The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) (19 page)

“Perhaps,” I answered, and I carried the
empty bowl back to the kitchen smiling.

When I came back into the room, Mark had
given Collins a pill and they had lowered him back to a resting
position.

“That’s Darvocet you took. It will ease the
pain and it will also make you sleep, which is what you need now,”
Mark instructed.

“Look, Doc, I apologize,” Collins struggled
with the words. “I really didn’t think you would help any of us.
You truly have no reason to.”

“Yes I do have a reason, Mr. Collins, it’s
called the Hippocratic Oath, and I believe in it with my very soul.
So yes, I will help any of you, all of you, whenever you need it.
It will be on my terms though,” Mark stated, almost angry.

“And what are your terms?” Collins yawned,
becoming drowsy from the pain medication.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I hadn’t given
it much thought before because I wasn’t sure if I’d see any of you
here. I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, rest.”

Collins quickly fell into a deep sleep.

“Eric, I think I should get Ken or Karen to
relieve you,” I said. “Even with Mr. Collins’ change of heart, I
don’t want Mark left unguarded. I’ll be right back.”

With Karen now in the foyer, and Eric back
home, I set to making some oatmeal for our breakfast, which Claire
ate with renewed gusto.

“All we ever eat are wild greens, corn meal,
and venison. I’m so tired of meat!” she said after cleaning her
bowl.

“Not the best of diets, but at least you’re
eating,” Mark said.

“Have you had any medical exams since your
pregnancy started?”

“There isn’t anybody and Art won’t let us go
into town,” she said.

“Is this your first baby?” Another nod from
her. I could tell the gentle, easy conversation seemed to be casual
interest, but Mark was mentally taking her history.

“Why don’t the three of us go into the exam
room and listen to the baby’s heart?” he suggested.

Claire lay back on my massage table - now
exam table. Mark took his stethoscope down from the shelf, and
listened to her protruding belly. I could see the look of concern
on his face, although he masked it well.

“Allex, you should listen to this,” his eyes
held mine for a moment, which told me to check my reaction. I
listened… to nothing. I lifted my eyes to his and gave him the
slightest of nods.

“Can I listen?” Claire asked, smiling.

“The angle is poor, Claire, sorry, you’re too
big,” I lied to her.

Mark felt around her belly and asked her a
few more questions and then we helped her back to the chair beside
her husband.

Mark closed the door to the office behind
us.

