Chương 5
“Ethan.”
He stopped.
Claire watched the muscles in his back tighten.
Victoria descended one step.
“Your father can drive me and Madison.”
Ethan did not turn around.
“That’s fine.”
“We’ll meet you there.”
Claire’s stomach hardened.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Lena leaned closer.
“What?”
Claire kept her eyes on Ethan.
“I don’t want them there.”
Victoria’s face changed before Ethan’s did.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Claire looked at Lena.
“I don’t want visitors unless I approve them.”
Lena nodded without hesitation.
“You can tell the hospital that when we arrive.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“I hear you.”
Victoria descended another step.
“Claire, this is childish.”
Ethan turned then.
“Mom.”
“She is excluding the grandparents of her own children because she’s angry.”
“She is in an ambulance.”
“She’s perfectly capable of punishing people while lying down.”
Richard appeared behind Victoria.
“Enough.”
Victoria spun toward him.
“Do not start.”
Richard came down the steps more slowly.
He looked older outside.
The sunlight showed the red veins around his nose and the uneven gray at his temples.
“I said enough.”
Victoria’s voice dropped.
“So now everyone is against me.”
“No one said that.”
“You don’t have to.”
Madison emerged carrying only her handbag.
The shopping bags had been left inside.
She stopped beside Richard.
“I’m not going to the hospital unless Claire asks me.”
Victoria stared at her daughter.
“You too?”
Madison shrugged, but her eyes were wet.
“It seems pretty clear.”
Claire turned her head toward the ambulance doors.
She had no energy left for Victoria’s astonishment.
Joel and Lena lifted the stretcher into the ambulance.
The ceiling suddenly seemed too low and too bright.
There were cabinets everywhere, straps, plastic packaging, equipment Claire recognized only by shape.
Lena climbed in beside her.
Ethan appeared at the doors.
Claire looked at him.
He looked as though he wanted permission.
She did not give it.
Joel pointed toward the front.
“Passenger seat.”
Ethan nodded and disappeared around the side.
The doors shut.
The argument outside vanished instantly.
The quiet inside lasted only a second before the engine started.
Lena attached another blood-pressure cuff and clipped a monitor to Claire’s finger.
The ambulance began moving.
Claire watched the numbers appear on the small display.
She had always hated medical monitors.
The numbers looked too certain for things happening inside a human body.
“Your headache still there?”
“Yes.”
“Same or worse?”
“Same.”
“Any pain under your ribs?”
Claire hesitated.
“Right side?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe.”
“Tell me what maybe means.”
“I thought the babies were pushing.”
“Could be pressure from pregnancy.”
Lena’s tone remained even.
“Could be something we need to know about.”
Claire pressed her fingertips beneath her ribs.
“It started this morning.”
Lena wrote something down.
“Did you call your doctor?”
“I went for labs.”
“After that?”
“I came home.”
“Were you told to wait for results?”
“Yes.”
Claire shut her eyes.
“I fell asleep.”
“Nothing wrong with falling asleep.”
“My phone was upstairs charging.”
Lena nodded.
“Okay.”
Claire opened her eyes again.
“Is this preeclampsia?”
Lena did not pretend not to understand the question.
“The hospital needs to evaluate you.”
“That sounds like yes.”
“It sounds like I’m not diagnosing you in an ambulance.”
Claire looked toward the small front window separating the cab.
She could see the side of Ethan’s head.
He sat rigidly in the passenger seat.
“Can he hear us?”
“Some of it.”
“I don’t want him answering for me.”
“He won’t.”
Claire looked at Lena.
“You say that very confidently.”
“I’m standing closer.”
The answer was so dry that Claire smiled despite herself.
The smile vanished when another contraction began.
Lena saw it before Claire spoke.
“Here we go.”
Claire gripped the stretcher rail.
The ambulance slowed at an intersection.
The siren changed pitch.
Claire focused on the screws in the ceiling panel.
There were six visible from where she lay.
One was slightly rusted.
She counted them twice.
Lena checked the time.
“About two and a half minutes.”
Claire breathed through clenched teeth.
“Don’t tell me to breathe.”
Lena nodded.
“Fair.”
“Sorry.”
“Also unnecessary.”
The contraction intensified.
Claire’s eyes watered.
She hated that more than the pain.
Tears made everyone around her behave differently.
They softened or panicked or began lying.
She wanted information.
“Tell me what you’re worried about.”
Lena watched her for a second.
“High blood pressure, the lab results your doctor called about, your headache, the visual changes, the right-sided pain, and active labor with twins.”
“That’s a lot.”
“It is.”
“Could the babies be in danger?”
“They’re going to assess them immediately.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Lena’s voice remained gentle.
Claire stared at her.
“No, they’re not in danger?”
“No, I can’t tell you they aren’t.”
Claire looked away.
The contraction loosened.
She heard a muffled sound from the front.
Ethan speaking.
Then the driver answered.
Claire could not make out either sentence.
“Can my husband be with me in labor?”
“That depends on the hospital and what happens when you arrive.”
“I mean can I decide?”
“Yes.”
Claire swallowed.
“If I tell them I don’t want him there?”
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than she expected.
For months, she had imagined Ethan beside her.
They had taken the hospital class together.
He had made fun of the plastic pelvis model until the instructor gave him a look.
He had practiced counterpressure on her lower back in their living room while a football game played silently on television.
He had packed protein bars for himself in the hospital bag because he said he could not support anyone on vending-machine crackers.
Two nights ago he had placed the infant car seats by the garage door and checked their installation videos three times.
Claire had loved him then.
She still did.
That was the part nobody explained about betrayal.
Love did not politely evacuate when it became inconvenient.
It stayed and made everything worse.
Lena checked the blood pressure again.
May you like
The reading was lower than before but still high.
Claire watched the streets passing through the small rear windows.
