Chapter 34

Fortis uxor mea

I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self-respect.

And it's these things I'd believe in even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions

that she wasn't all she should be.

I love her and it is the beginning of everything.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald –

ME/LE

The sound of the nasally male voice and a rambling female voice over the pouring rain pulled Chris's attention to the outer doors.

The site of a rain-drenched PC in the custody of a person, clothes with mud dripping from them, that sounded psychotic reminded Chris of Doctor Ledford's call from Portween, this was the woman with the drug interaction.

"Joe, I need to see him. I need to explain," she said as she used both hands to move her hair from her face.

Chris motioned for the A&E nurse to move them to a cube, while he pulled his ringing phone out, to hear that Doctor Elizabeth Asper was heading to the A&E to meet him.

After she joined him for a short conversation, Chris moved toward the curtained-off cube to talk to the physician that was exiting the room, briefly scribbling notes as he closed his mobile. Doctor Asper spoke quietly with him before sliding glass door open and sliding the curtain aside, noticing a uniformed officer talking to the nurse.

"I can not remove her cuffs. She will try to escape again. It took me twenty minutes to chase her down when she left my vehicle on the way here. If it hadn't been for those goats chewing on her wet clothes, I would never have found her. She said one was nibbling on her collar and now it was ruined," PC said as he rolled his eyes and circled his index finger clockwise next to his head.

"She won't be going anywhere, now take off those shackles. She is no longer your prisoner Officer," the nurse stated.

"I have arrested her under Code G, section twenty-four, two-point-three and two-point-four for kidnapping and causing physical harm to a person in her establishment. Which means she must be cuffed while my custody."

Chris heard the last of the PC's comments and as the hospital administrator decided to handle this problem instead of the A&E physician.

"PC may I have a word?" Chris announces from the doorway.

Penhale looked to his upset whining prisoner, to the nurse who was giving him a look, and to the young doctor that stood at the foot of the bed, before looking at the elder man in the suit with glasses and shook his head. "I cannot leave my prisoner."

PC Penhale, my wife isn't going anywhere.

At first, Chris didn't notice the man standing in the far corner near the edge of the curtain.

"You won't be leaving her, just step into the doorway and let my medical staff take care of this woman's injuries."

Slowly PC Penhale moved towards the curtained doorway but did not step out of the medical cube. He turned to ensure his prisoner hadn't moved from the bed. He did notice Clive moving towards the head of the bed before he turned his attention back to the suited man.

"PC, from what I understand of the incident, this patient can't be held on criminal grounds. She is under the influence of legal medical drugs that were prescribed by the village doctor. She is suffering from hallucinating blending two drugs that should never have been prescribed together. She is not responsible for her actions…"

"No, no, no. She refused to render Doctor Ellingham medical treatment at the time of his accident. She locked him in the basement of her place of business."

"Did you caution her when you handcuffed her and did, she respond to your caution?" Chris asked.

The blank look in the PC's eyes aided Chris.

"I cautioned her but she only said that she needs to talk to him. She just mumbles it over and over."

"That is why you are removing her handcuffs and will leave this room while she receives medical attention PC. I have spoken to Doctor Ellingham and we are in agreement," Chris said, hoping that Martin didn't roll in at this moment. But he did talk to a Doctor Ellingham but not his Doc Martin.

Slowly Joe Penhale turned towards his prisoner pulling up on his ever-present belt in advance of stuffing his hand into his pocket and realizing his keys were not there. "I need to go to my vehicle and retrieve my keys," he said to the medical staff and the patient.

Running out the doors onto the carpark he realized that he left his vehicle engine on in his haste to get Mrs. Tishell into the hospital before she tried to escape again. As he reached in to turn the ignition off his radio sounded out his badge number.

"This is badge three zero two one, over."

"There is a break-in at the Winton farm are you available?" the dispatcher on the radio asked.

Joe slowly climbed into his vehicle, he looked out the windscreen debating what to do.

"Badge three zero two one, respond over."

"Three zero two one is currently at Truro Hospital with a mental patient. When turnover is complete, I will be available to proceed to the scene of the crime at the Winton farm, over."

"Copy that, Out," the dispatcher finishes the communication with badge three zero two one.

Joe pulls his keys out of the ignition and climbs out of the vehicle heading back into the hospital.

As Joe walked through the outer doors, patient Martin Ellingham is being wheeled in from the other end of the hall from radiology and non too happy by the sound of his grumbling. His statue changed when he spotted Chris standing near a closed cube talking to Joe Penhale.

