“Who else you got to move?” Gracie asked Sam, once Dovey was inside, shaking the snow off her boots.
“We’ve got four SUVs making the rounds, so everybody who might need help will be covered. I’m going to check on Helen Henry next.”
“She won’t leave her house. I know Helen. She’ll say she’s lived through a lot worse, and she surely has. And you be careful out on that road. Fitch Crossing never sees a plow.”
“I’m going to check anyway.” Sam told himself he was making the trip to be sure the elderly woman was safe and warm, but, of course, he was also going to check on Elisa.
“Sam, did you ask Dovey about old Reverend Wisner?” Gracie asked him before he could leave.
Sam shook his head, feeling embarrassed. In a moment of weakness he had asked Gracie to tell him what she remembered about Alfred Wisner, the man who was Elisa’s grandfather. He had also spent time on the Internet looking up references to any Wisners in Guatemala, despite only the slightest of possibilities that Elisa’s mother had kept her maiden name. He was sorry he had investigated Elisa’s past, and at the same time he was sorry he hadn’t turned up anything helpful. His hands seemed tied.
“What do you want to know?” Dovey asked. “I remember him pretty well, though I was just a girl.”
“Just curious what happened to him after he left here. There aren’t any records.”
“Well, he went off to Minnesota, as I recall, and became the pastor of another church. Maybe that one agreed with him more, because they kept him a while. But after that church, he never found another. He taught at some community college, I think, until he retired. I believe both he and his wife were fairly young when they passed on.”
“Martha must have spoken of him from time to time,” Sam said.
“Not much. After he left here, they weren’t that close. But she was mad about his little girl. Sharon, I think her name was. Sharon was the one she missed.”
“Oh, Martha has a niece?” Sam asked silently for forgiveness.
“From what I remember, she left Minnesota when she was old enough to be on her own. I don’t know as Martha had anything much to do with her once she was grown.”
Sam waited, hoped, for some tidbit of information that would enlighten him about Elisa and her struggles. But Dovey was clearly finished. Except for a question.
“What’s your interest in Reverend Wisner?” Dovey asked.
“I’m just trying to trace a little church history.”
“Well, you find out anything interesting, we’ll be all ears.”
Even as he smiled his agreement, Sam made sure to keep what little he did know to himself.
O
nce Elisa woke up and felt cold air against her cheeks. She burrowed farther under the covers. Immediately, it seemed, she was deeply involved in a dream in which Sam and Leon Jenkins were trying to protect Sam’s dogs from a flock of predatory birds who swooped down again and again, talons extended, trying to carry the dogs away. As Sam leapt at one, the bird turned into a rainbow-colored kite and began to soar high above the others. She heard a woman call her name, but she couldn’t pull her gaze from the kite, which danced above the birds until they, too, turned into kites and danced with it.
“Elisa…”
She sat up, startled, and fully awake this time. She fumbled for her flashlight, then her watch, since the bedside clock had stopped at 9:53. Squinting through sleepy eyes she saw it was three in the morning. The quilts had tumbled to her waist, and she shivered as she listened.
For a moment she wondered if the voice calling her name had simply been part of her dream; then she heard it again.
“Elisa…”
She threw the quilts to one side and slid out of bed, taking the necessary moment to find the old furry slippers and heavy robe that had come from the church rummage sale. Holding the flashlight in the crook of her arm, she tied the belt as she scuffed her way to Tessa’s room.
She knocked softly, then, without waiting for an answer, opened the door and went inside.
“Tessa?”
“Oh…I’m glad you…oh!”
Elisa knew immediately what was happening. “How long have you been in labor?”
Tessa, a woman who kept her emotions close to her heart, burst into tears.
Elisa sat down on the bed beside her and took her friend’s hands. “When you said you weren’t sure if you should have had the hot chocolate, were you in labor then?”
Tessa shook her head and swallowed, as if trying to gain control. “Just queasy. I thought…I just thought I’d eaten something that didn’t agree with me when I had dinner with Mack.”
“How soon afterward did the contractions begin?”
“I woke up with them. There’s no clock. I thought it was just a backache or cramps from indigestion.”
“Did your water break?”
“A few minutes ago. The bed’s soaked.” Tessa squeezed Elisa’s hand. “I’m not due for another six weeks, Elisa. We have to stop this.”
Elisa shook her head. “Not at this point, I’m afraid.”
Tessa drew in a large breath. “I have to get to the hospital.”
“I’m calling for help. We’ll get somebody out here as fast as possible to take you in.”
Tessa didn’t release her hand. “It’s worse than you know. I saw my doctor on Monday. The baby’s breech. He thought the chances were excellent it might turn headfirst in time for the delivery. If not, he was going to try a few things to turn it. We had six more weeks!”
