by Kim Baldwin
“I’m a bit concerned because your blood pressure’s up,” she told Maggie. “And your headache isn’t good news. Has it gotten worse?”
“Yeah. Quite a lot, as a matter of fact.” Maggie closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat. “How much longer, Bryson?”
“Fifteen minutes or so,” she called back. “I’ve got the throttle wide open. Want me to have an ambulance waiting for us?”
“Oh, no, there’s no need for that,” Maggie said. “I’m sure I—”
“I think it’s a good idea. Better to be careful.”
“Do it, Bryson,” Lars said immediately.
“You got it.” Bryson relayed the request on her radio and asked the Fairbanks tower for priority clearance to land on one of the two water runways reserved for floatplanes.
Karla took Maggie’s blood pressure again as they began to descend. Everyone’s attention was on her, so she forced herself not to frown as she heard the whoosh that registered the systolic pressure. The number was too high. Too damn high.
*
“You know more than you’re saying, don’t you?” Bryson kept her voice low. She was standing just behind Karla, both of them watching doctors and nurses go in and out of the ER cubicle down the hall where Maggie had been taken.
“They’ll know something soon. She’s in good hands.”
“What do you think it is?” Bryson could tell from the look on Karla’s face that she understood precisely why Maggie was getting such a bustle of attention. She’d seen her intercept the first doctor as he was going in, to brief him. “Please tell me.”
Karla half turned and met her eyes. “It might be preeclampsia. Do you know what that is?”
Her body tensed and she made fists. “Not really. I’ve heard the term. Is it bad?”
“It’s a condition pregnant women sometimes get, a narrowing of the blood vessels. Maggie has several of the common risk factors for it. Her age, for one. The fact it’s her first pregnancy. And her normal blood pressure is on the high side anyway, which is why her doctor told her to rest in bed as much as possible the last few weeks.”
Movement made Karla turn toward Maggie’s cubicle. The curtain was pulled back, and a nurse emerged with a tray and headed off toward the lab. “It spiked during the flight, and her headache is a symptom. Blood and urine tests should tell the doctors more.”
“Is it bad?” Bryson asked again. Her chest felt constricted. Don’t let anything happen to her.
“It could be dangerous to both Maggie and the baby. If that’s what it is, the doctors may want to induce labor or deliver by C-section right away, since she’s so close to her due date.” Karla met her eyes again. “It might be something else, though she doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms.”
“If they go ahead and take the baby, will both of them be okay?” She hadn’t realized how tense she was, until Karla gently released her fists and took her hands in hers.
“They’ll be all right. Have faith.” Karla’s smile and grip of reassurance were so convincing she relaxed a little.
*
The doctors verified Karla’s diagnosis and scheduled Maggie for a C-Section for later that day. She was moved to a prep room and put on a magnesium drip to keep her from developing eclampsia and having a seizure during the surgery. The drip made her sick and fuzzy-headed, and Bryson and Karla couldn’t see her for a couple of hours.
Karla’s trepidation grew when she entered the room. Maggie was visibly sweating and looked paler than she should.
“Where’s Lars?” Bryson asked.
“I sent him to stretch his legs so I could talk to you.” Maggie patted the bed on either side of her, and Karla and Bryson both edged carefully onto the mattress, facing her. Each took one of her hands. “I’m counting on you both,” she said. “Now, I know everything’s going to be fine. But I like to plan for every possibility. If something happens to me…” She’d been composed and calm until now, but Karla could see in her eyes that the doctors had explained all the risks and dangers. “Lars will need looking after.”
She wanted to interrupt with reassurances, but neither she nor Bryson moved.
“He’ll need both of you, as much as you’re able, especially at first. Oh, he’ll make a great dad, I know, but newborns are a handful.” Maggie took a deep breath and looked from one to the other. “Promise?”
“Of course,” Karla said.
“You know I will.” Bryson nodded solemnly.
