“One moment Bethan was falling asleep on the couch,” Thea said softly beside me, “and the next, she was up and running for her life. I think I saw her get up before Bellamy screamed. Like her Mommy Senses were tingling or something.”
“Tristan too,” I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “How do we upload those senses?”
“Let’s hope they come when he comes.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed softly.
“Let’s hope,” I repeated mostly to myself, waving at them as their black Porsche crossover pulled out of the driveway.
BABY: DAY 38
LEVI
“Well!” she hollered, bouncing Ulric in her arms as he screamed his head off, which I didn’t know if it was better or worse than the coughing he’d been doing earlier.
“98.9,” I said into the phone when I lifted the thermometer off of his head. He started to cough again, his whole face and body bunching up. I hated seeing him like this.
“It's high ... shh.”
“At 98.9, he has a slight—”
“Can you not hear him? Doc, this isn’t a slight anything!”
“Tell him we’re coming to the hospital,” Thea said, already reaching for his bag, and I moved to grab their jackets, as the doctor spoke.
“Mr. Black, listen to me. If you bring him all the way here, or to another clinic, he’ll scream more, and the air is already cold and dry. Trust me for a moment.”
I’d never realized how hard trust was when it came to a child.
“What should I do? What?” I asked, desperately rubbing my forehead.
“Take him to the bathroom, strip him down, and turn on the shower. He doesn’t need to get wet … just make sure there is enough steam. You understand?”
?
?What is he saying?”
“For how long?”
“After a few minutes, he should calm down. I’ll stay on the phone with you.”
“LEVI!”
“I’M COMING!” I hollered at her, and I wished I hadn’t.
“I know it’s difficult, but you need to keep calm.”
Trying to acquit a woman of manslaughter when you knew she did it, that was hard … this … this was a special level of hell.
“Hold on,” I said getting my speakers and turned to the both of them. “He said he needs steam. Take his clothes off in our room, so the shower gets hotter faster.”
She rushed out the door and I followed behind, connecting my phone to speaker. “Dr. Cohen, you still there? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, perfectly.”
“I’m turning on the shower,” I said putting my phone and the speaker down in the middle of the dual sinks as Thea tried to take off his pants and onesie as he kicked her hands, twisting as he cried again.
“Make sure there are no doors or windows open, you’re basically creating a sauna.”
“Okay,” I said though I doubt I he heard me as I opened the shower door. I felt so weak…too weak to even talk. I made sure to close the bathroom door and put a towel at the bottom before taking off my shirt and jeans. I sat at the foot of the shower door, the water bouncing off the wall where I angled the shower head.