Time for Love , The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 9 Page 28

  “He’s awfully cute,” Daisy said. “Is it serious between them?”

  “Apparently, she’s just using him for sex.”

  “Seriously?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “I can’t believe she told you that.”

  “She tells me everything, much to my dismay.”

  “She loves you.”

  “She drives me crazy, but I couldn’t function without her.”

  Daisy turned so David could see Hailey’s face. “Still awake?”

  “Just barely. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve almost got her.”

  Joe came up the stairs and seemed momentarily surprised to see them, but then he recovered. “Hey, guys. How’s it going?”

  “Good,” David said, shaking the hand Joe offered him. “How’s Janey feeling?”

  “Not bad. She’s taking a nap upstairs right now so she’ll be ready when the newlyweds get here. I figured I should wake her up so I can get her downstairs in time.”

  “Is she managing to stay off her feet?”

  “Yes, but with much bitching and complaining,” Joe said, grinning.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “Off I go to get her up.”

  David watched him go with a wistful expression on his face.

  “Are you okay?” Daisy asked.

  “Sure. I’m great.”

  “It’s not a crime to admit that it can be difficult to know she belongs to someone else now.”

  “You don’t want to hear me say that, because it might make you think I’m not thrilled to belong to you now. When I am. Thrilled, that is. To belong to you.”

  “Oh, well, that’s nice to hear.”

  He leaned against the rail that framed the deck. “At times, it’s difficult when the past comes back to smack me in the face, but I haven’t had the urge to go back in time in quite a few weeks now. Rather,” he said, dragging a finger lightly along her forearm, “I find myself looking forward to the future for the first time in a very long time.”

  She was still smiling at him when Maddie returned to claim Hailey, who was now asleep.

  “I don’t know how you do it,” Maddie said as she took the baby from Daisy. “Every time, she gets the unsleepable baby to go to sleep.”

  “She doesn’t look unsleepable to me,” David said with a wink for Daisy.

  “What can I say?” Daisy said, shaking her numb arms back to life. “It’s my special gift.”

  A shout from inside caught their attention.

  “David! David, come quick!” The frantic tone of Joe’s cries had David running inside. “Janey won’t wake up. She won’t wake up!”

  “Call 911,” David said to Owen as he charged past him up the stairs.

  Wild-eyed, Joe grabbed David’s arm and pulled him into the guestroom. “She won’t wake up.”

  Janey’s blonde hair was spread on the pillow. Her face was pale and her lips nearly white.

  As his own heart beat wildly, David checked for a pulse and was relieved to feel the rapid cadence of her heart under his fingers. Her pulse was faster than it should be, he thought, leaning in close to feel the whisper of her breath against his face. Then he pulled the covers off her and gasped at the pool of blood between her legs.

  Instinct told him to deal with Joe, and he spun around just as Joe would’ve passed out from the sight of so much blood. He directed Joe to a chair and pressed his head between his knees. “Breathe.”

  Joe drew in deep breaths mixed with sobs. “Don’t let her die, David. Please don’t let her die.”

  “She’s not going to die,” David said with more confidence than he felt. “But we’ve got to get the baby out right away.”

  Joe looked up at him. “It’s too soon!”

  “I’ll do everything I can for both of them.”

  “What can I do? I’ll do anything.”

  Mason and Victoria came running into the room.

  “Oh shit,” Victoria said when she saw Janey and the blood.

  “We need to get her to the clinic—now,” David said.

  “We can use my SUV,” Mason said. “Let’s go.”

  Joe rallied and stood, heading for the bed. “I’ve got her.” He lifted his unresponsive wife off the bed and headed for the doorway.

  David grabbed the comforter off the bed and stopped Mason before he could follow Joe down the stairs. “Drive as fast as you can. Every minute matters.”

  “Got it.”

  “I’m going with her,” David said to Victoria as they rushed down the stairs. “Be right behind us.”