“Good. Now that’s settled, let’s talk about the way it’s really going to be.” Maggie glanced down at her stomach. “The doctors say I’ll be here a while. At least several days. And the baby maybe longer.” She looked up at Karla. “Lars plans to stay with me. They’ll move a cot in for him.”
“Great.” Karla squeezed her hand. “I’ll get a room at a hotel nearby.”
“So will I,” Bryson added.
Maggie shook her head. “Very nice of both of you to offer, but Lars will be here around the clock, watching me like a hawk.” She looked up at Karla. “You can stay until I come home, right?”
“And for a while after. I’m sure it’ll be no problem. I’ll call and verify that while you’re in surgery.”
“Good. But I don’t want you hanging around a hospital for the next week. Go home with Bryson and have some fun. See some of the area while the weather holds. We’ll get freeze-up soon. If you’re comfortable at our place, of course you’re welcome there. Or I’m sure Grizz can put you up at the Den.”
“Or she can stay with me.” Bryson faced Karla. “We’ll work it out, whatever you want.” She returned her attention to Maggie. “I’ll watch after her, don’t you worry. Lars will call us when we can come, and I’ll have us down here and bedside before you know it.”
“I knew I could count on you both.” Maggie sighed and extracted her hand from Bryson’s to run it over her stomach. “Won’t be long, now. You’ll both have a little niece.”
“I get to be an aunt, too?” Bryson’s pleased expression told Karla this was unexpected news.
“Of course, idiot.” Maggie slapped her lightly across the arm. “Since when did you cease being a member of my family?”
“Duh,” Bryson teased. “No clues on a name yet, I suppose?”
“She’ll let me know,” Maggie said confidently.
“Believe me, Mag won’t drop any hints until she’s here,” Lars said from the doorway. “I’ve tried everything.” He was smiling, but his forehead was creased with worry. Karla knew they all felt the same. Putting on brave faces, but terrified inside.
The anesthesiologist appeared behind Lars. “It’s time for her epidural. Lars, you can stay, but you ladies need to wait outside.”
“Can’t wait to meet my niece.” Karla gave Maggie a quick kiss. “See you soon.”
“We’ll be in as soon as they’ll let us.” Bryson did the same.
Karla called her supervisor at Grady Hospital and confirmed her indefinite leave of absence. Not long after, they took Maggie to surgery, and she and Bryson accompanied Lars to the lounge to begin an agonizing wait.
*
“The doctor said she’d be in the operating room an hour or so.” Lars glanced up at the wall clock, though it had barely moved since the last time he’d looked. “Do you think we should be getting worried?”
Nearly ninety minutes had passed since they’d wheeled Maggie to the OR, and Lars had spent nearly the entire time pacing. Bryson and Karla had been through every magazine in the room and had alternated trips to the cafeteria for coffee, most of which went cold before it was consumed.
“We should be hearing something soon.” But Karla was beginning to be concerned, too. The typical C-section only took a half hour or forty minutes, so she’d expected someone from the OR to update them by now. Almost unconsciously, she removed the tigereye necklace from her pocket and began to stroke the smooth stone with her thumb.
“What’s that?” Bryson asked. “If you don’t mind my asking. You were doing
that earlier, in the ER.”
She opened her palm so Bryson could see the necklace. “It was my mother’s. She wore it all the time. I know it probably sounds silly, but it gives me strength. Makes me feel closer to her, somehow.”
“I don’t think that’s silly at all. I feel the same way when I sit in Pop’s chair.” Just as the words left Bryson’s mouth, a doctor in scrubs emerged from a door at the end of the hallway and headed toward them. He was smiling.
“Congratulation, Lars, you have a beautiful baby girl. Seven pounds, eight ounces. Because she was a little premature, she’s been taken to the NICU—neonatal intensive care—but all the early signs look very good.”
“Maggie?” Lars asked.
The surgeon put his hand on Lars’s shoulder. “There was some bleeding, so it took a little longer than usual to close her up. She’s running a fever, and her blood pressure’s still high, so we’re monitoring her closely. It’ll be another hour or two before you can see her, but you can visit your daughter. The NICU’s on the third floor.”
