“It’ll come sooner than you think,” the nurse told her. “So you’d better crawl back into that bed and get some sleep.”
Nina smothered a yawn. “I am a little tired.”
“Well, they don’t call it labor for nothing, you know.” She patted Nina’s hand. “Now don’t you worry. I’ll bring him back in a few hours for his feeding.”
“I can hardly wait,” Nina murmured as she bent to kiss her baby’s satiny cheek one last time.
* * *
Nina awakened sometime later, her heart pounding in fear. At first she thought the wails and screams she heard were echoes from the nightmare she’d been having about the car crash that had taken Garrett’s life. But then, coming more fully awake, she realized the cacophony of terror was all too real. Panicked voices sounded from the hallway outside her door, and from the street three stories below her window, the scream of sirens rose to an almost unbearable crescendo.
An acrid scent stung her mouth and throat, and Nina’s panic mushroomed as she recognized the smell. Smoke!
Was the hospital on fire?
Dear God, Dustin! She had to get to her baby…make sure he was okay…get him to safety….
Her frantic thoughts spiraling out of control, Nina struggled out of bed and slipped on her robe as she crossed the room slowly, her muscles still weak from her labor. As she opened the door, the pandemonium of a full-scale evacuation erupted down the corridor.
Nina started down the hallway, trailing the exodus. She grabbed a passing nurse’s arm, and the woman whirled, her face a tightly controlled mask of fear. “Where did you come from?” she demanded.
Nina pointed down the hallway. “Room 317. What’s happening?”
“This floor is being evacuated. There’s a fire.”
Nina’s hand tightened on the woman’s arm. “The nursery is on this floor!”
The woman hesitated, then said, “Don’t worry. The babies would have been the first to be moved. You should have already been out of here, too.”
“No one came to my room,” Nina said. “I was asleep.”
The nurse’s eyes widened in alarm, but she shrugged helplessly and shook off Nina’s hand. “Just go. Head for the stairs. Do you need assistance?”
“No, I’m all right.” But when the woman turned away, Nina sagged against the wall, her strength waning. The sprinklers had come on, and she was soaked. Her robe felt like an iron mantle around her shoulders as she pushed herself away from the wall and staggered down the hallway. But rather than heading for the emergency exit, she turned the other way, toward the nursery.
Don’t worry. The babies would have been the first to be moved.
But Nina had seen the doubt in the woman’s eyes. She couldn’t be sure the babies had been evacuated, and neither could Nina. No one had come for her, had they? How could she be certain Dustin had been removed from harm’s way unless she checked for herself?
The corridors were eerily deserted now, but Nina could still hear shouts in the distance. As she rounded a corner, a man in green scrubs hurried by her. Nina recognized him. He was the young resident who had delivered Dustin.
“Dr. Wharton!”
The man stopped and glanced over his shoulder. When he saw Nina, he slipped something into the pocket of his scrubs, but he made no move to join her. His face showed more impatience than fear, and not one shred of recognition. “Who are you?” he asked. “What the hell are you still doing in here?”
Nina put out a hand in supplication. “Please help me. You delivered my baby earlier. A little boy. I have to make sure he’s okay.”
“The nursery’s already been evacuated. I just came from there.”
Nina took a shaky step toward him. “Are you sure?”
He fingered the pocket of his scrubs. “Yeah. Everyone’s split. Now I suggest we do the same.”
Not waiting for a response, he turned and strode away, leaving Nina wavering in the hallway. Dustin was safe, she told herself. He had to be. But something inside her wouldn’t allow her to leave without making sure. If she hadn’t left Garrett that night, he might still be alive. He might have been here to witness the birth of his son.
Holding her robe against her nose and mouth, Nina located the nursery and gazed through the glass partition. The babies were gone, thank God. Now she had to get herself to safety.
But the smoke had suddenly grown so thick, she became disoriented. Terror washed over her. She looked up and saw flames eating through the ceiling tiles.
She hurried down the hallway. Just as she saw the glow of the exit sign ahead, a new premonition of danger stole over her. Glancing back, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Someone was still in the building with her.
She started to call out, but suddenly a portion of the ceiling collapsed and something hit her head. Pain shot through her skull as she fell, stunned and terrified, to the floor.
Coughing, struggling for breath, Nina turned her last conscious thought to Dustin. If she didn’t make it out of here alive, who would take care of her son?
* * *
Nina came to abruptly, fear exploding inside her. She was trapped inside a burning building! She had to get out! She had to find Dustin!
But when she tried to rise, she was pushed back down. Something covered her mouth and nose, and in a full-blown panic, she fought to remove it. Again a strong hand stilled her action.
“Take it easy,” a man’s voice said. “You’re going to be fine. We’re giving you oxygen. You inhaled quite a bit of smoke, but I don’t think there’s any serious damage to your lungs. We’ll know for sure when we get you to a hospital.”
Nina’s mind whirled in confusion. She lay quiet for a moment, trying to orient herself. Trying to make sense of what had happened. The hospital had somehow caught fire and was apparently still burning. The blaze reddened the sky above her, and she could still hear the shouts of the firemen and the sound of the pumps gushing water. She’d been trapped inside the hospital, knocked unconscious, but now she was outside, lying on the ground while someone—a doctor, she presumed—hovered over her.
He allowed her to lift the oxygen mask long enough to croak, “What happened? How did I get out here?”
“One of the firemen found you inside. You were lucky they double-checked the building. We thought we had everyone out. What were you doing in there anyway? Never mind,” he said quickly when she started to remove the mask again. “Don’t try to talk. Just lie still. As soon as an ambulance is available, we’ll get you to another hospital.”
Nina motioned frantically at the mask, and with a sigh of impatience, he lifted it once again. She swallowed, trying to ease the burning pain in her throat. “Where did they take my baby?” she asked hoarsely.
“Your baby was in the nursery?” When Nina nodded, he said, “All the newborns were taken to St. Mary’s in Houston. They have an excellent neonatal ICU, but don’t worry. It’s just a precaution. My understanding is that all of the infants are fine.”
Her worst fears calmed for the moment, Nina tried to relax, but it was upsetting to think of Dustin, so tiny and vulnerable, all alone in Houston, while she lay on the ground outside a burning hospital in Galveston. He was only a few hours old and already they’d been separated.
How could this have happened? Nina wondered. How could a hospital catch fire and burn so quickly?
“I’ll have you transferred to St. Mary’s so you can be with your baby.” The doctor jotted something on a notepad. He lifted her hand to glance at her wrist, then