Knight Takes Queen

by C. C. Gibbs

  By the time Dr Fuller arrived shortly after, the IV was in place and Katherine’s colour and blood pressure had improved. But the bleeding hadn’t stopped.

  ‘Looks like we have a problem here,’ she said, briskly, coming into the room, snapping on surgical gloves. ‘How are you feeling, Katherine?’

  ‘Scared. Worried. Really scared.’

  ‘That’s understandable. Now let’s see what’s going on, shall we?’ After a brief examination, Dr Fuller looked at Dominic first, her expression grave. Then she turned to Kate and spoke in a subdued voice. ‘I’m afraid you’re in the process of miscarrying.’

  Dominic had suspected as much, but hope was a powerful emotion. The doctor’s statement was a punch in the gut.

  Kate’s tears escaped, slid down her cheeks. ‘Can you – save the baby?’ Her voice was whisper soft. ‘Can you stop it?’ She looked at Dominic. ‘Dominic, tell her to stop it.’

  She was begging him. The hope in her eyes hurt. ‘Sure, baby,’ he gently said. ‘Let me see if they can do something.’ He turned and met Dr Fuller’s gaze. ‘Is there any alternative, even the remotest possibility – some new research. I know you have specialists here, but if there’s someone else – anywhere … I have planes around the world, or I can charter aircraft – fly people in if—’

  The doctor shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. The blood loss is so extreme there’s no longer any chance of a viable foetus. I know it’s not any consolation, but a miscarriage at three months is not uncommon.’ Dr Fuller’s mouth firmed for a moment. ‘Katherine is haemorrhaging though, which isn’t normal. We have to take her into surgery right away.’

  He turned to Kate. ‘It’s too late,’ Dominic said in a ragged whisper. ‘You heard.’

  Kate’s eyes were great pools of despair. ‘Oh God, Dominic,’ she said in a small, broken voice. ‘No …’

  Leaning over, he put his mouth near her ear. ‘I love you, Katherine. More than anything. But right now, they have to stop the bleeding. OK?’ He couldn’t talk about the baby; it was unbearable; he would have had a family for the first time in his life. But without Katherine, he had nothing – no life, no hope, no happiness. So he wiped away her tears with his shirt sleeve, stood upright, gave her hand a little shake and murmured, ‘How about I see if they’ll let me in surgery? That way I’ll be there with you.’

  ‘Did we do something wrong?’ The pain in her eyes was heartrending. ‘We did, didn’t we?’

  Her voice was so weak, the hairs on the back of his neck went up. ‘No, baby, you didn’t do anything wrong.’ If anyone had, it had been him. ‘You heard the doctor.’ He spoke in a soothing tone, wishing he could say, We have to get you into surgery NOW. But knowing he’d frighten her if he did, so he just kept on talking in his fake calm voice. ‘This is common, the doctor said. It happens to others too, not just us. Give me a little smile now. I’m right here beside you. I’m not going anywhere. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.’

  She gave him a shaky smile. ‘I need a kiss.’

  Before he’d met Katherine, he’d always avoided public displays of affection; even in private there were doors that remained permanently closed. And now with ten strangers watching he said, simply, ‘You got it, baby,’ and gave her a tender, lingering kiss. Raising his head a short time later, he smiled and said, soft and low like he did when he was indulging her, ‘Better?’

  She half smiled.

  ‘Ready to get this show on the road?’

  A small nod.

  There was relief in his expression, then a slow, lovely smile. ‘That’s my girl.’ Turning to survey the small company in the room, Dominic said in his blink-free, master-of-the-universe voice, ‘I’ll need some scrubs. I’m coming into surgery with Katherine.’

  CHAPTER 14

  Katherine went through nine units of blood before they were able to stop the bleeding, the sense of panic in the surgery the most frightening experience Dominic had ever undergone. Nurses and staff ran in and out, the doctors snapped orders, and everyone stood grim-faced over the operating table, the sense of all-guns-blazing urgency, acute.

  Kate’s veins kept collapsing, forcing a frantic search for a new usable vein, until finally, with both Kate’s arms a roadmap of puncture wounds, an IV began functioning properly.

  A cheer went up around the operating table, the sound, paradoxically, striking terror in Dominic’s soul. Katherine’s life had been teetering on the brink.

