Different Circles

Danielle had told them she was allowed to take care of two patients simultaneously by hospital ratio but that Laura was her only patient at the moment and that, unless the department became seriously inundated by delivering mothers, this would remain the situation throughout. Jake suspected that his discussion with Margaret the manager before leaving earlier had a lot to do with this decree and Danielle’s assignment to them. He did not feel guilty about this or that he was taking advantage of name-dropping or his celebrity status. He had just played the cards that life had given him to play in response to the hand he had been dealt.

The result was that Danielle absolutely doted on them and treated them like royalty. She spent a large amount of her time in the room with them, checking on Laura frequently, and always keeping them updated on what was going on. Over the next few hours, they got to know the young nurse fairly well. She was married to a Department of Forestry firefighter who worked at one of the stations near Jake and Laura’s house. She was due to deliver their first baby—also a girl—in late March. She even hinted about the talking-to that Judy the grump had been given by the manager of the department about her attitude. She shared that Judy was not well-liked in the department and that pretty much everyone was looking forward to when she retired sometime in the next year. She also shared that she had a younger sister named Meghan who had been a junior at Cal Poly working on her degree in psychology before deciding she did not want to go into that field after all and dropping out to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

“What is she doing now?” asked Laura, who was between contractions currently and temporarily out of pain (though not discomfort).

“She’s working at the KinderCare daycare center over by the campus,” Danielle said.

“Does she like that?” Laura asked.

“She likes taking care of kids,” Danielle said, “but they don’t pay very much. Just a little over minimum wage. She’s still living with my parents. She’s starting to think about maybe getting into nursing like I did. She’s already got about half of the prerequisites for the program. I think she’d be good at it. She’s a good kid, smart, has her head on straight.”

Jake and Laura looked at each other for a moment and then back at Danielle. They were able to pass a little silent marital communication between them despite the circumstances. Is this some kind of a setup? Laura asked. Jake shook his head a little. No, I don’t think so, was his reply. And he truly believed this. The conversation about Danielle’s sister had come up because of something Celia had asked, not because Danielle herself had brought it up. And, though Danielle seemed smart—they had learned that nurses tended not to be dumb—she was very young and probably not experienced enough with life to manipulate on so advanced a level.

“You say your sister is a good kid?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, she really is,” Danielle said with a smile. It was obvious that she was close to her only sibling. “She’s just drifting a little right now is all. She’ll find her way.”

“And ... uh ... she likes taking care of kids?” Laura asked.

“Oh yes,” Danielle said, obviously with no hint whatsoever what they were driving at. “She loves them.”

“Hmmm,” Celia said with smile, easily picking up where they were headed with this.

“Why do you ask?” Danielle enquired, now starting to realize their odd interest in this subject.

“Uh ... well ... I think maybe we’d be interested in meeting her after Cadence is born,” Jake said.

Danielle’s look of surprise could not be construed as anything other than genuine. “Meet her? What for?”

“We’re going to need a nanny at some point,” Laura explained. “Not until after we’re done recording up in Oregon, but certainly after that.”

“A nanny?” Danielle asked.

“Yes,” Laura said. “Someone to ... oh my God! Here comes another one!”

They all looked up the monitor. Sure enough, another contraction was rippling through Laura. Cadence’s heart rate stayed steady throughout, hanging in there at 136 beats per minute. Laura gripped Celia’s and Jake’s hands hard enough to hurt. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tightly.

“Breathe through it,” Danielle encouraged gently, patting her bare leg just above the knee. “It looks like a good one. Still going up. Breathe ... breathe.”

“Oh ... fuck me!” Laura grunted. “I don’t ever want to do this shit again, sweetie.”

“I know, hon,” he said comfortingly. “Just breathe through it. Keep on top of it.”

“Keeping on top is how I got this way!” she barked.

Jake had to suppress a laugh as he heard this. So did Celia and Danielle.