As soon as he left them, Karla put her arm around Lars’s waist. Concern was etched on his face. “Don’t worry, Lars. These kinds of complications are to be expected. I’m sure Maggie and the baby will be fine. If you like, I’ll talk to the charge nurse.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” He hugged her back. “I need a translator to understand what’s going on.”
Ten minutes later, the three of them stood outside the NICU window, admiring the fair-haired newborn.
“She looks so small and vulnerable.” Lars’s face was only inches from the glass, his expression a combination of awe and uncertainty. Baby Girl Rasmussen was in a small bed enclosed by hard plastic, and leads ran from her chest and fingertip to a monitor.
Karla studied the numbers on the monitor. “Her breathing and heart rate are good, and so is her blood pressure. Blood-oxygen level is within normal range. She’s in the isolette to keep her warm, which is common with preemies.”
“When will I be able to hold her?”
“She’s not on a ventilator, so I bet they’ll let you in right now. Let me go talk to the charge nurse.” Karla found the shift supervisor and was relieved to hear that her niece had had no complications and was being monitored only as a precaution. She passed the good news to Lars, who was led away to wash up and don a hospital gown.
She and Bryson watched through the window as he held his daughter for the first time, mindful of the various lines attaching her to the monitor.
“Should have brought my camera,” Bryson remarked. “Sure never expected all this when we left this morning.”
“They’re lucky this happened so late in Maggie’s pregnancy, and that she was headed here,” Karla said. “I hate to think about the outcome if she’d worsened during a blizzard or something, and we hadn’t been able to get them to a hospital. We might have lost them both.”
“Damn good thing you’re here. Makes it seem as though there was a reason all of this happened as it did. You coming here, I mean.”
“Well, apparently I’ll be hanging around a while longer than I expected. Maggie probably won’t be out of here for a week or so, and it’ll be another five or six before she’s able to do much because of the C-section. Looks like I’ll be here for the holidays.”
“It’ll sure make them both happy to hear that.” Bryson smiled. “And me, too. I don’t mind saying, I look forward to the chance to spend some more time with you.”
The words themselves didn’t surprise Karla because Bryson had already acknowledged she enjoyed her company. But now she noticed an expression in Bryson’s eyes she hadn’t seen before, or had perhaps been too preoccupied to recognize.
It was a subtle but unmistakable sign of interest. Romantic interest. Sexual interest. Even in her daydreams of late, she hadn’t imagined that Bryson could be harboring any such attraction, and the realization she might both excited and terrified her.
*
Bryson set the coffee cup on the table in front of the couch and eased quietly into the chair beside it. Karla was still out cold, though it was nearly eight a.m., but they’d been up late, visiting the NICU and getting updates from Lars on how Maggie was doing.
She adjusted Karla’s jacket so it covered her, then hesitated as she withdrew her hand, the urge to caress Karla’s hair away from her face so strong she could hardly repress it.
Something was different between them, though she couldn’t put her finger on what or why. Ever since that moment outside the NICU the night before, Karla had been almost shy around her, rarely meeting her eyes. And when she did, she seemed curious in a way she hadn’t before.
A nurse poked her head into the lounge. “Maggie’s awake,” she quietly informed Bryson. “You can go in to see her.”
She rubbed Karla’s shoulder and was rewarded with a low moan of protest. “Karla? You awake?”
“Half,” Karla said groggily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. “What’s happened?”
“We can see Maggie.”
“Oh, great.” The news roused her from her semi-stupor, and she blinked several times. Her gaze focused on the full coffee cup in front of her. “Please tell me this hasn’t been sitting here for hours.”
“Still hot.”
“You’re an angel.” Karla reached for the cup and downed half the contents in three quick sips. “Okay. Now I’m ready.”
Karla fixed her attention on Maggie’s monitor as they entered the room. Her blood pressure was still elevated—142 over 95—but that was an improvement over the night before, and it could take a few weeks for Maggie’s BP to return to normal. Her color was good, and the empty food tray in front of her indicated she’d been able to start taking liquids on her own. “Hi, sis. How you feeling?”
