by Jodi Thomas
“Over here!” Sarah yelled, knowing she hadn’t the strength to help the woman stand and walk.
She fought back a cry of pain as another stabbing sensation ripped across her abdomen. “Please God, don’t let my baby die in this fire.”
She didn’t care about herself but the thought of her baby dying before breathing its first breath angered her.
“Come on!” she yelled at the old woman. “We’ve got to get out.”
“No!” The patient tried to pull back against the wall, wrapping her blanket around her as though it could protect her from the fire. “I don’t know which way to go.”
Smoke was thick even at floor level, and the air was hotter than the blast from any oven.
“Well, I know the way.” Sarah grabbed the woman’s blanket. “Hold on to this and crawl behind me.”
The woman whimpered in protest, but followed.
Sarah ignored the whining patient. She ignored the pain in her lungs and abdomen. All she thought of was the baby. Bart’s baby.
“Come on!” Sarah yelled, pulling the old woman along with the blanket. “We’re almost at the door.”
“Sarah!” Dr. Farris’s voice drifted through the blackness. “Sarah!”
“We have to go, Doctor,” the orderly’s voice answered. “Everyone’s out.”
“Sarah isn’t outside.” Dr. Farris moved closer through the blackness, “Sarah!”
“I’m here!” she yelled and a moment later felt his hands pulling her to her knees.
When she cried in sudden pain, he lifted her into his arms. He was not a big man, nor was he strongly built, but he carried her easily, as if unaware of the burden.
“The woman…” Sarah tried to pull away from him.
“Get her, Sam!” Farris yelled at another shadow moving through the smoke.
“Got her, Doc,” Sam answered.
They stepped from the infirmary into the main hallway where air was still smoke-filled but lighter.
“I’ll get you to safety,” Farris said as he passed firemen charging through the wing. “I thought everyone else was out, but I couldn’t find you.”
“Thank you.” Sarah cried against his shoulder. He’d done what she’d always prayed her father might do when she was a child. He’d appeared out of nowhere and pulled her to safety.
“I should be angry with you for not following orders.” Dr. Farris walked into the cool drizzle outside the hospital. “But I’m so relieved you’re alive.”
“You saved my life,” Sarah said. “And my child’s.”
Farris slowed as he walked along the path toward the cottages behind the hospital. “Once, when I was just starting my practice”—words seemed to choke him more than the fire had—“a mother and child died because I didn’t get to them in time.”
“You got there in time tonight.” Sarah now understood the sadness always lingering in his eyes.
Farris nodded, then stood a little straighten “I’ll put you in one of the huts. You’ll be out of the rain and safe. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Are you burned?”
“No, only slightly, but I felt a pain.” She touched her swollen stomach and there was no need for more explanation. “But it’s gone now.”
“Someone should stay with you till I get back.”
“I’ll be fine.” Sarah wanted to hug him, but could hear the authority returning to his voice.
He lowered her gently to her feet at the door of the hut. “And you stay put.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Sarah held her abdomen, gently calming the child within. “Please help the others, then hurry back.”
“I will,” he promised, placing his hand over hers.
* * *
When Cody and Katherine arrived, people and trucks surrounded the hospital. No visible flames rose from the building, but smoke still boiled out of the infirmary. Katherine jumped from the car and ran toward the smoke.
A constable grabbed her before she could get within thirty feet of the building. “Can’t go any farther, miss!”
“I have to!” Katherine fought at his arm. “I work here. My friend may be inside!”
“Everyone’s already out of the building.”
Cody halted beside the policeman. “Was anyone killed?”
The constable released Katherine’s arm. “We were lucky. Only several hurt as far as I’ve seen. One of the inmates set a fire in the linen room. It’s a wonder half the place didn’t go up in two minutes. They took all those who were hurt out back to the lunger huts.”
Katherine lifted her skirts and ran toward the tuberculosis cottages behind the hospital where TB patients were allowed to spend their last days. She heard the cries of pain and orders being shouted even before she saw the huts between the trees.
