Summer Sunsets (29 page)

“
Skye?” Bending close, I
stroke her face, and she flinches. “You okay?”

“
Yeah,” she manages, curling
into a ball, which is kind of weird for Skye. She tends to take up
as much of the bed as possible when she sleeps—and I won’t even
talk about what she does with covers.

“
So what are you doing in
bed this early?” I brush the hair from around her face, and that’s
when I realize she’s sweating. “And why are you wrapping yourself
in this blanket? You’re burning up.”

“
I don’t…feel well. My
stomach is bothering me.”

At the sound of her words,
my back and shoulders tense. “What do you mean?”

She winces, and I recognize
for the first time the level of her discomfort. “It keeps cramping
up.”

“
Do you think something
could be wrong?” I ask, mentally calculating the days left until
the baby is due—thirty. She can’t possibly be going into labor
early, can she?

“
I think maybe I just ate
something I shouldn’t have, and it’s making me feel sick.” She
pulls the blanket off, probably finally feeling the effects of the
warmth.

“
Let me turn on the light so
I can get a look at you.” I know she’ll probably argue, so I just
lean over the nightstand and turn on the lamp. As the bulb glows to
life, I turn my attention to Skye, and while I’m not expecting her
to look great, but she’s a lot paler than I’d like, and the sweat
glossing her skin doesn’t do much to make me feel any
better.

“
Okay, maybe it is food
poisoning, but I think we need to get you to the hospital and make
sure.”

She closes her eyes. “I’d
rather just stay here. The cramping is bad.”

I nod. “Yeah, I get that.
Don’t worry about walking. I’ve got you covered.” I finish throwing
back the blanket, slip my arms beneath her body, and carry her.
Granted, the baby has made her a little heavier, but it’s nothing I
can handle.

While I’m thinking Skye
will probably fight me on this—her stubborn streak tends to go on
forever—she rests her head against my chest and closes her eyes,
yet another reasons to be concerned because if she’s too tired to
show her true nature, something is going on.

Luckily, my keys are in my
pants pocket, so all I have to do is lock the door and trudge down
the stairs. Once I’ve set her inside the Jeep, I start the brief
drive to the emergency room.

Glancing at my watch, I see
it’s only a little before six, and while I think about calling
Helen and Warren, I decide against it, at least until I know what
we’re dealing with. I know they’re both going to have a million
questions, and I’d rather have answers than not.

I park and start to pick
Skye up, but she shakes her head. “I’ll walk this time.” She gets
out of the Jeep on shaky legs, and I hover nearby, worried she’s
going to pass out. Food poisoning, hell. This is something else
entirely.

“
You sure?”

“
Yeah.”

Unconvinced, I slip my arm
around her for my own peace of mind, and we make our way to the
entrance. Once inside, we head to the triage desk, and as I look
around, I’m grateful there are only a handful of people because
that will mean Skye gets seen soon.

“
May I help you?” a
mid-twenties woman with a badge that reads “Gloria”
asks.

I nod towards Skye. “My
wife is thirty-six weeks pregnant, and she’s feeling sick, almost
like she has food poisoning. Her stomach is cramping. I want to
make sure she’s okay.”

Gloria nods and shoves a
clipboard, at me. “Here. Fill these out and come back to the desk
when you’re done.”

“
Thank you.” I take the
clipboard and we head toward the rows of metal chairs. Although I’m
anything but grateful for the delay, I did expect to get paperwork
shoved at me, and I scramble through filling it out as best I can
as Skye rests her head on my shoulder, half-dozing as her hands
clutch her stomach.

When I finish filling out
the paperwork, I ease from under Skye, waking her as gently as
possible, and take the clipboard back to the desk. Gloria is typing
as I approach, and it’s only when I clear my throat she finally
turns and reaches for the paperwork without meeting my
eyes.

“
Have a seat, and as soon as
a doctor is free, we’ll get your wife back to an examination
room.”

“
Thank you.” I shove my
hands into my pockets and go back to where Skye sits, but before I
can even get there, I see Skye sit up straight, her mouth gaping,
and I don’t understand.

“
Skye? What’s wrong?” I
hasten my steps.

She blinks a couple of
times and looks down as water seeps from her jeans. “I think my
water broke.”

In that instant, it seems
everyone is watching us, and I don’t have to say anything to get a
doctor. The nurses appear quickly around Skye, buzzing with
questions as I step back and watch them quickly load her onto a
wheelchair. Yet instead of going into one of the emergency exam
rooms, they wheel her a different direction.

“
Wait. Where are you taking
her?” I ask, following.

“
Labor and
Delivery.”

My mind is spinning. “She’s
not due for another four weeks.” I’m still trying to figure out
what’s going to happen now that her water has broken.

“
It doesn’t matter when she
was due. Once the water breaks, that baby is coming out. She needs
to go upstairs now.” The nurse stops the wheelchair in front of an
elevator and punches the button.

For a few seconds, I just
stand there in complete shock, trying to take all this in. “But
what does that mean for our baby?” My heart is ramming in my chest,
and I can barely breathe.

“
I can’t say. All I know is
that your doctor will be called, and you’re going to be a daddy
today, not four weeks from now.” The nurse looks at Skye and frowns
at her pale face. “You okay, honey?”

“
My stomach
hurts.”

“
I know. We’ll get you to
labor and delivery so your doctor can take a look at you.” The
elevator doors open, and we all slip inside. As the car starts
moving, I lean against the paneled wall, grateful to have something
to support me because right now my world is spinning out of
control, and I know I’m not ready for this, it’s not because I’m
not ready to be a father—I’m ready for that—but seeing Skye like
this terrifies me. I can’t stand for her to be in this kind of
pain, and thinking about what’s going on with our baby only makes
it all so much worse.

