Chapter 22 #2
Kell’s fiancée. She was the director of development for the town of Luview and might know it.
He called her. She answered on the second ring.
“Hey, Dennis. What’s going on?”
“Do you have Lucinda Armistead’s number?”
“Yes. Why?”
“What is it?”
The phone went quiet; she didn’t ask questions. Just did what was asked.
“There. I texted it to you as a contact.” His phone vibrated from the incoming text.
“Thank you.”
“What’s wrong? You sound upset.”
“It’s Ana. I’m at the hospital in Portland. I need to reach her mother and stepfather, and Lucinda’s great-niece is Ana’s best friend. Look, Rachel, I have to go.”
“Good luck. If I can do anything, let me know.”
“You already did.”
He called Lucinda, who answered immediately.
“Hello. This is Lucinda Armistead. May I ask who is calling?”
“Miss Lucinda, it’s Dennis Luview.”
“Dennis! What a lovely–”
“Ana’s in the hospital.”
“Oh!” Her voice went up in delight. “Is it time?”
“I hate to bear bad news, but she's bleeding. Unconscious.”
“Oh, no! In Boston?”
“No. Here in Portland. We were meeting here for a final date before– before–”
“My goodness, Dennis. I am so, so sorry.”
Composing himself, he used up a lot of grit trying not to fall apart on the phone with the wonderful old lady.
“I’m here waiting while she’s in surgery. I need your help.” Tears threatened then but he shoved them away. “I need to reach Brie, so she can tell Ana’s mom and stepfather.”
“Oh, dear boy, of course! I will call Brie now and give her your number.”
“Can you read Brie’s number to me, so I can call her? Just in case?”
“Yes. Let me find my book.” Knowing it would take even longer to explain how she could find the number on her phone, he waited as patiently as possible.
Which was to say, not very.
“Ah! Here we have it.” She read the number off to him and he typed it straight into his text section.
“Thank you, Miss Lucinda.”
“Please tell Ana that I am praying for her and the baby.”
Dennis closed his eyes. “I will.”
“I’m praying for you as well, Dennis. May God hold you all in his grace.”
All he could say was, “Thank you.”
After their call ended, he stared at his text, wondering how to say this to Brie.
A call would be much better.
The call went to voicemail. Damn. Somehow it seemed even worse to leave a message versus a text, but he didn’t have much choice.
“Hi, Brie. Dennis Luview here. Ana’s water broke and there was blood.
We’re at the Maine Medical Center in Portland.
She’s in surgery. I don’t know the specifics, but I’m waiting here for a doctor to update me.
I have no idea how to reach her mother or stepfather.
Can you give them my number?” After speaking out the digits clearly, he ended with, “My apologies for leaving such a rough message.”
What a Saturday. Weekends were supposed to be fun for people. Instead, he was leaving little dread bombs all over the place.
Gulping down industrial caffeine wasn’t going to help him, so he sipped it slowly, mentally going through his options.
Five minutes later, he’d finished the coffee and was all out of distractions.
He could track down Brie’s dad at their cheese shop in Rockport. Ana had told him that Hugh Hohenadel hated Rick, but surely he’d help connect Dennis to Marian so she could come be with her daughter.
His phone rang. Brie.
“OMIGOD WHAT IS HAPPENING?” Her breath was coming out like blunt force trauma. “Ana’s having the baby now?”
“We were meeting at a restaurant. Her water broke, and there was blood. She was on the phone with me when she passed out. Paramedics brought her here. Now she’s in surgery and I’m waiting. I’m sorry I don’t know more.”
“Dennis! Oh, my God! Ana!”
Murmuring in the background made it clear Brie wasn’t alone. Good. No one panicking like this should be on their own.
“I’m at the cheese shop, covering my sister’s shift. I can be there in–”
“Brie. Brie. Ana’s mom and stepdad don’t know. Can you contact them?”
“They don’t know?”
“I don’t have their numbers. Never met them.”
“Did Ana–was Ana conscious long enough to call them?”
“I assume if she was, they’d have called you?”
“I don’t know! Hang on.” She went quiet, then: “I have a text! From Marian! Oh, hell, I ignore my phone for half an hour and this happens. Her text says Ana’s having an emergency and they’re on their way to Portland. That’s all it says.”
“Great.” Dennis did some mental math. “They’re in Gloucester, right?”
“Yes. On the ocean.”
“An hour or so away.”
“It’s Saturday. Traffic going north is tricky in tourist season. Could be longer. Same with me. If I leave now, it could be–”
“Between me, her mom, and her stepfather, we’ve got it covered.”