Elisa could feel Tessa’s panic in the way her friend gripped her hand. At this point, panic was as much a danger as the premature delivery. Tessa needed to be as calm as possible.
Elisa covered Tessa’s hand and squeezed in comfort. “Look, maybe this baby is not full term, but of course it will survive. At this late stage it will be small but perfect, maybe even close to five pounds. Once we get you to the hospital, the doctor will probably do a Caesarean. It’s the standard of care for a breech delivery. But it’s possible the baby has already turned and the delivery will be natural. No matter what, you have to remain calm. That’s the best thing you can do for your baby right now.”
“You sound like you know.”
“I’ve worked in delivery rooms. Before I came here. I know a calm mother makes all the difference.” She got to her feet. “I’m going to call the fire department in Toms Brook.”
“What’s the fuss?” Helen said from the doorway.
Elisa wasn’t sorry she had been awakened. “Tessa’s in labor. Stay with her while I call for help.”
The two women touched shoulders as they passed. To Helen’s credit, she didn’t lecture Tessa. She just got a quilt from the foot of the bed and tucked it around Tessa’s shoulders, then she sat down on the edge. “Your mama was early. I ever tell you that? Just about six weeks early, too. Scrawny as a chicken leg, but with a howl like nothing you ever heard before or since. I should’ve known right there and then what I was in for.”
Downstairs, Elisa made her way to the kitchen telephone with the aid of her flashlight and picked up the receiver. The line was dead. She jiggled the switchhook several times, but clearly the storm had taken down telephone lines along with the power.
She didn’t have a cell phone, an impossible luxury in her situation, but it occurred to her that Tessa might. She went back up the stairs and found Helen still chattering.
She interrupted without apology. “Tessa, do you have a cell phone?”
“In my purse. Over there.”
Elisa shone her light on the floor and found the purse in the corner. She rummaged through it, found the phone and snapped it open. She walked out into the hallway and into her room, closing the door behind her.
A few minutes later she set the telephone on Tessa’s bedside table, having had too little time to prepare what she was going to say. She wished she could take Helen aside to talk to her, but she knew Tessa wouldn’t stand for it. Tessa was a woman who expected honesty and answers.
“It’s going to be some time before anybody can get here,” she said, coming straight to the point. “The fire trucks are out, and it looks like they’ll be out a while. One’s a chimney fire for sure. The roads are a mess. There have been accidents.”
She sat on the bed and took Tessa’s hand again. “I tried Sam. He has an SUV, but he’s not home. I left a message for him. He’ll come when he can. I know he will. But the roads may be too bad right now for anything except rescue equipment. I’m not sure he’d get through.”
“Give me that phone. I’m going to try Ron Claiborne. Maybe he can get her into town.” Helen took the phone. Tessa didn’t say a word, but she was breathing hard.
“I’m going downstairs to get the lantern and candles.” Elisa left as Helen made her call. By the time she returned and set the lantern on a dresser and lit it, Helen was punching buttons with abandon.
“This phone’s not working,” she said at last.
Elisa took it out of her hand, hoping this was simply the generation gap. “Tell me the number.” But after she’d tried it, too, she realized that Helen was right. “Maybe everybody else is using their phones and the company can’t handle the volume. Or the weather’s causing interference. At least I got through to the fire department. They’ll do what they can.”
Tessa moaned.
“That could be hours,” Helen said.
Tessa leaned forward. “I don’t think I can wait hours.”
Elisa was searching for any alternative other than the one that was obvious to her. Yet, in the end, it was simple. She had made a promise, taken an oath, and now she had no choice.
She took Tessa’s hands again. They were as cold as ice. She chafed them as she spoke. “You have to be calm. You’re going to be fine. I can deliver the baby.”
“They teach you that at work?” Helen demanded. “How many babies get born in a nursing home?”
“I’ve had medical training.”
“Elisa…this is going to take more than first aid,” Tessa said. “I’ve got to get into town. The baby…” She gave a low moan and arched, lifting her back off the bed.
They heard a clatter downstairs on the porch, then somebody pounding. Elisa nodded to the doorway, and Helen took off. Elisa helped Tessa turn to her side and began to apply pressure against the small of the other woman’s back with the palms of her hands. She prayed that help had really arrived and she would not have to tell the truth after all.
“If that’s the emergency crew, you’ll be all set. They’ll have everything you’ll need.” Elisa kept her voice low and soothing. “It’s going to be all right. Everything’s going to work out just fine.”