What if Skye actually loses
the baby? She’ll never get over that. Once again, I think about
calling Helen and Warren as well as my parents, but as I reach for
the cell, I realize I still don’t have anything to tell them.
They’re going to ask me a million questions I can’t
answer.

The elevator doors slip
open at the second floor, and the nurse checks to make sure the
hall is clear before wheeling Skye out and heading for the nurses’
desk ahead.

“
What have we got, Sally?”
another nurse asks, coming to meet her.

“
A twenty-three-year-old
woman at thirty-six weeks. She came in with complaints of abdominal
pain, and her water just broke.”

The other nurse nods
wearily. “There’s something in the water. We have twenty other
women right now. Put her in four. It’s the last one we have
open.”

Sally nods. “Will
do.”

Then the other nurse
leaves, and I keep following Sally into a small room with one chair
and a bed. As the wheelchair rolls to a stop, Skye starts to get
up, but Sally quickly sets her hand on Skye’s shoulder.

“
Easy there. Just stay
sitting for a second.”

Skye grimaces, and I can
tell the pain is doing a number on her. Her breathing is shallow,
and she’s sweating profusely. Sally takes one look at her and opens
a cabinet to pull out a hospital gown she snaps together before
handing to Skye.

“
Do you need some help
getting this on?” Sally asks.

“
I’ll help,” I say, standing
and hedging toward Skye.

Sally nods and heads for
the door. “All right, then. One of the nurses will be right in to
examine you.” She points to the counter. “And I left a couple of
towels there, too.”

I wait until she leaves
before I step over and take the gown. “All right, Skye, let’s get
you out of those clothes.”

“
You were just looking for a
reason to get me naked,” she retorts, tugging the garments off and
handing them to me so I can fold them into a pile.

“
Of course I was. You know
me far too well.” As I slip the gown over her head, I see her hunch
over.

“
What is it?” I
ask.

She waits for a moment,
probably so the contraction will pass. “Nobody ever told me going
into labor meant living with menstrual cramps from
hell.”

“
Having no experience
whatsoever, don’t look at me,” I say, guiding her to the bed so she
can wipe away the wetness as I sit beside her. Her motions are slow
and erratic, probably because of the pain she’s feeling, and I
wonder if they’ll give her something to take the edge
off.

The door slowly opens, and
another nurse, blonde this time, comes in, Skye’s chart in hand.
“So, Ms. Williams, it sounds like you are about ready to deliver.
I’m going to check to see how dilated you are, and since the water
has broken, insert an internal monitor which will let us know
what’s going on with the contractions, okay?”

“
Yeah.” She turns to me.
“Could you call Mom and Warren for me?”

“
Of course. I bend and kiss
her forehead. “I’ll just go outside and make the call.”

Skye grabs my hand and
offers me a smile. “I love you. You know that, right?”

“
Of course.” I squeeze her
hand. “And I love you, too.” Although she’s in pain, Skye’s eyes
are bright, brimming with the same fear running through
me.

I bend low and whisper in
her ear. “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry.” I kiss her again before
slipping out. As the door closes, I feel my shoulders sag beneath
the weight of everything, and I take a moment to catch my breath
and try not to let everything sink in too deeply. If I start
analyzing, I won’t be able to stop, and Skye needs me with a clear
head.

There’s a bench to my left,
and I ease down on it and pull out my cell. The phone rings twice
before Warren answers, and all the things I’m dreading to say form
in my mind.

“
Hey, Warren, this is Devin.
We’re at the hospital. Skye’s water broken. She’s going to have the
baby today.” I pause for a second, waiting. There’ll be a million
questions, and I hope I can handle them.

“
Isn’t this a little
soon?”

“
Yeah. She’s four weeks
early. I haven’t spoken to Dr. Klein yet, but I’m sure they’ll be
calling him in if they haven’t already.”

Another lengthy pause.
Warren’s trying to stay calm, but he feels the panic just as well
as I do. “How is Skye?”

“
In pain. She didn’t even
know she was in labor. She thought she had food poisoning or
something.”

At a different time, I’d be
laughing about that, and so would Skye, but right now we’re all
trying to grasp what this is going to mean.

“
Hang in there, Devin. Helen
and I will be there as quickly as we can.” Despite trying to keep
his tone even, I can hear the panic.

I swallow hard. “I will,
Warren. And I’ll tell Skye you’re on your way.” Snapping the phone
shut, I peer at the door, and figure I’ll stay here just a couple
of minutes more to give the nurse time to finish the examination.
It’s only when the door slowly opens I stand.

“
How far along is
she?”

“
At a six. It won’t be
long.”

I grit my teeth, knowing
this can’t be good, that the baby isn’t ready. “But if the baby is
early, won’t that cause problems?”

“
I can’t really tell you,
but I’m calling Dr. Klein right now. Whenever he comes up, I’m sure
he’ll be glad to talk to you about it.”

“
Thanks.”

She nods. “You’re welcome,
and by the way, she’s asking for you.” Brushing past, she heads
back to the nurses’ desk, carrying the clipboard.

I thrust my hand through my
hair and jerk the top button of my shirt loose so it’ll be easier
to breathe. Have I ever mentioned I hate hospitals—especially this
one, which is where she was brought after the pills that they
almost didn’t pump out in time. I know this hospital should mean
something else, like the birth of our first child, but when I’m
looking at the fact she’s way early going into labor, it’s hard.
God, it’s hard.

I force myself to stop
thinking along those lines, knowing it’s not going to help anyone,
least of all Skye. Instead, I edge back into the room where Skye
has turned onto one side, her eyes tightly closed. I’m not sure she
hears me approach. Is she sleeping?

Not sure what to do, I sink
into the one chair in the room and lean back. As my weight settles,
the chair squeaks, and Skye opens her eyes, seeking out my
face.