“Sarah?” she cried. “Sarah?”
Mass confusion and suffering confronted her as she stepped into the first hut. Patients lay everywhere. Those already ill had been moved from the infirmary. Others were burned and screaming in pain. Their blackened skin bubbled with blood as they waved injured limbs, trying to avoid even caring touches. Mixed through all the suffering walked unharmed patients who were disoriented at having been moved from their rooms. They cried and pouted like frightened children in a strange environment, begging for help from everyone they passed.
Katherine moved among them, comforting them when she could but pausing only long enough to ask if they’d seen Sarah.
As she stepped into a tiny bedroom, she saw Dr. Farris bending over the blackened body of a man. The smell of burned flesh almost suffocated her, but Katherine moved to the doctor’s side.
She looked down, unable to recognize the body. “What happened?”
Dr. Farris raised his red-rimmed eyes. “William finally succeeded in joining his family. He was doing so well; he talked one of the orderlies into leaving his door unlocked.” Farris pulled the smoke-blackened sheet over the charred body. “At least he no longer suffers.”
Katherine stared at the bed, horror pulsing through her brain. William had started the fire. He had caused all this pain because he wanted to die. The memory of the plane crash filled her mind as the stench of flesh filled her lungs. A fire had started Bart’s suffering, and now a fire had ended William’s. She turned and ran from the room, not wanting to see more.
“Sarah?” Katherine’s cry sounded almost like that of a child who’d been separated from the only person who loved her.
Cody caught Kat just outside the doorway. “We’ll find her,” he promised.
“Wait!” Dr. Farris yelled just behind Kat. “Sarah’s safe. I know where she is. We almost lost her.”
Katherine looked up at him. The sadness in his eyes chilled her. “Where?” she managed to ask.
“I’ll take you.” He was moving before she could ask more.
The cold, damp air pushed against her, slowing her progress as she ran behind Farris down a path that connected the cottages.
“Was she hurt?”
“Not by the fire,” Farris answered without slowing his progress.
Tears filled Katherine’s eyes so completely she had to rely on Cody’s arm as guide. His fingers held her close as they moved along the path.
The entrance to the other cottage was surrounded with men and women in their nightgowns holding on to one another for comfort. Dr. Farris disappeared among them without a backward glance at Katherine.
Cody held the door open for Katherine as though he couldn’t enter without her. She could feel his need to protect her, but he seemed unsure where danger hid.
Katherine let her eyes adjust to the light of the room. Sarah lay on a worn couch with an old quilt thrown over her. Streaks of blackened smudge crossed over her ghostly white face, now contorted with fear. Dr. Farris stood beside her looking at his watch.
“Sarah!” Katherine knelt at her side. “I was so worried when I couldn’t find you. Are you all right?”
Sarah tried to smile. “We got everyone out, thanks to Dr.
Farris,�
�� she said, “but I fell. Oh, Kat, I think the baby is coming.”
“But it’s not time.”
Sarah’s face twisted in pain. She grabbed Katherine’s hand and held on as though to life.
Kat could feel the blistered burns covering Sarah’s palm. “I’ll get salve for your hands.”
After a minute Sarah took a deep breath. “Don’t worry about my hands. Get me out of here. I don’t want my baby to be born in this place.”
Katherine looked up at Farris.
“I agree. Let’s get her out of this mess,” he echoed Sarah’s plea. “I think she may be right; the baby is coming. The contractions are still quite far apart; there’s still plenty of time to move her.”
Kat glanced at her environment for the first time. The room was a shambles. All the TB patients were huddled together watching her. Their coughing rattled in a low undertone like constant thunder. Most of these people were too ill to take care of themselves and these cottages were the purgatory before death.
Katherine glanced at Cody. He nodded as though he’d been awaiting an order and stepped forward.
“Sarah?” he asked as his hand brushed damp ebony hair from her face. “Would you grant me the honor of escorting you?”
