Holidays at Crescent Cove

by Shelley Noble

  Lily tried to push Bri away.

  Was it the flu? But this wasn’t an ordinary flu. Why was she screaming as if she were in pain?

  “Lily, what hurts?”

  Lily cried out words, but the only one Bri could understand was mama.

  “Show Mama what hurts.” She tried desperately to remember the Chinese word for pain. Her mind went blank.

  Baby Tylenol to bring down the fever. But as Bri let go of Lily she let out another piercing scream. She should take her to the hospital, but Lily wouldn’t even be able to tell them what was wrong.

  But David could. He would understand. And then she would know what to do.

  “Mimi, please stop crying and look after your sister. I’m going to get David.”

  Mimi kept crying but crawled to sit by Lily, who had suddenly gone very still.

  “No!” cried Bri. Reached for Lily, and Lily moved beneath her hand. Bri shuddered out a breath.

  “Stay,” she told Mimi. She ran for the mudroom, pulled on boots, grabbed her coat, and raced toward the caretaker’s cottage.

  There was a light coming from inside. She didn’t stop to question why David would be up at this hour. She zeroed in on the light and concentrated on not falling down on the icy snow.

  She was out of breath by the time she reached the cottage. She threw herself at the door. Knocked. “David!” Hesitated only a second and knocked again. Called out. Where was he? “Lily’s sick! I can’t understand her. David!” She pounded on the door with both fists . “David! Damn you, open the door!” The last plea ended in a sob. “Please,” she said, and fell against the door.

  It opened and she almost lost her balance.

  He was dressed but looked dazed. She grabbed at him. “Lily’s sick. You have to ask her what’s wrong. She just screams when I try to move her.”

  He just stood there, and for one horrible moment she was afraid he wouldn’t help.

  Then he took her by both arms. “Pull yourself together. I’ll get my coat.”

  If the cold night hadn’t sobered her, his words did. She took a breath and turned back to the house. Before she got far, David was by her side, had laced his arm through hers. “Just lean on me. And fill me in.”

  Lean on him. At this point she would welcome someone to lean on. She must have been crazy to think that she could raise two girls with whom she couldn’t even communicate.

  “Bri. What are her symptoms?”

  Bri jerked. “I heard her crying. Sometimes she does. She seemed a little warm, but she went back to sleep. Later she screamed again and when I went to see, I realized she was burning up. I was going to give her some Tylenol but I wasn’t sure. I asked her what was wrong. I couldn’t understand her. I couldn’t understand anything. I couldn’t remember any word of Mandarin. Oh God. What’s wrong with her?”

  “Come on. We’ll take a look, okay? Maybe I can figure out what she’s saying. But you need to be calm so you don’t frighten her. Or Mimi.”

  Bri looked sideways at him. How could he be so calm when her baby was—

  “Can you do that?”

  She nodded jerkily. Sniffed back tears she hadn’t been aware of. And somehow they were back at the house.

  David dropped his jacket in the mudroom and went straight through the kitchen.

  “The door on the right,” she told him.

  He didn’t wait for her but plowed ahead.

  And she was grateful.

  He was already sitting beside Lily when Bri reached the bedroom. He was talking to her, saying something to Mimi. He felt Lily’s forehead, pressed his fingers under her ears and jaw. Talking gently the whole time he poked and prodded.

  “What is it?” Bri asked, only vaguely aware that he was doing more than asking Lily what hurt. He was examining her. Like he knew what he was doing. His hands moved to her stomach and he pressed gently. She whimpered. But when he pressed again she let out a wail.

  “Okay, Lily.” He rattled something off in Mandarin. And said over his shoulder, “It looks like appendicitis. How far is the nearest hospital?”

  Bri’s tongue cleaved to her mouth. “Ten, fifteen minutes. The hospital?”

  “Get your purse, insurance cards, cell phone. Call Nick Prescott and ask him to call ahead and tell them we’re coming. That it’s a suspected case of acute pediatric appendicitis and we may need emergency surgery. Got that?”

