh. “True. But at least I had some professional assistance at the end.”
Snuggled beside her on her couch, Geoff kissed her forehead. “I still thought you were amazing.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “You were pretty cool and collected yourself. The way you talked so reassuringly to Katie and Rusty. The way you kept her focused on you when the contractions were so strong. You sounded like a professional doula—a trained birthing coach.”
Geoff chuckled. Lifting his right hand, he flexed the fingers a few times. “Let me tell you, that girl’s got a grip. My fingers are still numb.”
“You’re a very handy man to have around in an emergency.”
Dropping his hand to his knee, he turned his attention back to her. “So, do things like that happen to you often? How many babies have you delivered unexpectedly like that?”
“Counting this one?”
“Yes.”
“One.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “No kidding? That was the first time?”
“Contrary to what you see on television, babies aren’t often born in theaters or elevators or cabs or airplanes. I mean, sure, it happens—obviously—and I’ve known colleagues who made emergency deliveries before, but that was a first for me.”
He pressed another kiss on her forehead. “You handled it beautifully.”
“Thank you. But as I’ve already said, it’s my job. I simply did what I’m trained to do. Even though I have to confess that I don’t want to have to work under those circumstances again anytime soon. A dirty theater floor—no antiseptics or hot water or even a pair of gloves….”
She shuddered. No, she didn’t want to go through that again. She was grateful that the paramedics had arrived before the baby, being on hand with medical supplies and IVs to take charge of Katie’s care while Cecilia had wrapped the screaming, apparently healthy baby boy in a sterile blanket. Somehow Rusty had survived the ordeal without passing out, a feat for which Geoff had praised him generously.
Rather than being annoyed by the delay of their movie, the crowd in the lobby had broken into applause when Katie and the baby had been wheeled to the waiting ambulance. So much for making a discreet exit, Cecilia had thought as she and Geoff had made their way to his car through a barrage of questions and congratulations.
They’d only arrived at her house a short while earlier, collapsing onto the couch as soon as they’d walked in. Their simple movie date had turned into an exhausting and emotionally draining event, Cecilia mused, and they both needed a little time to recharge.
Geoff seemed to still be preoccupied with their adventure. “Do all newborn babies look like that? All gooey and wrinkled and sort of purple?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh. I thought maybe their kid was just…homely.”
Amused, Cecilia tilted her head back to smile at him. “Actually, he was a rather pretty baby.”
“If you say so.”
“He looked like his mother, I think.”
“Fortunate, considering that his father was pretty goofy looking.”
She felt almost guilty for laughing. “You’re terrible.”
“Maybe I wasn’t seeing him at his best.”
“Obviously you weren’t.”
Settling more comfortably into the cushions, Geoff tightened his arm around Cecilia’s shoulders. “That baby’s got a tough road ahead of him. His parents are just kids themselves. Chances are slim they’ll stay together—or that his mother will even finish high school.”
“Children born to teenage mothers are much more likely to live in poverty, less likely to have health insurance, less likely to get an adequate education, and mor
e likely to become teenage parents themselves. But…well, maybe things will work out for Rusty and Katie and their son. I hope so, anyway.”
Geoff seemed to think about that for a while. And then he sighed and said, “It’s been a long day.”
“Did you work today?”
“Worse. I had lunch with my dad and my sister.”
Raising her eyebrows, she kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet on the couch behind her. “I thought you got along well with your family.”
“Oh, we get along. Everyone was just sort of grumpy today.”
“Grumpy?”
“Yeah. Mari couldn’t get her mind away from work. All she could talk about was the lawsuit—”
“That is worrisome,” Cecilia murmured. “Poor Milla doesn’t deserve that hassle.”
“It’s hardly good for the clinic, either. It’s bad enough that all the rumors about the biomed center are threatening our endowments from local investors. Just talking about fertility research—not to mention such controversial subjects as stem-cell research—makes some people so skittish they’re afraid to even be mentioned in the same context. This lawsuit couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“There’s always a frivolous lawsuit of some sort against a hospital, especially when obstetrics are involved. It’s why so many doctors and hospitals have gotten out of the delivery business. Not that I have to explain the daunting rise in malpractice insurance to you.”
“Hardly. That’s the sort of business discussion that’s been taking place in my family since I was old enough to join them at the dinner table.”
“Mari’s under a great deal of pressure in her job. She’s allowed an occasional grumpy day.” As for herself, Cecilia was perfectly content being a valued employee of the corporation rather than trying to fill an executive position, as her brother dreamed about doing. Her passion was delivering babies, not crunching numbers or studying spreadsheets or developing long-term business plans.
“Yeah, but there’s still something more nagging at Mari. I heard her talking to Dad about a growing drug problem in the county. One that’s affecting the clinic.”