Sarah looked up and smiled as politely as if Cody were asking for a dance. She raised her arm to his shoulder and he lifted her.
“You’ve gained a little weight, darling,” he chided. “But on you it looks quite grand.”
Sarah didn’t answer, but held on to him. Cody pulled her close, trying to shield her from the drizzling rain as he followed Katherine out of the cottage and through the mud to the car.
Dr. Farris was never more than a step behind, giving constant orders on how to treat her labor and the burns on her hand. When they reached the car, he added, “I’ll make sure everyone is all right, and I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can.”
Sarah’s voice was weak, but she made an effort to act unafraid. “I’m fine, Dr. Farris. You worry about the people who are burned.”
Farris glanced toward the cabin, then back at Cody. “You’ll make sure she gets out of here? I must stay to help. We’ll be in chaos for hours.”
Cody nodded. “I’ll get her somewhere safe.”
Farris glanced once more at Sarah. “Take care, young lady.”
“Thank you for saving my life.” Sarah smiled up at the doctor.
He seemed uncomfortable with such a compliment, for he nodded quickly and disappeared into the night.
“If it wasn’t for the fire, he’d never have let you out of his sight with you in labor,” Katherine told her. “I think he’d been planning all along to help with the birth.”
“I know,” Sarah answered. “But maybe these are only false contractions.” Her tone left no doubt she knew they were real.
When Cody lowered Sarah into the back seat, he kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll have you safe in a hospital in only a few minutes, little mother, and we can check you and the baby in.”
“No,” Sarah whispered. “I have to go to Miss Willingham’s hospital. Please take me. It’s the only home I’ve ever had and I promised her I’d come when the pains started.”
Cody shook his head. “It would take over an hour. Sarah, there are hospitals here in Columbus. We can’t risk having you deliver between towns.”
Her face was white and weak, but her hand clutched his sleeve with a steel grip. “I read in a book that first labor takes hours. I want to be at Miss Willingham’s when the time comes. Please, for my baby. Bart’s baby. I don’t think I could bear to have my baby where people are looking on with disapproval. Miss Willingham will understand and help.”
Her words stopped abruptly as she hugged herself in pain for a minute. Finally she took a deep breath and looked up at Katherine and Cody.
“We better go to the nearest hospital just to be safe,” Katherine whispered.
Sarah shook her head. “You don’t understand.” Tears blended with the rain on her face. “I need to be with Miss Willingham. She lost a baby years ago. She buried him on the hospital grounds in her private garden. If she could help me have mine, it might allow some of the grief that’s settled in to pass. I have to go for everyone’s sake.” Her huge blue eyes held a world of pain in their depths.
“I understand, but…” Cody began. He looked to Katherine for help.
But Katherine stood like a granite statue, her eyes fixed on the blood on Cody’s jacket and sleeve. Sarah’s blood!
Seventeen
CODY DROVE AS fast as the car would allow. With the beginning of each contraction Sarah cried Bart’s name softly, and Cody’s knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. He would rather have flown through miles of thunderstorms than driven now, but Sarah was depending on him, maybe more than anyone in his life had ever depended on him.
“How much farther?” Katherine asked from the back seat.
“Five, maybe ten miles.” Cody almost said, two, maybe three more pains. “When we get there, where do I take her? To the hospital or the dorm?”
“The dorm,” Sarah answered. “Miss Willingham promised to help us deliver the baby.” Another pain stopped all talking.
Minutes later Cody carried Sarah through the front door of the dorm and into Miss Willingham’s private suite. Student nurses, drawn by the shouting, lined the halls in their robes, and were quickly enlisted as handmaidens to Sarah’s ordeal.
Mamie Willingham showed no shock or anger at the interruption as she gave orders to all who came within hearing. She was the queen and this was her realm. Within minutes she had Sarah cleaned up and settled in an empty room across the hall from her suite. Cody was sent to fetch the young doctor, Daniel Lockhart, who might still be at the small hospital across the grounds. Katherine was told to scrub; she would be assisting.
