Chapter 38:
Jo pulled up a seat next to Kira after sending Pauline home to be with Jebb and the others. She'd sat with the red-haired woman after Jebb brought in the kids to see their mother. After seeing to Faith and making sure that she'd sleep for Luke, Jo had come down to the hospital to relieve her. Everyone in the family was doing their best to help out where they could. Even Daisy, as tired as she was, had helped get a bottle together after supper for the baby when she was getting one ready for Jimmy as well. Two babies born on the same day, it was almost like having another set of twins in the family.
Not feeling tired just yet, Jo pulled out a book that she'd been reading whenever she had some spare time. Which really wasn't that often since Faith seemed to be in to everything lately. She knew that as soon as her daughter could walk, she was in trouble. At least she was able to put all of her painting supplies out of reach and behind a locked door in the attic. Otherwise, she was sure she'd find Faith covered from head to toe in paint after just leaving the room long enough to go to the bathroom.
Jo decided that as long as she was reading, she might as well as read aloud. Bo had told her and Luke about Kira's brief battle with consciousness the night before. It did give a bit of hopefulness to the family and it did show that Kira very well might be hearing them when they were in the room. With the book being a murder mystery, Jo figured that it might would be of interest to Kira so she began to read it aloud.
After three chapters, Jo had nearly forgotten where she was as she read the book. Just as she reached the climax of the book where the protagonist confronted the villainous murderer of the story Jo heard a moan ever so slightly in the room. After a brief hesitation and looking around the room in surprise, Jo realized that the moan had come from the other woman.
"Kira?" Jo moved closer to the bed and saw that Kira's eyes were open and she looked confused. Jo gave her husband's cousin a smile as she put her book down. "Welcome back."
"Wh-" Kira tried to speak but her mouth was too dry. Jo took a cup from the side table, filled it with water from the pitcher that had been left in the room with ice water, and put a straw in it before lifting it up to Kira's lips to take a sip. With her mouth properly moistened, she tried once more. "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital, Kira. Do you remember why?"
Kira tried to think back to the last thing she could remember. After a moment she recalled leaving the house in labor. She moved a hand to her stomach and discovered that she was no longer pregnant. Seeing the movement and understanding what Kira was trying to figure out, Jo went ahead and assured her that the baby was fine.
"She was born perfectly healthy, Kira. In fact, Jebb has been able to take her home, already."
"What day is it?"
Jo glanced over at the clock and saw it was a little after midnight. "It's early Tuesday morning, the baby was born on Saturday."
"Three days?" Kira closed her eyes as she processed that once more she'd missed the first three days of her child's life, just as she had with the boys. With them, they'd been rushed to the NICU in Atlanta and it had taken that long for her to be transferred. But now? It was as if she was cursed to miss the first three days of each of her children's lives; possibly because those were the only ones that her own mother had been able to share with her. "What happened?"
Jo knew that Kira wouldn't want her to beat around the bush so she went ahead and told her with military efficiency. "You went into cardiac arrest during labor. The doctors rushed you up to the operating room and had to bring you back."
"Cardiac ar-" Kira couldn't even finish saying it. Jo just told her that she died and the doctors brought her back. Again. How long did it take? What's going to happen now?
"You're okay now, Kira. Kim said it was likely from the strain of the labor."
"Is she here?" Kira wanted to talk to a doctor now. Of all the ones available, she'd prefer it to be her sister-in-law.
"She went home several hours ago. I can go find the doctor on duty, if you want. I should probably tell the nurses that you are awake, anyway."
Kira shook her head. For some reason she didn't want to be alone. If she was in the hospital, it was only a matter of time before a nurse would be in to check on her.
"How's Jebb?"
"How do you think? If the family didn't make him leave the hospital to take care of himself and see to the kids, he'd still be here. Wait until he sees that you are awake."
Kira smiled as she imagined her devoted husband worried by her bedside. "Let's not tell him before he gets here. I want to see his expression."
Jo returned her smile. Yes, it seemed that the Duke Men just fell apart when there was something wrong with their women and they couldn't fix it. "I wouldn't dream of ruining that moment for you."
