Drawing Blood (30 page)

Chapter Fifty

David

He watched Elliot head out to the car, actually looking frazzled and overwhelmed. He couldn’t remember ever seeing Murphy like that, not even with mortars and bullets flying through the air like mosquitoes. David had a moment of panic, thinking his friend might be pissed off at him because of Abigail, but that was ridiculous.

He must be stressed. He and Janet were likely trying to adapt and deal with not only their own baby on the way, but now,
Surprise! You have a son already, Elliot! And while you’re at it, you’re in charge of a building deal that will either lead to millions of dollars in future investment or nothing. And the boss will retire next year, so you should start getting ready to take over the whole booming operation. And your friend? He’s been porking that property developer’s wife you’re trying to impress.

David couldn’t imagine the pressure. No one had ever trusted him with anything important, until this weekend with Abigail.

Abigail had let him take care of her son. She told him what to do with a hacking and coughing baby, he did it, and it worked. The boy was fine. David wasn’t useless. He could be counted on.

And as far as Abigail, he couldn’t believe she’d actually let him into her bed. He kept expecting her to stop him, tell him no. But she’d let him stay the night, and then the next night.

He might be acting rashly. He must be jumping to conclusions. But David had hope that she would grow to love him, too. He could do right by her. All he had to do was be everything his mother should have had from her husband. 

David was absorbed in dollars and ledgers when the receptionist put a call through to him. He answered while still engrossed in numbers.

“Hello?”

“David?”

He put down his pencil immediately. “Janet?”

She sniffed. “Elliot’s not there. I need … I need you to come pick me up.”

“What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

“I think … I think the baby’s coming. I don’t have a car.”

He was standing up. “Janet, call an ambulance. Elliot’s across town. I’ll go get him and meet you at the hospital.”

“I can’t. David, I’m scared. Please, come get me.”

“I’ll send Rose to get you. I’ll go get Elliot.”

Janet started crying. “I don’t know Rose. I know you.”

He didn’t know what to do. He was walking back and forth, tethered to the phone. “Okay. I’m coming to get you. I’ll tell the ladies to try getting hold of Elliot, and if he calls I’ll get them to send him to the hospital.”

“Just get here, David!”

“I’m on my way.”

He hung up, left the instructions for Rose, and broke the speed limit all the way to the Murphy’s. Their house was close to the hospital at least, but Elliot would still have a good half-hour drive to get there once he got the message. David prayed Elliot would call the office for some reason before leaving the worksite.

Janet was on the stoop when he got to the house. She had an overnight bag with her and she was pacing with a hand on her back, the other rubbing her stomach. She was drawn and pale and crying.

He parked half in the driveway and half on the lawn just so she wouldn’t have to walk so far. He grabbed her bag and tossed it in the trunk while she slowly made her way to the passenger door. He got there in time to open the door for her then took off at top-speed for the hospital. A couple minutes out Janet cried out pitifully, clutching her oversized tummy and breathing in a weird cadence he’d never heard before. He offered his hand, which she took and squeezed with an alarming amount of force then he had to downshift as they reached the parking lot.

He pulled up to emergency and Janet got the car door before he could. He helped her up, letting her lean on him as she took careful steps in to the hospital. A nurse collected her and another one started asking him questions. David gave her Janet’s name and what he could about her medical history. The nurse was staring at him oddly, and he realized she thought he was Janet’s husband.

“Oh, no. it’s not my … I’m not the father. The father’s a friend of mine. He’s on his way. I just got there first.”

The nurse accepted that and walked away. David was at a loss of what to do until he heard Janet again. “David? David!”

He followed her voice to a private room when they were putting her in a paper gown. He turned around immediately since they were taking off her undergarments. “I’m here,” he said, flustered. “Sorry, Janet. I’m here.”

She let loose with another shout as a doctor pushed past him in to the room. He was about to leave when Janet yelled for him again. “David – don’t leave me here alone – please!”

When he turned back the doctor was about to put her feet in the stirrups. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to be on that end of the room, so he came up beside the bed and took Janet’s hand. She squeezed back with so much force he had to wonder if she didn’t do a bit of arm-wrestling in her spare time.

“Janet, Janet. It’s okay. I’ll stay until Elliot gets here, I swear it.”

She just nodded, and her wide-eyed look of panic brought him back to being pinned down under enemy fire, looking a replacement recruit in the face as they ate dirt and waited for a chance to run or take a shot. She was terrified to the point where she couldn’t move.

“Hey, stay with me, Janet. It’s going to be fine. I know you can do this.”

She nodded jerkily, jumping as the nurse took her pulse. “It hurts … oh God David, it hurts.”

“I … I can’t even imagine.”

She yelled again and the doctor disappeared under the sheet across her knees. David had to look away. He didn’t want to think about what was happening under there. And at the same time he couldn’t imagine Abby doing this on her own. That just wasn’t right.

“Everything’s coming along fine, Mrs. Murphy. Did you say your water broke?”

Janet nodded, stuttering, “Y-yes. At home.”

“You’re not dilating very quickly, but that’s not cause for concern, we’ll just continue to watch.” The doctor was about to leave when David had to stop him.

“How … how long does this go on for?”

The doctor gave him the smile he likely gave every father. “There’s no real time limit. Mrs. Murphy might be ready to deliver in an hour. The baby might not come for six hours. We just have to continue to watch her and make sure she and her baby are doing well.”

