Chapter 12: Reconsider

I knelt on the cold concrete and took Janelle's wrist.

Her pulse was fast and thin.

"How long?" I asked.

"Ten minutes. I thought it was cramps." She was still smiling. It was the worst thing I had ever seen on her face. "I didn't want to bother anyone."

"You're not bothering anyone."

Ben had already pulled the stairwell phone off the wall.

"Obstetrics, east stairwell, second floor," he said calmly. "Bleeding, eleven weeks. Bring a gurney. Now."

He hung up and crouched on her other side.

"Janelle, look at me," he said. "I'm going to lift you. It's going to hurt."

"Please don't tell Alastair I was crying."

"I won't tell him anything. Put your arms around my neck."

He lifted her easily.

I held her feet up and braced the door with my shoulder, and we carried her down the corridor to the elevators.

The gurney met us halfway, with two obstetric nurses running behind it.

The doctor on call took one look and said, "Straight to the OR."

"Is Alastair coming?" Janelle said, to the ceiling.

"He's been paged," said a nurse.

"Three times," said another, and then looked at me and wished she hadn't.

The doors swung shut behind them.

Ben and I stood in the empty corridor.

My scrubs were stained to the elbows. His were worse.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Broken Oaths in White Coats from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.