"Take to Doctor Parsons," he commanded his female orderly.

"But Doctor Grant is waiting for you in your cube… Sir."

Taking control of the wheels, forcefully rolled the chair forward to his desired destination with a slight stumbling female orderly desperately trying to remain on her feet.

"Chris, Joe, is Louisa here?" I yelled as I wheeled closer.

"Doc, they want to take my prisoner away from me," he whined.

"What prisoner Joe?"

"Mrs. T. I arrested her for kidnapping and holding you prisoner in her cellar ."

"Officer, I already explained that you can't arrest her. She is having medical-induced hallucinations," Chris announced.

"What… What do you mean? Mrs. Tishell is taking drugs?"

"Your aunt and Doctor Ledford noted it in her medical record. Your aunt went to the surgery looking for you because something she noted earlier in the records was bothering her. Your receptionist recalled whose medical records you scanned and together, your aunt and Doctor Ledford narrowed it down to Mrs. Tishell. The locum, Doctor Williams prescribed her a mixture of an antidepressant and her Baclofen back in May."

"Imbecile," I muttered. "What happen after I fell down the stairs?"

ME/LE

Clive stood at the head of the bed, out of the nurse's way, listening to his wife talk nonsense to herself.

"Sal, I brought you some dry clothes when I heard what happened in the shop today. Everyone is talking and Bert thought it would be a good idea if I packed up some things for you. Sal, what made you think the Doc would stay with you?"

The blank expression on her face caused the concern in her husbands' eyes to move toward the doctor.

"The medicine the other doctor talked about means she can't control herself? The medicine the Doc gave her is making her act this way?" Clive asked.

"Yes, and once we have slowly reduced her need for the antidepressant medication her body won't need it. But she does have an underlying thought about Doctor Ellingham. The medication allowed her mind to act out on her feelings. You mentioned earlier that she always held Doctor Ellingham in high regard."

"Yes, she is always talking about the great Doctor Ellingham. In all her letters to me, she mentions him. She said he saved her life after her fall in the bath. She hurt her neck and caused her pain and electric shocks down her arms into her hands."

Doctor Asper continued to write her notes on her observations and what she heard from her husband. After giving the nurse her orders, she stepped out through the curtain just in time to hear the irate Doctor Ellingham voice his question.

ME/LE

I received a call from Louisa, you hadn't returned from the surgery and she was worried. Morwenna said you left to run errands with a stop at the chemist. I made my way to see if Mrs. T knew where you went after your visit with her. I knocked, and she had this weird look when she came to the door, and then she started yelling to call for the ambulance, that you had fallen down her stairs to the cellar. Her hands were shaking but she wouldn't let me downstairs. Then your aunt and Doctor Ledford came in and Mrs. T rushed past saying something about that mutt and pulling the Doc to her stairs. Doctor Ledford was able to get Buddy off you and check you over while your aunt called for the ambulance. Mrs. T kept saying some strange things bout you and her," Joe stopped his rambling when the door to Mrs. T's room opened.

"Oh, there you are! Did you find the keys for your cuffs?"

"Sorry, the Doc here wanted to know what happened, and I…."

"Do you have the key or not? I want those cuffs off that woman in the next minute or I will have security cuffing you to the back of your vehicle for the ride back to your village," Doctor Asper said through her clenched teeth.

"Excuse me, Doc, I'll be right back." Joe voiced as he speedily moved past the angry woman to the room.

Doctor Asper walked up to me and Chris, pushing her hand toward me, and introduced herself, "Elizabeth Asper, your aunt called me to look into the Sally Tishell case. Doctor Ellingham, there is more to this case than you think. But now isn't the time to discuss it. Chris, can we get her moved upstairs now. I want my people working with her as soon as possible."

"Sure, let me get someone from A&E to sign her over to you. Excuse me for a minute."

Doctor Asper and I watched for a moment as Chris did his usual administration magic and people started moving about preparing for the patient to be moved.

"Can I ask why you prescribed the combination of medications you did for Mrs. Tishell?"

I look at her with my usual sneer, "I only prescribe the Baclofen. My dead temporary *** prescribed the Paroxetine in May while I was in London with my wife."

"Sorry, didn't mean to place blame, but the husband said the village doctor and I assumed it was you," she said softening her voice. "I apologize."

"Yes… he wasn't around when this happened. He works on the rigs in the North Sea and only returned in August."