David nodded, his heart beating about seven hundred hits per second as Janet cried out again, giving his hand another vice-grip crush that made him almost holler out. Jesus, she’s so small …

“God, I hope he gets here soon,” Janet had her eyes closed, and her breathing sounded rough. She was so bloody small, how was she going to …

David almost swooned as the reality of what was happening in that room came to him. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t look like a complete sissy here when Janet was about to …

He had to close his eyes. Sweat broke out on his forehead and back, and he felt the nausea rise up again. Luckily, Janet didn’t need him talking to her. She just needed him there so she could eventually break his hand.

He looked around for a chair and spotted one. He hooked it with his bad leg and pulled it closer, then sat right next to the bed without letting go of her hand. She turned her head to look at him and smiled, her big eyes bright but still scared. “Thank you for coming, David. I just got so scared when they couldn’t get Elliot on the phone.”

“I know. And we just missed him by about half an hour. It was just … bad luck.”

She nodded. “He’s … he’s at work, right? He’s not … somewhere else?”

David felt so sick it took him a full twenty seconds to catch on to what she was asking. “He’s … no, he’s at work. What … what are you saying?”

Tears rose up and Janet covered her eyes with her free hand. “I don’t know. I just … I don’t know.”

“Hey, Janet. Trust me. He’s out at River Run, I swear my life on it. He’s not … he’s never going to cheat on you, believe me.” She was nodding, still covering her eyes.  “I mean it. Don’t think like that right now, Janet.” Another nod. “As soon as he calls work they’ll tell him to get his scrawny ass over here, I promise.”

“It’s just … I don’t know what to think. I met her and that boy and … I still don’t see how he could have done what he did.”

David cleared his throat, staring down at the feet. Well, at least he didn’t feel sick anymore. 

“She’s not prettier than me … is she?” Janet turned her tear-stained face to David, and he had nowhere else to look.

“Janet, you are so beautiful. Honest to God. If you weren’t married to my friend … you don’t even know the kind of trouble you’d be in.”

She gave a laugh, which when you were sobbing usually meant you needed a tissue. He got her one with his unoccupied hand, relieved her hear her laughing.

“Stop talking like this,” he scolded her. “You’re about to have a baby, remember?”

On cue, the next contraction hit and the force with which she gripped his hand nearly crossed his eyes. That one must have hurt more, because she hollered so loud a nurse came running to check how “far along” she was, whatever the hell that meant.

“Isn’t there something she can take? Jesus, she’s really in a lot of pain.”

The nurse didn’t appreciate his help very much. “Women have been having babies since the dawn of time, sir. This is how it works.”

Janet spoke up. “It really fucking hurts.”

“If we give you drugs we have to strap you down so you don’t get hurt,” the nurse said.

Janet made a sound of frustration and David got to his feet. “Look at her. She’s hurting. Give her something!”

The nurse looked at Janet. “You specified you wanted no drugs.”

Janet was about to start crying again. “I know. But I had no idea …”

David couldn’t take it. Bad enough she was actually worrying that Elliot was off messing around, she also had this to worry about while being in the kind of pain he would never know.

“What can you give her?” He demanded.

The nurse looked at him and David knew he wasn’t making a new friend. “If she takes the Twilight Sleep injection she has to be restrained. Some people think that’s worse than the pain. I know I didn’t like it at all.”

“Twilight Sleep? What the hell’s that?”

“Morphine and scopolamine.” The nurse hated him.

David looked down at Janet, and she was staring at him like he should have an opinion. “I don’t know, Janet. It’s really up to you. Do you want them to strap you down? And morphine? That stuff scares the crap out of me. But,” he quickly backtracked, “it’s up to you.”

She frowned at that. “I … I don’t know.”

“If you try and breathe evenly and relax that should help, too.” The nurse was saying, more gently now, coming to Janet’s bedside opposite David. “When they give you the injection, it takes away the pain, but … it takes away inhibitions. Women thrash and pull at their restraints, almost like a really bad nightmare. I’ve seen some where we’ve had to restrain their legs for hours because they almost took a gurney over on themselves.”

Janet looked up at David again. He shrugged. “I don’t know, Janet. It’s up to you. I don’t know what this feels like, but that alternative doesn’t sound much better.”

Janet bit her lip, brow still furrowed, but she nodded. “Okay. Okay, I’ll just … breathe.”

“You’re sure?”

She looked up at him, still scared, but she nodded with more confidence. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

The nurse smiled at him now. “Now you have to make sure she stays calm, so you have to be calm. But I still think you’ll make a great father.”

David frowned as she left the room. “I’m not the -” but she was gone. “Everyone thinks I’m your husband.”

“Who else would sit here with a woman in labour?”

He sat back down in the chair. Janet still held his hand, and her skin felt almost like she had a fever. “You’re so warm.”

“I’m sweating like mad.”

“Women perspire,” he corrected.

“No, I’m sweating like a pig.”

There was a pitcher of water in the room. He found a glass and poured her a drink. Janet drank it very slowly before another contraction hit and he had to take the tumbler from her.

Now what? He had no idea what he should be doing. “What can I do? Can I go get you anything?”

She pointed to her bag. “I have a book in there. Can you bring it to me?”

He couldn’t believe it. “You’re going to read?” But he was still crossing the room to do as he was told.

“It relaxes me.”

He handed her a beaten-up version of Jane Eyre. He’d heard of it before, but had certainly never read it. He resumed his seat next to her, slumping to try and get comfortable.

“Is it a good book?”

She nodded. “I’ve always liked it.”

“What’s it about?”

She told him how the story starts, interrupted by another contraction, then launched in to the main plot of Jane arriving in Thornfield, and when the next contraction hit she squeezed her eyes for a bit longer, but he noticed she wasn’t breathing as heavy anymore. She was more interested in the distraction of telling him how wonderful Jane Eyre was.