Twelve

Restless, Steve paced the corridor of the maternity ward in Overlake Hospital, his hands stuffed inside his pants pockets. He felt as though he were carrying the world on his shoulders. Each passing minute tightened the knot in his stomach until he was consumed with worry and dread.

He wanted to see Carol—he longed to talk to her—but there wasn’t anything more for him to say. He’d done what he could for her, and by rights he should leave. But he couldn’t walk away from her. Not now. Not when she needed him.

Not knowing what else to do, he found a pay phone and contacted his sister.

“Lindy, it’s Steve.”

“Steve, how are you? I’m so glad you phoned. I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”

She sounded so pleased to hear from him, and he swallowed down his guilt for the way he’d treated her. He’d been rude and unreasonable when she’d only been showing concern for him.

“I’m fine,” he said hurriedly. “Listen, I’m at Overlake Hospital …”

“You’re at the hospital? You’re fine, but you’re at Overlake? Good God, what happened? I knew it, I just knew something like this was going to happen. I felt it …”

“Lindy, shut up for a minute, would you?”

“No, I won’t shut up—I’m family, Steve Kyle. Family. If you can’t come to me when you’re hurting, just who can you go to? You seem to think I’m too young to know anything about emotional pain, but you’re wrong. When Paul dumped me it wasn’t any Sunday-school picnic.”

“I’m not the one in need of medical attention—it’s Carol.”

“Carol!” His blurted announcement seemed to sweep away all his sister’s pent-up frustration. “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t exactly know; the doctor’s still with her. I think she might be losing the baby. She needs a woman—I’m the last person who should be here. I didn’t know who else to call. Can you come?”

“Of course. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

It seemed as though no more than a couple of minutes had passed before Lindy came rushing down the hall. He stood at the sight of her, immensely grateful. Relief washed over him and he wrapped his arms around her.

“The doctor hasn’t come out yet,” he explained before she could ask. He released her and checked his watch. “It’s been over an hour now.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure. Carol started having some kind of abdominal pains. I phoned her gynecologist, and after I explained what was happening, he suggested we meet him here.”

“You said you thought Carol might be having a miscarriage?”

“Good Lord, I don’t know anything about this woman stuff. All I can tell you is that she was in agony. I did the only thing I could—I got her here.” The ten minutes it took to get Carol to the emergency room had been emotionally draining. She was terrified of losing the baby and had wept almost uncontrollably. Through her sobs she’d told him how much she wanted her baby and how this pregnancy would be her only opportunity. Little of what she’d said had made sense to Steve. He’d tried to find the words to assure her, but he hadn’t really known what to say.

Just then Steve noticed Carol’s physician, Dr. Stewart, push open the swinging door and walk toward the waiting area. He met him halfway.

“How is she?” he asked, his heart in his throat.

The gynecologist rubbed his hand down the side of his jaw and shook his head. His frown crowded his brows together. “She’s as good as can be expected.”

“The baby?”

“The pregnancy is progressing nicely … thus far.”

Although the child wasn’t his and Carol had tried to trick him into believing otherwise, Steve still felt greatly relieved knowing that her baby wasn’t in any immediate danger.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting so long, but quite frankly Carol’s symptoms had me stumped. It’s unusual for someone her age to suffer from this sort of problem.”

“What problem?” Lindy blurted out.

“Gall bladder.”

“Gall bladder,” Steve repeated, frowning. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly hadn’t been that.

“She tells me she’s been suffering from flulike symptoms, which she accepted as morning sickness. There wasn’t any reason for either of us to assume otherwise. Some of her other discomforts can be easily misinterpreted as well.

“The most serious threat at the moment is that she’s dangerously close to being dehydrated. Predictably that has prompted other health risks.”

“What do you mean?” Lindy asked.

“Her sodium and potassium levels have dropped and her heart rate is erratic. I’ve started an IV and that problem should take care of itself within a matter of hours.”

“What’s going to happen?”

Once more, Dr. Stewart ran a hand down the side of his face and shook his head. His kind eyes revealed his concern. “I’ve called in a surgeon friend of mine, and we’re going to do a few more preliminary tests. But from what I’m seeing at this point, I don’t think we can put off operating. Her gall bladder appears to be acutely swollen and is causing an obstruction.”

“If you do the surgery, what will happen to the baby?” For Carol’s sake, Steve prayed for the tiny life she was carrying.