  “Oh God, David,” Linda McCarthy cried as he ran through the living room. “Please take care of them.”

  “I will.”

  “Ride in front,” David said to Joe as he crawled into the back of Mason’s SUV with Janey and made use of the comforter to raise her hips to control the blood flow. Adrenaline pounded through his system as he went through the possible scenarios of what might’ve happened.

  It seemed most likely this was a case of placental abruption, which often occurred suddenly when the placenta separated from the wall of the uterus. That would explain the heavy bleeding and unresponsiveness. If it was a full abruption, the chances of the baby surviving were almost nil, and Janey’s life would be in grave danger, too.

  They were ill prepared at the clinic for an emergency of this magnitude, but they’d work with what they had. David had never performed a cesarean section on his own but had assisted in plenty of them as a resident, so he knew what to do. Whether or not he could handle any complications he encountered during the procedure remained to be seen. The thought of Janey dying on his watch was unfathomable, so he couldn’t let it happen. No matter what, he had to save her life. And the baby… Joe was right. It was too soon.

  He knocked on the window to the front of the SUV.

  Mason slid it open. “How is she?”

  “Hanging in there. Can you call for a life-flight with neonatal support? And blood. We’re going to need blood. She’s O positive.” That was one of many random things he knew about her after thirteen years with her.

  “Already done, Doc.”

  “Good.”

  “Is she going to be all right, David?” Joe asked.

  “I…I hope so.” He couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Janey wasn’t all right, so he refused to go there. He’d trained for the last decade for situations just like this one. However, being on a remote island when disaster struck hadn’t been part of the training, all of which had occurred in well-equipped, inner-city hospitals. In this case, he’d be relying on instinct as well as training. Janey’s life and the life of her baby were in his hands, and even in the midst of crisis, the irony of that wasn’t lost on him.

  He owed her one. Hell, he probably owed her far more than one. He owed her his very best, and that was what she—and her baby—would get from him.

  Victoria was right behind them when they pulled into the clinic parking lot. She flew out of her car and unlocked the emergency entrance. Mason was right behind her. They ran out a few seconds later with a gurney that they loaded Janey onto. They whisked her inside to prepare her for surgery.

  “Joe,” David said, stopping Joe from running after them. “We’re going to do a C-section and take the baby. If we don’t, we could lose them both. I need you to know… If I can’t stop the bleeding, there’s a chance I may have to perform a hysterectomy. Do you understand?”

  His face white with shock and his white shirt, arms and hands stained with blood, Joe nodded.

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on as soon as I know anything.” David started toward the double doors that led to the exam rooms.

  “David!”

  David spun around to face the man who’d once been his rival and was now his ally in wanting to save the woman they both had loved.

  “If it’s a choice, save Janey.” He choked on a sob. “Please save Janey.”

  David nodded and took off running
.

  Chapter 16

  In the procedure room, Victoria performed an ultrasound. She pointed to the screen. “Partial abruption, but bleeding out fast.”

  “That’s what I suspected,” David said. “Let’s move.”

  In a matter of seconds, they inserted a catheter, intubated her and started an IV to get anesthesia meds and fluids onboard. “How close is the chopper?” David asked Mason.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “That might be too long for the baby.” A helpless feeling stole over him when he realized they could very well lose the baby before the chopper arrived.

  “I’ll see if they can do better.”

  Victoria swabbed iodine over Janey’s distended belly. “Have you done this before?” she asked, her eyes serious and focused on the patient.

  “Not by myself.”

  “Jesus, David.”

  They took time they didn’t have to scrub and gown up, since the last thing Janey needed on top of everything else was a raging infection.

  Mason returned to the room. “They’re twelve minutes out.”

  “Better. Go to my office. Top drawer of the filing cabinet there’s a consent-for-treatment form. Get Joe to sign it.”

  “It’s not required in an emergency,” Victoria reminded him.

