by Terri Reid
Stepping inside, she pressed the button for the fourth floor and relaxed against the elevator wall, trying to relieve some of the pressure on her back. The elevator doors closed, and the elevator started to ascend. But, suddenly, it jerked to a stop, and the lights inside went out.
“This is so not funny,” Mary said, searching in her purse for the flashlight. She found it, turned it on and shone it on the panel to find the emergency phone. She lifted the phone, but there was no tone. She clicked on the receiver, but it didn’t make a difference. She studied the panel to see if there was an emergency button but could only find a “stop” button.
“Well, I don’t need one of those,” she grumbled. She pulled out her phone and called Bradley. She waited, with the phone to her ear, but nothing happened.
She closed her eyes in frustration. “That’s right. There’s no service in this elevator,” she moaned. “Okay, think Mary. It’s probably a power outage caused by the storm. The emergency generators will kick in in about ten minutes tops. So, all I have to do is wait for ten minutes. No big deal. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Suddenly, Mary felt a rush of water run down her legs. “I just went to the bathroom,” she complained. Then her jaw dropped, and her stomach clenched. “Oh, crap, I think my water just broke.”
Chapter Seventy-one
Margaret paced to the window one more time. She looked out at the snow piling up on the porch, steps and street. In the few hours since it started, they must have gotten eight inches of snow. She was certainly glad that Mary had decided to stay at the hospital with Stanley and Rosie. The phone rang, and she hurried to answer it. “Aldens,” she answered.
“Hi, Margaret,” Bradley’s voice came through the receiver. “It’s Bradley. I need to speak with Mary.”
“Oh, she’s not here,” Margaret said. “I thought she would have called you.”
“What?” Bradley asked. “Where is she?”
Margaret’s heart began to pound. “She had to meet Karen and Dr. Reinsband at the hospital at five. She said if the snow was too bad when she was done, she would go up to Stanley’s room and visit with them until you could pick her up and drive her home.”
“She hasn’t called me yet,” Bradley said. He looked down at the digital clock in his cruiser. It was nine-thirty. “I’m going to call Stanley’s room.”
“Thank you,” Margaret said. “And could you call me back and let me know what’s happening?”
“Of course,” Bradley replied, “as soon as I know.” He looked out the window at the jack-knifed semi on Highway 75 just before the bypass. The semi was blocking both lanes of traffic, and visibility was near zero. He got out of his cruiser and walked over to one of his officers at the scene. “I’ve got to take another call,” he said. “Are you okay?”
The officer nodded. “Yeah, we got flares on both sides, and the wrecker said they’d be here in twenty minutes,” he said. “I’m good.”
“Thanks,” Bradley replied and hurried back to his cruiser. He put it into four-wheel-drive and turned the cruiser back towards town. He pressed his radio. “Hey, this is Alden,” he said to the dispatcher. “Can you patch me into the hospital switchboard?”
He waited another few moments for the hospital to answer. “Hi. I’d like Stanley Wagner’s room please,” he asked.
He was put on hold again as they connected him to Stanley.
The big snowflakes were flying so rapidly against his windshield he felt like he was in a science fiction movie and had just gone into warp drive. His cruiser was handling pretty well in the deep snow, but he was taking things slowly so he didn’t end up in a ditch.
“Hello?” Stanley’s voice echoed through the inside of the car.
“Hi, Stanley. It’s Bradley.”
“Snowy enough for ya?”
“Yeah, it is,” Bradley responded, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. “Hey, is Mary there?”
“No, she’s not.” Stanley’s voice was not teasing anymore. “Why would you think she is?”
“Because she told Margaret that if she was delayed at the hospital, she’d go up and visit with you and Rosie.”
“She ain’t here,” Stanley said. “What do you want me to do?”
Panic gripped Bradley’s heart. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m sure it was just a miscommunication.”
“You ain’t thinking nothing of the kind,” Stanley remarked. “But you do what you gotta do, and you call me iffen you need anything.”
“Thank you, Stanley,” Bradley said. He hung up the phone and started to call for Mike when he remembered that Mike was gone.
“Dammit. Dammit. Dammit,” he slammed his fist against his steering wheel. “Mary! Where the hell are you?”
Chapter Seventy-two
Mary sat in the corner of the elevator, her feet stretched out in front of her and her hands rubbing her belly. “It’s okay, Mikey,” she breathed. “There’s no need to worry. Someone’s bound to realize we’re missing.”
Another contraction hit, and she winced, pushing against the walls to deal with the pain. Once the contraction passed, she took a slow, cleansing breath, remembering that from the video, and inhaled deeply. “How am I supposed to do this?” she wondered aloud. “I can’t have a baby in an elevator.”
She shivered and tried to wrap her coat closer around her body. The elevator shaft had no heat going through it, and her pants were soaked from her water breaking. She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw her no-bars phone against the wall. She wanted to scream with rage. But, there was a tiny baby inside of her who was trying to be born, so she needed to stay calm, needed to stay sane. “I need a plan,” she said. “I need to come up with a plan.”
