Jessie hardly noticed the commotion behind the reception desk and then there was a young woman kneeling across the patient. “Are you with this woman?” she asked Jessie.
“No, I just came in to ask about the clinic,” she said in English, which given the condition of her high school Spanish was safer. “She fainted, but she’s awake. Final stages of labor, I’m guessing. Water broke. Oh, I’m a doctor. Can I help you get her to an exam room? Or at least out of the waiting room?”
“That would be so helpful!” the young woman said. “Señora, can you walk a little bit?”
“Sí,” the woman answered. “If you help me poquito.”
Together, Jessie and the other woman helped her to her feet, and though she was bent over her big belly, she took the necessary steps. At the first door they came to, they shuffled the patient inside. It was a very cramped exam room. They helped the woman onto the table, pulled out the extender, and the young doctor called for a nurse. Then she shook out a sheet, pulled on some gloves and began to pull on the patient’s trousers. “We never cut them off in here if we can help it,” she explained. “They’re hard to replace. Grab some gloves.”
“Sure,” Jessie said. She tossed her purse in the corner of the room and grabbed gloves from where the doctor had gotten hers.
Together they covered the patient, pulled her pants down and off. The nurse entered and there wasn’t room for one more human being in the room. “Salena, we need an incubator and call 911. Tell them we have a newborn and a postpartum patient.” Then she deftly pulled apart the patient’s knees and said, “Holy Mother. Can you rustle me up a clean towel? Cabinet behind you.”
Sure enough, one glance said the little baby was crowning.
Jessie stood ready with a clean towel and watched in absolute admiration as the little doctor, smiling sweetly, one hand on the crowning head and one hand on the woman’s brow, gently said, “The baby comes now. One little push and we have it. It’s okay. One little push. Gracias, Madonna.” Then she slid her hands to the birth canal and, with very little help from the mother, a good-looking baby boy was delivered right into her hands. “Wonderful!”
The nurse pushed the incubator on wheels into the room, left it at the end of the table and squeezed around the doctor, opening a cupboard and pulling out some supplies. She handed the doctor the clamps to tie off the cord and the baby was passed into Jessie’s hands.
She held the baby while the doctor clamped and cut the cord. “Please dry him off and swaddle him and pass him to his mama. She’ll want to look him over before the ambulance comes. By the way, I’m Cassie Forrest. Family medicine. I run this clinic.”
“Jessie McNichol,” she said. “I’m an internist. I’m part of a practice in the city. Rigby and Wright, Internal Medicine.”
“What are you doing here?” Cassie asked.
“I was just passing by and saw the clinic and, for no reason, wanted to check it out. I’ve never noticed it before.”
“We’ve only been open six months, which was long enough to have standing room only every day even though there are a lot of free clinics throughout the city. This is certainly one of the smallest.”
“You do have to be comfortable in tight quarters to work here.”
Cassie laughed. Then she pulled her stethoscope from around her neck and listened to the baby’s heartbeat. Jessie passed the baby into his mother’s arms and then there was a flurry of rapid-fire Spanish between the patient and doctor. Jessie only picked up a bit of it. Mama wanted to know if the baby was all right—was he big enough, did he cry enough? The doctor assured her he was large enough, that he came easily and appeared to be healthy, but they would have to go to the hospital. Mama said she had no money for the hospital and the doctor said it was just for emergency care and so it would be covered. The doctor asked if the woman’s family could be called and she said her husband would come when he was done working.
His baby was being born, but he had to work. He’s working but has no medical coverage. Well, thus the free clinic. Duh.
“Hey, Cassie,” said a loud male voice. The door opened, and a paramedic in a uniform pushed in a gurney. “If you miss me, you can just call me, anytime. You don’t have to get all dramatic.”
Cassie squeezed around the exam table to make room for the paramedics and their equipment.
The paramedic was very handsome. Jessie felt a little unsteady just looking at him.
“Buenos dias, Mamasita. Did you bring us a new little bambino? Oh, he is a handsome boy. We’re going for a little ride to the hospital. The doctor is going to check you over and make sure you and the baby are okay.”
Cassie translated and the new mama, tears on her cheeks, thanked them all profusely. She even grasped Jessie’s hands, thanking her. On the way out of the tight-fitting exam room, the nurse plopped a bag on the mama’s gurney. Her pants.
When the room was clear, Cassie started cleaning up. Of course, in an operation like this, everyone pitched in. The doctor was not waited on like in snazzier, more expensive clinics. She tore off the soiled paper, began to wash down the table, filled the sink with water and antiseptic. “It was nice of you to stop by,” she said with a laugh. “How can I help you?”
“Do you need some help?”
“Nah, I got this. Just tell me what I can do for you?”
“I think...I mean, maybe I can help out here. As a volunteer or something?”
“Seriously?”
“It’s kind of exciting,” Jessie said. “And I think you have your hands full.”
“Well, no shit. I mean, no kidding. I have a hiring process even for volunteers—I have to document you, check your credentials and licenses, and you should probably have an introduction to the facility and staff, though that won’t take long. I have to completely vet you. But I’m too busy today. It’ll have to be another day, probably when the clinic is closed.”
“That’s fine,” Jessie said. “I’ll give you my card and you can email a list of everything you need and I’ll bring it all at the appointed time.”
Cassie stopped scrubbing. “I can’t pay you. But you would be a godsend.”
Jessie handed her a business card. “Email me soon. I’m on leave right now, taking care of my mother who is recovering from a stroke and she’s doing great. I was thinking of going back part-time, anyway. I think this might be what I’m looking for. And the sooner, the better.”
Anna had spent all morning with her clerk, looking through some cases and deciding whether to postpone, send to another court or adjudicate them. This clerk who had worked in her office for just a few months was Cameron. There were a few cases that could be decided without scheduling court—some property settlements, lawsuits, a couple of assault cases. Then they began to resettle her into what had been Chad’s office.
“You’re going to work in here now?” he asked. “You said you wouldn’t.”
“I thought I’d have to redo it, switch the furniture, but I changed my mind. I’m not spending a nickel on this space just to indulge my petty anger that it was off-limits to me for so many years. It’s mine now, like it or not. I’m not planning to work from home all that often. I have a fantastic office in the city and I like it there. This is my backup office.”
“Whatever you say,” Cameron said.
“So I’ll work in here, but I ordered a new chair that should be here tomorrow. I have a new tower and monitor for the desktop and I need you to set it up.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“Of course you can. I’m going to take a meeting on my laptop in my bedroom while you bring that large stack of books from the garage and put them onto the shelves. Please make a list of things I need from pens to tablets to Post-it notes and I’ll order them.”
“I’ll order the office supplies, have them delivered here,” he said.
“You do that,” she said. “Don’t overdo. This isn’t going to be my go-to office. I’m planning to work in the city most of the time. Now get on it while I have my meeting.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Anna went to her room, got comfortable in a chair in the corner and clicked on the conference program for her meeting with Dr. Norton. She had to wait a few minutes for him to come on-screen. “Hello!” he said. “How goes it?”
“Very well. You?”
“It’s a good day. Tell me about your plans for Thanksgiving.”
Anna told him about her plans to cook for Thanksgiving, making lists, having the kids all at home and feeling so comfortable in her surroundings finally. Her panic of another stroke diminished by the day.
The doctor touched his own face under his nose and she looked at the screen. She jumped in surprise and grabbed a tissue from the box on the table.
“I’m sorry,” she said. She dabbed at the blood running from her nose. “This is new. I had a bloody nose this morning and this is the second one today. I might have to put you on hold awhile. Unless you want to just watch me bleed.”