Page 1 of Sudden Summer

Birdie

Storms in East Texas were nothing new. In fact, the early spring ones were some of my favorites to watch roll through as a child. But now that I worked in a hospital, I knew the truth behind these storms—they always brought chaos.

I’d delivered two babies already this shift. Which would be unremarkable, except for the fact that we still had four moms laboring, and the OBGYN on call had already delivered three babies today. We were a small country hospital, and a volume of births like this was unheard of.

I still had a few hours left in my shift, and I was feeling dead on my feet. Slamming back the room-temp coffee I’d poured for myself three hours ago, I willed the caffeine to sink deep into my exhausted body and work its magic.

“I think we need to do a check in with the mom in 3,” Kayla, one of my favorite nurses to work with, said as she sat down beside me in front of the monitors.

“Has something changed in the last thirty minutes? I know she’s progressing well, but she was making slow progress. Which is good, because the mom in 5 and the mom in 1 are close. Dr. Witten and I are going to be busy for the rest of the shift.”

“No.” Her hand rested on my arm. “We need to do a safety check.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You’re worried about…”

She nodded. “The boyfriend. When I was placing her IV, I found concerning bruises. When I asked what happened, she brushed it off. But when I went in to fix her monitors a minute ago, she started crying, saying she wanted an epidural. This man flat out told her no. Said he was paying the bill and his mom never needed one, so she shouldn’t either.”

My eyes went wide. “Alright. Grab some intake forms. I’m pretty sure he’s already filled them out, but I’m going to send him out here to ‘give us more information’. It’ll hopefully give us enough time to make sure she’s okay.” I waved to Declan, the security guard assigned to the Labor and Delivery floor this shift.

“Hey, you guys okay?” he asked.

“We’ve got a dad who we think might be putting our patient in an unsafe situation,” I explained. “I’m going to go into room 3 and send him out for some paperwork. Just keep an eye out in case things get heated.”

“Yeah, you got it.” Declan walked back to his position against the wall, his arms folded and his eyes trained on the door of the room I was about to walk into.

Forcing my best smile on my face, I opened the door. Mom was on her side facing away from me, the dad was sitting under the window with his face in his phone.

“Hi, Alexis. Nurse Kayla said you might be ready for an epidural?”

“Oh…” Her eyes closed as she shook her head. “No. I think I can make it without one.”

“Damn right, you can.” Right. I could definitely see where Kayla’s concern was coming from. He finally looked up from his phone. Alexis tensed, her hands curling around the handle bar of her bed. My hand rested on her hip as my eyes tracked the contraction and her baby’s heart rate.

“You can get up and move around, if that would help.” I looked around the room. “We can have one of the nurses bring in a birthing ball, and we can put you on telemetry so the baby can still be monitored remotely.”

“She doesn’t need all that. My mom works here, and said she labored in the hospital bed for only a few hours. Lexi can manage the same.”

“All women are different,” I interjected. I’d tried being my nice, bubbly self, now it was time to lay down the law. “And no offense to your mother, but she isn’t the one here laboring today. My concern is with Alexis and her comfort throughout this process.”

“I said she’s fine. We don’t need any more fancy shit. If I’ve got to pay for it, then she can deal with whatever I say.”

I shook my head. Men like this guy drove me absolutely crazy. My molars ground together as Alexis shifted in the bed, holding onto her belly as another contraction crested.

“You’re doing so good, keep breathing just like that. The baby is looking⁠—”

“Jesus, Lex. Can you fucking stop with all that moaning bullshit? You’re so fucking dramatic.”

That was it. I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but he was crossing every line and setting off every alarm in my head. “Sir, you need to step out into the hall for a moment, please.”

He stood up from the small chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not going to do that.”

“And now I’m not asking. My concern is for your girlfriend and the baby—both of whom are under my care right now. You need to step into the hall or I will be calling security.”

“Listen, lady. Go get another provider. A real doctor. If he says I have to leave, then I’ll leave.”

“I’m so sorry, Birdie.” Alexis shook her head as she blew out a ragged breath. “It’s probably just better to get Dr. Witten. I’m so sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. If you want me here, I’m here. If you want Dr. Witten, I’ll go talk to him right now. But it’s your decision, not anyone else’s.”