Dr. Stewart’s sober expression turned grim. “There’s always a risk to the pregnancy when anesthesia is involved. I’d like to delay this, but I doubt that we can. Under normal conditions gall-bladder surgery can be scheduled at a patient’s convenience, but not in Carol’s case, I fear. But I want you to know, we’ll do everything I can to save the child.”

“Please try.” Carol had looked at him with such terror and helplessness that he couldn’t help being affected. He would do everything humanly possible to see that she carried this child to full term.

“Please do what you can.” Lindy added her own plea. “This child means a great deal to her.”

Dr. Stewart nodded. “Carol’s sleeping now, but you can see her for a couple of minutes, if you’d like. One at a time.”

Steve looked to Lindy, who gestured for him to go in first. He smiled his appreciation and followed the grandfatherly doctor into Carol’s room.

As Dr. Stewart had explained, she was sleeping soundly. She looked incredibly fragile with tubes stretching down from an IV pole to connect with the veins in her arm.

Steve stood beside her for several minutes, loving her completely. Emotion clogged his throat and he turned away. He loved her; he always would. No matter what had happened in the past, he couldn’t imagine a future without Carol.

“How is she?” Lindy asked when he came out of the room.

He found he couldn’t answer her with anything more than a short nod.

Lindy disappeared and returned five minutes later. By then Steve had had a chance to form a plan of action, and he felt better for it.

As Lindy stepped toward him, he held her gaze with newfound determination. He and Carol were both fools if they thought they could stay apart. It wasn’t going to work. Without Carol he was only half-alive. And she’d admitted how miserable she’d been during their year’s separation.

“I’m going to marry her,” Steve informed his sister brusquely.

“What?” Lindy looked at him as though she’d misheard him.

“I’m going to get the chaplain to come to the hospital, and I’m going to marry Carol.”

Lindy studied him for several moments. “Don’t you think she should have some say in this?”

“Yes … no.”

“But I thought … Carol told me you didn’t believe the baby is yours.”

“It isn’t.”

Lindy rolled her eyes, then shook her head, her features tight with impatience. “That is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said. Honestly, Steve, where do you come up with these crazy ideas?”

“What idea? That the baby isn’t mine, or remarrying Carol?”

“Both!”

“Whether or not I’m the father doesn’t make one bit of difference. I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. From here on out, I’m claiming her child as mine.”

“But …”

“I don’t care. I love Carol and I’ll learn to love her baby. That’s the end of it.” Once the decision had been made, it felt right. The two of them had played a fool’s game for over a year, but no more—he wouldn’t stand for it. “I’m not going to put up with any arguments from you or from Carol. I want her as my wife—we were wrong ever to have gone through with the divorce. All I’m doing now is correcting a mistake that should never have happened,” he told his sister in a voice that men jumped to obey.

Lindy took a moment to digest his words. “Don’t you think you should discuss this in a rational matter with Carol? Don’t you think she should have some input into her own life?”

“I suppose. But she needs me—although she isn’t likely to admit it.”

“You’ve had just as difficult a time recognizing that fact yourself.”

“Not anymore.”

“When do you plan to tell her?”

Steve didn’t know. He’d only reached this conclusion in the last five minutes, but already he felt in control of his life again.

“Well?” his sister pressed.

“I haven’t figured out when…. Before the surgery, I think, if it can be arranged.”

“Steve, you’re not thinking clearly. Carol isn’t going to want to be married sitting in a hospital bed, looking all sickly and pale.”

“The sooner we get this settled the better.”

“For whom?” Lindy prompted.

“For both of us.”

Lindy threw up her hands. “Sometimes the things you say utterly shock me.”

“They do?” Steve didn’t care—he felt as if he could float out of the hospital, he was so relieved. Carol would probably come through the surgery with flying colors and everything would fall into place the way it should have long ago. This had certainly been a crazy day. He’d bought a sterling silver rattle, followed Carol around a shopping mall like an FBI agent, driven her to the hospital, then made a decision that would go a long way toward assuring their happy future. Steve sighed deeply, feeling suddenly weary.

“Is there any other bombshell you’d care to hit me with?” Lindy asked teasingly.

Steve paused and then surprised her by nodding. Some of the happiness he’d experienced earlier vanished. There was one other decision he’d made—one not as pleasant but equally necessary.

“Should I sit down for this one?” Lindy asked, still grinning. She slipped her arm around his waist and looked up at him.

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense, big brother.”

Steve regarded her soberly. “I’m leaving the Navy.”