The Night Sister

“And Lou, she’s still there? And she’s…she’s okay?”


“Yes, Lou is right here and she’s fine. We’re both fine.” Margot smiled at Lou, who was watching her intently with a small frown. “She’s killing me at Crazy Eights! Why all the concern?”

“Is that Piper?” Lou asked. Margot nodded and held up a finger—one minute. Lou stood suddenly, knocking the cards off the bed, and left the room.

“It’s something Rose told me,” Piper went on. “Margot, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think Lou might be—” The connection went dead.

“Piper? Hello?”

Lou returned and plopped herself down beside Margot on the bed, another jelly-smeared saltine in her hand.

“Is everything okay?” Lou asked.

“Yes, fine. Piper just wanted to check in. We had a bad connection. Now, I’m going to run to the bathroom, and then you and I can get back to cards. Why don’t you go ahead and pick them up, then deal us a new hand?”

Margot began the slow process of dragging her huge body out of bed. She did what the doctor told her: sat for a minute with her feet on the floor before standing. Still, when she did rise to her feet, she felt dizzy.

“Are you okay?” Lou asked.

“I think so,” Margot said, black spots swimming in front of her eyes. She sat back down on the bed, hard.

When she hit the mattress, she realized her pajama pants were soaking wet.

It took a few seconds for her to realize what had happened: her water had broken. This was normal. Everything was fine.

She picked up the cordless phone and dialed Jason’s number. Nothing happened. The line was dead. Maybe the battery was drained?

“Lou?” Margot said with all the calm and clarity she could muster. “Could you hand me my cell phone, sweetie? It’s over on the other nightstand.”

Lou crawled off the bed and dug around on the nightstand on Jason’s side of the bed. “I don’t see a phone,” she said.

“It was right there,” Margot said, panting a little as a huge cramp came on.

Not a cramp. A contraction.

The baby was coming.

“Well, it’s not here now,” Lou said cheerfully.

Odd. She could have sworn she’d just seen it. But she must be mistaken. Maybe Piper had picked it up and put it somewhere else? Or maybe she’d even mistakenly thought it was hers and taken it with her? No problem. There was another cordless phone in the kitchen, plugged into the base. She’d call Jason, then Piper, and tell them the baby was coming. She wouldn’t tell them how dizzy she was, how the black spots were swimming in front of her eyes. No need to worry them. She just needed to get the wheels in motion. Get to the hospital. The doctors and nurses would know what to do. They’d take care of her and the baby.

“Okay,” she said, voice calm and assured. It was her mother voice. Her woman-with-a-plan voice. “There’s another cordless phone in the kitchen. Could you bring that to me, please?”

“Sure,” Lou said, skipping out of the room.

From here, her footsteps in the hallway sounded almost like—like scrabbling, like a dog’s nails running on wood. What kind of shoes was the kid wearing?

In a minute, Lou was back, phone in hand, her feet bare. But there was something funny about her feet: they were terribly long, the toenails pointed. Margot blinked. Her blood pressure was affecting her vision.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the phone from Lou. She pressed the keys to speed-dial Jason’s cell. Nothing happened. She hung up, pushed another button. There was nothing. No dial tone.

“It’s dead,” she said lamely. They kept it plugged into the base to charge. How could the battery be dead?

Lou had picked up the framed wedding photo of Margot and Jason that they kept on their dresser. “Jay Jay,” Lou said, smiling at the picture.

“That’s my husband,” Margot said, flinching at Amy’s old nickname for Jason.