Chris returned with an orderly and pointed to the cube for him to enter. "All set, she is your patient to move. Do you want me to delay the husband with paperwork while you get her settled?" Chris asked.

"Please, I'll send him out to you," she said as she turned toward the room.

"Mart, time for you to go to your cube. I believe Doctor Grant is waiting on you with your scans," he said as he started to wheel my chair away.

"What about Louisa? Are my aunts driving her here?"

"Let's discuss that in your cube, in privacy Mart," as we walked past the nurse's station. "Please take care of Mrs. Tishell's husband, Joyce. He needs to fill out paperwork for his wife's admittance."

ME/LE

Chris pushed me into the cube I previously occupied to wait for Doctor Grant.

"Mart, your aunt Ruth called me and they are bringing Louisa to the hospital. She mentioned a young woman by the name of Melanie was taking of Louisa with acupressure to keep her blood pressure down. How did you find anyone in a small fishing village that had experience?"

"Melanie and our sitter Poppy were both trained in acupressure. Melanie is Louisa's assistant. I thought since she and Poppy are always with Louisa that it could be useful."

I gave Chris a series look, "Is Louisa in danger of premature labor, Chris?"

Chris was about to answer when the curtain's movement made him turn to see who entered.

"Good, you're back. Let me pull up the pictures and we'll talk," Doctor Grant says not noticing the tension with me. "Mmm… good, good… thought so… okay," he says as he turns from the computer screen. "First, no skull fracture and no bleeding in the brain. I will have them rescan you in forty-eights before is released from the hospital."

A loud groan echoed around the cube, but before I can express myself Chris's mobile alerted him to an incoming call.

"I need to take this," Chris says as he steps out and closes the sliding door behind him.

Chris answered the buzzing mobile he pulled from his pocket. "Parsons," he said, listening to the voice on the other end. "I will make sure we are ready." He turned and made his way to the medical station as he speeds dialed another number. "Jon, Louisa Ellingham will be here shortly and is in premature labour." Listening once again, agreeing with the answer to their discussion, he ended the call. Turning to the first of the medical staff standing near him, "There is a premature geriatric patient carrying twins arriving soon, prepare room eight for Doctor Rawle." Turning to another internal phone, he dialed Obstetrics to give them a heads up to send down their emergency staff and send a message for Doctor Tonkin to come to the A&E. Just as he finished, he realized the A&E had come to life with staff running out the main doors to the ambulance bay. Praying they wouldn't be crushed by a huge wave of accident victims, he waited out of the way for gurneys that didn't arrive.

The doors opened after a few silent minutes to admit one gurney surrounded by medical staff and closely followed by two older women. Finally, he realized what he was seeing, Louisa Ellingham had arrived.

They moved her swiftly into the number 8 room and closed the curtain; the aunts were halted by medical staff before Chris was able to reach them.

"We need to be with her," Joan shouted to the young man holding her back.

"Joan, let them do their job. Let's find Martin and see how he is while we wait," Ruth quietly says as she rested a firm hand on her sister's arm.

Chris walks up to Ruth, "Let me get a chair for each of us and we can talk. The next few hours could be exhausting for both of you."

Chris spent several minutes informing the aunts about Martin's condition and what he thought would be Louisa's condition. "We won't know more until Doctors Rawle and Tonkin finish their evaluation," he says as he glances toward room eight and then room ten. "Louisa has the two best doctors in their profession helping her and the babies. All we can do now is wait."

"Chris, did the other person needing medical help come in?" Ruth asked.

"Yes, she is currently on her way upstairs with Doctor Aspers' staff. She is in good hands."

"Good, and Martin?"

"He is currently with Doctor Grant and most likely very upset. He will be sore for a few weeks from the cracked ribs but his head is fine," he said with a smile. "His sense of humor is strong as ever."

"He doesn't have a sense of humor. Ellingham's don't have a sense of humor," Joan cut in as she kept her eyes on the closed curtain of cube eight.

ME/LE

Back in room ten, Doctor Grant and I continue with my medical evaluation.

"How is the headache?" he asked.

"About the same but only when I move my head too much."

"Okay, we can deal with that. Now your x-rays showed cracks in ribs eleven and twelve on your right side. They are not broken, or splintered, just hairline type fractures.*Most likely the impact from the stairs. There is a large hematoma on that side and will likely get larger as the day progresses. You will be sore for a few weeks."