  It wasn’t as though Dominic hadn’t seen his share of dicey situations in lawless regions of the world; he could sit still and listen to someone threaten to kill him without blinking.

  But this was different.

  Spine-chillingly different.

  Sweating-bullets different.

  This was personal.

  Because Katherine was the miracle he still wasn’t sure he deserved. She’d transformed his grey, soulless existence, set it ablaze with light and joy, brought him happiness and casually laid it at his feet. And he loved her with a kind of fanaticism only felt by those who’d never loved before. She was his world, his life, his heart and soul.

  Only with enormous self-control and sheer bloody will did he keep from physically threatening every doctor in the operating room if they didn’t do their fucking job and stop the bleeding.

  They finally did almost an hour later and he experienced such a sense of relief, he understood how an inmate on death row feels when he receives a last-minute reprieve. He couldn’t move for a second, his body in full meltdown, his breathing arrested, his heart on pause. Only his brain was lit up in a celebratory fireworks show.

  Once his breathing was restored, he moved from the periphery of the group towards Katherine, saying, ‘May I?’ when he was already straight-arming his way in without waiting for an answer. He needed to touch her.

  Shouldering the last person aside, he reached Katherine just as the anaesthesiologist was taking off the mask from her nose, leaving red marks on her pale skin. Beautiful red marks, Dominic thought, gazing down. Everything about Katherine was beautiful, he reflected with that crazy-in-love, adrenaline-spiked happiness he only felt with her.

  ‘She won’t come out of the anaesthesia for some time yet,’ Dr Fuller said.

  He didn’t look up. ‘The bleeding won’t start again?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You’re sure?’ Dominic lightly touched Katherine’s cheek in the faintest of caresses, then glanced up, wanting to see the doctor’s face when she answered. Needing certainty.

  ‘I’m sure. We found the breach in the vein and closed it.’

  He felt all his muscles loosen in a neat, smooth sweep. ‘When can she go home? I can hire nurses, doctors, whatever she needs.’

  ‘Perhaps in two days. She’s going to be a little weak at first.’

  Ignoring his heartache, he asked the question that still lingered despite all that had occurred. ‘There was no way to save the baby, was there? Not even the slightest chance. Not with that kind of bleeding.’

  ‘No. Your …’

  ‘Wife.’

  ‘Your wife was fortunate to arrive here so quickly.’

  ‘Even then,’ he stopped, not willing to contemplate how close he’d come to losing Katherine.

  ‘Yes, the bleeding was very difficult to stop. We rarely see haemorrhaging like that.’

  Dominic forced down his rising panic. ‘Is this episode cause for concern? In the future, might this happen again?’

  ‘We don’t have those answers. I’m sorry. I wish we did. Each pregnancy is unique, the reasons for anomalies like this are unknown.’

  ‘I understand. I appreciate your expertise in this case. Thank you,’ he said, quietly. ‘We both thank you.’

  ‘You’re very welcome. Now, Katherine will be in ICU for some time,’ Dr Fuller said. ‘It’s perfectly routine. But it’ll be an hour at least before she’s fully awake. Do you have any further questions?’

  ‘No – yes, actually, one. When can Katherine travel? I’d li
ke to fly her home as soon as possible.’

  ‘I’ll be in tomorrow to see how Katherine’s doing. Why don’t we wait until then? Will that do for now?’

  Dominic nodded, understanding the message. The doctor was leaving. ‘Certainly. Thank you again.’

  Ten minutes later, Katherine was settled into a room in the ICU unit. He’d hired private nurses for each shift in addition to those normally on duty and once the private duty nurse arrived, Dominic walked out into the hall, leaving the door ajar so he could see Katherine.

  Then pulling out his phone, he started making calls.

  Beginning with Nana.

  ‘I apologize for calling so late, but I wanted you to know Katherine’s in the hospital. She just came out of surgery, she’s fine, don’t worry.’ That Katherine hadn’t been so fine a short time ago, he kept to himself. ‘She’s in the ICU and has nurses with her. I’m standing outside the door. I can see her. She’s sleeping peacefully.’

  ‘It sounds as though Katie lost the baby. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Katherine told you?’ Dominic’s voice registered surprise. ‘She said she hadn’t.’

  ‘She didn’t have to. You were so worried about Katie eating food she liked, I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what was going on. I’m already packed and my cousin, Monty, will drive me to the airport. I told him I might be going to London. With the baby coming, I figured you’d do the right thing as we used to say in my day and marry Katie.’