  Bri nodded. It was all she could manage. Who was this man?

  “Then go warm up the car and come back for Mimi. I’ll bring Lily. Remove her car seat. I’ll sit in back with her. Bri, just stay calm. It should be all right.”

  Should. Should be all right, Bri thought as she gathered her purse, checked her wallet. Got her cell phone and hit speed dial for Nick. Should be, not would be. Lily had to be all right. She just had to be.

  “Prescott,” Nick answered in a groggy voice.

  “Nick, it’s Bri.”

  “What’s happened?” He was fully awake now. She could hear him moving around.

  “Lily’s sick. We’re taking her to the hospital. David said—” Her voice caught. “David said to tell them we’re driving her there and that it’s acute appendicitis, pediatric appendicitis, and we may need a surgeon. Oh Nick.”

  “I’m on it. Here, talk to Margaux.”

  “I can’t. I have to get the car warm. I’ll call her later.”

  “Okay, I’ll call the hospital. You go. Be careful. I’ll meet you there.”

  She started to say he didn’t have to but he’d already hung up.

  When she came back from the car, David was talking to Mimi, who had at least calmed to a whimper. She saw Bri and scampered off the bed. She’d put her slippers on over her pajama feet and was clutching her teddy bear. She was trying to help. Bri’s heart was so full of love and fear she thought it might burst. But she managed a smile at Mimi and scooped her up.

  Mimi was docile as Bri put her into her snow jacket, all the while murmuring every comforting word she knew in her broken Mandarin. And promised to become proficient if they just made it through this crisis.

  Mimi clung to her as she carried her out to the SUV. She began to cry again when Bri strapped her into her car seat and grabbed at her when she tried to close the door. Bri hugged her, kissed her, reassured her, and shut the door. Mimi let out a howl.

  David had wrapped Lily in her comforter and he carried his bundle out the door. Bri opened the car door and he climbed in back with his bundle. As he did, something fell to the ground. Bri reached over to pick it up. Lily’s scruffy stuffed bunny.

  He’d remembered to bring the stuffed animal. Bri picked it up and their eyes met. She handed him the bunny and shut the door.

  The ride to the hospital seemed interminable, and Bri had to fight not to floor the accelerator. But the roads were icy in the dark and she was carrying too precious a cargo to fail now. So she kept her eyes on the road, trying to block out Lily’s cries and Mimi’s responding whimpers.

  And Bri began to sing, unaware of what she was doing, and it calmed her and the backseat grew quiet and she prayed and sang until she saw the lights of the hospital.

  She stopped the SUV at the emergency room entrance. David got out and carried Lily through the automatic doors. Bri looked around for a place to park, found nothing, She didn’t have time to look. She got out, fumbled with Mimi’s car seat, lifted her and the stuffed bear out, and rushed inside, only to see David carrying Lily through double stainless steel doors.

  “Are you Mrs. Boyce?” A wiry African-American woman in blue scrubs was holding a clipboard. “Dr. Mosley is examining her in room four if you’d like to come with me.”

  “Yes.” But when she got to room four, only David was there.

  “They’ve taken her down for a CT scan.” He stepped toward her and put his arms around her and Mimi. “They seem ver
y competent here.”

  The nurse left, another one took her place. “Are you the parents?”

  Bri jumped away. “I’m Brianna Boyce, Lily’s mother.”

  “I see. We’ll need you to come fill out the insurance and release forms, please.”

  “Release forms?” Bri’s mind couldn’t seem to understand what was going on. She had to pull herself together. They were at the hospital, they were going to take care of Lily. She would be fine. She had to be.

  “In order to allow the surgery,” the nurse explained patiently.

  Bri looked at David.

  “They’ll need to remove Lily’s appendix,” he said. “Go sign the papers.”

  “Yes, of course.” She stepped away from him.

  “Dr. Henderson, Dr. Mosley asked if you would explain to the patient what is going to happen.”

  Bri heard David breathe but she didn’t turn around. The nurse was already walking down the corridor, and Bri numbly followed. Had the nurse just called David Doctor?