I can't stay in the hospital for forty-eight hours. My wife is an advanced maternal-aged woman in her thirty-fourth week with twins. We have a sixteen-month-old son that needs me, along with an entire village of idiots and morons that catch every disease within a ten-mile radius."

Wait, you said earlier your son was fourteen and a half months, now you are saying sixteen. How old is your son?"

"He was born twenty-eight June of last year and now it is early October so he is fifteen months old." There is an uneasiness floating through my mind, Phillip is…

My thoughts are interrupted by the next question. All these thoughts, questions are making my head hurt.

"What day in October is it?"

"It is… October tenth," I say with extra thought. 'Then Phillip is almost 1sixteen months but closer to fifteen months, exactly fifteen months, one week, and five days. How could I forget?'

"From everything I heard about you, the exact age of your son would come easy to you; without a thought. You are showing symptoms of concussion. You will stay in the hospital a minimum of two days."

ME/LE

"Please excuse me for a moment," Chris voiced as he stood watching the movement of the curtain in room ten.

He met Doctor Grant as he pulled open the glass sliding door, "How did he take it?"

"If you ask, how am I to stay here when my pregnant wife is home alone; I didn't take it well at all," I sneered at his question.

Chris stepped into the room and slide the door closed again.

"You know as well as I do, that hospitalization is required. There is nothing we can do. I have set up one of the hospitals' suites used by government VIPs for you and Louisa."

Doctor Grant and Chris quietly spoke to each other while I fumed in my wheelchair.

Chris turned back to me, "Louisa is here with your aunts."

"Where is Louisa?" he said in a very loud commanding voice that Chris knew and rushed over to calm Martin down.

"Louisa is being examined as we speak. Doctors Rawle and Tonkin are with her. There is nothing you can do Martin, other than be in the way. Talk to your aunts, they brought her in and know more of what happened than I do."

After excusing himself, Doctor Grant opened the curtain and sliding door for the hospital administrator and his irate patient.

Pushing the wheelchair out of the cube, Chris rolled him over to where his aunts were sitting and Joan immediately hugged him. "Auntie Joan, please, not here," said an embarrassed former surgeon.

"Martin, you should be very proud of your wife. She is handling this very well," Ruth tried to ease the tension in the group. "That young woman, Melanie, I think her name is, was a wonderful help to Louisa. The acupressure you taught her gave us time to get here."

Ruth's statement did exactly as she planned. "Melanie was concerned when we returned after the last episode from the beach cottage and asked how she could help. She mentioned the yoga and the music and how Louisa was always tranquil at the end of their sessions. I noticed when I returned for lunch, they were doing yoga, it gave me an idea. I spoke with her instructor… a Mary Stepard, that Doctor Rawle recommended."

"Martin, I believe you mean Mary Stafford," Chris voiced his correction; knowing Martin was terrible with names.

Ruth gave Chris a smirk. Both knowingly made Martin calm down before he heard anything else regarding Louisa's condition.

"Ah… yes, Stafford. Well with my research, and her knowledge of soothing techniques, we came up with a plan if Louisa's stress became an issue with her blood pressure. Poppy and Melanie worked with me and practiced with Mary so they could quickly work on alleviating the stress and calming Louisa down. I didn't realize it would be this helpful. Are you sure Louisa is, okay?"

"She did a good job, Melanie almost sounded like you when she started ordering us into place," Ruth smirked at her nephew, Melanie is the reason we made it here before labor set in."

Their discussion is interrupted when Chris sees the curtain move aside, he taps his friend's arm to get his attention.

Doctor Rawle opened the door and quickly closes it, he scanned the room while he spoke with a couple of nursing staff issuing orders when he spotted who he was looking for and walked toward the group.

"Martin, if I could have a word," nodding toward the room he just exited.

Chris stood, turning the wheelchair toward the doctor. "Chris, your thoughts will be helpful also." Chris acknowledged and push the chair into the room, leaving the aunts wondering what was wrong.

When I entered the room the site of Louisa would have frightened me if I hadn't been part of the medical profession. There were so many tubes, wires, and intravenous bags encompassing her that I wasn't sure where they started and stopped. The multiple sounds of beeping and thumping pulled my attention first. Two distinctive fast heartbeats and one much slower; all three sounded wonderful to my ears.

"Louisa, is in premature labour," announced Doctor Rawle, "from her increased blood pressure of the stressful incident this morning with you ."

Chris rolled me as close as possible, ensuring the chair didn't snag any of her tubes and wires.

I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips. Her smile heated my heart but the sudden grimace soon cooled as I realized by the sound that another contraction started.

