Page 164 of Mile High Ex's Dad
The nurse looks at Maksim.
He steps closer to the bed and says, very evenly, “It’s more bleeding than I like. That’s all you need to know right now.”
“That’s not all,” Sienna says at once.
No. It isn’t. But it’s enough to keep her from breaking apart while they work.
The younger doctor says, “We need fetal monitoring now.”
Another nurse is already moving. One reaches under the blanket. Another adjusts the bed. Someone asks about her blood type. Someone else asks how long since the water broke. The room fills with purposeful voices and the sound of machines being woken up.
I stay at her side until a nurse puts a hand on my arm and says, “Sir, I need space.”
I look at her.
She holds the look longer than most people would. Good for her.
Then Maksim says, “Viktor.”
That’s the only reason I move.
One step back. No farther.
Sienna’s eyes find mine immediately, panicked now, and I hate that I can’t touch her while they do this. “Don’t leave,” she says.
“I’m here.”
It sounds small next to the room, but she hears it. Her breathing eases by half a degree.
A nurse straps the monitor across her belly. The machine crackles to life.
Everyone goes quiet.
The doctor leans closer. Another nurse adjusts the sensor, pressing harder, moving it lower, then higher. The room feels suspended. One stretched second, then another.
Sienna looks from the doctor to Maksim to me. “Say something.”
No one does.
Then, faintly, the heartbeat comes through the speaker.
Fast.
Thin.
The whole room exhales at once.
Sienna makes a sound that is half sob, half laugh, and closes her eyes.
I don’t realize I’ve stopped breathing until that moment.
Maksim rests one hand on the rail of the bed and says quietly, “Good.”
The doctor doesn’t look relieved for long. She checks the monitor again, looks at the bleeding, then says, “We need ultrasound now.”
Sienna opens her eyes again. “What’s wrong?”
The doctor answers this time. “We need to check the placenta and see what’s causing the bleeding.”