“The baby is dead, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Either that or there is no baby,” he paced
the room. “Her belly is incredibly hard. I think it’s a tumor; a
fast growing one. We need to convince her to let me do a digital
scan to be sure.”

~~~

“No baby?” Art gasped at the news. Claire was
beside him in tears.

“When I couldn’t get a heartbeat, I did a
scan,” Mark informed him. “It’s one large, dense mass. It’s
obviously a very fast growing tumor of some sort for it to have
reached this size in less than five months. If it isn’t removed, it
will keep growing and it
will
kill her.”

“We’ve been married for fifteen years and
never gave up hope for a baby,” Art rambled. “If this growth will
kill her, then you
must
remove it. I couldn’t stand to lose
Claire.” He squeezed his wife’s hand.

We set up the exam room for the surgery,
including a large bucket to hold whatever it was that was growing
inside Claire, and Mark began.

Two and a half hours later he finished the
final stitches across Claire’s now deflated stomach. There was
understandable swelling, and that would dissipate with time. The
heartache of not having the baby she so desired would last much
longer.

“That was incredible to watch, Mark, I can
understand why Dr. Streiner wanted you to stay in town. You have
impressive talent,” I said, still in awe of what I had
witnessed.

“Actually, I used some of the techniques she
showed me. It’s a shame that the tumor was inside the uterus. There
will be no natural born children for the Collins’,” he said.

He gave his patient a light sedative. We
removed our surgical garments, and moved Claire out to her waiting
bed on the makeshift stretcher.

“How is she, Doctor?” Collins asked. He had
refused his next pain pill to be awake during his wife’s
surgery.

“The surgery was a success. We removed the
tumor completely. It was encapsulated within the uterus, so the
chance of any leakage is virtually non-existent. However, there is
no way to know what may have been transferred via the blood during
the past months. I don’t even know if this growth was benign or
cancerous,” Mark stated with a sigh. “In better days, she would
have had an early prenatal exam and the doctor would have quickly
caught the growth and removed it. Physically, she will be fine. The
incision will heal and within a few weeks she can resume normal
activities. It’s the psychological injury that will take longer. By
removing the uterus all possibility of having a child is gone. You
understand that don’t you?”

Collins nodded. “What’s important is that
she’s alive. Thank you, Doctor. I’ve been a jerk. I owe you for her
life, and for mine.” He looked down at his splints. “Even if those
breaks healed on their own I probably wouldn’t walk normal.” He
winced in pain. “Can I have that pain pill now?”

October 6

Eric showed up right before noon. I thought
he was there to relieve Ken, who had relieved Karen last night, but
he had a surprise for all of us.

“I heard you talking about a papier-mâché
cast for Mr. Collins’ leg so Jason and I have been working on
something. Amanda knew the recipe for the papier-mâché, with flour,
salt and water so we mixed it up, and used a piece of gutter for a
mold. After digging around in the barn I found a bag of old massage
sheets that I figured would be okay to cut up and would be stronger
than newspapers.” What he showed us was ingenious. They had made a
half-round cast that tied on, complete with a foot to support the
entire leg. It was removable for bathing or changing clothes.

“Oh, and I brought my crutches for Mr.
Collins to use, too.”

Collins looked at the cast and crutches, and
then at Eric. “You did that for
me
? Why?”

“You need them,” he said simply, looking
bewildered at the question.

“I-I don’t know what to s-say,” Collins
stammered.

“How about ‘thank you’? Claire said from the
other bed.

“When you’re completely healed, I think the
crutches should come back as property of the hospital,” Mark
said.

“I certainly have misjudged your group,
Allexa,” Collins confessed. “Please forgive me. In a day or two I’d
like to have you as my guests for dinner. As many of you as want to
attend will be welcomed. And I’d like to discuss a trade agreement
at that time.”

“Thank you, Art. We accept,” I replied.
Sometimes all it takes is an unselfish act in the midst of a crisis
to forge a bond.

“I can’t help wondering where your men are
though. I suggested to Pete to come at noon yesterday,” Mark said,
puzzled.

“Oh, I told my brother Adam to wait until
today. I knew Art might need the extra day here. Little did I know
I would need it too,” Claire responded.

Mark had finished fixing the cast to Collins’
broken leg when Lenny and Adam arrived. The guys helped him stand
and he practiced with the crutches.

When Claire told Adam about the tumor, he
gave her a long, brotherly hug.

“I’m so sorry, Claire. I know how much you
wanted a baby,” Adam said. “I’m sure Alise would welcome your help
when our baby arrives.”

“That brings up a thought,” Collins said,
sitting down in a chair. “What kind of office hours do you plan on
keeping? We have three other women that are expecting babies, and I
think it wise for have you look at them.”

I could see Mark was having a hard time
suppressing a grin.

“I was thinking along the lines of Mondays
from noon until four o’clock at the clinic next door,” he answered.
“Of course if there are any emergencies, all you need do is come
and get me.”

~~~

“Oh, that hot shower felt wonderful,” I
sighed as I towel dried my hair. It was the first thing I did when
we got back home. Tomorrow would be plenty of time for Amanda and I
to go back to the hospital and clean up. Right now, Mark and I
needed some rest.

“I can’t wait to sleep in our own bed!” Mark
stated emphatically.

Outside, the thunder boomed and more rain
fell.

“I’m really glad we harvested the garden when
we did. All this rain would have made it impossible to get in there
now and we might have lost much of the crop,” I said.

“Which brings to mind, Allex, what do you
intend on trading with Collins? Our food won’t last much longer if
we barter it away.”

