The Captain's Lady (12 page)

She locked eyes with Eric who lowered the stern face right into hers. He spoke in a calm steady voice, words she wasn't capable of comprehending at that moment. Finally the contraction eased and then passed.

Eric stood and let go of her hand. “I need to talk to the doc. Relax. We'll be right back."

Without replying she watched them stride across the room. He gave an abrupt dismissal to Petey.

Worry and uncertainty took hold. Something was wrong. She wanted to cry out, to ask what it was, but forced herself to remain quiet. She watched their serious demeanors while they talked.

"Doc, what happened?” Eric knew his voice was sharp, the words clipped, but he had to have the information on Abby, fast.

Larry shook his head. “She scared the shit out of the guard. He heard yelling. When we came in she was thrashing around. Having one hell of a bad dream I'd say. It's obvious the stress of it put her in early labor."

Eric listened, wondering if their talk had triggered the nightmare. He threw a glance over at her. How could he live with himself if this were the case? Especially if something happened to the baby. She looked so forlorn lying there all alone. He waved a hand for the doctor to hurry and get to the point.

"The contractions are strong. It's really too early for the baby to come.” He shrugged. “If we were in a maternity ward at the hospital, with all the right equipment—"

"Get on with it."

"Bottom line, we have to stop the contractions. Of course, best-case scenario is that they stop on their own. If they don't stop, she'll need a dose of terbulatine. The problem is, the side effects can increase the heart rate of both Abby and the baby, but right now it is a moot point, as I don't have the stuff on board. I'm having some air lifted from the base hospital in Bahrain."

A harsh groan brought their attention to Abby. She lay on her side, doubled in half. They rushed to her. Eric stood back so Doc could examine her. “That was five minutes since the last one,” he said, though he didn't have to.

Abby reached out. Eric knelt and took her hand. “Isn't it too early for me to have my baby?” Her voice broke. He squeezed her fingers then shot a quick worried glance up at the doctor.

"Abby,” the doctor said, “listen to me. It's early, but we're going to try and stop your labor. First though—and this is important—I need you to relax. Right now, chances are really good that we can get it to stop. You haven't yet dilated past the point of no return. If you continue past 5cm or your water breaks, there will be nothing I can do to stop your baby from coming. So I need you to calm down. Take some deep breaths and try not to move around. Lieutenant Lynn is gonna check your vitals again while I talk to the captain."

Eric patted her shoulder as he stood up. “Listen to the doc. I'll be right back.” They strode away, the doc turning his back to her.

"I'm fairly certain her nightmare triggered the labor, but what I want to know is what triggered the nightmare. She's been doing all right till now. When I woke her, her blood pressure was through the roof, she was trembling; her eyes were wild with fear."

Eric ran his hands over his face; he didn't want to talk about the cause of this. What was important was stopping it. “How long before you know if you can stop this?"

Shaking his head the doctor let out a deep breath. “We need to get her blood pressure down, keep her feet elevated, keep her calm. And I want to get some fluids into her. The lieutenant is hooking her up to an IV."

Eric glanced over Larry's shoulder at Abby, meeting her eyes as the lieutenant went about his business.

"I have to leave for a few minutes. Something to attend to at the other end of the ship,” Larry said. “I'll leave the lieutenant."

"I'll stay here to keep an eye on her, too. And be sure to let you know of any change."

The doctor paused, looked over at Abby then back to the Captain. “Whatever you can do to get her to relax. I need to examine her again in an hour."

Eric reached her side first, listening with intent as the doctor questioned the lieutenant on Abby's current vitals. Eric didn't know much about blood pressure numbers but the doctor's face relaxed when the lieutenant said some numbers, then added, “Her last contraction was eight minutes ago."

Three minutes longer than the previous one. That was a good sign, right?

The lieutenant helped Abby onto her side, propped some pillows all around, then handed her a glass of apple juice. She took it and sucked gratefully on the paper tube. She finished it and then held up the empty cup, handing it back to the lieutenant.

