"I don't think so. I will want my own bed, but I might have dinner over there those days."
"Thank you, Katie."
She smiled and ran her hand over the contours of his face. "For what?"
"For working with me to allow me to be comfortable leaving my wife in her eighth month of pregnancy alone at home without a huge fight. That is a big deal for us. Don't you think so?"
"Mmm, I guess so. Partly it's because I'm using Jocelyn's thinking. Why fight about it if I'm thinking the same? Not to argue just because you verbalize what I would want to do anyway. But I think the other part is I'm less desirous of fighting with you and more desirous of sitting comfortably."
Both Katie and Ciarán laughed. Secretly Ciarán was glad he had decided to take her to the limit that one time. Things had run smoothly since then.
Katie rolled over a week later and reached out to feel the other side of the bed for Ciarán, and felt it cold and empty. "Ugh. He's gone."
Getting up, she walked over to the window to see if his truck was gone and it was. Well, it was just three days she told herself. She took a shower and began to feel so sad, she decided to make a plan for the day so that she would have things to keep her busy and occupied so she wasn't lonely and sad.
Digging in the dirt was satisfying. Katie was finding she had to sit on her bottom to get the job done, grunting to get back up each time she needed to move. Andrew called over during lunch to check and see if she was coming to have lunch and to make sure she was doing okay.
"I'm all right, just missing Ciarán and feeling like a whale." Andrew laughed and she said she was going to see him at dinner. She ate a bit of food and took a nap. She ended that evening with some dinner but not feeling like eating much. Andrew wanted her to stay in the house with him because when he called Caoimhe, she said that it would be best to have her close especially at night.
Katie wanted her own home and her own bed so when Ciarán called and she was at home, he asked if she wouldn't have been more comfortable near someone.
"Andrew called you, didn't he?"
"No, Caoimhe did. They are just worried about you and so am I."
"I go to the doctor tomorrow. I'll tell him I'm becoming exhausted, but I think it's normal. I'm just sadder with you gone. There are only two more days to go."
The next day, Katie was going to get into the car when Andrew showed up. "Hey, why don't I drive you to your appointment?"
"Ciarán asked you didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did, but I would have offered if I had known. Honey, I have gone through this twice and both times, when she was this far in the pregnancy, Caoimhe was miserable and I did a lot for her just so she was as comfortable as possible. She didn't drive much during her last month, so I want you to let me take you."
"But your work site," she started to say.
"Can take care of itself for a bit," he finished. "Nothing is more important than family, ever."
Coming back home, Katie was telling Andrew that they took some blood because they thought she might need more iron in her diet. Andrew said that Caoimhe didn't like spinach cooked but found the fresh spinach just fine in things, so she used it in every salad and with lettuce on her sandwiches and ate raisins. It did the trick for her and so Katie agreed to try it if she needed more iron because she didn't want to take any more iron artificially if she could get away with it. Katie fell asleep in the car and Andrew carried her into the house putting her to sleep on her bed.
Ciarán took some time out of the reams of paperwork that was part of culling out the good horseflesh from the not as good and he started to send the two pregnant mares he selected to go home with Da as the paperwork was done on them. Liam and Quinlan were working on picking the stud horses they wanted and were debating the characteristics of the ones they had narrowed down. Ciarán felt three good stallions would work.
They felt that they would come away with nine healthy mares and two strong ones pregnant and then three studs would make the group this time. Not as many horses as Ciarán had hoped, but they could adopt some later in the year from the adoption center in Nevada and that would give them some variety.
Ciarán called Andrew and asked about Katie's appointment. Andrew said they were checking on her iron because she was so tired and whatever else they said she would have to tell him because he didn't know, but that she did let him drive her. He would try to see if he could get her to eat a bit more. He also didn't know how much she was drinking when Ciarán asked.
