Struck by Thunder

by Taylor Lee

  Taking advantage of their hesitation, Wyatt, Chief, and Alono barreled past the first tier of fighters and made their way up the stairs next to Ri. As a foursome, they walked up the rest of the stairs, the fighters opening a path and letting them pass.

  When they got to the landing on the eighth floor, the door flew open. Wan Chang, his face white with fury, stood in the doorway. Ri stepped in front of Wyatt and glared at his father.

  Wan drew his gun and pointed it at Ri’s face. His voice was tight with anger. “You are a disgrace to your race, your Tong, and to your family. You are no longer my son. I will kill you before I let you pass.”

  Ri’s face was pale, but he looked at his father and said, “You are not my father and you don’t deserve to be Lei’s father. You would let Lei die, rather than let Wyatt help her. I will not.”

  Wyatt stepped forward and knocked Ri aside. Stepping up to Wan he said, “Before you pull that trigger, you will have three bullets in your brain.”

  Wan’s hand shook as he saw that Wyatt, Chief, and Alono had drawn their guns and were pointing them at his head.

  Wyatt’s face was cold and hard as he glared at Wan. He shook his head in disgust and holstered his weapon. “Get the hell out of my way.”

  He pushed Wan aside and strode up to the guards, who were standing uncertainly behind their leader. He said to one of the white guards who had shadowed Lei when she was in Wyoming, “Where is she, Chet?”

  The guard hesitated for a minute. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. I can’t let you in.”

  “Chet, I am equally sorry, but you are going to have to shoot me if you want to stop me because I am coming in.”

  “Shoot him.” Wan was standing in the doorway his face ravaged with anger – and, Wyatt could now see, with fear that could only be caused by Lei’s condition.

  Chet and Wyatt exchanged a hard look. Without looking at Wan, Chet said, “Down the hallway to the right, second door.”

  Wyatt strode past the guards. Followed by Chief and Alono, who still had their guns drawn, he went down the hallway to the bedroom Chet indicated. Lei was sleeping, surrounded by the midwife and several worried looking aides.

  Wyatt turned to the midwife. In rapid Chinese he asked her to tell him exactly what was happening.

  To his surprise, the midwife was white and said she didn’t speak Chinese. Wyatt repeated his questions in English. The midwife said in a low voice, so Lei couldn’t hear, “She started to go in labor two days ago, then stopped. We didn’t think anything was wrong, but she’s stopped and started now four or five times. The pain has been excruciating. I think she is too small to deliver.”

  Wyatt’s heart froze. This couldn’t be happening. Please, God. No. This is what happened with Vivian. A healthy normal woman went into labor and died. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He reached for the end of the bed to keep from falling. A blast of sweat rolled down his chest. He turned to Chief, desperately trying to control the terror that threatened to overwhelm him.

  Chief pulled him aside. Putting his hands on Wyatt’s shoulders, he held him firmly. “Look at me, Wyatt. Do you hear me? Do you? It’s not the same. Remember that. Figure out what it is and what we can do. Look, Wyatt. Look at her. She’s not bleeding. It’s not the same.”

  Wyatt gulped a mouthful of air. With a huge effort, he willed his legs to stop shaking and went over to the bed. He saw that Lei was awake.

  Lei tried to push herself up to her elbows. She whispered, “Wyatt?”

  “Lei, honey, it’s me. I’m here, Princess.”

  When she saw that it was him, she burst into tears. “Wyatt, something is wrong. They won’t tell me, but I know something is wrong.”

  “Yeah, honey, it’s okay, baby. I’m here now. We’re going to figure out what’s wrong and get it fixed so you can deliver our baby.”

  She cried harder. “I’m scared, Wyatt. I’m so scared. They won’t tell me what is wrong. They won’t answer me. I keep asking, but they won’t answer me.” Her voice rose to a shriek. “They don’t answer!”

  Wyatt’s voice was soft, reassuring. “No, no, darlin’ It’s okay, honey. Let’s forget about them. Let me see what’s going on and then we can decide what we need to do, okay, Princess?”