She saw that the short conversation was taking a toll on Kira so she suggested that she lie back and rest. She then picked her book back up and continued to read for a while longer. Once Kira was asleep, Jo closed her book and leaned back in her chair knowing that the family would all have a weight lifted off of their shoulders just as soon as they learned of the latest news about Kira.
~01~
Jebb got up as he heard his daughter crying from down the hall. He knew that it was time for another diaper change and bottle. He stood and headed to the door in his underwear and made his way down the hall. He went to the crib and picked up his little girl. He cleaned her up and turned to head down to get her bottle and found Mikey standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes.
"What are you doin' up so early? You still have a little while before you need to get up."
"Me help."
Jebb couldn't help but chuckle at the offer. He was the complete opposite of his brother in nearly every way. Jay had practically ignored the newborn last night while Mikey had run to fetch the diapers as well as anything else needed for her.
"Alright. I'll tell you what; you get to pick out which bottle she gets. How's that?" Jebb had barely gotten it out of his mouth before his son ran ahead of him and headed down to the kitchen. By the time he'd joined his son, Mikey had left the refrigerator door standing wide open and he had a bottle in hand.
"Here!" The toddler proudly held his prize in his hand for his father to take while grinning broadly.
Jebb took it and put it in a pan of water on the stove to warm it up. This was a step he didn't miss when the boys were younger. Since Kira nursed them, there were never any bottles to warm at three in the morning. Something that he knew that she'd planned to do for their daughter. Once the bottle was properly warmed, he took it, the baby, and his son into the living room and sat on the couch to feed his daughter while Mikey snuggled next to his side. By the time the baby was finished, all three Dukes on the couch began to drift back off to sleep. That was how Pauline and John found the three of them a couple of hours later.
~01~
Kim looked over Kira's test results and smiled knowing that she was finally on the mend. She'd been pleasantly surprised to find her sister-in-law awake when she came to check on her after getting to the hospital to start her shift. Kim had been quick to get the needed tests out of the way so that she wouldn't have to disturb her sister-in-law once her husband returned to the hospital. Now she was able to go over them during the time left before Jebb was to arrive.
"Well, you seem to be doing pretty well; which is good news. You'll only need to stay here for a few more days for observation, then you know the drill from your last delivery."
"Yep, 'cause I died then, too," Kira muttered to herself under her breath. She knew the drill alright. She'd be expected to follow-up with the various specialists for the rest of her life. Then of course there were the endless pills that she'd have to take, as well. A routine she was becoming too familiar with.
Kim eyed Kira but let the comment go. That was the third comment so far that referenced death in a sarcastic manner. Only moments earlier, Kira had asked Kim for her overnight bag so she could comb her hair out after stating that she didn't want to look like death warmed over when Jebb finally gets to the hospital. Kim finished going over the test results before finally addressing the comment, or rather the underlying cause of it.
"Finally, there is one last doctor that I want you to see."
"Another one? Seriously? What's this one goin' to be for?"
Kim swallowed before answering, "Doctor Jeffrey has been working here at the hospital for the last year and I think that you'll find that she's quite good at what she does."
Kira eyed the other woman suspiciously. "Just what is it that she does? What kind of a doctor is she?"
Kim took a deep breath before replying, "She's a psychologist."
"You think I need to see a shrink?" Kira was insulted at the recommendation. That and a bit disgusted. She'd seen shrinks before as a child and she had no desire to see another one.
"Kira, many times after patients have lived through a trauma like you have, it isn't unusual to have a difficult time really coming to terms with everything that's happened. And this isn't the first time that you've faced this kind of situation."
"That's right. It isn't. And I did just fine without going to some head doctor; just like I always have."
Kim heard the angry tone in her sister-in-law's voice and she knew that she'd hit a nerve. The same nerve that she'd known was always raw since it has never really healed. Knowing that she couldn't back down, she continued, "Have you really? Or have you just been hiding from the fact that you haven't dealt with it? Instead, you've buried it deep inside along with all of the other crap that you've lived through in the past before you found the rest of the family. You can't keep doing that to yourself, Kira. Bury it all you want, but eventually it all comes back to the surface."
