Chapter Seventy-Three
Jessica
As I lay on the couch Saturday night, crying because of a sappy movie I was watching—not because I missed Alan and was beginning to suspect something nefarious was going on since he hadn’t responded to a single one of my texts, my phone dinged.
Alan: I miss you, babe. I hope you and Ruthie are doing okay. I’ll try to call next week.
Me: I miss you, too! Please come home soon.
He didn’t respond.
The tears that followed were because of allergies. Not because I missed him.
I think Ruthie must have missed him, too, because she woke up fussy around two in the morning, and nothing I did seemed to comfort her.
She drank so little of my breast milk that I had to pump in the middle of the night, and the whole time I did, she alternated between crying inconsolably and whimpering.
She finally fell back asleep around six, after refusing to eat anymore, so I crawled into bed and tried to get some rest, too.
I woke with a start and looked at my phone.
Ten-thirty.
Ruthie should have woken up by now—especially with how little she’d eaten in the middle of the night.
As I raced to her room, a million thoughts ran through my head.
Had I slept through her cries?
Ever since she’d come home from the hospital, I’d been a light sleeper.
The only exception was my wedding night when I’d had champagne, but I also had been relaxed because I knew Alan would take care of her.
Since he’d been gone, it felt like I’d awaken at the slightest noise, so I didn’t think she’d woken up and I hadn’t noticed.
Had the baby monitor somehow shut off?
I didn’t see how that was possible.
She was covered in sweat when I reached her crib, and when I felt her head, she was burning up.
I scooped her up, and without even bothering to change out of my pajamas, I slipped into my sandals by the garage door and drove straight to the emergency room.
I even left my purse at home. The only thing I had was my phone because I’d stuck it in the pocket of my pjs when I jumped out of bed.
Fortunately, the admitting clerk knew me from elementary school. “Just bring your ID and insurance card later.”
Shit. Did I even have insurance anymore?
I assumed since I’d gotten married, I was no longer eligible to be on my dad’s policy. But had Alan added me and Ruthie to his?
Did he even have insurance?
As I frantically waited in the lobby with Ruthie in my arms, I adjusted my hold on her and fished my phone from my pocket and called Alan.
It went straight to voicemail without even ringing.
“Alan, it’s me. Can you call me as soon as you can? I had to take Ruthie to the emergency room,” my voice cracked, and I took a steadying breath before continuing. “I need to know if we have insurance through you or not.”
A few minutes later, Jade appeared in the lobby and escorted me back to a room. There, she took Ruthie from me and laid her on the exam table.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she said as she took off Ruthie’s bodysuit and diaper. I tried not to wince when she inserted a rectal thermometer into my baby girl’s bum.
“She was fussy in the middle of the night and didn’t want to nurse. But she didn’t want to sleep either and was up all night. She finally fell asleep around six, so I laid back down, too. When I woke up and checked on her, she was burning up.”
“What time was that?”
“Ten thirty. I drove straight here.”
“You did the right thing.”
The thermometer started beeping, and Jade took it out and looked at the reading.
“A hundred and one.”
My stomach felt like it was in my shoes.
“That’s bad, isn’t it?”
She put a new diaper on Ruthie as she explained, “We don’t like to see anything over a hundred in babies this little.
I’ll get the doctor in here as soon as possible.
” She loosely wrapped a light receiving blanket around the baby and handed her back to me.
“Is Alan on his way? Do you need me to call anyone?”
“Alan is in Vermont, and I can’t get a hold of him. I tried my parents, but I think they’re at church and have their phones off.”
“Do you want me to call Lainey?”
“Um…”
“It might help to have another set of ears if I’m not in here while the doctor’s explaining things to you.”
“That’s a good point. But I can call her, I’m sure you have enough to do.”
“You just focus on Ruthie; I’ll take care of getting a hold of my sister.”
~~~~
Jade left and not three minutes later, a good-looking doctor about Alan’s age walked in, sat down on a rolling stool, and introduced himself.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Weaver.”
“Hi, I’m Jessica Brad—er, Callahan.”
He rolled close enough to softly stroke Ruthie’s downy hair, and asked, “And who do we have here?”
“This is my daughter, Ruthie.”
“Oh, sweet girl,” he soothed, “you are warm.” He looked up at me and asked, “Do you know when her fever started?”
“I don’t,” I confessed.
Oh my god, I’m the worst mother in the world.
I tried to explain. “She was irritable last night and wouldn’t nurse or sleep.
My husband is out of town, so I thought maybe she was upset about that.
I didn’t notice she felt warm when I was trying to nurse her.
When she finally fell asleep, I laid back down, too.
I woke up around ten-thirty and found her covered in sweat and burning up. ”
“What time did she fall asleep?”
“About six this morning.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Okay.” He held out his hands. “Do you mind if I examine her?”
“Not at all.”
Dr. Weaver offered Ruthie comforting words as he moved her arms and legs around and ran his fingers under her chubby chin and around her neck.
“We’re gonna get you all fixed up, sweet girl. You are probably pretty dehydrated.”
He glanced over at me where I sat wringing my hands together.
“Do you mind if I take her? I’d like to get an IV started so we can get some fluids in her system and draw blood to run a few tests. I promise I’ll bring her right back.”
“Do whatever you need to do to make her feel better.”
He left the room with Ruthie, and I pulled out my phone to try Alan again.
And just like before, it went straight to voicemail.
~~~~
As I sat in the ER room with the curtain drawn, I heard Lainey’s voice asking what room I was in, followed by Jade telling her, “They were in that room, but Ruthie’s getting an IV and her blood drawn.”
“Is the baby okay?”
“She will be. We just need to bring her fever down.”
“How’s Jess? Is she pretty upset?”
“I mean, sure. She’s a new mom with a sick kid, and she can’t get a hold of her husband.”
“Yeah, I know. I think he’s overseas.”
“Overseas? She said he’s in Vermont!”
“Adam said he’s on a mission, but he didn’t want to tell Jess.”
“Well, somebody needs to tell her.”
I drew back the curtain and demanded, “Tell me what, exactly?”
Lainey went pale—it was obvious they hadn’t realized I was still in the room.
“Oh, honey.”
She tried to hug me, but I shrugged her off.
“No. You need to start talking. Now.”
Just then, Adam came running down the hall, and Lainey murmured, “I think Adam can explain it better than I can.”