Cameron
I close my eyes and try to control my erratic heartbeat. Midway through a major heart operation is not the time to lose my cool.
Everyone in the room has fallen silent, as if scared to speak.
“Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor?”
Hanna is one of my PAs. “Can you get Peter Martin on the phone, please?”
“Yes, of course.”
Peter is a heart surgeon who works in the other hospitals in L. A.
I keep working.
Hanna comes back to me. “Peter Martin is in a conference in London.”
I close my eyes. “Get Hamish on the line, please.”
Hamish is a colleague who runs the country side of our practice.
“Yes, Doctor.” She disappears again, and I continue my surgery.
“He’s on the line, Doctor,” Hanna calls, and puts him onto speaker.
“Hello,” I say.
“Hey fuck knuckle,” he calls in his boisterous voice.
“I’m in surgery, Hamish, and you’re on speaker,” I snap.
Everyone laughs.
“Oops, sorry everyone,” he calls.
I roll my eyes. “I’ve got a problem.”
“What’s up?”
“Ashley’s in labor and I’m in the middle of a bypass.”
“Oh shit,” he replies. “That is a problem.”
“Can you get down here?”
“I’m fully booked this afternoon.”
“Cancel your appointments.”
He stays silent.
I bite my bottom lip. “I’ll finish the surgery, but I just need someone here in case something happens.”
He thinks for a moment. “Yes. Okay. I’ll be there in two hours.”
“Two hours?” I snap.
“That’s how long it takes to drive there.”
“Get on a plane. I’ll hire you a private plane,” I stammer.
“It will take that long getting into one airport and out of the other…it’s quicker if I drive.”
Shit.
“All right.” I pause for a moment. “Can you leave immediately?”
“Yes.” He sighs. “On my way.”
I blow out a breath and the nurse wipes the perspiration from my brow. The room falls silent and everyone is edgy. I inhale deeply as I try to calm myself down. “Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Can you keep in contact with Ashley by phone, please, and let me know if there’s any change, other than that I need to concentrate here.”
“Yes, of course.” She pauses for a moment. “Calling her now.”
I inhale again as I try to slow my heart to a regular beat.
It’s okay, I’m going get there… fate couldn’t be so cruel as to let me miss another birth.
Hold on, Bloss… hold on.
Ashley
“Ahhhhh!” I call as I sit slumped over in the car.
Adrian’s eyes are nearly popping from the sockets and he’s driving like a maniac. We’ve been stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes. “It’s okay, Ash. It’s okay.” He tries to soothe me.
“It’s not fucking okay!” I yell.
He shakes his head as he grips the steering wheel with white-knuckle force and changes lanes aggressively. The car behind honks its horn, and he flips them the bird.
“Oh, just great, get us killed by a road rager, why don’t you?” I stammer.
“I’d like to see someone pull something right now.” He changes lanes again. “I could totally take them if my adrenaline level has anything to do with it.”
I laugh as my contraction subsides, and I put my head back on the seat.
We drive for a moment in silence. “Okay, tell me about panting,” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “Controls your pain, apparently.”
His eyes flick between me and the road. “Well, we need to pant. How do you do it? Show me.”
I blow out in short quick successions, and show him what they teach you in prenatal classes.
“Like this?” He practices, and I burst out laughing.
“Yes. Like that.” I wince. “Oh, here comes another one!” I call.
Adrian’s eyes widen in fear and he starts to pant.
I laugh as I screw up my face in pain. “You look fucking ridiculous.”
“Do it with me, Ash!” he cries, blowing in an overexaggerated fashion toward the steering wheel.
We both pant as he drives like a maniac, and eventually it subsides.
“See, that was better.” He smiles a proud of himself smile.
I lay my head back against the seat as I breathe heavily. “I hope Cam makes it.” I smile sadly over at him. He takes my hand in his sympathetically and picks it up and kisses the back of it. “It’s all right if he doesn’t-You’ve got me.”
I smile.
Jenna is in New York and Tash is at Willowvale. “Can you ring Tash?” I ask.
“Yes, sure.” He hits her number on the car Bluetooth.
“Hey, babe,” she answers.
“Hi, Tash,” I call.
“Ash? What’s wrong?” she snaps.
“She’s in labor,” Adrian calls. “Get your ass to L. A!”
“Oh, my God. It’s too early.” She shrieks. “Where’s Cameron?”
“He’s in surgery.”
“Oh, shit,” she murmurs. “Joshua!” she calls. “Ashley’s in labor.”
“Tash, can you ring Jenna and organize Owen to get picked up from school, please?” Adrian asks. “This is quite unexpected and a bit crazy on this end.”
“Ahhh!” I cry as another contraction rips through me.
Adrian starts to pant as his eyes flick between me and the road. “Pant, pant, pant!” he cries.
Natasha bursts out laughing. “Oh, please tell me there’s a camera in the car.”
“See you soon,” Adrian calls and then he hangs up on her, annoyed at her finding this funny.
I smile as I lay back against the seat. “You do have to admit this is pretty funny.”
He looks at me deadpan as he grips the steering wheel. “Hilarious.”
We pull up to the hospital and he jumps out of the car. “Can somebody help us please while I park the car?” he calls to a passing nurse.
“Of course,” she calls. She quickly returns with a wheelchair and Adrian helps me out of his low car and into the wheelchair.
“Let me guess,” the nurse quips, all smiles. “Maternity?”
“Yes,” Adrian snaps. “I’m just parking the car, Ash.”
“Okay.” I smile.
“I’ll take her up,” the nurse replies.
We make our way up to the maternity ward and the nurses help me and take me into a room and onto a bed. They instantly put the baby monitor on my stomach and we all start to watch it.
“I’m only thirty-six weeks. It can’t come yet,” I whisper through fear.
“Thirty-six weeks is fine, Ashley, you know that.”
“Are you here alone?” another nurse asks.
“Cameron is in surgery,” I reply sadly. “Can we just slow it down, so he can make it?”
The nurses both smile sympathetically.
Adrian comes sprinting down the hall at full speed and runs straight past the room.
“Excuse me, sir!” a nurse calls. “Where are you running to?”
“Oh.” Pants. “Ashley.” Pants. “Stanton.”
“In here, Adrian!” I call.
I screw up my face as another contraction comes, and watch the monitor.
“Oh.” The nurse smiles as her eyes stay glued to the monitor. “That’s a big one. I think we need to take a look at what’s going on.”
I ride the contraction out, then she takes my pants off and I glance over at Adrian. He points to the door with his thumb.
“You’re not going anywhere!” I snap.