by C. J. Miller
“I’ll be right in,” Dr. Goodhue said. “What about you and Gemma? Are you feeling okay?”
“We’re fine. Great actually.”
Rafe hadn’t felt this good in months.
As excited as Gemma, Dr. Goodhue and Rafe were about their progress, they agreed to keep their breakthrough amongst themselves.
If and when the CDC found a virus with similar patterns or could make a recommendation to counter the Dead River virus, they would inform the staff they were changing directions from identifying the virus to manufacturing a cure.
* * *
It had been a quiet few days as Rafe and Gemma waited for the CDC to respond with more data. No one else knew about the sequence they had found and it was hard not to share the good news. Gemma only hoped that the CDC would respond with helpful information.
In the meantime, they had plenty to keep them busy. After visiting Danny early that morning, Gemma and Rafe were working at the Dead River fire station for the Saturday clinic. The line of patients wrapped around the building. Anand and Cathleen were already working triage, separating the cases and assigning priority. Gemma knew they were also confirming no one waiting for care had the symptoms of the Dead River virus. Those cases needed to remain quarantined and would be referred to the clinic immediately. Dr. Moore and Dr. Goodhue were working at the clinic today to help with any referred cases and to watch over the patients in the virus wing.
Stan Burrell and his firefighters had organized a section of the firehouse to act as a clinic. He, Kit, Josh and Betsy had hung sheets to provide privacy between cots. They had gathered medical supplies and had stocked them on rolling carts.
They had a table and chairs set up and Nina was providing coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate and snacks.
The firefighters had brought in a few evergreens and had decorated them with ornaments, tinsel and gold garlands. They had hung Christmas decorations and lights. In the back parking lot, they had gathered greenery and were planning to hang it throughout the town. Although helping the residents of Dead River with their medical issues was their first priority, Stan and his firefighters had created a pleasant and warm atmosphere. It was good for the morale of the town.
“This is really special,” Gemma said to Stan.
“There’s not much to celebrate in Dead River. We thought if we could do nice things for the town it would help matters, get people’s minds off the virus.”
The gesture was unexpected and, added to her knowledge about the progress with the virus, it had Gemma floating on air. She looked across the room to where Rafe was simultaneously washing his hands and talking with a patient.
A surge of warmth rose in her chest and she was taken aback by the sensation. Normally, when she looked at Rafe, she felt lust. She wanted him alone and flat on his back. She wanted to explore his little black box and some of their fantasies together.
But this was an entirely different emotion. More terrifying than the intensity of her lust. This was love.
Gemma knew she had fallen for Rafe. A huge mistake, of course, since falling in love with him meant it would end with her heart being broken. While that was how her relationship with Jackson had ended and she had survived it, she had promised herself the next time she fell in love, it would be for keeps. She’d fall for someone safe and simple when it was easy and complication-free.
Rafe was the opposite of those things. He was a bit dangerous, definitely complicated and their relationship was futureless. Not what she had been looking for, but she hadn’t been looking for a long-term relationship at all. She had known when Rafe came back to Dead River that she wanted him. Hadn’t she always? But she had thought she could keep their emotions locked into lust and desire. This soul-shaking, heart-all-in was unexpected.
“What’s going on with you guys?” Anand asked, coming to stand next to her.
“What do you mean?” Gemma asked, pasting on a smile. She had plenty of reasons to smile. She would think of those and not of Rafe leaving.
“Come on, Gemma. We’ve been friends a long time. I know you and Dr. Granger have something between you two.”
She had thought they’d been careful to hide their relationship. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me,” Anand said.
If Anand knew, she could count on him not to spread it around town. “That’s because you’re a sweetheart.”
Anand pressed a finger over his lips. “Shhh, don’t tell anyone.”
It was the town’s worst kept secret that despite his formidable size suggesting otherwise, Anand was an incredibly warm and gentle person. “It doesn’t matter what I feel for him. He’s leaving.”
“Eventually,” Anand said.
“The moment he can,” Gemma said.
“You’re a good reason to stay,” Anand said.
Rafe wouldn’t give up his job in New York for her. He’d be trading in a dream position for long hours and low pay at the clinic. “He doesn’t see it that way.”
“It’s one-sided?” Anand asked. “I could be wrong, but I’ve seen some looks coming your way from him and it didn’t seem one-sided.”
Those looks had everything to do with desire. Rafe wasn’t in love with her.
“We’ve been spending time together. We’ve known from the beginning what we have. But it’s gotten mixed up.”
“Because you love him,” Anand said.
“Yes.”
“I’m there,” Anand said.
Gemma whirled to look at him. “You? In love? With who?”
Anand gestured in Cathleen’s direction. Gemma’s mouth fell open. She had seen them talking and laughing, but Anand was friendly with everyone. “Since when?”
“Since forever.”
“Does she know?”
He shook his head. “We’ve had dinner a few times. I don’t think she had any idea they were dates.” He sounded sad.
“Are you going to tell her?” Gemma asked.
“Are you going to tell him?” Anand asked.