  The first thing she saw when she reached the waiting room was Nick coming through the door.

  He saw Bri and hurried toward her. “I moved your car. You left the keys in it. Do you need anything out of it?”

  “No. Thank you. You didn’t have to come.”

  “Of course I did. Margaux will be here soon. She’s waiting for Jude to come stay with Connor.”

  Bri burst into tears. Mimi began wailing.

  “It’ll be fine. But you have to fill out forms. Give Mimi to me.”

  Mimi only screamed louder when Nick tried to take her. So the three of them went into the business office together.

  Bri signed form after form, mindless, without reading them. Just scribbled a semblance of her name as fast as she could. So they could operate on her Lily. It seemed to go on forever.

  Once the papers were signed and the insurance cards photocopied, they were told to take the elevator to the third floor where they could wait for the doctor. They’d barely sat down when Dr. Mosley came into the room. He shook hands with Nick and explained what was happening. They were going to remove Lily’s appendix. They were going into the operating room immediately. The appendix was intact so far. The sooner the surgery, the easier on the patient it would be.

  The doctor left. Bri signed more papers. The nurse left just as Margaux walked into the room.

  “I got here as soon as I could. How is she?”

  “They’re operating now. David went with them,” Bri said. “Nick, what did you tell them when you called? When we got here they called him Dr. Henderson.”

  Nick looked at his wife. Margaux looked at Nick.

  “They called him Dr. Henderson because he is a doctor.”

  Chapter Eight

  “A DOCTOR? A real medical doctor?”

  Margaux nodded and led Bri and Mimi, who was still clinging to her neck, over to a couch. “Nick, maybe you could go see if you could find us some decent coffee?”

  Nick scowled at her, but left the room.

  “I don’t get it,” Bri said. “He’s been practically living at my house, I’ve told him my life story, and he never said a word. He made it sound like his life was schlepping boxes of supplies to refugees.” She shifted Mimi in her lap. “And why the hell would a doctor hitchhike across the country?”

  “He’s been volunteering for the last ten years. I don’t think he had the kind of patients who could pay for their care.”

  “And how come you and Nick know this and I don’t?”

  “I guess David explained it to Nick while they were talking the other day. He wasn’t going to tell me. It was one of those guy things. But I was worried about David staying in your caretaker’s cottage. I mean, we really didn’t know anything about him.

  “Nick ended up telling me parts of it to keep me from coming over to your house and spending the night.” She shrugged. “The rest I either guessed or wheedled out of Nick when his attention was on something else.”

  Bri passed her free hand over her face. “I should be thankful. I just wish I had known. Maybe then I wouldn’t have panicked so badly if I knew that he knew what he was doing.”

  She glanced up at the big round wall clock. It had been over an hour since they’d brought Lily to the hospital. Only ten minutes since the nurse had left with the permission papers. “Do you think she’ll be all right?”

  Margaux scooted closer and put her arm around Bri, stroked Mimi’s hair. “I’m sure . . . I hope so.”

  Nick was gone nearly fifteen minutes. When he did return he was carrying a big brown bag.

  Margaux jumped up to relieve him of the bag. “Where did you have to go to get this?” she asked, pulling out cups, napkins, and plastic-covered pastries.

  “I didn’t. I called Finley and he dropped by Dottie’s for the coffee. And Dottie being Dottie added what she thought you girls might want.” Margaux pulled out a thermos.

  “It’s Finley’s. Dottie commandeered it because she didn’t want the refills to get cold.”

  “Well, thank your deputy for all of us. And tell him I’ll return his thermos.” Margaux handed a cup to Bri.

  Bri took it, but simply held it in her hands and looked back at the clock.

  MIMI HAD FALLEN asleep at last and was lying on the couch with a hospital blanket over her. Nick and Margaux were talking quietly in the corner. Bri had finally stopped watching the clock and was pacing the floor when Dr. Mosley entered, followed by David, unshaven, wrinkled, and looking like he’d been through the wars.

