Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Kara was trying not to panic. That’s why she’d asked Renata to call Dan. He’d hear it in her voice, and whatever meltdown he was having would be made worse. At first, she’d thought it was gas after lunch, but when the pain got sharper and more regular, she’d had no choice but to tell Renata, who’d insisted on driving her to Mount Desert Island Hospital.
They’d taken her straight back to a cubicle and put a monitor on the baby, whose strong heartbeat was the best sound Kara had ever heard.
If the baby was okay, where was the pain coming from? She wished she’d read more about the things that could go wrong so she would know the potential complications. But she hadn’t wanted to think about anything other than a smooth pregnancy followed by the arrival of a perfectly healthy baby.
Any other outcome was unimaginable.
With Kara stable and in good hands, Renata had reluctantly returned to work to get out a huge order that’d come in that morning. She’d promised to check on Kara later.
“Your blood pressure is up a bit,” the nurse, Debbie, said. “Has it been high during your pregnancy?”
“No, not at all. My midwife has said it was right where it should be.”
“Who should I contact to request your records?”
“Victoria Stevens, nurse practitioner-midwife at the Gansett Island clinic.” Kara retrieved Vic’s number from her phone and gave it to the nurse, thankful that Vic and Shannon hadn’t left yet on their honeymoon trip.
“I love Gansett. I spent summers there with my grandparents when I was a kid.”
If the nurse was making conversation, there was no need for panic, right?
“We love it there, too. It’s home for us.”
“What brings you to Maine?”
“My… um… my family’s here.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Am I losing my baby?” Kara asked softly.
“Oh, I don’t think so, sweetie, but let’s wait to see what the doctor says when she arrives. We called in the OB. She’ll be here soon.” Debbie patted Kara’s arm. “Try not to worry. That won’t help anything.”
“I’m trying.” And failing. If something happened to the baby… No, don’t go there. Think positively. Tears slid down her cheeks as every emotion she’d ever felt seemed to overwhelm her all at once—especially fear, grief, heartbreak and love. So much love for this little being she hadn’t even met yet.
Thankfully, the baby was moving as much as it ever did, which brought a measure of comfort.
Half an hour later, Dan rushed into the room, wild-eyed, hair standing on end the way it did after he went for a run. He came right over to her and gathered her into his sweaty embrace. Whereas she normally might’ve balked at being held against his damp T-shirt, he was all she wanted at this moment.
“What’re they saying?”
“We’re waiting for the doctor, but the nurse said everything looks good. The baby’s heartbeat is strong, and he—or she—is moving around a lot.”
Dan placed a hand on her belly so he could feel the baby moving. “So where’s the pain coming from?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Could be Braxton Hicks contractions,” Debbie said when she returned. “They can mimic labor pains and are often quite uncomfortable.”
“I read about them,” Kara said. “I thought they weren’t painful.”
“Everyone has a different experience. Some moms report finding them painful, while others say it’s more like a tightening sensation.”
“I’ve had that, the tightening. This is my husband, Dan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Debbie said.
“You, too,” Dan said. “When will the doctor be here?”
“In about fifteen minutes. We’re going to start an IV to get some fluid into you since you’re slightly dehydrated, which can also cause Braxton Hicks contractions, if that’s what this is. I’ll be right back.”
Dan dropped his head to her chest. “Scared the hell out of me.”
Kara ran her fingers through his hair. “Scared me, too.”
“This kid of ours is already putting us through the paces.”
“Seriously.” Kara grimaced when another of the odd pains rippled through her midsection.
“Hey, kid, it’s me, your dad. Let me tell you something… Your mom is pretty awesome, and she can’t wait to meet you. Neither of us can. But if you could just go a little easier on her until it’s time to make your debut, we’d sure appreciate that.”
When he looked up at her, heart in his eyes, she smiled.
“Thanks for coming running when Renata called.”
“I’ll always come running to you and the peanut.”
Kara was released at around nine o’clock that evening after a thorough exam and numerous tests had ruled out any serious concerns with the baby and her blood pressure had stabilized. The pains were determined to be Braxton Hicks contractions.
“I feel stupid for panicking over something normal,” she said as Walter drove them back to Bertha’s.
“Don’t feel stupid. I’d rather you panic than have something happen to either of you.”
“Still… much ado about nothing.”
“It’s not nothing if you’re in pain. And besides, the last few days have been stressful.”
