gasped. “And the baby?”
“I don’t have anything here to do any tests, but I heard the heartbeat, and it was strong.”
Justin and Maggie, who’d finally joined them, sighed in relief.
“Look, you need to be in the hospital at least for the night so your doctor can get tests done. I think you have a mild case of preeclampsia, which can be controlled by drugs and lots of rest, but we need a blood panel, and most of all we need to get a fetal monitor on you. The problem is, the trip out of here is rougher than I want you to take.” He looked up at Maggie. “Is there any way to get a helicopter in here?”
“No!” Mellette gasped.
“It’s for your own good, Mellette,” Alain said. “But most of all it’s for the baby’s safety.”
Mellette shut her eyes and a tear squeezed out the side and trickled down her cheek. Immediately, Justin was at her side, pulling her into his arms. “Alain’s a good doctor,” he said. “If he thinks we need to evacuate you by air, that’s what we’ll do.”
Even before Mellette had a chance to agree, Maggie was on the phone, making the arrangements. “Thirty minutes?” she questioned. “We’ll get her down to the pickup spot as fast as we can.”
“Already?” Alain asked, clearly impressed.
“Done deal. We need to get her down to the grocery in Grandmaison where an ambulance will take her out to Flander’s Meadow where she’ll be picked up. The ambulance will be there in half an hour, so I’d suggest we get going. If that’s okay with you?” she asked Alain.
“Perfect plan.” He gave her an admiring glance as she helped Justin bundle up his wife for the trip.
“Please,” Mellette said, “I can walk down the stairs.”
“And I can carry you down just as easily,” Justin said.
“I want you to come along, as well,” Alain said to Maggie. “I don’t anticipate anything happening, but I want you to keep watch on her blood pressure while I drive.”
“I can do that.”
“It’s going to be that proverbial bumpy ride.”
Maybe it was, but Maggie was glad with everything inside her that Alain was there taking charge. No matter what the article said, she trusted him.
Maggie stared up into the sky as the helicopter lifted off, carrying Justin and Mellette. She’d already called her parents, who would be at the other end when it landed. And she’d called her sisters, as well as Pierre Chaisson, Mellette’s brother-in-law from her first marriage, who would watch Leonie when everybody else was at the hospital. “You never think in terms of a pregnancy having difficulties when the mother is in such good shape. I mean, prenatal problems are for other people.”
“They’re for everybody, Maggie. Sometimes they can be predicted, sometimes they can’t, sorry to say. I mean, Mellette doesn’t seem to carry any of the risk factors, but you see the results on someone who’s perfectly fine. It’s frustrating for everybody.”
“But Mellette’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”
“Once they get her blood pressure stabilized she’ll be much better. The thing is, she’s really going to have to be careful now, because she’s not far enough along to deliver. But we have our ways of taking care of these problems, lots of new drugs and techniques, and odds are your sister is going to do just fine and deliver a healthy baby at the end of her pregnancy.”
“Wish you could make guarantees,” Maggie said on a sigh, as Alain slipped an arm around her shoulder. “Or promises.”
“Wish I could, too. But the one thing I can guarantee is that you did a good job, catching it quickly and responding the way you needed to. A lot of women think all that pregnancy puffiness is just part of the course. Mellette got lucky.”
“That’s what nurses are supposed to do.”
“You’re a nurse? I guess I’m not surprised because of the way you responded, but I didn’t know that. I’d heard you were in law school.”
“I am, but I’m a nurse first.”
“Busy lady. But a very astute one. Your training shows.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I come from a long line of medical people. I think it comes naturally when your name is Doucet.”
“Doucet, as in …?”
She nodded, enjoying the feel of his strong arm. It was steady, something to give her comfort. “Yes, that Doucet family. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we’re known far and wide. Or should I say my parents are.” She smiled. “The rest of us just try to maintain the family reputation as best we can.”
Alain chuckled. “Well, you maintained it today. Did it proud. So I wonder if that gumbo is still simmering, because I could sure go for a bowl of it right about now.”
“I’ll bet it is,” Maggie said halfheartedly.
“You want to go to the hospital, don’t you?”
She nodded.
“Then here’s the plan. Gumbo first, and that will give the doctors enough time to get your sister looked at and under treatment. Besides, she’s not going to be allowed any visitors for a while—just her husband, and I’m sure your mother. So you might as well wait a little while here with me, then I’ll drive you in to the hospital.”
“You’d do that?”
“It’s not out of the way. My … house is just a few blocks from New Hope, which is where I’m assuming she’ll be going, so it’s no big deal.”
“Then I say let’s go have some gumbo.”
“So here’s the thing,” Maggie said to Alain over gumbo. “I’ve been giving this some thought. We need a doctor here. I’m here part time, and my sisters manage to squeeze in some hours, along with my dad when we need him. Mellette and Justin are the driving force, though, and that’s over with for a while now. So I need someone who, first, is licensed here, which you are, according to the internet, and also who can guarantee me something near full-time hours for a little while, as Justin’s going to be staying home more to watch over Mellette. With both of them gone, that leaves the clinic closed a good bit of the time, and since you’re not working as a doctor right now …”
“I’m not working as a doctor, period. Hence the hammer in my hand.” She’d been reading about his past and he wasn’t sure if he liked that or not. It was all still so … touchy with him.
“But I read up on you. You’re an obstetrician and a war hero. You ran a military hospital in Afghanistan so I’m sure you’re up to some work here, in this clinic.”
“Ran a hospital, past tense. And if you read up on me, you’ll know why.”
“You were involved in a lawsuit and I’m sorry about that. Sincerely sorry it happened to you. But