She wouldn’t. She remembered how angry Rafe had gotten when she’d told him he should stay in Dead River. How would he react if she told him she was in love with him? She didn’t think the conversation would end well. It would push him away or force him to close the door on their fleeting relationship.
Thinking of losing Rafe to New York hurt. Thinking of being in the same town, working in the same clinic and being unable to connect with him hurt worse.
“I can’t. It’s complicated,” Gemma said.
Anand smiled. “Exactly.”
“So, we’re two suckers in love?” Gemma asked.
“Looks like it,” Anand said.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Gemma asked.
“What we’ve been doing. Work.”
* * *
At some point in the long line of patients, Rafe realized that even those patients who recognized him from his childhood or adolescence had said nothing about the trailer park where he’d grown up. No one mentioned his less-than-spotless reputation. They had conveyed sympathy for his parents’ passing. A few people mentioned they missed seeing his mother at the liquor store where she’d been a clerk and that they missed his father’s sense of humor. He might not have been able to keep a steady job, but the odd jobs he worked meant he’d met a lot people. One of Danny’s teachers thanked him for taking Danny in and remarked how well Danny was doing in her class.
His patients listened to his advice with due respect. For the first time in his life, even though he thought of himself as an outsider, he was treated like one of the town.
Was this why his father had wanted him to return to Dead River? To see the small town differently through the eyes of someone who belonged, not someone who felt judged and excluded? He had avoided visiting Dead River, using the excuse of
his work and his studies. He’d paid for his parents’ plane tickets to come see him and they’d spent Thanksgivings in restaurants in New York because Rafe didn’t want to spend any time in the small trailer they’d called home.
Guilt slithered over him and he felt like a snake. Why had he turned away so fully from the town where he’d grown up? He’d had his share of bad times and instances he wished he could forget, but didn’t everyone? As a teenager, he’d been so consumed with his own issues and problems he hadn’t taken the time to see himself through the eyes of others. He’d been moody, quiet and he’d had a bad attitude.
After Rafe finished with his patient, he removed his gloves, cleaned his hands and walked to Nina’s refreshment area.
“What can I get you, Doctor?” Nina asked. She was wearing a festive red shirt and an apron with a red-nosed reindeer stamped on the front.
“Some water would be great,” Rafe said.
“Coming right up,” Nina said. She returned with a cup of water.
“You’re thinning the line,” Nina said, gesturing to the patient-waiting area. “When I saw the crowd this morning, I thought you’d never get to everyone.”
“This is long overdue. People are afraid to come to the clinic for help and they don’t have anywhere else to go.”
He was facing another long night. He’d had to be creative with many of his patients. The Dead River pharmacy wasn’t fully stocked. He couldn’t send patients for testing at the nearest hospital or diagnostic center. He had to rely on his instincts, the patients’ descriptions of their ailment and even a few holistic remedies.
He wrote notes in his patients’ files with recommendations for more thorough follow-ups when the quarantine was lifted.
When the quarantine was lifted, not if it would be lifted. Knowing it would happen was a secret that was keeping him going. As the thought crossed his mind, he saw Dr. Rand enter the fire station.
“Thanks for the drink,” he said to Nina.
“Sure thing!” she said and returned to fixing refreshments for others.
Dr. Rand strode directly to Rafe. Though he wasn’t scheduled to work at the clinic today and he hadn’t mentioned his specific plans to come to the fire station, it was good of him to help. It would cut Rafe’s patient load in half. Could Rafe trust him or was Dr. Rand at the clinic to drum up some hero worship?
He and Dr. Rand had been circling each other carefully since the incident with Danny. Rafe nodded once at Dr. Rand, acknowledging him. It was the most the other man would get from him. Despite his actions with Hank Bittard and not having hard evidence to prove he was either negligent or intentionally harming patients, Rafe didn’t trust Dr. Rand.
“How can I help?” Dr. Rand asked, looking at the crowd.
“Cathleen is buzzing around. She has the priority list. Please jump in with whatever cases you feel like handling.” When he said it, he was relieved to know that none of their cases were too serious, or he would have seen to them earlier in the day. He would alert Gemma to stay close to Dr. Rand if she could.
“I’ll start right away,” Dr. Rand said and walked in Cathleen’s direction.
Gabriella and Trevor Garth entered the fire station. Trevor looked around and lifted a hand in greeting to Rafe. Gemma hurried over to speak with her cousin.
Rafe watched Gemma’s face shift from happy to concerned. Rafe joined the threesome. Foursome, he amended thinking of Gabriella’s baby. When he had visited her at her husband’s ranch, she had seemed in good health. Her blood pressure had been elevated, but she hadn’t been leaking protein into her urine.
“Hey, Gabriella, Trevor. Everything okay?” Rafe asked.
Gabriella laughed nervously. “I am sure it is. But I’ve been having some abdominal pain and I wanted to be sure nothing had changed since I saw you last.”
Stress could cause Braxton-Hicks contractions. They wouldn’t necessarily lead to labor, but Rafe would take a look. “We’ll see what’s going on.”
As they walked to an open exam room, Rafe could almost hear Trevor worrying. “We have to get out of this town, Doc. If Gabriella and the baby had a problem, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“We’ll do everything we can for your family,” Rafe said.
