Chapter 4
The ambulance pulled up at the emergency room, sirens still blaring. A doctor in a white lab coat met them at the door, and as Sam and John lifted the stretcher down, they briefed the physician on Niles's vital signs. CC climbed out of the back of the ambulance, and the doctor extended her hand to her, saying "I'm Dr. Pathak. We'll take good care of him, Mrs…?"
"Babcock," she volunteered.
"I'm going to examine him and start some tests, and I'll be out as soon as I can to update you on Mr. Babcock's condition. We're going to need for you to fill out the paperwork to get him admitted."
"Of course. But can't I go back with him?" She didn't blink an eye at the mistake with Niles's surname, though under normal circumstances she'd have delighted in teasing him about it.
Dr. Pathak shot her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, but we'll be moving him around for tests. Once we have him stabilized I'll send a nurse out for you."
CC bit her lip, then nodded, and the doctor hurried into the hospital, following Sam and John as they pushed the stretcher. CC watched as they went through the interior doors, and then she approached the desk to speak with the receptionist about obtaining the necessary papers, glad to have something to do.
As CC completed the last sheet of paperwork, it occurred to her that she was the only one who knew Niles was ill. She carried the clipboard up to the receptionist and then stepped into the foyer, in clear sight of the reception desk and of the doors back to where Niles was. She pulled her mobile phone out of her bag.
The different cadence of the ringtone always surprised CC a bit, since she did not frequently place calls to England. The phone in Maxwell's hotel room only rang once before he picked it up and barked, "Yes, what is it?"
She didn't even pause to admonish him for answering so rudely. She also didn't wait for Nanny Fine to stop whining in the background. "Maxwell, Niles has had what the paramedics suspect is a heart attack. We've just gotten to the emergency room at Lenox Hill, but they wouldn't let me go back with him." Her voice caught, and she swallowed hard, trying to keep her emotions in check.
She heard him repeat the information to Nanny Fine, then interrupted him. "Listen, can you call his parents? They may want to come over."
He answered in the affirmative, and said he and Miss Fine would return on the next flight out.
CC disconnected the call, feeling numb. She knew she needed to call the house, too, to let the Sheffield children know, but it was too early in the day for them to have returned from school. Sighing, she realized what she would have to do. How she had even come to have the number in her phone was beyond her present grasp.
"Sylvia? This is CC Babcock. I'm at Lenox Hill with Niles. He collapsed in the kitchen this morning, and the paramedics suspect a heart at—."
Sylvia interrupted her. "Oh, Miss Babcock. Are you okay?"
CC had not expected Sylvia's concern for her. "I… I'm holding up all right. I'm calling you to ask if you'd go over to the house and wait for the children to get in from school, and then let them know what happened. If we know more, perhaps they could even come for a visit this afternoon." She didn't allow herself to consider a scenario that would prevent the children from seeing Niles in a few hours.
"Of course I will," Sylvia responded solidly. "But I'm coming straight to the hospital now to check on you."
"That won't be nec—" CC stopped talking, because she realized she was speaking only to herself. Sylvia had already hung up. She sighed. The last thing she needed right now was the Fine woman's inane babbling.
Before sitting back down in her uncomfortable plastic chair, CC checked at the reception desk for news, but the clerk informed her that there was no update.
CC was scrolling absent-mindedly through her PDA when Sylvia Fine marched into the waiting room. She chose the chair beside CC and took one look at the producer before gathering her in her arms. CC stiffened—physical contact made her uncomfortable, more often than not—but she found herself oddly affected by Sylvia's gesture. She reached awkwardly to put her arms around Sylvia's waist, and Sylvia patted her head, coaxing her to rest on her shoulder.
That proved too much for CC, and she leaned back, breaking the embrace. She looked Sylvia in the eye and said, "Thank you for coming. I'm sure it will mean a lot to Niles."
Sylvia gave her a watery smile and took a tissue from her purse, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose loudly. "He's going to be fine, Miss Babcock."
"I—I hope so." CC couldn't have this conversation, couldn't endure Sylvia's well-meaning platitudes. She had been barely holding it together when she was alone; a sympathetic… what? Acquaintance? Friend? Family member, really, if she got right down to it, at least as far as Niles was concerned. No matter how CC classified the relationship, Sylvia's overtures were making it nearly impossible for her to keep her anxiety inside, and she refused to indulge in it in this very public place.
Sylvia took CC's hand and clasped it in her own. "You're in love with him, aren't you?"
"Can we not discuss this right now?" CC asked, her voice shaking. "I just can't."
Sylvia nodded. "You don't have to say anything, anyway. It's written all over your face. Now. What can I do to make this easier for you? Would you like something to eat? I brought cake," she said, pulling a large plastic container from her zebra-striped bag.
CC looked at her incredulously. "I don't have much of an appetite."
"Shiksas," Sylvia said, shaking her head, and helped herself to a handful of cake.
CC shook her head. It wasn't the first time a Fine had called her a shiksa, but it was the first time it had struck her as a term of endearment.
Sylvia stayed for over an hour, chattering in a way that CC realized was not as artless as it seemed. It was with a bit of regret that CC bade her goodbye when Sylvia left to wait for the Sheffield children to return to the mansion.
Within minutes of Sylvia's departure, CC felt ill and made it to the restroom just in time to empty the contents of her stomach for the second time that day. She was grateful then that Sylvia had already left; while her relationship with Niles was more or less known to the whole family, she and Niles had decided to keep the pregnancy to themselves until the end of the first trimester. Vomiting in a public toilet would raise some eyebrows, especially those of the one woman who might be a bigger gossip than Nanny Fine. Rinsing out her mouth with water from the tap, CC shuddered. She hoped not to repeat the experience of being sick while kneeling on such a filthy floor ever again.
She left the bathroom and immediately glanced towards the reception desk. A nurse stood there, and CC heard the last bit of a word he was saying: "…ock?" CC strode over to him and said, "I'm CC Babcock, were you looking for me?"
"Yes. This way, please."