It didn’t take long for Helen to return. She was followed by Sam. For a moment Elisa couldn’t believe he had come. It was as if she had wished for him, and he had appeared.
“How did you get here so fast?” She tried not to devour him with her eyes. “It’s only been minutes since I called.”
“I didn’t get a call. I’ve been out, along with some others from church, since the beginning of the storm, making sure our shut-ins were taken care of. I came to check on you and Helen.”
“I’m nobody’s shut-in,” Helen said indignantly.
Elisa was so glad to see him that she couldn’t keep it from her expression. “And you can take us into town? The roads are good enough?”
He didn’t smile. “No, they aren’t. I’m afraid my car’s in a ditch about a quarter of a mile down the road. I walked the rest of the way. I’m sorry.”
“No matter. We’re going to be fine.” She turned away from him, concentrating on Tessa again. But she could feel his presence in the room and the unfamiliar comfort of it.
“How often are the contractions coming?” Elisa asked.
“Close. I don’t know. Close.”
“Helen and Sam, will you excuse us please? I need to talk to Tessa alone.”
Helen destroyed that notion. “I’m not going anywhere. You think I’m leaving Tessa now?”
Sam put his hand on Elisa’s shoulder, kneading it gently. She could feel the warm welcome weight, the comfort and the question. “It looks like we’re going to be a team here. Let’s just put everything on the table.”
Elisa looked from grandmother to granddaughter and knew they would both have to know the truth. She didn’t look at Sam. She couldn’t.
“I’m not just a nurse’s aide. I’m a physician. An obstetrician, to be exact. I graduated from medical school at the
Universidad de Francisco Marroquin,
and I specialized in high-risk pregnancies at the largest hospital in Guatemala City. I’ve delivered babies in state-of-the-art facilities, in mountain huts, deep in the forest when the mothers were afraid to come into the open. I have delivered every kind of breech birth, with and without anesthesia, and nobody in Virginia is better qualified, because few of your doctors have delivered in those conditions. Are you with me?
¿Entiendes?
”
“Are you making this up?” Tessa looked as pale as her sheets. “Are you just trying to make me feel better? Why haven’t you told anyone?”
“It’s a long, terrible story.”
Elisa saw from the two women’s faces that delaying the truth wasn’t going to help. “There are people who want to kill me, and if they don’t find me first, my government wants to try me for a murder I did not commit. I have been in hiding for three years. And when we are done here, I will have to disappear again. Can you see why I haven’t told the truth?”
“How did you get here all the way from Guatemala?” Helen demanded. “If you’re wanted for murder?”
“The same way others get here. Forgery, bribes, payments to human smugglers. My education helped, and so did old friends. And almost nobody in the United States cares what is happening in Guatemala. The story never made your front pages.”
Sam’s voice was low. He dropped his hand. “Alicia…Santos. My God, you’re Alicia Santos, aren’t you?”
Elisa closed her eyes for a moment. It had been so long since she had heard her real name spoken out loud, although Sam had only gotten it partially correct. She enunciated carefully and slowly. “Alicia Maria Estrada de Santos. Perhaps it is not true that no one in the United States cares what happens in my country. How do you know?”
“Because after my arrest I’ve read everything I can on human rights violations in Latin America, and your case was in the news. The government claimed you killed your husband. But there were people who said it was part of a political witch hunt.”
“It was convenient for some in power to kill and bury Gabrio themselves, before he could bring destruction on them. They tried to kill me, as well, but after I escaped, branding me a murderer was nearly as effective.”
Tessa drew a startled breath and clutched her belly. Helen got to her feet. “Well, we don’t have time for this, do we? Just one thing’s for sure. You’ve lived here for months now, and nobody can tell
me
you’re a murderer. Can you help my granddaughter deliver this baby?”
“I can.” But Elisa didn’t move. “Tessa, you have to trust me. We have to work together.”
“You’re…Elisa to me. My friend.”
Elisa would have helped anyway. There was no choice. But she was reassured now that, if necessary, they could do this together.
“First I need to do an examination, and I need to scrub up. I’ll need a few things. Helen, will you see what you can do about assembling them? And get the fire started again. We’ll need warm blankets for the baby.”
“The water’s hot enough. It’s a gas heater. Come to think of it, the dryer’s gas, too. I can put some blankets and such in it to warm them.”
Elisa hoped neither appliance had an electric starter. She gave Helen a verbal list, then asked her to gather supplies while she went to wash her hands. “Pile some blankets over there for the baby.” She pointed to the table top beside the lantern. “Put the water bottle there to keep them warm.”
Then she turned to Sam. “We’ll need your help. Stay with Tessa for a few minutes and keep her company while we prepare. Are you willing?”