Baby's Breath (Garden of Love 2)

by Melanie Wilber

  “Thank you,” Holly whispered, and Josie knew it was all settled.

  She had to get back to Ayanna. Knowing Holly was in good hands with Faith at her side, she took a short break in the nurses’ lounge after Ayanna delivered a healthy boy. Alone in the quiet room while she rested her feet and had a quick snack, she thanked God for how He had made it possible for her to keep Tommy and for leading her to do that, just like He had done for Holly. She knew He had been so faithful.

  Josie returned to Holly’s room, and she and Faith remained by her side through the last grueling hours that Holly chose to endure without any medication. At 1:45 a.m. Josie placed a calm, wide-eyed baby girl in Holly’s arms.

  Holly named her Sarah Faith.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The following Monday Josie woke up with this happy thought: Today is my birthday. After getting Tommy up, dressed, and off to school, she decided to get out for the day. She went shopping at Pioneer Place, treated herself to lunch at one of her favorite delis nearby, and went to Pioneer Courthouse Square to enjoy the turkey sandwich and yummy pasta salad. She listened to the jazz group playing an assortment of tunes in the center of the city block square. Fall breezes danced with her dark brown hair and blew wayward strands in front of her eyes.

  After a casual walk back to her apartment building, stopping at shops along the way, she checked her mailbox in the lobby. She pulled out the contents and flipped through the stack: Two birthday cards, some junk mail, and one bill. She placed them in one of her shopping bags, and closed the little door. Holding onto her keys and picking up the bags she had placed on the floor, she headed for the hallway and turned the corner.

  “Whoa!” she exclaimed, stopping short to avoid a collision, and quickly realizing who it was.

  “My fault this time,” Brandon said, laughing and taking a small step back, but he was still rather close. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” she said, matching his laughter.

  She hadn’t been thinking about seeing Brandon sometime today, but now that he was standing before her, she felt thrilled by his presence. He had that effect on her, and she felt powerless to stop herself from being enveloped by joy. She saw why he had come down then and waited for Brandon to retrieve a UPS package that he had to sign for, along with his picking up his mail.

  They stepped into the elevator together, and Josie noticed the logo on one of his pieces of mail. “Do you sponsor a Compassion child?” she inquired, gazing at the familiar envelope.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Me too,” she said. “Raquel lives in the Philippines. Where does yours live?”

  Brandon hesitated. “Uh...Brazil.”

  He didn’t share more and seemed embarrassed. Feeling perplexed at his response, she let it drop. She had been supporting Raquel through Compassion by sending a small amount of money each month for the last three years. She also wrote letters to the young girl as often as she could and received some in return.

  “How was the movie?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “Movie?”

  “Last night? With Allison?

  “Right,” he said. “It was good.”

  He seemed a bit off now that the surprise of seeing one another was over, and they rode in silence for a moment before Brandon spoke again.

  “Are you doing some early Christmas shopping?”

  “Umm, a little,” Josie said. “But most of this is for me. Today is my birthday, so I splurged a bit,” she defended. “I don’t do this very often, trust me.”

  “Well then, happy birthday. Are you having a big party tonight?”

  “No. Just me and Tommy and a movie. That’s what I prefer. I’m sure my brother and sister-in-law will do something big next weekend, even though I always tell them not to.”

  Brandon remained quiet until they reached his door. That’s odd. I haven’t been around him much, but enough to know he’s not usually this quiet. Something must be wrong.

  “Are you okay?” she asked

  “Fine,” Brandon said, shrugging his wide shoulders.

  “I can always tell when something’s bothering Tommy,” she said. “He does the same thing.”

  “What’s that?” Brandon asked.

  She mocked his shrug. “Come on. Out with it,” she said, trying to sound playful, but serious at the same time. “Did I say something to upset you?”

  Brandon turned away, and she thought he might enter his apartment without another word. Wondering if she had said too much, she watched him insert his key, turn the lock, and open the door.

  “Can you come in for a few minutes?” he asked.

  She nodded and followed him through the door. His apartment layout was different than she was expecting. Rick and Angela’s was exactly like hers and so was Mrs. Ramsey’s, but Brandon’s was totally different with a much larger living room, the kitchen in a different area, and large windows on either side of his balcony door that provided a better view of the river. It also had higher ceilings and some circular stairs that went up to a loft area above the main living room. She commented on the differences, and he explained somewhat, saying this was a two bedroom “deluxe”. She laughed at his smile and use of quotation marks.

  “I only took it because there weren’t any regular two-bedrooms available, but the view is nice, and the high ceilings make it feel bigger.”

  “Is the rent bigger too?” she laughed.

  “Yes,” he said, “although they did give me a discount for my first three months since this was all they had.”

  Josie got the feeling he could afford the higher price as she scanned the living room and took in his modern furniture, large flat-screen television, movies, CDs, and various types of entertainment equipment on the surrounding shelves. She didn’t feel surprised by what she saw. His affinity for the latest in modern technology fit in with his bachelor status, and although she wasn’t sure what he did exactly for a living, he was obviously doing rather well at it.