  Bri stopped pacing. Nick and Margaux automatically came to stand by her.

  The doctor smiled. “Everything went very well. We were able to remove the appendix laproscopically. If everything goes as it should, you’ll have her home for Christmas.”

  Bri began to shake. “Thank you. Can I see her?”

  “Of course. She’s still groggy, but she wants to see her mama.”

  “Oh.” Bri jerked forward. Turned back to Mimi.

  “We’ll stay with Mimi,” Margaux said.

  Bri could only nod, she was too close to tears of relief, mixed with emotions she couldn’t begin to name. Joy, confusion, hope, and, strangely enough, anger. She headed blindly to the door, passing David without a word.

  DAVID DIDN’T EVEN watch her go. He felt numb. Sick. It had been years since he’d been in a real hospital, and yet it all came back to him in one blinding moment when he carried that little girl through the emergency room doors.

  It was all so familiar, almost like he’d never left. And yet so much had changed within him since then. The admission procedure, the smell of the corridors, the white coats, the colorful scrubs. The things you didn’t have in the field, where surgeries were done in Quonset huts if you were lucky, in a tent or worse if you weren’t.

  Here, everything was so clean. He’d forgotten how clean it was.

  Margaux nudged him with a cup of coffee. He took it. Walked over to one of the prefabricated chairs and sat down, holding the cup in both hands. Felt a hand on his arm.

  Margaux Prescott was looking down at him, concern in her eyes. “Are you okay? Hungry? Dottie from the diner sent over pastries, though you might want something more substantial after the night you’ve had.”

  “No thanks.”

  “We’re all so grateful to you.”

  He shook his head.

  “Bri knows you’re a doctor. Does it matter?”

  “Was.”

  “Whatever. She heard the nurse call you ‘doctor’ and wondered why. I told her because you were one.”

  “It’s okay. Thanks for the coffee.” She left him alone after that, but he knew they were both watching him. They must think it weird that he denied his ability. His avocation. Hiding his light under a bushel, his missionary father would say. But that light had gone out months ago, had been dim
inishing steadily with each epidemic, malnourished child, blind old man, or barely recognizable body that still lived. A shudder went through him and coffee splashed to the floor. He rubbed it dry with his boot.

  The room was still. Someone had turned the volume off in the old television that flickered from a wall shelf, like old televisions in waiting rooms everywhere, everywhere but in the field. The only sound was the maddening ticking of the institutional clock. And the thump and jump of his own heart.

  He stood, put his cup in the trash. “I think I’ll go see if Bri needs anything, and then if you could ask someone to drop me off at her house.”

  “Sure,” Margaux said. “She’ll need some clothes, at least. Knowing Bri, she’ll stay here for the duration. I’ll drop you off and take Mimi home with me, then come back for you. Connor can stay home from school today and entertain her. You’re welcome to come, too.”

  BRI SAT CLOSE to the hospital bed, holding Lily’s tiny hand. The rambunctious, chubby-cheeked girl looked so small and fragile. Her black hair, spread across the white pillow, haloed a face so pale that fear raced up Bri’s spine.

  An IV that the nurse said was antibiotics ran from her little arm. Her stuffed rabbit sat on the bedside table where she’d be able to see it when she woke up.

  She was so still. Bri wished she’d move or something, but knew she was sedated. She took in a long breath, eased it out.

  What if David hadn’t been there? What if she’d been alone and waited until the morning to see if Lily were better? What if she’d waited too late? Lily could have died.

  Her eyes filled with tears. Maybe she didn’t deserve these beautiful children after all. She’d wanted to do some good in the world, but maybe she wasn’t up to it. Maybe the world didn’t want her to be useful, caring, happy. Maybe she was a fool to think that she could do it alone.

  “How is she?”

  Bri turned her head, blinking furiously. David stood several feet away, as if he didn’t want to get too close to them. “She looks so . . . so little.” Her voice cracked.

  He smiled, but it was a tired smile. “She is little. But she’ll be fine. Margaux said she’d bring you whatever you needed.”