"I'll try to get her to stay with us tonight, Ciarán, but she sure misses you. I never saw a woman so mopey because her husband was gone. This little trip should have given her time to do what she wanted to do, but I think she is just too pregnant to want to do more than cuddle and you are her teddy bear. I remember Caoimhe at this point; she felt like everything was such an effort. Katie will be happy to see you tomorrow night."
"I'll call Katie again later. I hope that I can convince her to stay over there tonight. It's just she stayed home without any complaint and is waiting at the ranch, away from the stables and having dinner with you all over there, I just don't want to rock the boat too much. I'll be back tomorrow night."
Andrew worked until six and Katie wasn't feeling as hungry as she had earlier. "I guess I ate enough at lunch."
"Hmm, and what was that exactly?" asked Mrs. O'Malley.
"Huh? Oh, I had some soup, almost the whole can, and some crackers. Oh, and this morning I ate oatmeal."
"What else did you eat today," asked Andrew not happy that was all she had eaten if it was.
"Oh, I had a piece of chocolate. See I ate today. I'm just not really hungry tonight."
"Well, then how much have you had to drink today?" continued Andrew.
"Did Ciarán put you up to this interrogation?" asked Katie.
"Don't forget I have been through this twice and if there is something that I have learned, it's that you need to make sure that you eat enough calories and have plenty to drink. Didn't you have a kidney infection because you were not drinking enough fluids early on? You can't be sick when Ciarán comes back because there isn't much in this world I could do wrong that would be worse than not taking care of his wife while he is away."
Katie laughed. "Okay, Andrew, but for the record, he would think it was me and not you that didn't take care."
"I don't think that would be true because I'm the one left in charge of your welfare. Don't think for a minute that I would be left out of his ring of wrath if anything happened to you on my watch. So at least, eat a small amount and have something to drink, for me, okay?"
Later that night, when Andrew couldn't convince her to stay with him and told him to not worry about staying with her, she went home to watch some television. She talked to Ciarán for a bit, and then fell asleep on the couch only to wake up with an urgent need to get to the bathroom. She hurried up the stairs in her half-awake state and slipped on the very last step, causing her legs and feet to become tangled up with each other. She landed hard on the hallway floor. Ciarán had wanted to put a third full bathroom downstairs instead of a washroom, but she had convinced him they wouldn't need it. It was too small in her advanced stage of pregnancy to get up and down from easily. And her belly made it feel claustrophobic. Now, she was cursing her decision because here she was, on the floor, still needing to go and yet hurting too much to get up just yet.
Angry with herself because she was feeling so sorry for herself which was not what she was used to, she pushed herself up off the floor and felt like she had pulled a muscle in her stomach. Great, I almost break my neck getting to the bathroom and now I pull a muscle to get my huge belly off the floor. What next? Before the question was out, she had begun to urinate on the ground and she felt so defeated she sat against the wall and cried. She was angry, feeling sorry for herself and hurt. Get up Katherine O'Connor. Nothing will get done while you sit and cry on the floor. Clean up and get into bed.
Slowly and painfully, she got up, cleaned up
the floor, and stood in the shower moving gingerly to wash off. She started to cry again because she missed Ciarán, needed his help and she was still feeling sorry for herself.
The next morning, when Katie began to get up, she could feel the pulled muscle or ligament, moaned and went back to sleep. About 9:00 a.m. she got a call from the doctor's office and she heard her iron was low, there was a bit more protein than they liked in her urine, and her blood pressure was borderline.
"This with your other signs makes me think we need to watch out for preeclampsia. So, I want you to come back in and we'll keep you overnight and get some tests. If they are good enough, then we'll let you go home for modified bed rest."
"Can I do this tomorrow? Ciarán comes home tonight."
"I would rather you come in this morning and we'll let you go tomorrow morning if all is well, how is that?"
"Okay, I'll call Andrew and let him know, and then I'll be in."