  “What’s up there?” she asked, setting down her bags and pointing to the stairs.

  He smiled and appeared a bit embarrassed. “Promise not to tell anyone?”

  “Sure,” she said, returning his childlike grin.

  “When I first saw the space I thought it would make a great kid’s room, but since I don’t have any kids yet, I decided to make it mine. It’s like getting to sleep in a tree fort every night.”

  She laughed. “I’m sure Tommy would think so too.”

  “I’m a big kid at heart,” he admitted. “This grown-up stuff is highly overrated.”

  “Looks to me like you have the best of both worlds,” she said, taking a seat on the large sectional sofa that looked very comfortable. She was right about the couch, but Brandon didn’t appear too sure about her comment. Remembering he had invited her in for a specific reason, she waited for him to speak, feeling both curious and mildly concerned. He sat down beside her and took the silent invitation to speak freely, getting straight to it.

  “Have you ever been in love, Josie?”

  She stared at him. He appeared quite serious. Two men entered her mind: Kent and Mark. She pondered both relationships for a moment before responding. She had been in love with Tommy’s father, but he had not loved her completely in return. With Mark it was the opposite.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “How did you know?” he asked.

  No one had ever asked her that before, and she had to think about it. “I just knew, I guess,” she said, wondering where this conversation was coming from and where it was going.

  Brandon sighed, and his jaw twitched. She wasn’t used to seeing him tense. She felt an overwhelming urge to offer him a back rub, but she restrained herself.

  “Is that all there is to it? You just knew?”

  Josie thought about her relationship with Kent further, trying to determine what had made her relationship with him different than other guys she had dated, including Mark--whom she had never fallen in love with, she was fair
ly certain.

  “I could share my deepest thoughts and be myself. When I wasn’t with him I wanted to be, and when we were together everything seemed right,” she said, thinking of all the good times she and Kent had. “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. If that’s not being in love, I don’t know what is.”

  “Are you talking about Tommy’s dad?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  Brandon seemed more satisfied with her answer but still looked lost.

  “Have you ever been in love?” she asked.

  “No,” he said quickly, but she knew there was more. “I thought so. I cared for someone very special to me, but then things went terribly wrong, and I’m still not sure why.”

  She wanted to ask about whomever the ring had been for, but she didn’t know if he had actually seen her that night, and she wasn’t ready to admit to her spying, so she mentioned someone he knew she was fully aware of.

  “Does this have something to do with Allison?”

  He didn’t appear surprised by her question. “Yes. I was going to tell you this on Friday.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  She wanted to say, ‘I’m listening,’ but glancing at her watch, she knew Tommy’s bus was due in a few minutes. “I need to go meet Tommy,” she admitted.

  “This can wait.”

  Standing to her feet, she felt bad about leaving, but she hadn’t realized how late it was. He stood to walk her out, and she told him something before he opened the door. “If you want to talk sooner than Friday, give me a call, okay?”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  She deposited her bags inside the door of her apartment and then hurried downstairs, but her mind stayed with Brandon. She wondered why he felt so free to share with her. They had known each other for only three weeks, and she wasn’t used to having such an intimate conversation with someone she barely knew.

  The more she thought about it, however, she realized she hadn’t been uncomfortable talking to him about Kent. She decided going to dinner with him on Friday might not be as scary as she thought. Having Brandon as a friend that she could talk to would be nice. He was a lot like Mark, and with no expectations or romance to get in the way, it could be good for both of them, just as Faith had said.

  After Tommy went to his room to play she decided to call Brandon and see if he wanted to come over for dinner. But she only got his voice mail.

  “Hi, Brandon. It’s Josie. I wanted to let you know you’re welcome to come over for dinner if you don’t feel like eating alone.” She hesitated a moment, trying to think of what to say next. “I hope you know how much your friendship means to me, and I hope mine means the same to you. Talk to you later. Bye.”

  The phone remained silent the rest of the afternoon. After they sat down to eat dinner, it rang. It was her friend Lily. They made arrangements to get together this Saturday. Lily had suggested Friday evening, but Josie told her she was busy. She didn’t tell her why. After dinner she and Tommy left for the movie theater as planned. A new kids’ movie had been released, and Tommy was very excited.

  On a whim Josie decided to stop and ask Brandon if he wanted to go with them. He answered the door, and Josie let Tommy do the asking.

  “You want to go to the movies with us, Brandon?”

  “What’ya going to see?” he asked, his face lighting up a bit.

  Tommy told him the name. Brandon’s eyes shifted to hers and a smile emerged. “Sounds great.”

  With dusk approaching, the street lamps zapped on above them as they walked to the theater. Waiting in the short line to buy their tickets, Josie stood behind Tommy with her hands on his shoulders, feeling a cold breeze chill her face and toss the ends of her hair. She was beginning to feel more at ease in Brandon’s presence. He still caused her to have thoughts she shouldn’t be having about her friend’s boyfriend, but she also felt more relaxed and less nervous.

  Brandon leaned in close to her ear and spoke when she wasn’t expecting it, however, bringing a flood of emotions at his gentle touch and soft-spoken words.

