wrath of the Sea Queen (162 page)

"
Oh, my dear girl
, i
t looks like there has been a fight
raging
in there.  I
ha
ve never seen marks like this inside a womb.
"

After replacing the wand on the cart
and cleaning the gel from C
a
eli's stomach,
Salma reached out and tightly held
both of C
a
eli's hands
, trying to figure out how best to tell C
a
eli what was happening
to her
. 
C
a
eli questioned Salma between gasps of pain
.

"
Are those marks the reason
why I'm having all this pain?
"
  C
a
eli started to turn to get a better view of the screen.  The resultant stabbing pain reminded her not to
move too quickly
.  As C
a
eli tried to turn, Salma noticed
a large red stain on her clothes and the sheets.  C
a
eli
was bleeding heavily. 
The
pregnan
cy should have stopped C
a
eli's
normal monthly cycle
; this was the second time that she had shown the symptom. 
That meant this bleeding was not normal. 
With this much blood loss, i
t
confirmed
what Salma
already knew
, though she was still going to try her best to prevent it.

"
C
a
eli, I need you to listen to me carefully.  Some of the pain is from your
injuries
, but the hard pain you
a
re feeling is
a type
of
false labor pain
, only much worse
.  Your body ha
s
been under too much stress and you are losing a lot of blood.  We've got to get
your
bleeding stopped
immediately
, and I doubt you can do for yourself what you did for Ben on the ship
.
"

C
a
eli shook her head negatively.  She could not use her gift to help herself just then.

"I thought not.
  I'm going to move you to the bathtub, and you
a
re going to have to help me
,
"
Salma instructed.

The ladies worked together and managed to get C
a
eli
partially
disrobed and into the
empty
tub
as her strength rapidly waned
.  Salma covered her with a couple of large bath towels and tried everything in her vast, medical repertoire to help her niece.  But it was too late.  The damage
was already
done.

Apela,
ever the
polite host, kept Maku and Pete
occupied
at the other side of the hotel.  He apologized for the unavoidable change
in their dinner
plans and invited them to stay the evening in one of the guest rooms.  He did not want Pete overly exerted
by making a second
road trip to return home that evening.  Apela asked if Maku would mind helping him keep an eye on Max, explaining how fond
his son
had become of the doctor and her niece.  Given the seriousness of the situation, Apela did not want Max to bother them tonight.  Maku was more than happy to lend a hand. 
He enjoyed spending time with Max.

Maku called the conference security liaison to find out what time he would need to report for his next shift, but when they found out that he was visiting with Dr. Erickson, they
offered him the
assign
ment to
be her personal security escort for the duration of the conference
.  All he
needed
to do was
keep
her as safe as possible and keep
them updated twice each day.  Maku could not believe his good fortune.  He
received
an increase in pay, better scenery, and he would not have to deal directly with the crowds over at the conference itself.  Not to mention, he and Pete would get to spend several days with their good friend
,
Apela, who made arrangements for the brothers to stay at the hotel the remainder of the week.

Unfortunately, Maku
had
yet to be
officially
introduced to his new charge.  She
had been
hoisted away before the seminar, did not have the opportuni
ty for pleasantries
during
the chaos of the fire, and was currently dealing with a
n
urgent
, medical
situation
.  Maku was hopeful that
Dr. Erickson
would
permit
him to fulfill his newly assigned duty, and that she would not resent him for having sent the letters.  Since sp
eaking
to
Ben
, Maku was optimistic.  However, he would have to wait until morning to find out
for certain
.

Thirty
minutes later, Salma came out of Vin's room, pulling the door closed behind her and leaning heavily against it.  She held a bundle of
used
towels against her chest, and tears were flowing freely down her face.  Both
m
en looked over as they heard
the door snap shut
.  Seeing
Salma's
tears
, they jumped up and ran over to her.

Vin
had been
so caught up in trying to figure out what was going on that he lost track of time.  He even forgot to maintain the comforting wind in the room for C
a
eli.  When
Vin
saw the look on Salma's face, his heart nearly
stopped
.  Ben
, however,
read the clues more thoroughly.  He
read
a deeper expression
on Salma's face
, noticed the towels,
and
quickly deciphered the
terrible
thing that had
happened.  Ben placed a firm hand on Vin's shoulder
and
subtly received the
bundle
Salma
passed him
. 
Salma
reached up and hugged Vin, then stepped back, leaving her hands on his shoulders.

"
What is it, Salma?
"
  Vin asked, unable to look at her directly or consider what her tears could mean.

"
Vin, look at me,
"
Salma insisted.  When he finally did, she answered. 

"
The machine I took in there was an ultrasound unit.  Given all of
C
a
eli's
injuries, I wanted to check on the baby.
"
 

The baby!  Vin forgot
to consider
that
the baby might be hurt
, too.  With his concern for C
a
eli
, nothing
else
even
entered his mind.

"
What did you find out?
"
  Vin started to move into the room, but Ben's hand on his shoulder held him back.  Ben
could tell
,
without asking
,
that Salma did not want Vin to go in yet.

"
Vin,
C
a
eli
woke up
while I r
a
n the test."

"That's good.  She needed to wake up," Vin stated flatly.

"
As expected, s
he was in terrible pain
.  S
he also
los
t
a lot of blood. 
I tried to stop it. 
I did everything that I could, but…I'm so
very
sorry, Vin.  I couldn't save
your
baby
.
"

Vin stood there in shock.  He heard the words, but they refused to register.  He did
n
o
t know what to do.  He didn't know what to say.  Vin wanted to run to C
a
eli, but he
could
n
o
t move
his feet
.  He
stood there
staring
at
the door
.

"Vin?"  Salma wasn't sure if Vin
had
processed her words or not.

"
Is
C
a
eli
all right?
"
  Vin finally asked.

"
Go gently.  Her emotions are extremely fragile.  Her other injuries
are going to
heal, but this will be the worst
loss she has ever
suffered
because it
i
s such an intimate p
iece
of her
.  She needs you now more than even she knows
.  Yet, y
o
u probably won't be able to help
her
at first
. 
T
rust me on this.  C
a
eli
has to come to terms with
the loss
herself
, and it will not be easy
for her
. 
Vin,
there
i
s one other thing
you should know
. 
C
a
eli
adamantly
believes this is her fault
.
"