Katie had to leave a message because Andrew's phone wasn't loud enough for him to hear over the din of the concrete mixer. She left a message and then called Ciarán, but she had to leave a message there as well. Stomach still hurting and upset she needed to go in, she cried all the way to the hospital and went to L&D where they were expecting her.
Katie went through stress tests, an ultrasound, the start of a urine study, and fifteen-minute blood pressure checks that extended to one-hour checks. She was tired and worried. Ciarán hadn't called by lunch and Andrew was looking at his watch when he wondered where Katie was and how she was doing. He had eaten but before he started back to work, he called and Katie filled him in.
"Why didn't you tell someone—they would have gotten me and I would have taken you and stayed with you."
Just hearing the aggravation in Andrew's voice made Katie start to cry again and she thought she couldn't have cried anymore. Then Andrew cursed himself for making her more upset.
"Hold on, sweetheart, I will get to you as fast as I can. Don't cry, Katie, I'm on my way."
"Don't call Ciarán, because he is driving and I don't want anything to happen to him. He can't do anything and he will be here tonight anyway. It will be fine."
"Can't guarantee that but I won't call him. He will call me tonight and I will have to tell him."
Andrew sat in the room with Katie all the rest of the afternoon and Ciarán called Katie at about four pm. "How are you, baby? Why didn't you try to call me again? You just left a message once."
"Good, I'm good. It's no big deal, really, I get to go home tomorrow, they think."
"I know, mo chroí, I spoke to Doc Ames, and he is pleased so far with the testing. He thinks that so long as you are stable and the other tests come back okay, you can go home in the morning."
Katie tried not to break down again but was unsuccessful. "I know."
Ciarán swore and asked to talk to Andrew. She wordlessly handed the phone to Andrew and buried her head in the pillow crying. Andrew walked out of the room to speak freely and so he could hear Ciarán.
"How is she really, Drew?" Ciarán, while not shortening Jocelyn's name very often as many in the family did, he did shorten Andrew's name when no one else did.
"Physically, I think the doctor is pretty well satisfied with her. He says she is just having a bit more trouble here at the end, but he doesn't believe it's preeclampsia. He feels sure that if he sends all the information home, that you will be okay and you'll keep her on target."
"Good. Man, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you. It's killing me that I'm not there for her, but I'll be there in about two hours. I have to drop off this trailer and then I'll be there. Call Kelli if you need her to come and sit with Katie. Or, she will probably be okay alone until I get there."
"No way am I leaving her alone, Ciarán. Your woman is falling apart. She tries to hold it together but unless she is napping, she is crying for the most part. There is no way in this world that I'm going to do anything outside this room except get coffee or make a bathroom run. Don't bother Kelli, she isn't off yet, and I'm already here."
Ciarán swore again, angry that he went on this run when his wife was so pregnant. "Well, I'm going to call her anyway because you have done more than your brotherly duty and I won't know how to ever repay you."
Andrew laughed. "I'm just doing you a favor back, man. Remember when I was gone on that federal building job when Caoimhe was just barely pregnant with Éiren and she got strep throat. You got her to the doctor, got her meds, took complete care of her when she didn't even want to address it at all. By the time I got back at the end of the week, she was well enough to look like she just had a little virus. She told me how you took care of her, fed her, made her do everything the doctor asked and kept her happy during that time. I can't and won't do any less for Katie. Besides, she might have my nephew in residence, and Lord knows I come from a house of girls."
Kelli arrived at 6:00 and relieved Andrew, making him go home. She convinced him that they would need his help on the site in the morning. If he stayed, he would be no good to them tomorrow. Ciarán was on his way and it wouldn't be long anyway.
Katie was able to keep it together better for Kelli because, for some reason, she didn't feel as vulnerable with Kelli there as when Andrew was there. Andrew was a protective male who took very good care of her because he did care and it made her feel like a little kitten.