  “Thanks for your message,” he said, laying his hand on her shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. “And, it does.”

  Josie’s head spun. It does what? What did I say?

  Brandon dropped his hand from her shoulder but didn’t step away. His nearness made it difficult to remember the name of the movie. Tommy saved her.

  “Two adults and one child,” she managed to add and took the tickets from the attendant. They went inside and gave them to the usher. On their way to the concession stand Brandon handed her some one dollar bills.

  “What’s this?” she asked. She had already told him this would be her treat.

  “Your change from the ticket booth,” he said. “You forgot to take it.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  On Tuesday evening Josie returned to the hospital in great spirits. She knew she had three long nights ahead of her, but she tried not to think about how exhausted she would be by Friday morning. For now she felt well rested and ready for anything.

  Assigned to three patients as soon as she arrived, she scanned the charts to see whom she would be caring for: one in active labor, one in early labor, and one at thirty-six weeks being held for observation after having some bleeding earlier that day.

  She checked on the third one first and found her watching television. Her bleeding had stopped, but she had been having contractions off and on. Josie took her vitals, charted them, and asked her a few questions before leaving her to rest, instructing her to call for her right away if she had any more bleeding, cramping, or began having regular contractions again.

  Her second patient’s contraction pattern showed regular, strong peaks, but she had not dilated any more since she had been checked over and hour ago.

  “Have you been out of bed much today?” she asked her.

  “Just to use the bathroom.”

  “You might help things along if you take a walk around the halls,” Josie said, being careful not to sound condescending. She wanted to be an encouragement, not another frustration.

  The young woman’s mood changed in an instant. “Really? I can do that?”

  “Yes, really,” Josie said with a smile, double checking the chart to make sure her patient didn’t have any risk factors that would not allow it and feeling a bit miffed no one had made the suggestion earlier. Seeing who her day nurse had been, she wasn’t too surprised.

  She removed the baby monitor from the woman’s abdomen and watched with a smile as the woman threw back the blankets and stood before Josie could assist her. Turning to her husband, Josie instructed him to make sure she didn’t overdue it but also assured him a walk would be good for her and the baby.

  Her final patient had arrived a short time ago and been taken to a room, but little else had been done except a preliminary assessment. Pamela had only dilated two centimeters, and her contractions were weak and irregular, but her water had broken so she had been admitted. Josie encouraged Pamela to walk the halls also.

  The night moved slowly. None of her patients needed her by their side constantly, and she let them progress at their own pace in private. Her two laboring patients walked--and walked some more. They both said they felt fine and that it was easier to wait this way than sitting in bed. When her first patient reported the contractions were getting closer together, Josie had her lie down so she could examine her.

  “Now that’s more like it,” she said, reporting a two centimeter increase. “And it looks like the heartbeat is strong and steady. Feel free to take a shower, go for another walk, or rest if you can. Your body seems to be taking its own sweet time, but don’t worry, he or she will come eventually.”

  Josie’s night continued on like a red-eye flight. The slow pace was a nice change, but also made the hours drag. She made a run on the vending machine during her lunch break and snacked on an energy bar, M&M’s, and Pepsi to help her through the long hours. Her patient
who’d had the bleeding earlier slept most of the night without any further problems. The woman who had been there all day finally delivered at 2 a.m.

  Josie helped her with breast-feeding for the first time, completed all her paperwork, assessed her patient’s condition at regular intervals after the delivery, and finished cleaning up before she had a chance to get back to her other patient.

  “Hi, Pamela,” Josie said, entering the third room she had been in and out of all night. “How are you doing?”

  “I’ve had some pretty strong ones in the last hour,” Pamela said. “I think I may want that epidural soon.”

  Josie glanced at the printouts, confirming Pamela’s report. “Those are some strong ones all right.”

  After noting Pamela’s vital signs and asking her some routine questions, Josie checked to see if Pamela had dilated any more.

  “Let’s see,” Josie said, scanning the chart in front of her. “You were at a four when we checked before.”

  “How far do I have to be to have an epidural?” Pamela asked.

  “The doctor likes to wait until six centimeters, but it can also depend on how strong and close together the contractions are,” Josie replied, donning a fresh pair of gloves and performing the examination when another contraction began.

  “What is it?” Pamela’s husband asked, apparently noticing Josie’s surprised expression.

  “How does eight centimeters sound?”

  Pamela let out a huge sigh and smiled. “Bring on the epidural!”

  “Let me go call your doctor,” Josie said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Pamela’s doctor ranked as Josie’s least favorite to deal with. Young and cocky, he had a watered-down picture of what women in labor were going through. Josie knew he would say that if Pamela had made it this far without an epidural, she could make it the rest of the way. He didn’t like to run the risk of inhibiting the urge to push.

  She didn’t disagree with him on that point necessarily. Pamela seemed to be handling the pain well, and Josie knew she could probably do fine without any interventions. But Dr. Curtis didn’t believe in letting his patients know all the options and decide for themselves. And she was certain he had not discussed the possibility of having to forgo an epidural with Pamela beforehand.