She pointed her flashlight up to the roof of the elevator and saw that there was a hatch up there. “So, all I need to do is shimmy up the side of the walls, climb through a fairly small hatchway and then hoist myself up onto the top of the elevator,” she murmured. “Then I can either somehow climb up to the next floor, jimmy open the doors and slide through the opening or end up giving birth on the top of an elevator.”
She turned her flashlight off. “We are officially discarding the escape hatch plan.”
She reached over and picked up her phone, checking it once again to see if the bars had changed. Sighing, she shook her head. “We are also officially discarding the miraculous appearance of bars plan.”
She rubbed her belly again. “Don’t worry, Mikey,” she said. “I’ll come up with another plan.”
Another contraction hit, and she groaned with the pressure. She dug her nails into the material on the walls of the elevator and held on. Panting heavily, she bit her lip as the pain washed over her. Finally, the contraction subsided, and she gasped for breath. “Those are coming a little bit closer together,” she breathed. “You might want to try and slow things down a little, Mikey.”
She leaned her head back against the wall, tears slipping from her eyes onto her cheeks. “God, I’m really frightened,” she prayed. “Don’t tell Mikey, but I’m really, really scared. If there’s a way you could get me out of here or send someone to help, that would be so great. Or put bars on my phone.” A sob escaped her lips. “I just…I just don’t want my baby to die. Please. Please help me.”
Chapter Seventy-three
“Mel!” Bradley exclaimed through the phone. “Have you seen Mary?”
“Yeah, I saw her earlier this evening,” he said. “She was going up to three to meet with some folks.”
“Did you see her leave?” Bradley asked.
“No, I didn’t,” he said. “But when she was walking in, she was coming from the emergency room entrance. I’m near there right now. What kind of car does she have?”
Bradley described Mary’s SUV.
“Yeah, it’s still here,” Mel said. “She’s not with her friends on four?”
‘No. I just called them, and she never made it up there,” Bradley replied.
“Well, she’s either on t
hree or on four,” he said. “I’ll go up to three and see if I can find her.”
“Thank you,” Bradley said. “I’m on my way there. I should be there in a few minutes.”
“I’ll call you when I get up to three,” Mel replied. “I know I’d lose the connection in the elevator.”
Bradley hung up his phone and increased his speed, his knuckles white as he held the steering wheel tightly, maneuvering through the snow drifts. He was driving down Stephenson and was coming up to Galena when he saw a car sliding through the intersection. He applied pressure to his brakes, but the cruiser slid forward. He pulled the steering wheel to the left, missing the car in the intersection, and then whipped it to the right, praying that he was on snow and not ice and the car would stay on the road. The tires were on solid ground and responded. Bradley swung forward and continued down Stephenson Street towards the hospital.
The rest of the drive was deserted, and he nearly spun out when he turned into the hospital parking lot. He pulled up and parked next to Mary’s car, then jumped out and ran to the entrance of the hospital. He’d just gone through the sliding doors when his phone rang.
“I’m up on three,” Mel said immediately. “And I just discovered the second elevator is stuck between three and four.”
“That’s it,” Bradley called. “Any other place, she would have called. She must be in the elevator. I’m on my way up to four.”
“Okay, you come up,” Mel said. “I’m gonna get some rope and a harness. I’m figuring you want to be the guy that gets lowered down.”
“Yes,” Bradley said. “I do.”
He didn’t trust the elevator, so he ran up the stairs three at a time. He burst onto the fourth floor and rushed to the elevator banks. Mel came running up behind him with a long crow bar in his hands. “I figured we could use this to pry it open,” he said.
They angled the bar into the seam between the two doors and pushed. The door slowly opened several inches. They continued to push, one on each side, until they were fully open and exposing the elevator shaft. Mel handed Bradley a piece of wood to wedge between the doors. “It’ll hold them open,” he said. “I use it when I do repairs.”
With the doors wedged open, Bradley leaned over and looked down. The elevator was about six feet below the fourth floor. “Mary,” he called down. “Mary!”
“Bradley?”
“Are you okay?” he called, his voice shaking with relief.
“I’m in labor,” she called back. “Mikey’s…”
He heard her cry of pain. “Mary,” he called. “I’m coming!”
He looked at the nurses who had been watching everything. “I need an emergency labor and delivery kit,” he said. “And I need some blankets and some water.”
He turned to Mel. “After you lower me down,” he said, “can you see about getting this elevator moving? I’d rather have her give birth in a bed.”
Mel nodded and handed him an LED lantern. “It’s going to be dark in the elevator,” he said. “And just in case you end up delivering a baby, you’re going to want to see what’s going on.”
Bradley wrapped the rope around his waist and reached over for the steel ladder that ran along the inside of the shaft. He carefully made his way down until he was at the same height as the elevator. The elevator box was about two feet from the wall. He reached one hand over and grabbed hold of a cable, then pulled himself onto the top of the box.
“Bradley?” Mary called from inside.
“Almost there, sweetheart,” he called back.
Finding the latch for the hatch, he unlocked it and pulled it off of the opening, setting it to the side. He knelt down, turned on the lantern and looked inside. Mary was sitting in the corner, her face pale and contorted in pain. She finally exhaled slowly, opened her eyes and saw him looking down at her.
