summer flu, maybe. Whatever it was, she didn’t dare try to go back to Ann’s room. She’d have to fill one of the nurses in on the situation and see if someone else could take over for her. Right now all she wanted to do was find Rebecca.
She rinsed her mouth out with cool water and looked at her watch. It was nearly eleven. Rebecca should be finished with her rounds by now and in her office.
Leaving the patient room, she headed down the long corridor toward Rebecca’s office, the pain in her belly jarring her with every step. Someone behind her called her name, but she didn’t bother to turn around. They would have to get along without her for a while.
She was nearly crying by the time she reached Rebecca’s office, and she felt the two patients in the waiting room staring at her as she limped toward the reception counter.
“LuAnn, I need to see Rebecca,” she said to the receptionist, who was writing something on a form.
LuAnn glanced up at her, then back at her notes. “She’s with a patient, Joelle,” she said, but then her head jerked up again as if the sight of Joelle’s sweaty face had just registered in her brain. “You look terrible!” she said, setting down her pen. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m not sure. I’m sick. Let me go into one of the examination rooms, please. Then tell Rebecca I’m here.”
LuAnn’s eyes flew open. “Are you
“Shh.” Joelle pressed a finger to her lips, but she knew the gesture was futile. So much for her plan to escape Monterey before anyone knew. She had the feeling that, whatever was going on with her body, today was the day everyone would learn that unmarried, unattached Joelle D’Angelo was more than four months pregnant. And if everyone knew about it, Liam would, as well.
“Go in the first room,” LuAnn said. “I’ll let Reb know you’re here and that you look like hell.”
In the small examination room, Joelle could not decide whether to sit, stand or lie down. No position offered relief from the pain, and every movement felt as though it was tearing something loose inside her. She thought she should try to undress so that Rebecca could examine her. Her red-checked dress could stay on, but she should at least get her panty hose off.
She was leaning against the examining table, the room spinning around her, one leg of her panty hose off and the other on, when Rebecca stepped into the room.
“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked, taking Joelle’s arm as if to steady her.
“The cramping is worse,” Joelle said. “And I’ve been throwing up. I’m dizzy. I’m hot. I think something’s really wrong, Rebecca.”
“Can you get up here?” She patted the table with her free hand.
Joelle nodded and managed to climb onto the step, then turn around and sit down gingerly on the edge.
“Are you all right?” Rebecca asked, her hand still on Joelle’s arm and a look of concern in her eyes. “Do you need a basin?”
“I don’t think so,” Joelle said. “It hurts, though, Rebecca. I don’t think it’s ligament pain anymore.”
“No, I don’t either.” Rebecca helped Joelle lie down. She pulled off the remaining leg of her panty hose, setting them on the chair in the corner, before picking up the receiver of the phone on the wall.
“I need to get a CBC on a patient, stat,” she said into the phone. Then she was back at Joelle’s side, pressing her fingers on her belly, and Joelle tightened her abdominal muscles to keep her from pushing too hard.
“Extend this leg out,” Rebecca said. “That’s it, all the way.”
“It hurts,” Joelle said. “Oh my God, Rebecca!” She tried to sit up. “I just realized I haven’t felt the baby move yet this morning!”
“I think the baby’s okay,” Rebecca said. “She or he is probably just giving you a break, since you have so much else to deal with right now.” Rebecca took her temperature, but Joelle didn’t need a thermometer to know she had a fever.
“I’m going to do a sonogram,” Rebecca said as Gale Firestone, a nurse Joelle knew well, walked into the room. Joelle saw the sharp look of astonishment on Gale’s face at the sight of her rounded belly, but the nurse got her surprise quickly under control.
“Sorry you’re not feeling well, Joelle,” she said as she set up the phlebotomy tray on the counter.
“I think you’ve got a case of appendicitis,” Rebecca said. She turned on the ultrasound monitor. “But I’d like to rule out a cyst and a few other things just to be sure.”
Joelle closed her eyes as Gale drew blood from her arm, but opened them again to watch the screen while Rebecca moved the transducer over her belly.
“I don’t see a cyst,” Rebecca said. “But I do see a healthy baby. Not too sure of the sex yet, though.”
“It’s okay?” Joelle asked. “It’s moving and—”
“There’s the heart,” Rebecca said, leaning back so Joelle could see the screen, and she spotted once again that reassuring flutter of life inside her.
“Thank God,” she said, lying back again.
“I’ll call you with this,” Gale said to Rebecca as she carried the tube of Joelle’s blood out of the room.
“Make it fast,” Rebecca said, and Joelle could feel her urgency.
Rebecca gently wiped the gel from Joelle’s stomach, then lowered her dress back over her thighs.
“Do you want to sit up or stay like that?” she asked.
“I don’t want to move any more than I have to,” Joelle said. She looked at Rebecca. “Now what?” she asked.