  ‘I want you to know I would have married Katherine much sooner, but for some major problems.’ He didn’t say more since Katherine seemed reluctant to tell her grandmother much. Personally, he considered Nana shock-proof.

  ‘Then your stock with me goes up a few notches. I was wondering what was going on. Katie was avoiding my questions.’

  ‘She’s concerned about what you think. I told her you’d give her a pass on anything at all. Just call and tell Nana, I said.’

  ‘You should have called. I worried.’

  ‘I couldn’t interfere with something so significant. Katherine wouldn’t have understood.’

  ‘So you’re soft and mushy underneath all that power.’

  ‘Only with Katherine – well … and a few others.’ He thought of Melanie’s family and Nana too. He admired her cranky charm, her unconditional love for Katherine and her razor-sharp ability to understand what was important in life.

  ‘As long as you’re soft and mushy with my Katie, I’m satisfied.’

  ‘Did I hear a slight threat in that comment?’ Dominic quizzed, a faint mirth in his voice.

  ‘Not a slight threat, my boy, a big one,’ she said in her school principal voice that meant business. ‘I read how the jet-set live. It’s not a formula for a lasting marriage. I expect you to remember your wedding vows. And if you don’t, you’ll answer to me. Now nuff said. When’s the wedding?’

  Having just been lectured for one of the few times in his life, and by someone he chose not to cross, Dominic spoke with the utmost politesse. ‘As soon as you get here. Although I wish you were coming just for our wedding.’ He took a small breath, never fully prepared for the stabbing pain when he thought of the loss of their baby. ‘Katherine really needs you now. She’s desperately unhappy and grieving. We both are.’

  ‘Offering sympathy seems so inadequate at a time like this. I wish I could do more,’ Nana said, softly. ‘Had Katie been pregnant for …’

  ‘Three months.’

  Nana sighed. ‘That’s not unusual. If something’s going to go wrong, it often happens about then.’

  ‘The doctor said as much. Would you mind telling Katherine that? She’s upset, thinking she’d done something wrong. We were both very much looking forward to having a child.’ He paused for a second again and his voice was rough when he spoke. ‘It’s hard to take.’

  ‘I know. I also know with time you’ll get through it,’ Nana said, bracingly, having lived through enormous personal losses. ‘And Katie will too. She’s strong.’

  Dominic half smiled. ‘She is. Definitely.’

  ‘I heard that. She giving you trouble?’

  ‘All the time.’

  ‘Good for her. A change from the swarm of yes-men in your life. Now let me give Monty a call,’ she said, briskly. ‘He’s a member of the volunteer fire department so he’s used to getting calls day or night. Then I’ll book a flight and call you back.’

  Her voice faded as she moved to end the call. ‘Wait!’ Dominic called out. ‘Don’t hang up. You still there?’

  ‘Yup, but the sooner I call Monty, the sooner I’m on my way.’

  ‘Don’t call your cousin. I have a car and driver at the Pines Motel. Tomas will pick you up and drive you to Duluth. There’s a plane waiting for you at the airport.’

  ‘Holy Moly. You’re almost as sneaky as me.’

  Is that good or bad? But it wasn’t her cranky tone, so he said, ‘Sounds like you could give me tips.’

  ‘I’m sure I could. I’ve got some forty years more practice. And believe me, convincing some twelve-year-old fire bug, or some junior high prima donna, or all kinds of other kids who are acting out, to change their anti-social trajectory takes a little creative thinking, a few white lies and a threat or two. But Katie’s not like that at all in case you didn’t know.’

  ‘I do know. I find it refreshing and sweet – no offence.’

  ‘None taken,’ Nana said, with casual unconcern. ‘Katie’s like her Gramps – a straight shooter. Literally and figuratively. You would have liked Roy. Everyone did.’ She took an audible breath and her voice abruptly turned crisp. ‘Back to business. I’ll just let Monty know he has to come get my dog, Leon, in the morning. Tell your driver I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.’

  Dominic heard his line go dead and smiled. Nana was going to be good for Katherine. Hell, good for him too. She could shake anyone out of their gloom-and-doom stupor, rattle anyone’s cage, snap orders with the best of them. Nana would be the perfect no-nonsense one-person support group.

