Girls in Trouble Read Free Page A

monitor. The gurney was wheeled back in. The nurse lifted Sara onto it. A wire of pain tightened across Sara’s belly. It owned her now.
    “I can’t do this!” Sara shouted, and then she was settled on the gurney and as soon as it moved, she felt something pound within her, deep and insistent, and stunned, she searched for help. She’d apologize for anything, she’d do anything, be anything, if only this pain would stop.
Please
, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut.
Oh God, please
, and then, zooming into the room was Eva, in a blue summer dress, her long, pale hair flying about her in a silken sheet. There was George, tall and bald and all in black, with a silver bolo tie. He was holding Eva’s hand and Sara felt so relieved she started to cry.
    “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—traffic was so horrible!” Eva cried.
    “We’re here now,” George said, “we’re here!” He dropped Eva’s hand and took Sara’s. His hands were big and warm, covering hers, and Sara burst into fresh tears.
    “Don’t cry, don’t cry. It’s all going to be wonderful.” Eva leaned down. She glowed like a pearl. “How do you feel? What’s happening?” Eva asked, bending toward Sara.
    “She’s going into delivery, that’s what’s happening,” Abby said sharply, and Eva looked at Abby and Jack for the first time.
    “Abby. Jack,” Eva said, nodding. Jack nodded back.
    “Let’s go, let’s go—” the nurse said. “Get into scrubs if you’re coming,” she said to Eva and George. “Looks like it’s going to be a full house.”
    “I’ll be in the waiting room, honey.” Jack touched Sara’s shoulder awkwardly.
    “Daddy—” she said, panicking.
    “You’ll be fine,” he said, but his voice sounded unsure to her. It made her more panicky.
    “Daddy—” she repeated, but when she looked up, he was gone.
    The nurse handed Eva and George scrubs. She began wheeling the gurney, out of the room, down the hall. Abby was keeping pace, stroking Sara’s hair, her shoulders, murmuring something that Sara couldn’t hear. Sara heard the nurse’s voice, but she couldn’t make out what she was saying, either. She heard the Orthodox woman screaming again. How could anyone scream like that and not be torn in two? And then Sara noticed another sound, like a thousand angry bees humming about her head. She felt the air thickening,heating up around her. She looked up and saw two new doors. Abby was beside her again, scooping up one of Sara’s hands, holding it tight. “I won’t leave you,” Abby said. “We’ll get through this together,” and the bees grew louder, angrier, until they seemed to be screaming, too, and Sara, terrified, jerked her hand from her mother’s and screamed, “I just want Eva!”
    “I’m here, I’m here!” Eva, in green scrubs, was running, catching up with Sara. She waved her hand at George, stopping him in his tracks.
    Abby froze. “Honey—” she said. “This is crazy—”
    Abby looked like a statue to her, like Lot’s wife, who had turned into salt the moment she had looked for something she shouldn’t have, so sad and hurt, it made Sara ache. “Mommy?” she said, and then her gurney pushed through the double doors, and the thought disappeared in a bolt of pain, and she flung a hand out and grabbed Eva’s, holding on as if her life depended upon it.
    Everything in the delivery room seemed to be bathed in blue light. Sara was lifted up onto a table, her feet put in stirrups. Masked faces lowered toward her, peering. Frantic, she searched for Eva. “Right here,” Eva said. Sara locked eyes and gripped Eva’s hand. “It’s okay,” Eva breathed to her. “Do like we practiced. Remember?” Sara tried to remember. Tried to put herself back in Eva’s sun-splashed house, in Eva’s yellow living room where they had sat and talked and planned, in Eva’s big backyard where they had lounged on chaises and sipped peppermint tea and measured Sara’s belly as it