  Shrugging off his vest and holsters, he crawled in beside her. He held her close to him, murmuring to her, telling her everything was going to be all right. He brushed her hair off her face. He kissed her eyes and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

  She clung to him burying her face in his shoulder. “You won’t go, right? Promise me you’ll stay with me? Promise me, Wyatt, you won’t leave.”

  “God, no, honey. It’s taken me five months to get into this fucking place. And Chief and Alono almost had to shoot your father, didn’t they, Wan?” he said over his shoulder. “I’m not leaving until you and the baby come with me. Got that, honey?”

  He grinned at her and she smiled back.

  “Lei, one more thing.” His voice was low, serious. He held her face in his hands and looked deep in her eyes. “Lei, I’m not letting you go ever again. Ever! Do you understand?”

  Tears streamed down her face. She nodded and smiled.

  “Okay, honey, just so we’ve got that straight. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to handle the names I call you. I deliver horses remember? I get to call you anything I call my mares, deal?”

  She smiled again and nodded.

  “Lei, you’re not in labor right now. From the sound of it you could start up again any minute. I want to check you now, honey, while you aren’t having contractions. I wanna see if I can tell what is going on. Okay?”

  “First, sweetheart, I need to wash my hands so that I can touch you.” He stood up and turned to the midwife. “Where are your supplies? Your station?”

  She glared at him, clearly offended at his interference. She shrugged and shook her head. Chief stepped in between them. “It’s okay, Wyatt, I’ll get things set up here. You can wash your hands in the bathroom while I’m getting ready.”

  Chief handed Wyatt some of the disinfectant they used. Wyatt turned to go into the bathroom with an ominous backward glance at the midwife.

  He came back and sat on the edge of the bed. Taking hold of Lei’s hands, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  “What are you going to do, Wyatt?”

  “You’ve seen how we deliver horses, haven’t you? Okay, I’m going to feel up here and here from behind. That’s how I can tell where the baby is. Didn’t the midwife check you like that? No? Hmm.

  “Okay, honey, do what I tell you. Put your legs up like this. I’m going to use some of that great stuff of Chief’s. You remember that, don’t you?”

  “Hey, you two,” Chief said with a laugh. “I have restrictions on the use of my ointments.”

  “Guess he should have told us sooner. Right, honey?

  “Okay, try to relax. This won’t hurt. I want to see if I can feel where the baby is and how far along you are.” She took a breath trying to relax. With expert fingers, Wyatt reached up and probed to find her cervix.

  Several minutes later, he rolled her over and said, “Okay, baby, now lay on your side so I can see what’s happening from this angle.”

  He checked her bottom and nodded. He took a deep breath to steady himself and looked to Chief for support. Chief put his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder and smiled. Wyatt nodded. He went to the bathroom and washed up then came back and sat down next to Lei. He took her hands in his and smiled at her.

  “Okay, Lei, Chief, Wan, Alono, here’s what we have. The baby’s decided he wants to come out butt first instead of head first. But that’s not possible. So we have a couple of choices. First, Lei, we’re going to get you up and start walking you around. Sometimes that will help shake things up, move the baby around. So we’re going to start with that.”

  “What if that doesn’t work, Wyatt?”

  “Honey, you know me. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve. We’ll try every one until one of them work
s.”

  “Wyatt, I feel like I have to pee.”

  “That may be the start of another contraction, honey. Let these girls help you to the bathroom and see. But call me if it starts to become a contraction.”

  When they left the room, Wyatt turned in fury to the midwife.

  “Who the hell are you? Do you know a goddamn thing about delivering babies?”

  “Wyatt, calm down. We have to deal with what we have.” Chief said in a quiet, reassuring voice.

  Fear choking his voice, Wan asked from across the room, “Why, what’s wrong?”

  Wyatt could barely control his fury. “The baby is lodged in the birth canal because nobody checked her two days ago when they easily could have rerouted him. The longer she goes without going into a full sustained labor, the more dangerous it is.”

  “What does that mean?” Wan demanded, his voice tight with fear.