"Martin, a decision needs to be made now. Corticosteroids and Tocolytics give the twins and Louisa time. We won't make it to the optical week of thirty-six. Louisa the Corticosteroids will promote the fetus's lung development closer to maturity. The Tocolytics will temporarily slow the contractions. It will be administrated for forty-eight hours to delay labor. This gives the corticosteroids to provide maximum benefit."

Louisa immediately looked at me, with her questioning eyes. 'Everything is alright, isn't it? The babies. Oh, Martin, I am so scared.'

I gave her hand a little squeeze in answer, before looking at the two doctors.

"You're the experts, that's why I consulted you," he said before looking at Louisa once again. "Do what needs to be done. I… trust your decision." Okay, I said it, I'm trusting another professional with the life of my family; my wife and my children.

"Doctor Parsons is the room ready for us to transport Mrs. Ellingham upstairs?" Doctor Rawle asked.

"Yes, the suite is ready for both of them."

"Then let's get started. Nurse the Tocolytics and the Corticosteroids."

"Louisa, the twins are stable. Fetus B has turned positioning himself for delivery," Doctor Tonkin said with a smile. "Fetus A heartbeat is a bit concerning but I will keep an eye on it."

I immediately strain to hear the different heartbeats while my gaze slides over to the printout piling up on the ground below the side table. There is a slight difference, and I like Tonkin will keep an ear out for problems. If one of the twins is in medical distress then a cesarean would need to be performed before their lungs have a chance to mature.

ME/LE

Chris wheeled me out of the cube, off to the side so they could move Louisa and all her attached equipment move easily along with her.

Joan and Ruth immediately were by my side with Joan's hand on my shoulder. "How is she doing?" she asked.

"Good, they gave her a couple of injections to slow the contractions. The other one will assure the lungs will mature this week for when the cesarean takes place," I say in a flat voice.

"No, it's too early, they are too little… Oh, Marty."

Their quiet talk was suddenly interrupted by a loud male voice.

"I think you had better tell me what's been going on here, Doc."

The outburst had all four heads turning toward the voice. Joan and I knew the man but I didn't think Ruth had met Mr. Tishell before, and I knew Chris didn't know who he was.

"Mr. Tishell, I thought you were upstairs with your wife," Chris asked.

My surprised expression was not missed by Ruth. "Is that her husband, Martin?"

"Yes," I replied.

Chris was working to stay between the infuriated-sounding tall man and his friend, that was currently injured, and sitting in a wheelchair.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"My Sal… She's an attractive woman alone here while I'm away on the rigs. You… You took advantage of the situation and lead her on."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm a married man. You were told she was prescribed a drug, by that idiotic dead doctor, that interacted with her current medication for her neck. It caused her to hallucinate her current feelings for me. I have done nothing, to become a catalyst to her emotions toward me."

"That wouldn't explain why her wardrobe has several newspaper clippings pinned to it all about you."

"Like some sort of shrine?" Ruth asks.

"Yes, I noticed them when I was fetching her clothes, I thought she might need them." He stopped talking and he pulled a few things from his bag. "I thought you would want this," he said as he handed over the envelope.

As he pulled the envelope from the bag a shoe fell from the bag onto the ground. Chris and Ruth, each noticed the prescription box that was stuffed into the shoe. Clive handed the envelope to the Doc and quickly tried to pick us the loose shoe before Ruth's fingers reach in.

"Modafinil," a stunned Ruth announced to the other two stunned medical professionals. "Mr. Tishell, where did you get this?" she asked, she noticed there wasn't a label attached implying the name of the patient or doctor.

"The box was in the shoe with the rest of her shoes. I thought it was medicine for her…" looking quite embarrassed he stuttered out, "her monthly issues."

"No, Mr. Tishell. Modafinil is marketed as an intelligent drug, but paired with the Paroxetine that your wife was prescribed would have an adverse reaction alone. Then add the Baclofen would explain your wife's breakdown these past months. Chris, Doctor Asper needs to know about this," she says as she hands him the medication box.

"I'll take of this," he said as he quickly left them with mobile in hand.

"Sal mentioned, just down the hall there," he said as he pointed to the cube he just left, "she said 'One day you wake up and realize how much of your life you've wasted and how much you've let past you by?' What did she mean by that?"

"It was the medication talking. In her state of mind, she thought she hadn't lived her life to its fullest and wanted more than she had."

I look down at the envelope, Joan is very interested in it but says nothing in front of Mr. Tishell.

