"What about your mother? Whose side is she on?"
"Daddy's, of course."
Doc read the gauge and released the cuff. "Try to get some rest. I'm doing my best to keep your bleeding at a minimum. I'll be asking a favor of you later on, so I'd like you to take a nap now if you can."
"It hurts. Down there."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," she said weakly. Her eyes began to close. "You were super cool, Doc."
Tiel and Doc watched as her breathing became regular and her muscles relaxed. Tiel lifted Katherine off her mother's chest. Sabra mumbled a protest but was too exhausted to put up much resistance. "I'm only going to clean her up a little. When you wake up, you can have her right back. Okay?"
Tiel took the girl's silence for permission to take the infant away. "What about the cord?" she asked Doc.
"I've been waiting until it was safe."
The cord had stopped pulsing and was no longer ropy, but thinner and flatter. He tied it tightly in two places with shoestrings, leaving about an inch between them. Tiel turned her head aside when he cut it.
The placenta now completely free of the baby, Doc tightly sealed the trash bag and once again relied on Gladys's help, asking her to put the bag in the refrigerator before continuing to minister to the new mother.
Tiel opened the box of pre moistened towelettes. "Do you think it's safe to use these on the baby?"
"I suppose. That's what they're for," Doc replied.
Although Katherine put up little peeps of protest, Tiel sponged her with the wipes, which smelled pleasantly of baby powder. Having had no experience with newborns, she was nervous about the task. She also continued to monitor Sabra's gentle breathing.
"I applaud her courage," she remarked. "I also can't help but sympathize with them. From what I know of Russell Dendy, I'd have run away from him too."
"You know him?"
"Only through the media. I wonder if he was instrumental in sending Cain in here?"
"Why'd you hit him over the head?"
"Referring to my attack on a federal agent?" she asked, making a grim joke of it. "I was trying to prevent a disaster."
"I commend your swift action and only wish I'd thought of it."
"I had the advantage of standing behind him." She wrapped Katherine in a fresh towel and held her against her chest for warmth. "I suppose Agent Cain was only doing his duty. And it took a certain amount of bravery to walk into a situation like this. But I didn't want him to shoot Ronnie. And, just as earnestly, I didn't want Ronnie to shoot him. I acted on impulse."
"And weren't you just a little pissed to discover that Cain wasn't a doctor?"
She looked at him and smiled conspiratorially. "Don't tell."
"I promise."
"How'd you know he wasn't a medical man? What gave him away?"
"Sabra's vitals weren't his first concern. For instance, he didn't take her blood pressure. He didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of her condition, so I began to suspect him and tested his knowledge. When the cervix is dilated eight to ten centimeters, all systems are go. He flunked the test."
"We both might get sentenced to years of hard labor in federal prison."
"Better that than letting him shoot Ronnie."
"Amen to that." She glanced down at the infant, who was now sleeping. "How about the baby? Is she okay?"
"Let's take a look."