PODs (13 page)

“I don’t.”

“Sure looks like you’re getting cozy with David.” His voice was hard.

“We’re just friends. Not that it concerns you.”

“It concerns everyone in the POD if you’re going to go flaunting it around.”

“I’m not flaunting anything!”

“Come on, Eva. Let’s play.” I jumped at the sound of Tiffany’s voice.

“What?”
Thank the Lord. I don’t care what we’re playing
.

“Canasta. Come on, I need a partner. It’s girls against the guys.”

“Oh, we are taking Seth and Aidan down,” I said with a laugh, joining her in the hall.

“Seth isn’t playing. He has too much work to do. David’s taking his place.”

“David?”

Tiffany nodded. She didn’t notice the blush that made my cheeks burn and the way my hands started to tremble. Or if she did, she didn’t mention it.

Aidan and David were already waiting at the kitchen table. I took my seat across from Tiffany and tried not to look at anyone but her. My mind scrambled to find a way out of playing, but I’d already told Tiffany I would. It would make things more awkward between David and me if I made excuses not to play. Yeah, like it wasn’t already awkward.

Aidan made a show out of shuffling the cards. Every time he fanned them together I jumped at the sound.

“Cut the deck. Eva!”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Aidan gave me a funny look before taking back the cards and dealing them.

“What are we playing, again?”

“Canasta. Do you know how to play?” David asked.

“Yeah, it’s big up north. My parents play with some friends of theirs every week.” I didn’t look at him when I answered, staring at my cards like my eyes were superglued to them.

“When were you up north?”

“I wasn’t. My parent’s friends are from somewhere in Wisconsin. They taught them how. I fill in sometimes, if they need a fourth. At least I did.”

“Ah.”

“Are we gonna play cards or twenty questions?” Aidan looked between David and me.

“I guess we’ll play cards, Aidan. I’m not sure you can count to twenty.”

“Ha-ha, very funny, Eva.”

We played cards until none of us could keep our eyes open. The girls beat the guys, of course. Not once, but every game we played. We were officially crowned Queens of Canasta.

As soon as the last game was over, Aidan took off for bed.

Tiffany started to straighten up.

I took the cards from her hands. “Go to bed, Tiff. I’ll clean up.”

“It’s okay.”

“You’re exhausted, and it’s not good for you or the baby. Go.”

“Thanks, Eva.”

I stayed up to pick up the cards and snack wrappers. I turned, a stack of snack wrappers in my hands, and came face-to-face with David.

I sucked in a breath, startled. “I’d thought you’d gone to bed.”

“I didn’t want to leave you with all the mess to clean up.” He took the wrappers and placed them in the trash, and I grabbed the dishtowel and started to wipe down the table. “Eva?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you ask me to stay earlier?”

The dishtowel stilled, my arm still outstretched to reach the other side of the table. I stood there trying to find an answer that wouldn’t embarrass us both. “Uh, I guess… I mean… I wanted to keep talking with you.”

He closed the distance between us. I turned and looked at him. His face held an odd expression, his gray eyes darkened. He reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear before brushing my cheek with his thumb. My skin tingled.

I thought he was going to kiss me. Every cell in my body tensed, waiting for him to lean in. I pleaded in my head, but of course he didn’t hear me. And he didn’t lean in to kiss me. Instead, his hand fell away from my face.

“It’s really late. The kitchen’s clean; the rest can wait until tomorrow. C’mon, let’s go to bed.”

I turned out the lights and followed him to the opening of the little hallway that led to the bedrooms. Pausing at the door to his room, he ran the tips of his fingers up my arm, just a whisper of a caress. I could feel the blush wash across my face and wondered if he saw it. Did he know what his touch did to me? Did mine do the same to him? “Good night, Evangelina. Sleep well.”

Well, crap, there’s no way on God’s green earth I’ll get any sleep after that. What was that, anyway? Is he trying to torture me? Because it’s working. I’m in so much trouble
.