Ciarán was pulling onto the last stretch of road when he blew a tire thirty miles outside of the south entrance to the ranch and he was angry. He was going to change the tire but decided he would call the kennels and get a couple of guys to drive his pickup out to him, trade vehicles and let them deal with the truck, trailer, and flat. He needed to get to Katie. So, another hour added to the mix but he finally got to the hospital around seven-thirty that night, just when Kelli was calling him.
"Hey, little brother, where are you?" Ciarán filled her in on what happened and Kellie told him to be prepared because Katie was so over-tired and upset that she had worked herself up again and she didn't think it was good for the baby that she was so upset all the time. Ciarán asked her to hang tight until he got there and hung up. Next, he called the doctor and explained that he just didn't want to leave Katie there if she was going to be so upset. He asked that he get the discharge done so they could release her.
Next, Ciarán stopped at the nurses' station and they were already speaking to Doc Ames. "Get your wife dressed and we'll get the paperwork together because Doc Ames already has written up her order. As soon as she gave us the last sample we were going to cut her loose."
They gave him a container to gather the next twelve hours of urine samples and said they needed to give her the discharge instructions.
Ciarán responded, "I doubt she will even hear or process much from what I hear. Thank you, ladies, for taking good care of my wife but I don't think she will calm down until I take her out of here and get her into her own bed next to me."
The nurses and aides laughed and gave her discharge papers to him, explaining what they would have typically told Katie. Ciarán gave them a dazzling grin, waved and walked into his wife's room. After Katie had quit holding on so tight that Ciarán was sure his circulation was being cut off, he smiled at her and had Kelli get her a wash rag for her face and finger combed her hair for her.
"Mo muirnín, why are you so upset? You are making yourself sick crying so much. It isn't good for you or the baby. Hush, anois beag amháin, Hush now, little one." All the while, he was speaking to her and comforting her, Kelli was gathering the few things in her room that were hers and that she needed to take home. Simultaneously, Ciarán had helped Katie put on her sundress leaving the hospital gown on the side of the bed. Katie never noticed he had changed her, but he scooped her up in his arms and strode out of the room with Kelli walking out behind, waving a final salute goodbye to the staff.
Kelli grinned when she heard one of the nurse's comments on how strong Ciarán was and how lucky Katie was to have one of the O'Connor men as
a husband. They were saying something about romantic as Kelli left the ward and she grinned again because as insufferable as her brothers often were and were control freaks, they were handsome, strong, take-charge men with the gentlest and kindest hearts that could be found in a spouse. Any woman would be glad to have one of her brothers as a spouse and they were falling fast, she only had one more left that was unmarried, and she felt sure he wouldn't be for long. She felt that the mate for Cián might already have been found in Molly. Too bad ladies; you snooze you lose.
After Katie had realized what was happening, that her husband was carrying her out of the hospital, she squealed and then began kissing him all over his face. Ciarán laughed and returned her kisses with some deeply possessive ones. Kisses meant to take away her sadness and replace her depression with comfort and happiness.
"Ciarán, how did you get them to let me go?"
"I called the Doc, and then he called the desk. I signed the papers, he left all the instructions that are in that packet Kelli has behind us, and here we are. Besides, I wasn't going to do anything that was going to keep you crying. It just can't be good for you or the baby and you can pee in a container at home. I wanted you with me and to go to the ranch so that is where we are going."
"Ciarán, I missed you. I love it when you just sweep in and take care of me. I love you."
Ciarán laughed again as he buckled his wife in the best he could and took the paperwork from Kelli. "Sure, you love it when you get what you want. Not so much when it isn't what you want, beag amháin."
"I know. Actually, I will tell you a secret about that too, but you have to promise not to tell my husband. I love it even then, but it's also irritating so I don't want him to know it thrills me and irritates me because he will think he can do it all the time. It will give him some power I don't want him to have."
Ciarán was tired but seeing and listening to his wife in her old teasing manner, trusting him, and loving him like this, he felt his tiredness ease away and he felt light and happy with life.
Katie Consents (Ciaran O'Connor Book 3) Page 14