“Are you kidding me, Dennis? I’m coming! Shut up!”
The call ended.
Okay, then.
Rubbing his eyes, he let out a big yawn, the kind your body forces you into when blood needs to be moved around. As he stretched, he felt himself relax just a bit.
All the major people in Ana’s life knew. She must have called or texted her mother while she was still conscious.
Everything was going to be all right.
A quick look at the clock told him he’d been here for twenty-five minutes. It felt like twenty-five years.
Four weeks ago, he was minding his own business, out on the common for the Memorial Day celebration, dragged into it by his mom.
Now he was sitting in a hospital waiting room while the woman he loved fought for her life, and her baby’s life.
A month. One short month changed everything.
And now one short hour could, too.
Restless as hell, he stood and began pacing. No one else was in the little waiting area, so he found a rhythm, walking the perimeter of the room, trying to zone out.
Failing.
He went to the front desk again, waiting behind someone who wanted their parking validated. Finally, it was his turn.
“Is there any information on a patient named Ana DaSilva?”
“Have you been waiting here the entire time?” The desk clerk was a young woman with long, straight hair, the color of honey, with blue and pink streaks in it. She couldn’t have been more than twenty.
“Yes.”
A sad, sympathetic shrug was all he got as she fiddled with her eye glasses. “Then you haven’t missed any updates. I’m sorry. I don’t have control over any of this.”
His phone rang. The number was new to him, but it had a Massachusetts area code.
“Hello?”
“Is this Dennis Luview?”
“Yes.”
“This is Marian DaSilva Gianetti. Ana’s mother.”
“Hello! Sorry to meet under these circumstances.”
“Do you know anything more? We’re stuck in this hideous traffic at the New Hampshire border.” She let out a teary huff.
“I’m sorry. I don’t.”
“Please tell me everything you do know.”
“We were meeting for lunch at a restaurant on the wharf. She called me to tell me her water broke, and she was bleeding. Someone had called 911. She was scared. Then a restaurant manager came on the phone and said she’d passed out and they were taking her to Maine Medical Center. Now I’m just waiting here.”
“Oh, Lord.”
“She called you?”
“She texted. It said, Water broke. Bleeding. Going to Maine Medical Center in Portland. That was it, that’s all I knew until I called you. Brie gave me your number. She said you called Lucinda to get hers.”
“I’m trying to be sure Ana has all the support she needs.”
“Thank you so much, Dennis. Ana has been talking about you lately, and I knew we’d eventually meet, but I didn’t think it would be in a waiting room. Did they say–is she–is the baby..?”
“No news at all.”
“Ugh.”
“Tell me about it. I’m here, though. I’ll make sure she knows you’re on your way if she wakes up before you arrive.”
“Thank you. See you when we get there.”
The call ended.
Knowing Ana had so many people who loved her made him happy.
The adrenaline faded out of his body and the caffeine did absolutely nothing to help, his limbs feeling like concrete. After protracted missions, he always crashed, and this was an area of concern.
Brie, Marian, Rick–they were all on their way.
He had to stay sharp.
And the doctors would come out at any moment with news, news that could go either way. More than two ways. So many possibilities, some of them horrifying to contemplate.
“Dennis Luview? For Ana DaSilva?”
Startled, he turned to find a petite woman staring at him, wearing scrubs and a surgical cap.
“Yes?”
“I’m Maren Horchance, one of the attendings in obstetrics. I’m here to give you an update. Your baby is now in the NICU.”
“He’s okay?”
“He’s being monitored. We’re not sure yet, but he’s breathing on his own, which is always good.”
“And Ana?”
“She’s still in surgery. You’re the father, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Are you Ana’s next of kin?”
“Ah, no, her mother is.”
Dr. Horchance gave him a short nod. “I’ll have more information for you when I know more. For now, just know that your son is alive and we’re doing the best we can for him.”
“Thank you.”
Your baby. Your son.
The words ricocheted in his head, bouncing around until they turned into a ringing he wanted to shut off. The lie made sense because it gave him access to information, but the more he thought about it, the less of a falsehood it was.
He wanted to be this baby’s father.
If Ana would let him.
Reaching for his phone, he tried to call Marian back. The call went straight to voicemail, so he composed a short text. Same deal with Brie–both of them must be either on the phone or stuck in cellular dead zones on the highway. He texted Brie as well, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Jumping to his feet, he went to the information desk.
“Excuse me,” he said to the attendant. “If a baby is in the NICU, can I visit?”