Month Four

Two days later, at four PM, Tiffany had the first contraction. She told me not to tell anyone. It was probably nothing anyway. Stupidly, I agreed. By six o’clock they were coming every five minutes and Tiffany was in pain—a lot of it. She couldn’t stay quiet any longer. With each contraction she held her belly, trying not to moan.

“Do your breathing exercises. Like on TV,” Katie said.

“Screw my breathing,” Tiffany snapped. She got up and paced, and I walked through the POD with her. When the contractions came I’d rub her back and shoulders like I’d seen on TV—apparently the source of everything we knew about childbirth—trying to keep her relaxed, but I could feel her muscles tighten. Sometimes she’d lean against the wall, her head lying on her arm, massaging her large belly as it squeezed the breath out of her. Other times she’d lean on me—her arms on my shoulders, her full weight pushing down on me, her fingernails biting into my skin. I thought I’d crumple under the weight, but I stood and let her lean on me as the contractions pummeled her from the inside out.

She was walking the hallway when I ran into the main living area. “David, call the main POD and tell them the baby is coming. Tiffany needs a doctor.”

“Don’t leave me, Eva.” Tiffany’s voice was slurred with pain.

“I’m not. I’m right here.” I put her arm around my shoulder. She leaned heavily on me as we walked to her bed.

Josh walked by the door. “What’s going on?”

“The baby’s coming.”

“Oh.” He shrugged. “Try to keep the screaming down.”

Ass
.

“I’m going to see about the doctor. I’ll be right back,” I told Tiffany when we got to the bed.

Tiffany nodded and I bolted to the door, flying around the corner. David was coming from the other direction. My feet skidded out from under me when I tried to stop.

I caught myself with my hand before I completely embarrassed myself by falling on my butt. “What did they say? Are they sending a doctor, or do they want her to go to the main POD?”

“They didn’t say anything.”

“What do you mean, ‘they didn’t say anything?’”

“I mean no one answered. They didn’t say anything.”

I just stared at him, trying to think of what to say, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. Tiffany cried out from the bedroom down the hall. My mind spun, my fingers drumming a rhythm against my leg as I thought of what I should do.

I ran to the sliding doors where the games and books were kept. Flinging the doors open, I furiously scanned the titles of the books. I couldn’t find the ones I wanted. Desperate, I started clearing shelves. One by one I picked up the books, looked quickly at the titles, and threw them aside.

My mountain of discarded books growing rapidly, David crouched beside me. “What are you looking for?” Ignoring him—and the looks I was getting from the others in the room—I continued throwing books on top of the pile. “Evangelina.” I stopped and looked at him. “What are you looking for?”

“There are a couple of pregnancy books in here. Maybe some of them have sections on emergency home births,” I said, going back to throwing discarded books on the pile. “Okay, okay, here they are.”

I scanned the table of contents in the first one for the chapter I needed, and then did the most frantic speed-reading of my life. Looking up, I saw no one was doing anything. They were just sitting there staring at me while Tiffany cried in pain from the other room.

“Aidan, find as many cotton towels as you can and iron them.”

“Iron them?”

“Just do it! I don’t have time to tell you all why. George, find some string—shoelace, something that can be used to tie off the umbilical cord, and get ready. You’ve got a baby to deliver. David, keep calling the main POD. Seth, look in that baby crap in the closet and find one of these,” I twirled the book so he could see the photo of the nasal aspirator.

“A turkey baster?”

“Smaller, but yeah, kinda. Katie, uh, boil water. We can use it to sterilize stuff.”

I looked up when I felt a hand on my arm. Jai Li pointed to the book, “Baby?”

“Yes.”

She ran down the hall.

“Here,” I tossed one of the other pregnancy books to David. “Look through that and see if there’s anything else we need.” I took off back toward the bedroom. “And keep trying to get someone to answer in the main POD,” I yelled over my shoulder.