  “I want it,” David said, without including the words just in case.

  “I’m on it,” Mason said.

  Fortunately, a recent blood drive on the island had given them enough on hand to get her through the surgery. If there were no complications, they’d be okay, so he had to see to it there were no complications.

  “Has it been long enough to ensure proper sedation?”

  “I don’t know,” David said, desperately trying to remember the details of his anesthesia rotation. “But we’re out of time. Let’s do it. You’re on the baby. I’ve got Janey. Ready?”

  Victoria nodded, her brown eyes huge over the top of her mask.

  David dragged the scalpel across Janey’s lower abdomen, silently talking himself through the procedure he’d seen done dozens of times. He recited the steps in his mind the way he would have when questioned by an attending physician during residency: Cut skin, cut fascia, separate muscle, cut peritoneum, watch the bladder, cut uterus, deliver baby, clamp and cut cord, retrieve placenta, sew uterus, administer Pitocin and push fluid fast, ensure patient is stabilized, when stable, close the abdomen in reverse order of entry.

  He knew all the steps. However, reciting and doing were two different things, especially when the patient on the table had owned his heart for most of his adult life.

  With the incisions completed, they moved very quickly to deliver Janey’s son, to cut the cord and to repair her uterus. David worked with laser focus to remove the placenta and manage the blood loss.

  In addition to helping David with suctioning blood from the Janey’s uterus, Mason kept a watch on her vital signs. “BP is 80 over 50.”

  Too goddamned low, David thought as he worked faster.

  The roar of the chopper landing on the helo-pad in the parking lot gave a measure of relief that help had arrived for the baby. But Janey couldn’t be transported until he got the bleeding under control.

  David lost track of time as his entire world was reduced to the task at hand. Sweat dampened his brow and his fingers and neck cramped, but he remained focused on the effort to save Janey’s uterus and preserve her fertility.

  “How’s the baby?” he asked Mason.

  “Haven’t heard anything. They took him to the chopper.”

  “At least they’ve got the right equipment.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Was he breathing?”

  “I don’t know.”

  David said a silent prayer for the baby and for Janey, and kept working.

  Victoria returned to the procedure room. “How is she?”

  “Hanging in. The baby?”

  “Same. He’s a fighter. Four pounds, six ounces. They’ve got him tubed and warmed in the chopper. Joe is with him.”

  “Good. How long has it been?”

  “Almost forty minutes.”

  To him, it felt like hours had passed.

  “The doc on the chopper wants to know if you need help.”

  “I think I’ve got this, so I’d rather he stay with the baby.”

  “Joe and her parents are going crazy wanting to know how she is. Can I give them an update?”

  “Tell him she’s stable but not quite out of the woods yet.”

  “Be right back.”

  David kept working, kept stitching, kept praying.

  “I think you’re winning the war, Doc,” Mason said. “The bleeding has definitely slowed, and her BP is coming up.”

  David had noticed the same thing, but it wasn’t time to celebrate yet. They had a long way to go before there’d be anything to celebrate.

  *

  A subdued crowd was left at Mac and Maddie’s house after Janey was whisked away. Mac had taken his parents to the clinic, and Grant, Evan and Adam had followed in Adam’s car. Stephanie, Grace and Abby opted to stay at Mac and Maddie’s so as not to overwhelm the clinic’s small waiting room and because Tiffany was their close friend.

  “I…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do right now,” Maddie said. “I want to be there for Janey and Joe—and Mac, but Tiffany…her wedding. She’ll be here any minute, and we have to pretend everything is all right because they deserve this day.”

  “She wouldn’t expect you to pretend everything is okay,” Daisy said. “She’ll understand there’s been an emergency.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re right.”

  “Hey,” Grace said. “They’re here.”

  Daisy stood back to watch Tiffany and Blaine come in, glowing with happiness that was dampened when they heard about what’d happened to Janey.