“You should have called me if you were concerned,” Gemma said to her cousin.
“I didn’t want to bother you. I had some early contractions with Avery that went away on their own. I was hoping these would too,” Gabriella said.
Rafe gave Gemma and Gabriella some privacy to help Gabriella into an exam gown. Rafe retrieved the ultrasound equipment and the heart rate monitor. He was glad he’d brought it with them today. It had seen a lot of use.
“Avery is with her Uncle Cole and Aunt Amy,” Trevor said. “She wanted to come with us, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
He was concerned about his wife and their baby. Rafe understood. “It was a good idea to bring her in if you were worried. That’s why we’re here.”
Gemma poked her head out from between the privacy curtain and she motioned it was okay for them to come in.
Rafe didn’t want to alarm Gabriella, but he was concerned to see her blood pressure still high. “How long have you been having cramps?”
Gabriella glanced at Trevor, concerned about worrying her husband. “A while.”
Rafe needed to speak with Gabriella alone so he could get the information he needed without her censoring herself to keep her protective husband from becoming upset. “Trevor, Gabriella needs some water. Hydration could be a factor here. Nina in the refreshment area can help you.”
Trevor slipped out of the room, eager to help.
“How long have you had the contractions, Gabriella?” Rafe asked again.
“Two days.”
Rafe didn’t like the sound of that. She could be in pre-term labor. “Have you noticed any fluid leaking? Either clear fluid or blood?”
She shook her head. “No, no fluid.”
Rafe checked the baby’s heartbeat, happy to hear it strong and solid. He had done a rotation in obstetrics, but he was not an expert. He’d need to be overcautious. “This might be hard for you to hear, and I don’t want to alarm you, but I’m going to recommend bed rest.”
Gabriella sat up. “With a toddler at home?”
Trevor entered the patient room. “What about Avery? What’s wrong?”
“I want Gabriella on complete bed rest. I want her to lie on her left side as much as possible, stay hydrated, drink at least a glass of water or juice every hour while you’re awake and sleep as much as you can.”
“What about Avery? She needs me,” Gabriella said.
Trevor put his arm around his wife. “That’s why I’m here. I’ll make sure Avery has everything she needs.”
Gabriella leaned into her husband. “I know you will. But I’m scared.”
“What does this mean, Dr. Granger? Tell me what you’re thinking,” Trevor said.
He was thinking he wasn’t an OB-GYN. He didn’t have access to an operating room. He couldn’t perform a cesarean section in a case of extreme distress for the baby or Gabriella. They didn’t have a NICU to keep a pre-term baby healthy. Throwing out that list of terrifying possibilities would only upset the Garths further. “I am thinking we will minimize our risk factors. I’d like for you to stay here and rest for a couple of hours. We’ll keep stopping in and checking on how you’re feeling. Trevor, I want you to write down every time she has a contraction.”
Rafe gave a few more instructions and then he and Gemma stepped away from the Garths.
“You think she’ll go into labor too soon,” Gemma said.
“That’s my concern,” Rafe said. “We don’t have the facilities to deal with a baby who is only thirty-four weeks and a mom who might lose a lot of blood.”
&nb
sp; Gemma nodded, her brows furrowed with worry. “Can we do anything to prepare?”
“I’ll talk to Dr. Goodhue about what we can do if Gabriella needs to be evacuated. Perhaps Cheyenne Memorial could make arrangements for her to be dealt with in isolation. I will make some calls.”
It was another of the thousands of reasons Rafe needed a cure for the virus. The longer they were trapped inside Dead River, the more victims the virus would take, directly and indirectly.
Chapter 11
Flint and his officers had created a large map of Dead River and had it hanging in the police station. They had posted colored push pins in various locations to indicate an outbreak, a death from the virus, an illness and possible places of exposure to the virus.
The number of pins on the map was disturbing. Gemma stared at it before turning away. They were close to a cure. She would focus on that.
Flint had asked her to come to the police station.
“Gemma, thanks for coming.” He hugged her and she read his need for comfort in the hug. Principal Lewis had passed away that morning. The doctors had not performed an autopsy, but Gemma knew the much-loved principal had a history of heart problems and hadn’t given up smoking even though he had promised he would after his second heart attack. The Dead River virus may have overwhelmed his immune system.
“We think we traced Annabelle’s exposure to the school. We’ve had seven reports of students contracting the virus. I received a report this morning from Dr. Goodhue that the CDC would like for us to close the school for the time being,” Flint said.
“Close the school?” Gemma asked. The students would be on winter break in a few days, but the finality of Flint’s words resonated through her. If they started shutting down the school and businesses, conditions would worsen in Dead River. Boredom and worry would escalate and trouble would follow.
“We’re asking people to report any and all illnesses and symptoms in their children, but that’s creating a mass panic. Every kid who sneezes is being reported as a possible victim. If parents can’t send their children to school, they won’t have anyone to watch them during the day.” As her brother’s dire predictions grew more severe, Gemma felt a sharp headache spear into her.