“Are you a parent?”
He nodded. “I’m the father.”
“I’d have to check.” She held up one finger. “Hold on. What’s the name?”
“DaSilva.”
If he couldn’t be with Ana, he could be with the baby, which he knew with all his heart would make her happy.
As the attendant spoke on the phone, a burst of activity came from behind him.
“DENNIS!”
He turned around to find his mother and Luke, still in his red uniform.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he nearly shouted.
Deanna grabbed him in a fierce hug and he softened into her, grateful for his mother’s love but flabbergasted she had made it to Portland in–what? Forty-five minutes? It was an eighty-mile drive.
“I called Lester at the Bethel airport. He found a helicopter tour guy willing to help out,” Luke began to explain as Deanna fluffed her absolutely destroyed hair.
“You took a helicopter here?”
“Hardest part was getting here from the Portland airport. What’s the update?”
“Baby’s born. In the NICU. Ana’s mother and stepdad are stuck in Saturday traffic from Mass. Same with her best friend.”
“But they’re all on their way?” Deanna asked, half hugging him.
“They are.”
“Have you seen the baby?”
Just then, the attendant interrupted.
“Sir? Mr. Luview?”
“Yes?”
“You can’t go into the NICU to see your son just yet, but soon.”
Luke and Deanna’s jaws dropped.
Before either of them said something stupid, Dennis replied, “Thank you. I can’t wait.”
Then he pulled them back to the small waiting room where he’d been earlier.
“’Your son?” Deanna asked.
“It was the only way to get information about Ana.”
“Oh, sweetie,” she said, hugging him again. “This is a lot. Any word on her?”
“No. And it’s killing me.”
Luke gave him a sympathetic look and asked, “That’s your truck out there, isn’t it? Parked by the curb?”
“Yep.”
Luke held out his hand. “Give me the keys. I’ll take care of it.”
Dennis handed them over like a robot, unable to feel gratitude. Eventually, he would, but right now, he was a mess. Normally in complete command of his emotions for maximum efficiency, he was falling apart in pieces.
“Come here,” Deanna said, urging him to sit. “Have you eaten?”
“I had coffee. We were about to have lunch when this happened.”
“I’ll get Luke to run out and grab us something. It could be a long wait.”
“Why? Why would it be a long wait? She’s had the baby. What else could they need to do to her that would take so long?”
“Honey,” Deanna said, holding his hand. “I’m so sorry. It’s hard when you’re helpless in the face of someone you love so much being in crisis.”
“No shit.”
“I’ve never seen you like this.”
“I’ve never been like this!”
His mom smiled. “You know, Denny, when you up and joined the Army, you broke my heart. I was happy that you were doing what you wanted to do, but you chose a life I would never, ever have chosen for any of my kids. I assumed you’d meet someone, get married, have kids, and all of it very, very far away from me.
In my imagination, Dean and I would be on planes whenever we could to see your family, and the only way we’d have a relationship with your kids would be long distance. ”
“You imagined all that?”
“I did. But then it never happened. You didn’t have long-term partners. No one we ever met, at least. No kids. You just… didn’t. And I was so sad for you.”
“Sad?”
“I wanted you to find love. To give and receive it. To feel in the marrow of your bones what it’s like to be bonded to another soul, so deeply connected to them that you’d do anything for them.” She patted his hand. “And now I see it in you. Took you longer than most, but you found it.”
“I did. And so help me, Mom, if something bad happens to her–”
“Mr. Luview?” A doctor in scrubs appeared.
“Yes?”
He was tall, thin as a rail, and had kind brown eyes framed by long black lashes. “We can take you to see Paolo now.”
“He–she named him?”
“Ms. DaSilva has been conscious enough to tell us her wishes. She identified you as the baby’s father and gave us Paolo’s name.”
“She did?” He and Deanna exchanged glances.
“Are you ready to meet your son? You won’t be able to touch him yet, but you can come to the NICU and see him.”
“What about Ana?”
“I’m from the NICU, so I don’t know.”
Deanna grabbed his arm. “I’ll be here in case there are updates.”
“But her mom and stepdad are coming. And her best friend, Brie.”
“I can spot a frantic mother and friend, Dennis. Go! When Ana is awake, she’ll be comforted that you were with the baby. He needs someone who loves him to be with him.”
“Right.” Dennis pulled himself up straight. “Let’s go.”
The doctor smiled. “Congratulations. First child?”
Dennis just blinked as they strode toward the elevator.
“That’s one way to put it.”