It took Cody several minutes to persuade the young doctor to leave his other patients and come to the dorm. However, when they returned, Dr. Lockhart took one look at Katherine and started acting as if he considered it an honor, not a bother, to help out.
Cody watched them disappear into Sarah’s room and leaned against the hall wall wishing he hadn’t persuaded Dr. Lockhart to come. What good would one young doctor be? Cody mumbled to himself. Lockhart had seemed more interested in staring at Katherine than in delivering a baby.
Cody got shoved aside as supplies were moved down the hall. “He said he’d never even seen a baby delivered,” Cody grumbled. “Hell, I’d probably be just as much help, but you’d think I was invisible around here.”
Yet any young nursing student whose curiosity brought her within Miss Willingham’s sight was put to work. She even had the floor scrubbed in what was now Sarah’s room while everyone counted time by contractions.
“Strap her arms!” Miss Willingham ordered as she stepped from the room and began backing Cody down the hall with one bony hand on his chest. “Thank you, young man, for all you’ve done, but this is not something you need to see or even hear.” They reached the front door, so she raised her voice slightly. “You should be on your way now.”
Cody resented being dismissed like a first grader. He dug his heels in and faced the woman. “I’m not going anywhere, Miss Willingham, until I’m sure Sarah’s all right.”
Miss Willingham pressed her lips together so tight that blue veins formed around her mouth. She might be forceful, but never unkind. “No men except doctors are allowed in this dorm. You can wait on the steps in the rain or across the way in the hospital waiting room. Someone will let you know when it’s over,” She studied his worried face and added, “Everything will be fine. Babies come every day and night on this earth, and most do so without very much help from anyone.”
Cody stepped out onto the porch and leaned against the building, hardly noticing the drizzle. He knew he’d be more comfortable in the hospital waiting room, but he couldn’t force himself to move any farther away. Bart should have been here, he thought, but there was no way of finding him. Cody had
even written to an address in New York State—the one Bart had put on his application when he first signed on to fly with the Wrights—but Cody was told the house had been vacant since Bart’s parents’ death years ago. His huge friend had managed to vanish.
As the hours passed, Cody found himself growing angry. “If I ever find him,” Cody mumbled, “I’ll tell Bart what I think about what he did to that young lady in there, and then I swear I’ll punch him, burns and busted leg or not.”
It was almost dawn when Cody watched a car slide into the mud beside his own vehicle. A lean man carrying a black bag jumped from the Ford and ran toward him.
“Dr. Farris,” Cody said more to himself than as a greeting.
Farris looked up as he reached the porch. “I had the devil of a time finding you. If one of the other nurses hadn’t remembered Sarah saying she wanted to deliver here, I’d still be looking.”
Cody slowed the doctor as he tried to open the door. “I’m not sure they’ll let you in there.”
Dr. Farris looked puzzled. “Let them try and stop me.”
He opened the door. Cody couldn’t resist following the doctor.
The dean of nursing stepped out of Sarah’s room, her face set with determination.
Dr. Farris removed his hat as only polite southern gentlemen could do. His body seemed to relax, but his eyes were steel with determination. “Evening. You must be the wonderful Miss Willingham. I’ve heard such fine things about you.”
The head nurse raised her chin slightly. “Yes.”
“I’m Dr. Farris, and I’m here to offer my assistance. There was a time in my career when I specialized in helping babies come into this world. Nurse Sarah is a fine woman, and I’d like to do what I can to help.”
Miss Willingham looked at him closely as though she could gauge his skill on sight. “We welcome your help,” she said after a moment of hesitation. “Our Dr. Lockhart almost passed out a few minutes ago. I’d like to have a doctor who can be of some use.” As she spoke, two student nurses helped the young doctor through the door.
Lockhart looked as if he’d been bled one too many times. His already pale face was ghostly white.