Carefully taking in a breath, she couldn't help but relish the comfort of the cocoon formed by the pillows around her. The blissful warmth flowed all around, as the tingling in her belly eased. Then, just as the thought was finished, the familiar sharp tightening pulsed in her belly as she again steadied herself for another contraction. It took hold, but this time she remembered to breathe deep, realizing that the intensity of the contraction was nowhere near as strong as the earlier ones. Eric's hands rubbed her arms as he squatted beside the bed, prepared to wait out the pain with her.

The doctor lowered the blanket and slid his hand under her gown placing the palm directly on her belly while the contraction tightened. “Just relax. Almost over, Abby.” The words were soft and nurturing.

After some seconds, the contraction lessened in intensity and slowly passed. Breathing deeply and then letting it out slow and controlled, Abby leaned back against the pillows. “That wasn't as bad last time,” she said.

"I need to examine you again, and see if your cervix has dilated any more. Try and make yourself as comfortable as possible."

He eased her over, to lie flat on her back this time, and once again propped up her knees. Abby turned away her gaze at the heated embarrassment of him lifting the gown. She comforted herself by looking at the captain. She couldn't help but blush at the encouraging smile he offered. He gripped her hand and then gently brushed her sweaty hair away from her forehead with the back of his long, work-roughened fingers.

"Okay, so far so good,” said Larry, lowering the gown. He pulled up the light blanket, and ripped off and disposed of the latex gloves. “You haven't dilated any further. As long as your contractions continue to fade, I'm hopeful this little guy won't make an appearance tonight."

[Back to Table of Contents]

Chapter Fourteen

The sun was just coming up on the horizon when Eric finally left the sickbay. The weariness he felt at that moment was beyond anything he could remember. Holding Abby's hand, offering comfort and support, gritting his teeth through her incredible pain. How brave she was.

Eric liked things neat and tidy and the intensity of his feelings for her was disrupting his carefully structured routine. Many realities weighed heavy on his mind, most especially the realization that any decisions he made for the future needed to include her. He stepped into his cabin with no memory of making the trip down the long, echoing hallway.

His past loomed dark and foreboding. Could he get past things he'd been conditioned toward his whole life? Could he make room for two other people? The negative darkness clouded him, questions now of her loyalty, would she betray him in the end? It was louder this self-doubt, the words pounding,
you have ignored me long enough; it's time to reckon with me, the misery, the loneliness. Were all women deceitful, dishonest?
So why was he trying to see Abby in this light; she wasn't like that. It was unnerving; this could become a poison if he allowed it to take hold. “Enough,” he said the words aloud.

The resounding knock on the cabin door made him jump. Right now, the disruption was not welcome. He wanted only to lie down and close his eyes for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. “What!"

Joe bounded through the door, clenching a file in his hands. Pausing, his eyes widened at the sight of Eric slumped back in his chair. He closed the door softly. “Christ, you look like shit. I heard about Abby. Is she all right?"

The sincerity in his voice was enough to take the edge off Eric's rising irritation. Closing his eyes and grasping the back of his neck, he squeezed the tension from the knotted muscles. A pounding headache had taken hold as he watched Abby's suffering, unable to do anything but hold her hand and tell her to relax. What kind of help was that? He let out an exasperated breath. “She's resting now. Her labor seems to have stopped.” The last words softened somewhat, but he heard the gruffness still in his voice.

"Would you rather I came back later?"

Eric shook his head, knuckled the raw overworked eyes then blinked in an attempt to refocus. “Nope. Sorry, Joe, I'm just really tired. What is it?"

"I just heard back from Edwin, unofficially, of course. It appears that several men, one of them who fits the description of Mister Seyed Hossein, our illustrious kidnapper, appear to be inquiring about some missing property with the local merchants in Bahrain. The information Edwin has been given by informants varies widely, from missing jewelry a woman stole from him, to a daughter with long blonde hair, to a pregnant wife.” He dropped into a nearby chair.

"Abby!” They both said in unison.

"God dammit.” Eric slammed his fist on the desk, the weariness gone as the surge of adrenaline rushed through his veins. Reaching over, he ripped the report from Joe's hands. “This is un-fucking-believable. Can you believe he has the unmitigated gall to be looking for her, that mother-fucker!” Eric cursed again as he read the rest of the report. “Is this information on the up and up?"

