happened to you?”
Her gaze fused with Nick’s. “Did you reach the doctor?”
“His nurse said he’d call me back. In the meantime we’re to try and get liquids down him in small increments.”
“I’ve been doing that, but after a minute, up it comes. It must be some kind of flu.”
“Maybe the Pedialyte will stay down.” Nick kissed his forehead. “The nurse said it was good to use. I got him cherry. He’s a lucky little guy you’re here for him.”
Nick was always ready to praise her. It made her want to do everything right in his eyes. “I’ll take it to the kitchen and put some in a sterile bottle.” When she returned to the nursery Nick told her the doctor had called. “We’re to keep a close eye on him. If we can’t get anything to stay down, we’re to take him to emergency. The hospital will keep him informed.”
She nodded. By evening he’d thrown up enough times to convince her this was serious. His temperature never dropped. “He seems too lethargic.”
Lines marred Nick’s face. “Let’s take him to the hospital. I’ll tell Paul to bring the car around.”
“While you hold him, I’ll put some things in the diaper bag for him.”
In a short time they left the penthouse. Paul drove them to the E.R. entrance and they hurried inside with Jamie lying limp against his daddy’s shoulder.
One of the emergency-room staff showed them to a cubicle. Right after that another person came inside the curtain. His tag said he was Dr. Marsh. He got to work checking the baby’s vital signs. “How long has he been sick?”
Jamie didn’t like being examined. His cries wrenched Reese’s heart. “Since about two o’clock. It came on so fast I couldn’t believe it. We’ve tried to get liquids down him, but he just spits it up and hasn’t urinated for several hours.”
“We’ll have to culture him to find out if this infection is bacterial, but I’d say he’s picked up Rotavirus.”
“What is it exactly?” Nick’s features had darkened in anxiety.
“A disease of the bowel that causes diarrhea and vomiting. Most children have had several incidences of it by the time they’re five.”
“How would he have gotten it?”
“It’s transmitted several ways, but I would imagine your son picked it up through the air. Someone’s cough could have spread it. It’s highly contagious.”
“I’ve heard it’s serious—” Reese blurted.
“It can be when left untreated. If I’m right, we’ll put him in isolation and hydrate him with an IV to bring back his body’s salt and fluid levels to normal. He should get through this just fine.”
Should? She and Nick shared a panicked glance.
“Who’s your pediatrician?”
“Dr. Hebert Wells.”
“In a minute a team will come in to take a blood sample. When we know for sure what we’re dealing with, we’ll call him. If it’s bacterial, your doctor will treat him with an antibiotic.”
Reese hugged her arms to her waist in agitation. “What more could we have done to have prevented this?”
The doctor eyed her with compassion. “As long as you’re constantly washing your hands before and after you attend to your baby, that’s pretty much all you can do.” Jamie wasn’t her baby, but she loved the sound of it.
“Reese has been very careful about that,” Nick interjected. “I need to do it more often.”
“Washing hands can prevent all kinds of illnesses.”
Nick’s lips tightened. “If an IV is called for, where will you insert it—he’s so small?” He’d taken the question right out of her mouth.
“The IV team will decide, but probably in his foot. It hurts for a minute, but then it’s over.” Reese shared another worried glance with Nick.
“Go ahead and hold your baby until one of the staff shows you to the isolation area.”
As the doctor left the cubicle, Nick reached for Jamie. Once he was back in his father’s strong arms, he quieted down a little bit, but clearly he was miserable. Reese smoothed her hand over the back of his head. “You’re all wiped out, aren’t you, sweetheart.”
“We’re both here—” Nick talked to his son in a low, comforting tone “—and you’re going to get feeling better soon.”
Reese wanted to believe it, too, but she’d heard the underlying concern in his voice and was scared to death herself because the illness had robbed Jamie of his vitality.
In a minute someone came and took them through double doors to a restricted area where they were set up in a private room. Jamie cried some more. “I think he wants you, Reese.” Nick handed the baby to her.
She hugged Jamie close and sang to him. The music kept him somewhat calm. When she lifted her eyes to Nick, she caught a look of such pain in his, it shattered her.
Something in his expression told Reese that Nick was thinking about his wife and how he’d lost her so quickly after they’d reached the hospital. In the two weeks she’d known Nick, he’d never talked about her except to explain how she’d died. Reese refused to consider the possibility that he was worrying his son would be taken from him, too, in so short a time.
“Nothing’s going to happen to Jamie,” she assured him with her heart in her throat. “You heard the doctor. Everyone’s had Rotavirus in their lives. Even the two of us, and we’re alive and healthy, right?” She flashed him a coaxing smile.
Reese wasn’t destined to hear what he would have said back because two technicians came into the cubicle wearing masks. Jamie didn’t like that and turned his head into her neck.
The taller one said, “If Mom and Dad will step outside the curtain, we’ll get this over with quick.” He reached for the baby Reese had to give up, but it killed her because Jamie cried out in protest.
“It’s okay, sport,” Nick assured him. “We’ll be right outside.” He reached for Reese’s hand and led her beyond the curtain. She knew he wasn’t thinking as he drew her along with him, but a sensation of warmth traveled up her arm into her body. He didn’t let go the whole time Jamie cried. With both their emotions raw, the feel of his hand gripping hers gave her the strength to deal with this crisis.
The technician had called them Mom and Dad. Right now she couldn’t imagine feeling any different if Jamie were her son. She loved that baby with every fiber of her being.
All these years she’d planned for a career, not realizing what it meant to love a child like she loved Jamie. The bond with him was so strong, it tore her apart to think of leaving him right now. When the day came that she had children of her own, how would she be able to leave them?
What if she were his mother and had
