Part 20 (2/2)
”You sure Lynn's going to be okay?”
”Yes, I think so.” Kate hung on to the seat with one hand and the baby with the other, watching the headlights bounce on the rutted dirt road as Sam tore through the pitch-black woods. ”You stopped the bleeding-all of it that I wouldn't have considered normal, anyway. And Doc gave her a shot of blood coagulant, just in case. She should be fine.”
”So, is this baby going to make it?”
That was a harder question. ”I don't know,” she replied. ”He has a collapsed lung, but I didn't want to try to do anything about it-not under the conditions back there-unless I absolutely had no choice.” Looking down, she touched the top of the infant's stocking-capped head. ”He needs a lot of work, but if we can get him to Marquette pretty fast, I think he's got a chance.”
”Well, let's hope Steve hasn't left yet,” Sam muttered.
She shot him a quick look. ”Left to go where?”
”Pittsburgh. He talked about flying the Mentor down tonight, but I'm guessing he's put it off because of the cloud cover.”
Kate braced herself as they came to the end of the track and Sam swung onto Main Street with barely a pause, ran the stop sign at the intersection, and shot out of town over the straight, even road.
”Sam?”
”Hmm?”
”You're too young to have been in Vietnam.”
”Right.”
”Have you ever seen a baby born besides this one?”
”Nope. And I was never in the medical corps, either.”
They exchanged a glance in the darkness, and Kate half expected to hear him growl something about not needing her to lie for him. She didn't feel a sc.r.a.p of guilt about it; the end had more than justified the means. But he didn't say anything, and she figured it was because he'd decided he could put up with her protecting him this time. After all, he wasn't going to give her the chance to make a habit of it.
”Steve's not home.”
Standing on the Fournier's front porch, Sam listened in grim silence as Cressie explained her husband's whereabouts.
”He came in from work and did his ground checks and whatnot, then decided not to leave tonight because of the weather. Then he got a call from the garage to go jumpstart somebody at the campground over by-”
”Is the plane fueled up?” Sam interrupted her.
”Yes, he did all that, but-”
”Did he get a report from the weather service?”
”Yes,” she said. ”He always writes it down and puts it in his flight case. But I don't understand what- ” ”Where's the flight case?” She waved her hand in a vague gesture. ”In the plane, I think, but what's this all about?” Sam glanced across the dark yard to his Jeep, where Katie sat, waiting. Then he looked at the plane-a hazy shadow looming in the field beside the barn.
Drawing a ragged breath, he turned back to Cressie. ”Katie's got a premature baby she has to get to Marquette. And that's all I've got time to tell you.”
That was enough to put a look of horror on Cressie's face. ”Oh, no! Whose is it? Not Lynn Nielsen's!”
He nodded, asking, ”Where are the kids?”
”Asleep, but-”
”Can you drive a Jeep?”
”Yes, but . . . Sam wait!”
”No time to wait.” With a hand holding her elbow, he was pulling her down the steps and across the yard, saying, ”I want you to drive my Jeep to the far end of the field and park it, with the lights facing straight at this end. Back it up to the edge of the trees-but not under them. You can do that, can't you?”
”Sure,” she said, stumbling a little in the wake of his rapid strides. ”But what about-”
”Good. When you've parked it, get out and go stand on the side of the field, at least a couple hundred yards away. Then, after I take off, drive the Jeep up here and park it for me, will you?”
”But you're not going to-”
”Yes, I am. Tell Steve I'll pay him back for the fuel.”
”He won't mind about that, for heaven's sake! I mean, it's a baby, and it's . . . Oh, Lord, I . . . It's so dark and cloudy, and they said it might storm! Isn't there some other way?”
Some other way that won't make me scared. That was the problem, Sam thought. Fear would look for any excuse to get out of doing the right thing.
Twenty feet from the Jeep, he swung around to face her and grabbed her shoulders. ”Cressie, do you want to see your sister happy?”
Her eyes widened. ”Of course, I want to see her happy. What kind of question-”
”Take my word for it. This'll do it. Now you go do what I said, and just keep telling yourself you're making Katie happy.” And I'll tell myself the same thing.
Catching her hand, he pulled her along, letting go of her only to yank open Katie's door, as he said, ”Let 's go.”
With a glance at Cressie, Katie took the stethoscope out of her ears, reached for the hand he offered her, and climbed out. ”Hi, Cress. Did Sam tell you what happened?”
”Sort of. Is Lynn okay?”
”So-so. I'll tell you about it later.”
”Where's the baby?”
”In here.” She patted the front of her jumpsuit as he put an arm around her and guided her toward the plane.
A few seconds later, when the Jeep roared by them and took a turn around the corner of the barn, she hesitated, glancing over her shoulder, then at him.
”What's Cressie doing?”
”Marking the end of the runway.”
Several steps farther on, she glanced over her shoulder again.
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