Page 103 of Just Say (Hell) No
Found a security guard. He’s calling ahead. Too much crowd though.
Finally,
Dunt worry. Said in class that twin labor cn b 12 hrs. Ella says uncmftrbl thats all. Tell Hugh meet a hsptl. Headed to VIP entr
The last one, the garbled one, had been sent nine minutes ago. Marko had hold of Hugh’s bare shoulder already. He’d already stripped all the way down, was headed off toward the showers with his towel in his hand.
“Mate,” Marko said, and showed him the phone. “Time to go.”
“I wish it… wasn’t so far.” Nyree had an arm around Ella, and Josie was holding her up on the other side. Ahead of them, a huge Samoan security officer in a yellow vest, flanked by Ella’s uncle Ander and Tom, were cutting their way through the slow-moving crowd. The officer had his walkie-talkie in one hand, was waving them on with the other one. “We’ll go to the VIP gate,” he’d told them when Josie had run up to him and grabbed his arm. Josie, because she was the most recognizable, the one who’d get action the fastest.
“Tell the security office to ring the team manager,” Josie had said. “Tell him to get word to Hugh Latimer. When we get there, we’ll need a car.”
Nyree had wanted to tell her that it didn’t happen this fast, the same way she’d told Marko. But why did it feel like an emergency?
Should’ve insisted we leave at the break,part of her mind was trying to say. The other part said,Doesn’t matter now. Get out of here.
Hemmed in. Fifty thousand people, and not enough ways out. Jostling, bumping through the barely moving crowd, trying not to trample any kids. Down too-narrow staircases, one after another, and Ella gasping, her face running with sweat.
She didn’t look like twelve hours. She didn’t look likeonehour. Nyree had taken those classes with her, had watched the videos of serene women rolling on exercise balls, walking the hallways, having their backs rubbed by soothing-voiced partners while they focused on their careful, measured breathing.
“Ugh,” Ella groaned beside her. “Can I just say… this sucks?”
Nyree laughed. She had to. “Nah, love,” she said, injecting every bit of Kiwi cheerfulness she had into it. “They tell you to walk during labor to speed it up. You’re doing it.”
“Ha… ha,” Ella said. “You never let me be… grumpy enough. Oh,bugger.It’s starting again.”
They got to the bottom of this particular concrete stairway, and the security officer turned back to ask, “All right?”
“Yeh,” Nyree said, because what other answer was there? They had to be close. Marko had better be there when they got there, that was all. He’dbetterbe.
A doorway, and two more security officers in front of it. A ramp leading onto the field.
“Shortcut,” their guide said. “Soon be there. We’ve got an ambulance to meet you. Just in case, eh.”
Nyree wasn’t going to have to drive Ella to the hospital. She’d focus on that wonderful development. And on the security officer’s thought-wave, practically pulsing in the air above his head.Couldn’t you have stayed home and watched on telly?A worthwhile question.
Stop it,she told the bubble of hysteria. Down the ramp, into the rain, bucketing down now like a cyclone, barely letting them see a meter ahead.
Two figures running across the field so fast, they nearly cannoned into them. Two big, bearded men in warmups.
Marko. And Hugh.
They’d hadplans,Marko thought as the ambos loaded Ella into the waiting vehicle, Nyree hopping up behind. This hadn’t been in them.
Play what’s in front of you.“Right,” he said, shouting to be heard over the rain and the siren as the ambulance headed off through the carpark. “New plan.”
“Oh, myGod,”Jakinda was saying, ever-helpfully. “Why didn’t they let me go with her? They’ll never get out of the carpark, not in this crowd. Oh, my God. Mybaby.”
“Don’t be silly,” Marko’s mum snapped, for once not in Cheerful Mode. “Worst case? She’ll have them in the ambulance. She’s a strong girl, and those guys know what they’re doing. It’s their job.”
Marko interrupted whatever Cassandra-like pronouncement would have come next with that most helpful of items: a plan. “Two cars,” he said. “Hugh’s and mine. Fastest to get to. Mum and Dad, Jakinda, I’ve got you. Josie and Tom, go with Hugh.”
A tension-filled ride to the hospital, with Marko’s mum holding his phone, waiting for a text from Nyree that didn’t come until they were nearly there. “Got it!” she finally shouted, nearly causing Marko to hit the wall as he turned into the carpark. “They’re in a room,” she said. “Getting the operating theater ready. They made it.”
Which was good. No, it wasbrilliant.The babies were both head-down, Ella had been told a few days earlier, and that was meant to be a good thing. But still. They were twins. Cords and oxygen and… He shut that line of thought down fast, found a spot, and led the way inside and up in the lift to Maternity.
Finally, all seven of them were dripping in the waiting area, wrapped in heated blankets supplied by the helpful staff. Hugh said, the captaincy settling over him once more, “A bit too exciting, eh. After all that, it’ll probably be eight hours. Reckon we’ll know more in a bit. Meanwhile, everybody had better have a seat.”