Joe nodded slowly. “Yup, Edwin knows how important this is. You may not like this next little bit; he kind of indicated again that the CIA is determined to question Abby. This guy may be involved with a local terrorist group, you know, boats running into our boats to blow them up, and they're pretty sure Abby knows more than she's saying."

That last bit caught Eric's attention. He gritted his teeth and squinted, his eyes tight, wincing. “Shit!” He stood up and began pacing, trying to outrun the volatile force of the uncertainty surging around him. He walked around the desk and stopped beside his friend to reach down and give a quick squeeze of thanks to his shoulder. Then he tossed the file so it landed in the middle of his desk.

Walking over to the couch, he flopped heavily and sank back into the leather cushion. The groan he'd been suppressing erupted from deep within. Eric ran his fingers over his hair, thinking it was time for a haircut.

"You know she needs protection,” Joe said. “Have you thought about maybe moving her to the base in Bahrain? They could protect her there."

Eric flew upright and lashed out. “No! She stays here; this is the safest place for her.” He waved a hand to stop any further talk on the subject. “I spoke with Doc a while ago, she's too far along to be moved, and with this little bit of information, Seyed looking for her...."

"Allegedly looking for her,” Joe interrupted.

"Okay, allegedly looking for her. But the CIA wanting to interrogate her, she'd be way too accessible. There's no way I'm sending her ashore. She stays right here until it's safe for her to be moved. At this point, it may be until after the baby's born."

Eric threw his hands up in the air, waving them as he shouted each point.

Joe joined him, taking one of the chairs by the couch. Crossing his long legs out in front of him, he let a smile beam across his face. He rested an elbow on the side arm of the chair and supported his head with the palm of his hand. “We've already established you fell in love with her. I understand you're protecting your woman?"

The question was more like a statement of fact, eliciting a sudden and silent warning from Eric as he narrowed dangerous eyes, making it clear he was not going to answer.

Eric knew Joe was calling him out. This direct, needling approach made it clear he wasn't about to drop it. Finally he said, “I don't know.” Hoping his friend would be satisfied with that, he waited a three-beat. When Joe hadn't spoken, Eric gave a quick look. The glance only confirmed his decoy hadn't worked.

Joe was studying him now, with mock annoyance. “Deny it all you want. I know you too well and can honestly say I've never seen you react to any woman as you do to Abby. So please do us both a favor and just admit it."

Scowling at his friend's perception, Eric abruptly got up and stalked over to retrieve the file that had scattered in the center of the desk. He kept his back to his friend as he flipped through the pages of the report. He clenched the bristling jaw in mounting frustration, first at the tenacity of the spoken words and, second, because he knew Joe was not going to drop it. Turning sharply he emitted a weary sigh and leveled a steady glare at the unyielding look reflecting back.

"I'll talk to her; I'll let Doc know to be prepared just in case the CIA pulls some strings and Abby is forced to relocate to the base in Bahrain,” he said, knowing he was skirting the crux of the issue.

"Are you going to tell her that Hossein is looking for her?"

"NO!” Roaring the word, he threw down the file and turned with an icy glare that promised retribution. Startling even himself with the force of his words, Eric laid down the law to his friend. “And make sure you don't tell her. Does anyone else on this ship know?"

Joe stood and held out defensive hands in front of him. “Just Petey, but he knows not to say anything."

The even-tempered and calm response sent Eric back to the corner of the couch. Why was he getting so up-in-arms over this? No way Joe would jeopardize the secrecy of the situation or the safety of Abby and the crew. Still Eric said, “Be sure he doesn't.” He paused briefly to run his hands briskly over his hair. “Joe, she's too fragile right now. I-I'm pretty sure a nightmare over the situation is what sent her into labor. So, let's do what we can
not
to upset her. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I do understand, Eric, I really do.” Then, lowering his gaze he took a measured breath. “There's another matter that's just come up. And it's quite serious."