  Wyatt whirled on him, his voice harsh. “Worst case?”

  “Yes.”

  “We will have to go in and take the baby.”

  “You mean cut her open?” Wan asked, his face paling further.

  “That’s exactly what I mean. Because, Wan, if it comes to that--if we don’t do it--we will lose both Lei and the baby. That is how my wife died. Because I didn’t know enough about Cesareans to save her.”

  Wan glared at him. “Do you now?”

  “If it makes you feel better, I have read every book I could get my hands on for the last six years to see if there was something I could have done. As it turns out there was.”

  Chief broke in. “Wyatt, you’re being unfair to yourself. We didn’t even have sutures then. Vivian could never have survived the way she was bleeding, but Lei can.”

  “You’re right, Chief.” Wyatt’s voice shook. Turning away from Wan , he appealed to Chief. “Goddamnit, Chief. Please help me.”

  Chief’s voice was firm, “I’m right here, Wyatt. If anyone can do this you can. Do you hear me? And don’t forget that if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have Alex and Elena. Nobody but nobody could have saved those babies but you.”

  Wan looked from Wyatt to Chief, terrified to hear what they were saying. His expression revealed the beginning of an understanding of what would have happened if Wyatt hadn’t forced his way in.

  Wyatt shook off his fear. “Okay, Chief, let’s get prepared for the worst. What do you have in your bag? Anything you don’t have? Something to knock her out? I have my knives. What about the herbal bath to keep out infections? Carbolic acid? Did you bring sutures? Needle? Okay, if we have to, we can do it.”

  He turned to the midwife. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. We have a different way of dealing with births, apparently.”

  She sniffed. “We don’t put our hands inside their bodies. They aren’t clean.”

  Wyatt looked at her disbelieving; his eyes were cold and hard. Chief again stepped between them. Wyatt said, “Have you ever thought about washing your hands? You’ve got a hell of lot more germs on your hands than Lei has inside her body.”

  She stared straight ahead and said in a haughty voice. “We have our ways, you have yours.”

  Wyatt felt his anger rising at her dismissive ignorance. “How do you prevent infections? What do you use for pain? Jesus, we’ve been using carbolic acid for ten years and we’ve never had an infection in a horse, much less a person. But yeah, we do get our hands “dirty.” That’s how we know what’s going on. Christ, I’ll bet you’ve never been butt fucked either, right?”

  “Wyatt….” Chief put a restraining hand on Wyatt’s shoulder as the midwife stepped back, her face pale with disbelief.

  Wyatt’s fury rose. Christ, leave it to Wan to bring in a white midwife. Hell, he probably thought it was a status thing. Hadn’t he ever seen what happens in an American hospital? Damn, no one went there unless they wanted to die of cholera.

  Wyatt turned to Wan, his voice harsh, commanding. “Wan, why the hell don’t you have a Chinese-trained midwife? They’re the best in the world. Call the women in your household and find out who has had at least three babies and get a couple of them over here now. Get these people the hell out of here before I throw them out.”