“I know. I intend on keeping the trade goods
limited to what we can replace or don’t need. Maybe a hen and a
rooster, so they can start their own flock. Or a keg of beer,
though that will be Eric’s decision. I’d like to start with a
couple of pounds of rice. They seemed to really like that.”

“A couple of pounds won’t go far with twenty
people.”

“True, but I don’t want them thinking we have
an unlimited supply, even though we still have hundreds of pounds
sealed in buckets. So just a small amount to start with, then maybe
some dried beans or a box of pasta. We need to earn each other’s
trust first. Besides, we don’t know yet what they have to offer in
return.”

“I thought it was for hunting and fishing
rights?”

“For now, maybe, though eventually the deer
will come back to this area, and I think in the spring we should
release these fish we have in the greenhouse, that’s the reason we
collected them.” I stopped myself from saying more. It was John who
helped collect the fish, not Mark. My love for both is blurring my
memory.

October 8

With expectations and trepidation, Mark
opened the clinic at noon. Our new hours would last until four
o’clock.

“Do you think anyone will show?” he asked me
nervously.

“You mean the pregnant women from Mathers
Lake?” I chided him. “Mark, sweetheart, they will or they won’t. I
didn’t feel any deceit from Collins, but all we can do is wait.
Since you did promise these four hours every week, we will be
here.” I busied myself with wiping a thin film of dust off of
everything.

At one thirty, there was a car pulling into
the drive. Pete got out from the driver’s side, followed by three
young women, one who looked barely in her teens. I picked up a
clipboard and greeted them.

“Pete, it’s nice to see you again. How is the
arm doing?” I asked.

“Much better, thanks. I was wondering if the
doc could look at it and maybe take the stitches out. They
itch.”

“Sure, Pete, come on in,” Mark said, coming
out of his office. “These ladies will need a few minutes to fill
out some basic information anyway.” The two men disappeared into
the exam room.

“I’m sorry, we only have one clipboard, so
you’ll have to take turns,” I said. “It won’t take long, I promise.
This is only basic stuff the doctor should have, like you name,
age, how far along you think you are. He’ll fill the rest in, so he
can monitor your pregnancies.” They all looked scared. “By the way,
I’m Allexa, Dr. Mark’s wife and nurse. I’ll be with you the entire
time, so please don’t be nervous, all he wants to do is help.”

They seemed a little more at ease as they
wrote on the forms I had created on the computer with Mark’s
guidance.

It only took ten minutes for Mark to remove
Pete’s stitches, and probably not that long. I’m sure my husband
was asking plenty of questions.

“Tess, we’ll see you first,” I said, and the
youngest stood. Her chart said she was only fourteen. This was a
new world; girls became women overnight.

Mark took her blood pressure and listened to
the baby’s heart.

“Would you like to hear?” he asked her.

“Really? Oh, yeah!” Tess grinned. I fitted
the second stethoscope into her ears, and Mark moved it around as
he did his. Tess giggled with delight.

“Do you have any questions, Tess?” Mark
asked, giving her his full attention when he finished writing on
the new chart.

“I… I know I’m kinda young, Doctor, and my
Mom says I’m not really fully-grown yet. Do you think I’ll have any
problems delivering?” she asked, suddenly looking scared and even
younger.

“I don’t know, Tess. Much will depend on
genetics. This baby is both you and its father. If he’s a big man,
maybe, but we will monitor you carefully as the time draws near,”
Mark said, trying to reassure her.

The next two exams, with Alise and Chloe,
were equally quick and well received. Chloe was nearing term and
very relieved to have a doctor near. When everyone stood to leave,
Pete approached us.

“Mr. Collins wants to know if this Friday
would be a good day for all of you to come to dinner at his house
at two o’clock.”

“Tell Mr. Collins we would be delighted to
come. And inform him there will be nine or ten of us,” I
replied.

~~~

“Why did you say there would be nine
or
ten of us?” Mark asked.

“I want him to know that not all of us are
coming. Strategy, my dear, strategy.”

October 11

“Thank goodness this land line still works!”
I said to Jason.