Kira's face became like stone. With her nostrils flaring, the heart monitor recording the accelerated beats, and the cuff on her arm tightened to measure her blood pressure in response, Kira sat up and ordered the other woman to leave.
Kim glanced at the reading on the monitor before sighing. "You know that I'm right. If I wasn't, you wouldn't have gotten so angry. But in case you're concerned, Doctor Jeffrey is very discreet." Kim turned toward the door before adding, "I should know."
Kira caught the last bit as Kim walked away and made a face at the comment. "What? How would you know?"
"You aren't the only one who has had it rough, Kira. In the same time-frame that you've met your family, learned the truth about where you came from, got married and started a family of your own, I've lived a different life. In just four years I've gone from being married to Ted, lost children of my own before I ever was able to lay eyes on them, attacked more times than I can count, ended up on the run on the other side of the world because my husband wanted to kill me, nearly died more than once, gotten married again, watched as a friend was murdered right in front of me and woke up in a coffin six feet under." Kim took a calming breath to maintain her composure. She was proud of herself for not screaming any of that at the other woman but now that it was out, she was much closer to crying instead. "So yes, I know that Doctor Jeffrey is discreet."
Kim watched as Kira went slack-jaw and seemed to be speechless for several moments. She'd been so concentrated on what she'd lived through that she hadn't even looked up to see what was going on around her. Kim always appeared to have everything together. She had been proud of how she'd been able to get back to her normal life, or most of it, after being kidnapped and tortured by her ex-husband. She hadn't even thought about how hard it must be for her to look that way.
When she saw the tears threatening the corners of Kim's eyes Kira couldn't help but feel some in her own.
"I'm sorry." That was all that Kira could get out of her mouth. She didn't trust herself to say more.
"I know," Kim nodded. "Just do me a favor. Give her a chance. She may help you more than you know."
Kira swallowed hard. She didn't want to see that doctor. She really didn't. She didn't trust most doctors and she trusted shrinks even less. Still, she did trust Kim.
"Fine. But I'm not promisin' nothin'."
Kim smiled at the acquiescence. "Fair enough."
~01~
Jebb walked down the same hall that he had for the last few days and felt as if it had been months already. In his hands he had a couple of magazines that Bo had let him borrow. He knew that he'd not actually be able to read them but at least they'd help pass the time while flipping through them.
He also had some drawings that the boys had made for their mother in hand. They were really just scribbles but they'd wanted Kira to have them so he told them that he'd hang them over her bed. He was certain that Jay had been trying to draw a car. Mikey, he wasn't sure what he had tried to draw. Still, it was clear that he liked the color blue best.
When Jebb got to the room that his wife had been in since Saturday, he felt his heart sink to his feet. The room was empty with a neatly made bed as if waiting for the next patient. He turned back to the nurses' station and got the attention of one of the nurses.
"Excuse me. My wife, where is she?"
The nurse looked up from her charts and asked, "And who is your wife?"
"Kira Duke. She's been in that room for more than three days and now she's missing."
"Duke..." The nurse looked around her papers and files before she finally looked up. "She's been moved out of ICU and taken to the second floor."
"Moved?" If she wasn't in the ICU anymore then that must mean that she's improved since he'd left the day before. Still... "Why didn't anyone call and tell me."
"I'm sure someone did, sir. Or at least tried to. If you head down to the second floor, someone can help you find her new room."
Jebb turned toward the elevator and hurried to the next nurses' station. He asked for his wife's room once more and walked through the door only to stop dead in his tracks. There she was, sitting up in her bed while reading as if she hadn't been unconscious for three days.
Sensing that she wasn't alone in the room, Kira looked up and smiled when she saw Jebb. She could see just how hard the last few days had been on him. The stress was sprawled across his face just like it always does when he is under too much pressure.
"I hear I've missed quite a bit while I was out."
Jebb rushed over to where Kira was and bent down to wrap her in an emotional hug. She pulled him onto the bed with her and leaned into his embrace. The two of them sat like that for a long time. Both had questions that they wanted to ask the other but at the moment, none of them seemed to be as important as the fact that they were together.