  “You need to get over there,” Tiffany said to her sister. “You need to be with Mac.” To Grace, Abby and Stephanie, she said, “All of you need to be there. They’re your family.”

  “I’ll stay with the kids,” Daisy said. “Go to her.”

  “Thanks, Daisy,” Maddie said. “That’d be a huge help. Are you sure you don’t mind, Tiffany?”

  “Of course I don’t mind. This is no time for a party.”

  “Now that ain’t necessarily true,” Ned said from where he stood inside the front door. “As much as we’d all like ta, we can’t go stormin’ the clinic and creatin’ a scene. That t’aint what Janey or Doctor David needs. Her family is with her, and the best thing the rest of us can do is stay here and eat all this food ya got and celebrate the newlyweds. I know my girl Janey,” he said, his voice faltering, “and she’d hate ta be the reason yer wedding got messed up.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right having a party while Janey is fighting for her life,” Tiffany said.

  “Ned’s right, honey,” Blaine said. “There’s nothing we can do for Janey and her baby except pray, so we may as well stay here and keep each other company until we know more.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Tiffany said. Turning to Maddie, she added, “Go be with Mac.”

  Maddie hugged Tiffany. “I’m sorry to bail on you, today of all days.”

  “You’re not bailing on me. He’s your family now. He needs you more than I do.”

  Maddie gave her a final squeeze. “Love you, and I’m so happy for you.”

  “I’ll want to hear the second you know anything.”

  “We’ll call when we hear.”

  After Maddie and the others ran out the door, Tiffany turned to Daisy and Blaine. “I’m so worried about Janey and the baby. I can’t even think about what Joe must be going through. And her parents…”

  Blaine put his arm around her and kissed her forehead.

  “Congratulations,” Daisy said with a smile. “I heard it was a lovely ceremony.”

  “It was,” Tiffany said, her eyes watering. “But this…”

  “It’s a terrible turn of events on such
a happy day, but for what it’s worth, I think Ned is right,” Daisy said. “Janey wouldn’t want it to ruin your special day.”

  Tiffany nodded and closed her eyes, took a moment to collect herself and then looked up at Blaine. “Let’s go say hello to everyone and have something to eat. We can figure out the rest of the day as we go.”

  “Sounds like a good plan to me.” He held out his hand to her.

  Tiffany smiled at him as she curled her fingers around his.

  Their happiness was palpable and made Daisy long for the day when all her questions would be answered the way theirs had been. And then she remembered the way David had bolted out of there to take care of his ex-fiancée without a word to her before he went.

  Of course he was only doing his job, and would’ve done the same thing for anyone whose life was in immediate danger. But that it was Janey and that he’d run out without even so much as a glance in her direction made Daisy feel discarded, which in turn made her feel selfish. Janey was fighting for her life. What right did Daisy have to feel even the slightest bit jealous for the way David had reacted to Janey’s crisis?

  “You’re being a jerk,” she whispered to herself as she went upstairs to check on Hailey, who was still asleep. She wandered next door to the guestroom, where the bloody sheets were a sobering reminder of how grave the situation had been.

  They don’t need to come home to this, she thought as her hotel training kicked into gear. She stripped the bed and the pad that had saved the mattress from being ruined, gathered up all the soiled linens and put them in the washing machine with a healthy dose of bleach and detergent.

  Staying busy helped to keep her mind off the way David had run from her to tend to Janey. It kept her mind off the fact that he’d never given her a thought as he left her behind. It kept her from wondering when she might see him again. It kept her from thinking too much about what he must be going through as he tried to save the woman he’d once loved.

  *

  Frank McCarthy sat with his son Shane, daughter Laura, her fiancé Owen, his mother Sarah and Charlie Grandchamp, in a gathering of chairs on the lawn, still trying to get his head around what’d happened to his niece.

  “Have you heard anything at all from the clinic?” he asked Laura, who’d broken the news to him when he arrived after officiating at the wedding.