"Clive, don't you think you should be upstairs with Sally, She has had a very rough day and she thinks everyone is upset with her. Tell her, I'll be up to visit when the doctors say she can have visitors," Joan soothed him by touching and rubbing his arm.

He slowly walked off, looking sadly like a defeated man. A man, in his mind, caught his wife cheating.

ME/LE

I turned the envelope over in my hand, noticing the envelope was different and better-quality paper, and it was sealed with an embossed cachet. I ripped it open at the cachet, pull the matching paper out and begin to read.

With both aunts reading over his shoulder, "What is wrong with that woman?" I ask. "I would understand her better if she stuck to Shakespeare and recited 'My Romero has come… It is the east and Juliet is the sun.' No, instead she has to compare us to another writer. But I am not her employer."

"I can see in her eyes, a very medicated mindset of eyes, that see you like that. You're just as moody," Ruth smirked.

Joan took the note and continued to read it.*

'Every atom of your flesh is a dear to me as my own

In pain and sickness it would still be dear'

"Joan, Ruth, I think that her mind wanted an excuse for her sappy feelings she has displayed these last few years. Louisa mentioned when she returned pregnant with Phillip that her relationship with Mrs. Tishell changed. I believe that when Louisa left for London that it was her job to take care of me and when I didn't reciprocate her mind took over every aspect of her life. For the past two years, she has lived a fantasy and I was her lover, which would explain some of our interactions."

"And I thought you were just a surgeon," a laughing Joan remarked. "Let's get you upstairs to Louisa."

ME/LE

After what seemed like hours, Louisa was finally lying comfortably in her bed. The medication started to slow her contractions and she was drifting in and out of a light sleep. The continuous beeping and thumping kept her in a deep sleep.

I begrudgingly lay in the bed next to her. The medication for my headache and back pain is effective to a point but not enough for me to rest. I can't rest until we know that both fetuses are healthy and staying put. When the door finally closed to everyone but my aunts and Chris, I spoke quietly.

"Joan, they are doing fine," I could see the stress on her face. "Everything that is being done is to encourage their lungs to finish developing."

Ruth gave me that look and her eyes moved from me to Louisa then finally to Joan. "Joanie, the babies are doing better than I expected since our trip started. Come here and see," she said as she grabbed her sister's arm.

Finally satisfied, Joan took her seat and stopped her silent tears, putting on the Ellingham's face.

As he looked at his friend, his wife, and his aunts the thought of the trouble one man caused, if Martin was any other man alive, he would rend Doctor Williams limb from limb. Better yet, maybe he would, except of course the man was already dead. Martin finally had a normal happy life and the incompetence has caused harm to Martin's family and to how many more of the village. That is another question that needs to be answered.

"Mart, I am going to get back to work. Rawle and Tonkin will keep informed. If any of you," he stopped mid-sentence to look at each Ellingham, "need anything just let me know."

"Thank you, Chris. We should be fine for now thanks to you."

ME/LE

My aunts went home to Phillip an hour ago, I promised to contact them of any changes and they promised to give Phillip kisses from their mum and dad.

The beds are too small for us to lie together, and I don't like it. I miss the touch of Louisa and the twins. Slowly I climb out of bed, walk around to the master switch and unlock the wheels so I can push the bed up against Louisa's for the night. They gave her the last dose for the night so we shouldn't be disturbed unless her premature begins again. My back complained but I was able to set the beds together and lock the wheels once again. I made sure the beds were level and crawled into my bed, adjusting my back to get comfortable and turning to my side. I took hold of her hand, gently twirling her ring with my thumb, before I started drawing my calming patterns. I know this is to settle her but it calmed me just as much. The fear of losing any of them was keeping me awake. With my other hand, I reached to feel for each child and happily received a punch or kick telling me they were there fighting. Sometime later, I fell asleep from the love I received through the touch.

End of Chapter

My Strong Wife translated to Fortis uxor mea in Latin by Google Translate

The floating ribs consist of two sets and are not connected with the sternum or the cartilaginous tissue of other ribs. They are the number 11 and 12 located at the posterior end with articulations. They are also called vertebral ribs because they are connected with muscles of the body wall situated in the lateral region (back/spine). The floating fibs can be easily broken because they are attached to the vertebrae in only one place and their tissues that connect them with the bones are very thin while their other end is free from attachment. Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary.

'Every atom of your flesh is a dear to me'…. Comes from the book Janet Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte.