NICO WATCHED AS Anna cut into the baby’s chest. He didn’t know how she did it, but he knew she had it in her. Anna had incredible inner strength. Through the ordeal with Lucas, she’d been a rock. After the airlines went on strike, he’d lost hope and had begun preparing for Lucas to die. He’d gotten ready to say goodbye. But not Anna. When one plan failed, she came up with another. His Anna would never back down from saving someone; he knew she wouldn’t have let Baby Emma die without trying to save her. No matter how hard it was.
When it was clear she didn’t need him anymore, he quietly slipped out. Maria was waiting for him in the scrub room. He hesitated for a second, unsure of what to do. Under normal circumstances, he’d greet her with a hug and kiss but after all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, seeing Maria put him off balance. As if sensing his uncertainty, she stepped back.
Taking off his mask, gloves and gown, he trashed them, then turned to her. “How did you pull this off?” The last time he’d seen this OR, the lights weren’t working.
“Tom asked the US Disaster Management Assistance Team to set up shop here when the PHS lost their field hospital.” Her eyes were bright with excitement. “You should see how these guys operate. They came with their own generators, communication systems and supplies. Oh, my god, you should see what all they brought. We have a full working hospital. Tom and I were up all night getting everyone situated.”
“Tom?”
“The governor.”
“You’re on a first-name basis with him?” He quirked a brow, wondering whether the governor was the one who had put the brilliant smile on her face. Rather than feeling jealous, he was actually happy. For days now, he felt as if he’d been ignoring Maria, wrapped up as he was in everything going on with Anna and the disaster relief efforts.
“Yeah, after he spent the night with me.” Her response was cheeky, and he smiled.
“Was he as good as they say?”
She sighed dramatically. “Even better.” Then more seriously she gave him an update on what had transpired the night before. “Ingrid died early this morning. Leo’s doing okay, but his blood pressure is high. Dr. Balachandra says he’s not critical but I have a feeling he’s not going to make it through tonight. He keeps talking about a double funeral.”
“Any word from the coroner about getting us some space?”
She shook her head. “No, and our morgue is full. I hate to do this, but I told the orderlies to start double stacking bodies.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is the governor still here?” She shook her head. Nico did not want to disrespect the dead, but it would be a while before the funeral home could come to take them away. His backup generator that kept the morgue cool would only last one more day. They needed more propane. Hopefully the incoming relief organizations would have some he could use but he knew they usually brought just enough to power their own equipment.
“And we have another problem.”
Just one?
“Mr. Cooley needs his dialysis and our machine isn’t ready yet.”
His vision was getting hazy. Maria’s lips were moving, but why wasn’t he hearing anything? Then it all went black.
* * *
ANNA CHECKED THE CLOCK. Fifty-three minutes. It was time to close. Baby Emma had survived the surgery. She hadn’t died on the table. As she stitched her chest, Anna realized something. “Dr. Balachandra.” Her eyes were glued to the little square of exposed chest and the magnifying glass that let her use the teeny tiny needle.
“Yes?”
“You stitched Lucas closed, didn’t you?”
She had manually massaged Lucas’s heart, fruitlessly, until a team of nurses gently took her away. But Dr. Balachandra had done more than just pronounce her baby.
“Yes, I did.” He said matter-of-factly.
“Thank you.”
She finished the sutures and nodded to Dr. Tucker, who began bringing the baby out of anesthesia. They’d already successfully restarted her heart, now it was a matter of giving her some time, then turning off the ventilator, letting the baby breathe on her own and watching her for a couple of days to make sure she didn’t get an infection. While the OR had been adequate to do the surgery, it wasn’t perfect. In the urgency to get it set up, only the critical pieces had been sterilized. Ideally, the whole room was supposed to be prepared to create as clean an environment as possible. Anna reminded herself that she’d assisted surgeons who cut people open in tents with dust blowing around them. Sometimes it was not about doing it perfectly, but about getting it done.
Nico had left at some point, but while the nurses wheeled the breathing baby to the NICU that had been prepared just for her, Anna searched the corridor for him. She found Maria instead.
“He collapsed,” the other woman said without preamble.
Before Anna could even process the words, Maria put a hand on her shoulder. “There are doctors here from the DMAT who are taking care of him.”
“He’s in shock. There’s a wound on his abdomen. It’s probably infected, he—”
Maria was nodding. “They found it, they’re taking care of him. Nothing for us to do.”
Anna bit her lip. This is my fault. He wouldn’t have been out there if it hadn’t been for her. She’d been too self-absorbed to take care of him properly last night. And then instead of getting him medical attention when they’d arrived at the hospital, she had asked him to stay with her, to give her courage to do the surgery. How could she have been so selfish?
“I’m so sorry.”
Maria stared at her. “What for? He cut himself saving Tito from the car.”
Anna wanted to fess up to Maria, explain the whole situation, but somehow felt it wasn’t her place. Nico had come for her; he needed to tell Maria what had happened. “I’d better go check on Emma. Where is Nico?”
“In the ICU.”
Anna didn’t need to hear any more. Dr. Tucker had gone to the NICU with the baby; she’d be fine for a few more minutes. She went straight to the ICU instead. It looked very different from when she’d been here a few days ago. She introduced herself to the physician in charge who was also a captain in the PHS. He was one of the new arrivals.
“Your husband is critical. We gave him a blood transfusion, repaired the laceration and started him on a course of antibiotics, but his pressure is still low.”
“Have you given him vasopressors?”
The man nodded. “We have no idea how far the infection’s spread. We need to give the antibiotics time to work, then see where we stand.”
Anna knew all this already, but somehow she needed to hear it from someone else. She scrubbed her hands, put on a new mask and went to Nico’s room. He was unconscious, a ventilator breathing for him through a tube. His pulse was strong, his EKG showing no arrhythmias. That was a positive sign.
“Nico.” She went to his side and squeezed his hand. Tears fell down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” He’d held it together for her. She sat with him until a knock on the door reminded her that she was on the job. Exiting, she came face-to-face with Maria again.
Maria gave her a hug and Anna returned the gesture. The two women sobbed uncontrollably, holding each other up.
“I can’t do this without him.” Was it her or Maria who said the words?
“Dr. Atao?”
She looked up to see one of the nurses standing there. “You need to come with me. Emma has crashed.”