She hadn’t gotten a chance to fully process the odd vibe coming from her friends at lunch before the pain had required all her attention.
Now that she was feeling better, she picked over the things that Jessie and Ellery had said and tried to figure out how she felt about them. On the one hand, she understood where they were coming from. On the other, however, she made no apologies for doing what was best for herself. But she hated that her friends had been hurt by her long absence.
“Thanks for everything, Walter,” Dan said when he delivered them to Bertha’s.
“No problem, bossman, and nice to see your missus.”
“Thank you, Walter,” Kara said.
“Take good care of yourself.”
“Will do.”
Bertha was waiting at the door to greet them with hugs. “I’m so glad everything is okay, sweetheart.”
Kara clung to her grandmother. “Me, too.”
“And they say pregnancy is the most natural thing in the world, right?”
Kara laughed. “Is it, though?”
“Not if you ask me. I had four chaotic pregnancies followed by four easy deliveries.”
“I hope I get the easy delivery.”
“You will. I’m sure of it. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat something.”
“I made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup earlier. How does that sound?”
“Perfect.”
“Dan?”
“Yes, please. Thank you, Bertha.”
“My pleasure.”
Bertha served bowls of soup with crusty bread and sat with them, sipping from a bottle of Miller High Life while they ate.
“I thought you were a Manhattan kind of gal,” Dan said.
“Only on the weekends, never on school nights.”
“Ah, I see. I used to drink Miller High Life in high school.”
“That’s a scandal. You weren’t old enough to drink beer then.”
He grinned. “Don’t tell my mother.”
“What’s it worth to you, pal?”
“A lot. She’d smack me upside the head even now.”
“I think I’ll like this mother of yours.”
“She’s great,” Kara said. “I love his whole family.”
“Nice when that happens.”
“Did you like Grandpa’s family?” Kara asked Bertha. “I don’t remember you saying much about them.”
“They didn’t like me. They thought I was too rough around the edges for their refined son. His mother suggested I give up lobstering after I married so I could be a more traditional wife.”
Kara nearly choked on her soup at the thought of anyone saying such a thing to fiercely independent Bertha. “She did not say that!”
Bertha chuckled. “She sure did, along with pointing out that being a lobster fisherwoman isn’t very ladylike.”
“Wow. Did she know how lucky she was that you didn’t punch her in the face?”
“I don’t think she ever realized that, but my sweetie did. Tony held my hand to keep me from overreacting.”
“What did he say?”
“I’ll never forget it,” Bertha said with a smile. “He said, ‘Mother, I know exactly who I married, and she’s everything I want, so leave her alone, or you won’t be seeing much of me.’”
“Whoa,” Kara said. “That’s hot.”
“Sure was, and he was richly rewarded for that when we got home.”
“Ack! Stop!”
Bertha cackled with laughter. “As if you’re not doing the same thing every chance you get.”
Kara sent a guilty look Dan’s way.
“She has a point, babe.”
“You be quiet.”
Bertha laughed even harder at the face Kara made at her husband.
A loud knock on the door startled them.
“Who the heck is that at this hour?” Bertha asked as she got up to answer the door.
A young police officer stood at the door, holding a large white envelope. “Package for Dan Torrington. Can you sign here, please?”
“I’ve got this, Bertha,” Dan said. “Who’s it from?”
“Detective Cosgrove asked me to drop this off to you earlier. I got called to an MVA… That’s a motor vehicle accident.”
“I’m familiar with the term.”
“Oh right. Of course you’d know that. Sorry. Anyway, he asked me to drop this off to you. Sorry to come by so late.”
Dan took the package from the young man and signed the receipt.
“You all have a nice evening.”
“You do the same.”
“What is it?” Kara asked after Dan opened the envelope and examined the contents.
“Final police and autopsy reports.”
“Ah, some light bedtime reading,” Bertha said, grimacing.
Dan set the documents on the counter and returned to the table.
“How do you bear it?” Bertha asked. “The details of a case like this.”
“It’s never easy, that’s for sure, but I try to focus on the facts and remind myself of the job I need to do.”
“Do you ever start to hate your clients?”
“I have, many times, grown to despise them, especially when I realized they were full of shit and every word out of their mouth was a lie. It’s harder to put up a full-throated defense of someone like that, which is why these days I only take clients who I believe are innocent. Everyone deserves a robust defense, but not everyone deserves that from me. Not anymore.”
Bertha nodded. “I like that.”
“It’s easier to be picky at this point in my career. In the beginning, I didn’t have the luxury of saying no to the true scumbags who deserved to be locked up for the rest of their lives. I always did my best for them, but it didn’t break my heart to see them convicted and sent away.”
“Did you ever get someone off who should’ve been convicted?”
Dan’s expression was as serious as Kara had ever seen it. “A few times, which truly sucks because you’re sure they’ll reoffend. Most of them do before too long. The system isn’t perfect, but it’s the only one we’ve got.”
“What’s your first move in a case like this?” Bertha asked.
“I’ll take a look at the reports while the investigator I hired talks to the women she was with that night and others who saw her and Keith together at the bar.”
“You hired an investigator,” Kara said.
“Yeah, that’s pretty standard in a capital case. There’s a lot of ground to cover.”
“Who’d you get?” Bertha asked.
“Carter Smith. Hugo recommended him.”
Bertha nodded. “The Smiths are good people. His grandfather was a lobsterman. Knew him well back in the day.”
“Who’s paying for that?” Kara asked.
“Your dad said he would. We need all hands on deck to come up with as much info as we can to hopefully get the charges tossed at the preliminary hearing.”
“Is that even possible?”
“It’s not im possible, but it’s a long shot. We’d have to produce irrefutable evidence that it wasn’t them, so that’s the goal. To find something that gives the judge enough doubt to toss the charges.”
“And you trust this investigator to be on the right side of this case?” Kara asked.
“He had a lot of nice things to say about Keith.”
“Really?” Bertha asked, her left brow raised.
“Yeah. He talked about how Keith can fix everything, and people who can’t afford a plumber, for example, call on him because he’ll take care of the issue for a minimal charge. When he’s not drinking, Carter said, people like him a lot.”
“That’s true,” Kara said. “He’s always been able to fix anything. I remember my dad asking him to fix a leak in the kitchen sink when he was in high school, and he did it in like an hour. They rarely called anyone to fix things at the house after that. He’s got a ton of friends, too, a lot of them going back to childhood.”
“The drinking has gotten bad in the last few years,” Bertha said. “He was loaded every time I’ve seen him.”
“Being a drinker doesn’t make him a murderer,” Dan said.
“No, it sure doesn’t,” Bertha said.
“I mean… we’ve never been close at all,” Kara said. “I barely know him, if I’m being honest. He was in trouble a lot, fighting in school and stuff like that. But I can’t see that escalating to murder.”
“Not to mention,” Bertha said, “the ladies love him.”
“Oh, for sure. He’s had them flocking around him all his life.”
“This is all helpful information,” Dan said. “We need to get you to bed, love, after the day you’ve had.”
He didn’t even know the rest of what’d happened. “I’m ready.”
They got up and took their bowls to the dishwasher.
Kara bent to hug her grandmother, who was still seated at the table. “Thanks for the soup. It was delicious.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Sleep well.”
“Love you.”
“Love you more.”
“No way.”
Bertha smiled up at her. “I’ll fight you on that. Night, Dan.”
“Night, Bertha. Thanks for dinner.”
“Very happy to have you both here.”
After Kara changed into pajamas and brushed her teeth, Dan tucked her into bed. “I’m going to review the reports and do a bit of work. I’ll be in soon.”
“Don’t stay up too late. I need you to keep my feet warm.”
“Is that all I’m good for around here?”
“Yep,” she said with a laugh. “That’s it.”
“I see how it is.” He leaned in to kiss her. “I’m so glad you and baby Dylan are okay.”
“Me, too. That was scary.”
“This is why Mac put a ban on all future pregnancies on Gansett Island.”
“Mac is ridiculous, and his wife defied him by having twins.”
“And his sister-in-law by having quads. He’s lost control of things.”
“He never had control, despite what he thinks.”
Dan smiled and kissed her again. “Smart men know who runs the world, and it ain’t us.”
“That’s right.”
“I can’t wait to get home to Gansett.”
“Me, too. I want to go home with my brothers cleared of all charges, so I can get back to enjoying my life without having to think about what’s going on here.”
“I’ll do everything I can to make that happen as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you for all you’re doing. It’s more than my family deserves.”
“It’s all for you, my love. Anything for you.”