  “Wyatt, something is happening.” Lei was standing in the doorway. “I think I am starting labor again.”

  ~~~

  Chapter 30

  As if a switch had been turned on in his head, Wyatt became the whisperer: competent, fearless and comforting.

  “Okay, Princess, that is great because we’re going to see if we can get him to turn while you are having a contraction.”

  “Come lay down, sweetheart. I’m going to get you as comfortable as I can. Here’s what we’re going to do. When your contraction starts, I’m going to see if he seems to be moving down. If not, in between contractions, I’m going to see if we can get him to turn. Okay? Now when the contraction starts like it is now you can hold my hands tight—that’s right. Just like that. I’m not going to let go of you.”

  Between contractions, Wyatt tried to maneuver the baby’s body by massaging her stomach, but stopped when her contractions increased. Wyatt was surprised by how hard her contractions were. Soon, she was moaning in pain. Her body was covered with sweat. In between contractions, Wyatt wiped her face and body with a cool cloth and gave her sips of water. He murmured comforting words and told her how great she was doing and that it would stop hurting in a minute.

  Gritting her teeth against the pain, she gave him a shaky smile. “Your mares are lucky, Wyatt. The midwife wouldn’t touch me. When I asked for some water, she wouldn’t give me any. She said she didn’t want me to throw up on her.”

  “Bitch! I’ve never understood women who take care of other women when they don’t seem to like them much.”

  “You’re right, Wyatt. I don’t think she liked me. I was afraid to tell her how much it hurt.”

  “Well, honey, you don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything. I’ll do what I can to make it easier on you.”

  He put his hands on her pubic bone in the middle of a fierce contraction and frowned. After three more hard contractions they lightened. As quickly as they had started, the contractions stopped. A frown creased Wyatt’s brow. He exchanged a glance with Chief and shook his head.

  Lei saw the expression on his face. “What, Wyatt? I can tell something is wrong.”

  “Yeah, honey. I don’t think this route is going to work. The baby is pretty well stuck. Your body is working as hard as it can, but he’s got himself lodged in this bony part here. No matter how hard your contractions are, the baby can’t move down.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Lei, do you know what a caesarean birth is?”

  “When you cut open my stomach and take the baby out that way.”

  “Yeah, honey. That’s what we’re going to need to do. I don’t want you to keep having contractions with nothing happening. That’s hard on the baby and hard on you.”

  “Is the baby all right, Wyatt?”

  “I’m sure he is now, but it’s not good for him to be in this position any longer. Let me tell you what I am gonna do.”

  Chief and Alono immediately started making preparations as Wyatt talked. In soft voices, they directed the two women who had come to help. They showed them how to mix up the disinfectant and the herbal anesthesia Wyatt would use.

  Wan was standing off to the side, his face pale, his hands clenched in tight fists. Wyatt looked up and focused on him for the first time.

  “Tell you what, Wan, why don’t you come over here and sit in this chair so you can hold Lei’s hand. I want to tell you both what I’m going to do, okay? Where is that brother of yours? Let’s get the whole family in here.”

  Ri poked his head in the room from his perch in the hallway. He was blinking hard to keep from crying and was as pale as his father. Wyatt motioned for him to come into the room by the bed.

  Keeping his gaze on Lei’s face, he said, “First, honey, we’re gonna move you over to the t
able so that both Chief and I can reach you. Then, Lei, I’m going to make a cut here down close to this bone here. Feel here? That’s the best place for me to get into your womb with the smallest cut possible. Once I’m inside here, I’m going to make a cut along the side of your womb and take the baby out. Alono and Chief are almost as good with babies as I am, aren’t you? Almost. They will take care of him while I work with you, okay? After we take the baby, then I’m going to sew you up with this.” Chief handed him a needle that had a long suture thread on it.

  “Gonna be like darning a sock,” he said with a grin. “You’re lucky Chief made me do that when I was a kid. Never knew how handy it would be. Then I’m going to sew up your tummy. Don’t worry, I’ll make it beautiful. I don’t want anything to spoil this masterpiece,” he said, pointing to her body.

  “Now the good thing, Lei, is that you aren’t going to feel any of this. Chief is a master with herbs and other concoctions. What are you putting in that, Chief?”

  Chief gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s a little opium, some narcotic herbs, and some other unpronounceable things.”

  Wyatt continued, “The main thing, Lei, is that I want you to go to sleep. I don’t want you to feel the cutting, but I don’t want you to sleep hard. I don’t want the medicine to affect the baby, okay? I tell you that because you might feel some pain. But Alono and Chief are going to hold you the way Joey and Chief did when we fixed your ribs, okay?”

  “Wyatt?”

  “Yes, Lei.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  “Yeah, honey. I’m afraid. Kinda the way I feel before I fight an important match. But just like I control my anger before I fight by going to that place I told you about -- that’s where I’m going now. That’s where I’m gonna work. Do you want to come there with me? To that place where we both know everything is going to be all right? Okay, honey, let’s do that. Let’s go there together.”