“Hey,” she whimpered softly.
“Hey yourself,” he replied. “Want a little company?”
“Sure,” she said, sniffing back a tear.
He lowered himself down into the center of the box, placed the lantern on the floor and knelt down beside his wife.
“Bradley, I’m so glad you’re here,” she cried.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. “I am too, sweetheart,” he said. “I am too.”
Chapter Seventy-four
Bradley held her hands during the next two contractions, encouraging her all the way through them. “You’re doing great,” he said. “Just a little bit longer.”
She leaned against him, gasping for air, once the contraction ceased. “This is not how I pictured it,” she breathed.
Mel sent down the labor and delivery kit and a bag of blankets. Bradley pulled out the first blanket and wrapped it around Mary’s shoulders.
“Oh, it’s warm,” she said gratefully. “I’ve been so cold.”
He unfolded the plastic tarp in the kit and laid it on the floor. “Come on, sweetheart,” he said. “Let’s get you off the wet floor and on this, okay? It’s much more sanitary.”
She started to move, and another contraction hit. She cried out, and Bradley pulled her into his arms and held her while her body reacted to the pressure. Finally, he could feel her relaxing, so he pushed the tarp back against the wall of the elevator and placed her on it.
“Okay, now we have a lovely hospital gown,” he said.
“But, I’m so cold,” she protested.
“You can keep everything from the waist up on, as long as it’s not wet,” Bradley said.
She nodded. “Okay, deal.”
He helped her pull off her wet jeans and her underwear and put them to the side. He slipped the hospital gown on over her shirt and sweater, and then he placed the remaining warm blankets on top of her. “You look adorable,” he said, placing a kiss on her nose and kneeling down next to her.
“Thanks,” she said, and she had to admit she was feeling better.
She took a deep breath. “I’m beginning to feel nauseous,” she said. “That’s a sign of transition.”
“You know what that means, don’t you?” he asked. “Hee. Hee. Hee.”
A chuckle burst from her lips, and she leaned against him. “That’s not fair,” she said. “You can’t make me laugh when I’m in labor.”
“Actually, I just want you to relax,” he said. “As much as you can when you’re giving birth in an elevator.”
She chuckled again. “Okay, I’ll relax,” she teased. “After the baby is born.”
She moaned and turned towards him. Bradley put his arm around her and slowly rubbed her back. “You’re doing great,” he whispered. “Keep it up. Only a little bit longer.”
He felt himself tense up as she tensed up and only finally relaxed when she relaxed.
“Did Mel think he could fix the elevator?” she asked.
“He was going to try to do it as quickly as he could,” he replied.
“It’s not fast enough,” Mary said.
“Why?” Bradley asked.
She turned to him, her eyes filled with concern. “Because I want to push.”
Chapter Seventy-five
“Push,” Bradley repeated, trying to sound more optimistic than he felt. “Yeah, okay, we can do this.”
“Mary!” a woman’s voice called from above them. “This is Mickey. How are you doing?”
“She wants to push,” Bradley yelled back, looking up at the hatch.
“How far apart between contractions?” Mickey called back down.
He turned back to see that Mary’s eyes were closed and her breathing shallow. “She’s having one now,” he called. “And they are coming every couple of minutes.”
“Well, she could be ready to push,” the nurse mid-wife called back. “Have you checked to see if she’s crowning?”
“What? No,” Bradley replied.
He looked at Mary, who looked tired but was no longer having a contraction. “Crowning?” he asked.
“You need to check to see if the baby’s head is
visible,” she replied, panting slowly.
“Okay, Mel says that it’s not safe to have one more person in there until we know what’s going on,” Mickey called. “So, I can trade places…”
A look of panic entered Mary’s eyes.
“I’m not leaving,” Bradley called up. “But, I’m a cop. I’ve done this lots of times.”
“How many times?” Mary asked.
He smiled at her and shrugged. “Um, lots.”
A ghost of a smile played on her lips. “Um, never?” she asked.
“My cat had kittens once,” he whispered back.
“Okay, during the next contraction, check to see if the baby’s head is visible,” Mickey called down.
Bradley took his jacket off and put it behind Mary to support her back. Then he sat down in front of her, with her feet on his shoulders. He looked at her and winked. “I’m so glad we’re not taking videos of this birth.”
She laughed and then groaned as another contraction hit. Bradley watched in amazement as he could see the very top of the baby’s head appear. He looked up at her, his eyes glistening with tears. “I can see him,” he whispered. “I can see Mikey.”
She smiled back. “Really? He’s really there?”
“The baby is crowning,” he called up, his voice thick with emotion.
“Okay, Mary,” Mickey called back. “You can push with this next contraction, but don’t be too crazy. We want a slow exit, not a launch.”
Mary leaned back against Bradley’s coat and nodded.
“She’s got that,” Bradley called.
“And Bradley, your job is to catch and guide,” Mickey said. “No pulling or tugging allowed at all.”
“Got it!”
“Do you have the kit next to you?” Mickey asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s right here.”
“Make sure the bulb syringe is close by, but you might be able to clear the baby’s nose and mouth with your hand,” she called. “And have a towel close by, because he’s gonna be slippery.”
