Dr. Vlk’s office doors opened, and a nurse in Strawberry Shortcake scrubs ran out. Lacey lowered her window and waved. “Here!” she shouted.
The baby moved. Lacey laid her head on the steering wheel and held her breath to hold the life inside her. He moved again, pushing under her ribs. “Hold on,” she told him. “Don’t worry, you’re okay, hold on.”
The nurse dashed inside and came out moments later with a colleague in Hello Kitty scrubs, pushing a wheelchair. Strawberry Shortcake took Lacey’s information while Hello Kitty lowered the wheelchair’s right armrest; they slid her into the chair and rolled her through the lobby straight into the exam room. “You really should have called an ambulance,” Hello Kitty scolded, while Strawberry Shortcake helped her onto the examination table, shoved the thermometer in her mouth, and strapped the blood-pressure cuff on her left arm.
“I don’t have a fever,” Lacey mumbled around the thermometer. “I’m bleeding, can you look?”
“Dr. Vlk will be right with you.”
“It’s an emergency, I need help now,” and Dr. Vlk entered the room, pushing the ultrasound machine herself.
“I’d rather have my ladies go to the hospital in emergencies,” Dr. Vlk said, cool and superior, as if she were ordering fruit salad instead of fries. Before the ultrasound machine even stopped rolling, she pulled the stool up beside the exam table and drew a pair of latex gloves from the box on the counter. “Now let’s see what’s going on here. Nina, get the feet.”
Strawberry Shortcake slipped Lacey’s feet out of her shoes, pulled her underwear off, and tucked her heels into the stirrups. “There’s some light spotting,” she announced.
Light spotting, they called it. Another bubble opened. “I’m bleeding,” Lacey said. “It’s twenty-nine weeks, is he okay?” She hadn’t felt him move since that moment in the car. If the answer was no, he’s already gone, she needed to know immediately, before she suffocated on the hope writhing in her throat. Light spotting, that sounded not too bad; it sounded survivable. “Can you tell me?”
“This will be cold,” Dr. Vlk said as she squirted gel onto Lacey’s belly. She slid the ultrasound wand over Lacey’s tight, slippery skin. She was quiet for a long time, and one of the nurses slid a pad under Lacey’s backside. Another bubble burst. It was death, certainly death.
“There’s the heartbeat,” Dr. Vlk said at last, and Lacey broke into tears; the nurse was ready with tissues. Dr. Vlk turned the monitor so Lacey could see the gray swirling image. “There’s a bit more placental abruption just at the top edge.”
“It could unzip,” Lacey said. She blew her nose and tried to control her hiccuping breath. Unzip, such an ugly word.
“We’ll keep an eye on it. Nina, hand me the speculum.”
Lacey braced herself, and Dr. Vlk told her to just relax, now, which was easy for her to say, as the cold metal slid into Lacey and opened inside her. She stopped her breath as if by doing so she could pretend that this most intimate door forced wide in her body had nothing to do with her.
“Good,” Dr. Vlk said. She withdrew the metal tool and dropped it into a plastic bin marked biohazard. “There’s no dilation, no effacement.” Stripping off the latex gloves, she dropped them in a different biohazard bin. Gently, she squeezed Lacey’s left arm. “It looks worse than it is. You’re closed up tight, so all you need to do is rest and keep your feet up.”
“The baby’s not coming today?”
“He shouldn’t. We need to get you home. Can we call your husband?”
“He’s in court. You can try his office.”
“I want to have another look, as long as the machine’s here.” Dr. Vlk put on a new pair of latex gloves and squeezed more gel on Lacey. She slid the ultrasound wand to the left. “Hey, little guy. Such a monkey. How did you get that bruise?”
“What bruise?”
Dr. Vlk touched a spot on Lacey’s left side, below her rib cage. “There.”
“That hurts! What is it?”
“Did someone hit you?”
“No. I must have bumped myself.” Lacey tried to think of something that would hit her body at that height and leave a round bruise. “Maybe a doorknob.”
“And you turned around and hit it on the other side?” Dr. Vlk asked, touching Lacey on the same spot on her right side. Lacey gasped. “Who touches you?”
“Nobody.” Drew had touched her, Drew had rushed toward her with his arms open, and his hands would have touched her just where she was hurt.