I found Jai Li in the bathroom washing her hands. She pointed for me to do the same. We lathered on thick layers of soap, scrubbing thoroughly. When we finished, we went to Tiffany. Katie was there, adjusting a pillow.

Jai Li yelled Josh’s name. He stuck his head in the door, but wouldn’t come in the room. “Get… um, garbage…” she slid her hands back and forth, “bag. Many bags.”

Josh looked at Katie. “Get garbage bags, kid.” He walked away.

Useless
.

Katie ran down the hall and rummaged through the kitchen, opening cabinets and slamming them shut. She came back with a fistful of garbage bags.

I watched as Jai Li spread a garbage bag at the foot of the bed, covering the floor. She lifted the sheet under Tiffany and covered the bed’s mattress with another bag. She placed the third under Tiffany, covering it with a towel.

Jai Li yelled David’s name. She said something so fast no one understood her. “Wet cloth,” she repeated slowly. David brought a damp washcloth to the door, holding it out toward Katie. Jai Li motioned for her to lay it across Tiffany’s forehead.

Tiffany groaned as something gushed out onto the bags. I scanned the pregnancy book, trying to figure out what that meant…

Oh, her water broke. Things can move faster now. Great. We need slower—until a doctor comes—not faster
.

“David!”

“I’m here,” I heard him say from the hall. “They still aren’t picking up.”

“Towels and the turkey baster,” George called, holding the items in his outstretched hand from outside the doorframe.

Katie ran over and grabbed the towels and the small nasal aspirator, handing them to me. I was across from Jai Li at Tiffany’s feet, the pregnancy book at the foot of the bed.

“Baby coming,” Jai Li said.

No kidding!

Jai Li gestured to the nasal aspirator in my hand. Pointing at Tiffany, she said, “head out,” she mimicked using the aspirator. “Body out.” She met my eyes. “You do.”

I understood what she was saying. Between the diagram in the book and the directions Jai Li was trying to give, I knew what needed to be done… kind of.

“We need that string!” I couldn’t remember who I’d told to get it. “George, come help me,” I yelled.

“Here’s the string, Eva.” David reached into the room.

“George, get in here and help us!” I yelled.

“I can’t.”

“You were in nursing school! We need your help.”

“We never got to the part about delivering babies.”

“George, we really need your help!”

“I really can’t, Eva. I don’t know… I haven’t done this before.”

“And you think we have?” I muttered something about men being useless and heard David chuckle from where he stood outside the door with the rest of the guys.

I scanned down the page.
Water breaking… active labor… mother may feel need to push
… “Tiffany, are you ready to push?” I tried to keep my voice calm and soothing. The book said if I panicked, she’d panic. The last thing I wanted was for her to start panicking, because I was secretly doing enough for both of us.

Jai Li tilted her head, studying the illustration in the book for several seconds, and then motioned for Tiffany to scoot down. Jai Li took one leg and gestured to Katie to take the other. After another glance at the diagram, together they pushed Tiffany’s knees toward her chest.

Which left only one person
to… “No, no, no,” I shook my head. “Jai Li, you do it.”

She shook her head.

Tiffany started moaning as another contraction hit, and I saw something…start to come out. I read the page once more, trying to keep the shaking out of my voice. “Okay, Tiff, on the next contraction, you need to push hard. Inhale deeply and let the breath out slowly while you count to ten.”

Her inhale sounded more like a whimper. After a couple of breaths, she moaned. “Here comes another.”

“Okay. Inhale… one… two… three. You’re doing great, keep pushing. Inhale again and push.”

Amniotic fluid and blood dripped on the plastic bag covering the floor; my hands and Tiffany’s legs were splattered with it.

Oh, gross, gross, gross
.

“Jai Li?” I motioned to the blood. She smiled and nodded.

Normal, okay, at least something about this birth is normal
.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”

“I know, keep pushing. Jai Li!” I pointed as the thing I’d seen before emerged even more. I didn’t know if what I was seeing was what I thought it was.