Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Though I can't remember names offhand, I thank you for the reviews. You know who you are.
Chapter 2—Thy Brother's Wife
The man held up the ultrasound film to the office light and scanned it with his weathered blue eyes, just as he had done for so many other women. After searching every inch of the picture he finally turned his eyes toward her.
"So Miss Salas, you say your period has been heavy and nonstop for the last three months despite the hormone therapy? And you're going through a tampon about every hour?"
The tough, determined P.I. felt squeamish and violated as she huddled in that blue exam gown. As many times as doctors and nurses had poked and probed her while she carried Ray Jr., it never seemed to get any easier. "That's right" she said to the wall.
Dr. Keener then flipped chart pages. "Well, this could explain why you've been so tired and nervous. Your iron levels are about half what they should be. The bleeding's made you dehydrated and anemic. Do you take any supplements?"
"Sometimes."
He nodded. "As of today I want you to double those iron supplements for the next week. The generic brand will work fine, but it's important we get those iron levels back up, and should make you feel much better. In the next week I'll order a blood test so we can check your iron levels. I also recommend you drink at least a gallon of water a day for your dehydration."
Great. The period's not bad enough. I'll have to go to the bathroom all the time!
"Now why don't we call in your brother-in-law and we can discuss options?"
Horatio glanced around him as he sat patiently in the waiting room of the Miami Women's Center. This didn't look much like a typical waiting room. The walls were painted a soothing mauve color with huge pictures of expectant mothers caressing their bellies and young, carefree women in long, flowing dresses, no doubt taking in their femininity. Somewhere in the office he could hear the trickling of a tabletop fountain. Gray statues of women admiring their newborn bundles of joy graced the magazine tables. Everything seemed to invite a woman to calm down and celebrate her femininity. But as he watched around him, it didn't seem to work all that well. Women still had to control their restless, cranky children. Young, harried husbands who were contemplating the responsibilities of fatherhood didn't seem to be affected. And other women still stood at the desk and argued about insurance premiums.
"Mr. Caine, would you follow me, please?"
He tipped his head up and stood, following the nurse who smiled at him and motioned for him to come down the hallway.
"Good afternoon. Miss Salas is in Room 6" she said in a hushed voice. "Let me just knock on the door."
"Thank you Ma'am" he said politely.
As he slipped in the door of the glaring white exam room, he saw that Yelina had already changed back into those dark clothes. She turned her sad brown eyes to him, just as she had so many times before.
"Mr. Caine. I'm Dr. Keener. Nice to meet you."
Facing him was the tall, sturdy, weathered man with the blue eyes and white hair. Horatio thought this man probably fretted over women almost as much as he did in his life. He knew that doctors generally didn't shake hands, so he simply nodded to him. "Doctor."
"Miss Salas tells me you're her brother-in-law and next of kin."
"I am."
"Yes, well, we did an ultrasound of her uterus, and I did a physical examination and ordered some bloodwork. Your sister-in-law's condition has caused her to be severely dehydrated and anemic. I also discontinued the estrogen. The progesterone by itself should at least slow down some of the bleeding." He looked at Yelina now. "Miss Salas, Mr. Caine, you don't need me to tell you that every option has failed up to now. I'm afraid we're going to have to do the last resort. Your uterus will have to come out."
Horatio nodded thoughtfully as he glanced at Yelina. She miserably closed her eyes.
Dr. Keener continued. "Now Miss Salas, the good news in all this is that you're an excellent candidate for the laparoscopic surgery, meaning I'll make only a couple of small incisions on your abdomen, one umbilical and two on either side. We'll put you under general anesthesia, so no food or water after midnight the night before. Just have a good dinner the night before. Any questions so far?"
"No."
"You'll need to stay in the hospital for at least one night so we can make sure you're healing all right. Another good thing about this new procedure is that you'll only be out of work for two weeks instead of the four to six weeks the old abdominal surgery required. But with the abdominal surgery you would have had a six-inch scar."
Horatio put his hands together in thought. It was hard to ignore Yelina's distress. "Dr. Keener, can I ask what the risks are?"
He nodded. "To start with, general anesthesia is always risky. There's also a risk, Miss Salas, that your bladder or your colon might be nicked when we do the procedure. You might bleed heavily, in which case I might have to do an abdominal hysterectomy on you, and you'd have the six-inch incision. Obviously I'm going to try to avoid all those. But the good news is, the only thing we'd have to take out is your uterus. Everything else can stay."
Yelina seemed relieved.
"I'm going to give this over to the hospital, and they'll call you to schedule your surgery. You'll have a preop appointment so you can have preop bloodwork and your paperwork done. That way you can just come right in on the day we do the procedure. You should be able to have that surgery in the next two weeks or so. I'll write a prescription for Tylox for your convalescence. You might have some pain, but you won't care. And after the surgery, nothing in your vagina for fourteen days. Do you have any other questions?"
Horatio looked sympathetically at his sister-in-law. That tough woman that he loved so much looked as though she wanted to cry. "Thank you, Dr. Keener" he finally said. "We'll wait for the hospital to call us."
Ray Jr. came to the screen door. "Hi Uncle Horatio."
"Ray. Is your mother home?"
The boy looked at him quietly. He just opened the door and backed away so his uncle could walk in. "Yeah, she's in the bedroom."
Fingering his sunglasses, he walked past his nephew and stopped at the open door of the bedroom.
"Yelina."
The blue curtains in her bedroom were drawn, and it was dark, the better to match her mood, he thought. Her beautiful brown curls covered her face like a curtain. Yelina simply sat on the foot of the bed, her head hung down. She was staring at the floor. "Horatio."
He stood at the doorway. It hurt him to see her like this. "Are you all right?"
She didn't answer.
"May I come in?"
"Sure."
Slowly Horatio walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed next to his sister-in-law. Even though she never looked at him, he could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were moist. She had her hand on her abdomen. He just watched her with those sympathetic blue eyes.
"Is it about the surgery?"
She sniffed. "Horatio, I've been through so much."
He wanted so badly to reach out and put his hand on her angry womb, to comfort her, to take her hurt away. "I know. You're about to lose your womb. And your ability to have children. You can't tell me that's not bothering you."
"I have Ray Jr." she said toward the floor. Finally that tough resolve began to melt, and she looked at him with desperation. "How am I going to pay for all this when I can't work for two weeks?"
"You leave that to me, Yelina. You're going to need rest. But right now you can't be worrying."
Finally she looked at the mirror on her bedroom dresser and took a deep breath. She caressed her stomach again. Horatio looked with her.
"You won't be any less of a woman" he assured her. "In fact, you won't have those problems anymore. You're not gonna feel sick anymore. And you'll be able to wear that white sundress again."
She looked at his eyes in the mirror again. "Horatio?"
"I'm listening."
"I know I was your brother's wife. But we're both widowed. Why do you keep avoiding me?"
He looked down again. He could still reach out and touch that beautiful curly hair in his mind, that beautiful skin.
The bleeding, the tiredness, and the tangled hormones were all colliding now. She sniffed again, almost chuckling. "I know. Those boundaries of yours. You've gotten used to them. It's like you told me. It's so easy to get used to those boundaries." Looking away from him, she slapped the edge of the bed with her hand in frustration. "You know what? Why don't you just go on home? Ray Jr. and I will be fine. I appreciate you checking up on me, but we'll be all right. We've survived so much. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Wait the rest of my life while you just make up your mind?" A tear trickled out of her eye. She tipped her head down to cover her face with her hair.
"Yelina, I—"
She gripped the bedspread. "No! Just go! Thank you for taking me to the doctor!"
He simply got up from the bed. "I'll call you."