  Leaning back against the wall, his phone still in his hand, he shut his eyes, suddenly feeling burned out, exhausted.

  ‘You OK?’

  Recognizing the voice, Dominic shoved away from the wall, instantly clear-eyed and alert. ‘Just taking a break. We lost the baby.’ He blew out a breath. ‘It really sucks.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Max said. ‘I talked to the nurses while you were in surgery and I saw your bed, so I knew it wasn’t going good.’ Max lifted a small duffle bag he was carrying. ‘I brought you some clothes. The night porter had gone upstairs after you left, so he clued me in. Katherine must have been frightened.’

  ‘She was trying to stay calm and carry on, but yeah, she was. We both were. There was so much blood and it just kept coming.’ Dominic took another deep breath; the gory sight etched on his retinas. ‘They had trouble stopping the haemorrhaging. She was coding out, they kept pumping blood into her. I was fucking terrified.’ He blew out a breath, then quickly glanced at the half open door as though to reassure himself. ‘Katherine’s going to be OK, but she’s still under. At least an hour more, the doctor said.’ He rolled his shoulders, grunted at the sharp pain, softly swore, then said, taut and low, ‘It was worse than Angola. That’s how bad it was. But look,’ his voice took on a sudden briskness; he’d trained himself to keep on keeping on. ‘I have to make a few calls. If you’ll monitor the flight bringing Nana in and have someone at Heathrow to meet her, I’d appreciate it. The plane should be taking off from Duluth in roughly an hour and a half.’

  ‘I’ll meet Nana myself.’

  ‘Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ Dominic ran a quick hand over his eyes. ‘Jesus. Sorry,’ he said, exhaling, dragging in a deep breath, standing motionless for a second until his teeth unclenched. ‘Fuck. How do people deal with something like this?’

  ‘Whatever works. And time, I’m guessing.’

  Two men who didn’t as a rule acknowledge their feelings – o
ut of grief and friendship – were trying.

  ‘I never wanted children before.’ Dominic stared straight ahead at some distant point for a moment, then his gaze flicked to Max and he shrugged. ‘Not exactly news to you. But with Katherine,’ his voice caught, and when he spoke again his voice was barely audible. ‘Hell, just thinking about her having my baby was the most incredible high.’

  ‘That makes this worse. Makes the low even more brutal.’

  ‘No shit. Fucking caustic.’ Dominic flexed his shoulders, regained his balance. ‘Look,’ he said, quickly running his fingers through his hair, ‘let me get changed out of these scrubs, then you can go. I have those calls to make and Katherine could wake up any time.’ Dominic took the duffle bag from Max. ‘And thanks for coming,’ he said, quietly. ‘Really.’

  A few minutes later, Dominic walked out of the bathroom down the hall, washed up and dressed in clean clothes. ‘Who thought of the shoes?’ he asked as Max shoved himself away from the opposite wall.

  ‘Martin, of course. He gave orders to the hall porter from his car on the way over to the house. I was gone before he arrived. But Martin was your valet.’ Max smiled faintly. ‘And he did well. You look semi-normal at least. Under the circumstances, no one expects more.’

  Dominic wore grey dress slacks and an off-white shirt with the collar open and sleeves rolled up. Black belt, black slip-ons, his hair splashed with water and slicked back.

  ‘Semi-normal with Katherine is a hundred times better than my normal without her. Or realistically, more like a million times.’ Dominic pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘Save this afternoon on your schedule for our wedding. The suites here aren’t very large so the guest list will be small. I’m going to give Mrs Hastings the good news in a few minutes.’

  ‘You’re going to wake up the dragon at five in the morning and tell her to pull together your wedding in eight hours. You got balls.’

  ‘Uh-uh – pure necessity. Last night’s crisis made it clear I need to be able to take care of Katherine legally. So the sooner we marry, the sooner her position is secure. Not to mention I can’t live without her which trumps legalities till the end of fucking time.’ He briefly shut his eyes, trying to erase the bloody images from last night, unconsciously shaking his head to dismiss them. ‘A nightmare,’ he murmured, half to himself. Then he smiled tightly. ‘Where was I? Ah – if you’ll text me periodically on Nana’s flight status, I’ll know when to expect her in London. That should do it for now.’ Dominic’s nostrils flared briefly, he slowly exhaled. ‘So … moving on,’ he said in a low rasp. ‘What the hell else can we do. Right?’