“Weak. Sore.” Maggie groaned when she reached for the bed control to raise her head a few inches. “And glad it’s over. But it sure was worth it.” She smiled. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“Sure is. And lucky. She’s got your eyes.” Bryson looked over at Karla and grinned. “Hazel, with tiny gold flecks.”
Karla’s cheeks warmed. Of course it was natural that Bryson knew the color of her eyes. She noticed everything in her environment, paid attention to the details. And they actually had spent a lot of time together, at least it sure felt that way. But it was how Bryson looked at her when she said it that unnerved her. Maggie wouldn’t have interpreted it as flirtatious, but it seemed so, to her. Bryson had sounded quietly joyful, as though hazel eyes with tiny gold flecks were her idea of perfection.
She had to be imagining Bryson’s interest. Had to be. Bryson hadn’t said or done anything overt. Had she? Karla was out of practice when it came to reading clues that said a woman was interested in her.
“Her eyes were the first things I noticed, too.” Maggie reached for Karla’s hand. “Another tie that binds us.”
“Mom would’ve liked that. Where’s Lars?”
“I sent him to get some breakfast. Poor thing hasn’t eaten since yesterday morning, and I know he was up all night. He looked like he was ready to drop.”
“So, the big question. Do you have a name yet?” Bryson asked.
“Yes.” Maggie’s lips drew back in an enigmatic smile. She was obviously enjoying making them wait to hear the long-anticipated decision. “We’ve named her after the two women who kept both of us safe. We’re calling her Karson, with a K.”
“Karson? Hey, how cool is that? I’m honored.” Bryson looked over at Karla, who felt the same joy she saw on Bryson’s face.
“So am I. Thanks, Maggie.”
“Suits her,” Maggie said. “She’s a survivor, just like you two.”
“I’m so glad you and little Karson are okay,” Bryson said. “Has the doctor said anything about when you can both go home?”
Maggie shook her head. “He said five days at least, probably more. He wants to see how we do, and how fast I heal. And I’ll have to stay in bed a lot when I first get there.”
“Then lucky for you, you have a live-in nanny, cook, and health-care professional. I’m here as long as you need me,” Karla said. “I talked to the hospital and told them I probably won’t be back until after the first of the year.”
“You’re spending the holidays with us?” Maggie sat up so abruptly that she winced. “Damn.”
“Hey, there. Watch it.” Karla helped her lie back. “Be careful with that incision. Slow movements. And yes, you have me for Christmas. Please tell me you’re the deck-the-halls, singing-carols-nonstop types.”
“Hell, we live in Santa’s backyard. What do you think?” Maggie laughed. “You won’t find a house up here without mistletoe, spiked eggnog, the works. Hey, Bryson, you should get Chaz to loan you a team to take her up to Arrigetch Peaks.”
“Already thought of that. Just wasn’t sure Karla would be around long enough to get the snow for it.”
“What are you two talking about?”
“The Arrigetch Peaks are at the entrance to the Gates of the Arctic,” Maggie explained. “Unbelievably beautiful. Best way to get there is by dogsled.”
“Dogsled?” Much as she hated being cold, that did sound exciting, mushing up into the wilderness with Bryson. “I take it you’ve done that before?”
Bryson grinned. “Many, many times. I’m an alternate guide, if someone gets sick at the last minute.”
“No one better to take you into the backcountry,” Lars added from behind her. “You know, you two look worse than I do. Why don’t you head on home and get some rest? I’ll call with updates, and you can come back if there’s a need. Otherwise we’ll see you when Mags can go home.”
“Lars is right.” Maggie glared at them with playful sternness. “Go get some rest and have some fun. I don’t have the energy to deal with three hovering mother hens.”
“You’re sure?” Bryson asked.
“No arguments. Don’t make me mad.” Maggie was grinning when she said it, and she reached out for farewell hugs from them.
