“See all the fun stuff I’d miss if I had to go to the office every day?” I asked Laurie.
She cooed up at me.
“You’re going to have a little cousin soon,” I said as I cleaned her off and settled her into the bassinet. After I mopped up her changing table, I went to hunt down some food for myself.
The refrigerator was practically empty again. Who had time for shopping?
I glanced at the clock. Six P.M. No wonder I was hungry. When was the last time I’d eaten? I settled into our “nursing station”-anywhere on the couch, near the phone-and called Mom.
The paperwork I had taken from Michelle’s lay discarded on the coffee table. Jim hadn’t had time to review it. I picked it up as I left a voice mail for Mom.
The reports didn’t look any clearer to me now than they had earlier. I’d take them to Jim at the hospital, along with some dinner.
Thoughts of the taqueria near our house flooded my mind. Maybe I could pick something up on my way back to the hospital. I hoped Kiku had eaten. They don’t let you eat once labor has started.
To-Do List:
1. Help Jim find a job.
2. Find George AGAIN.
3. Figure out what Michelle’s reports mean.
4. Get more diapers for Sugar Pop. (size 1!!! No longer Newborn!)
5. Return overdue books to the library.
6. Exercise.
7. Stock up on pumped milk.
8. Ask doctor about pelvic pain.
Mom arrived a little after 7 P.M., dressed in a flowered skirt that clashed with the striped shirt she had on. “Darling! Kiku’s in labor?”
I nodded, appraising Mom’s outfit. “What are you wearing?”
“Festive, isn’t it? It’s my ‘salsa uniform.’ Hank and I are taking a class.”
“A salsa class? As in dancing?”
“Yes. Preparing for our cruise on the Mexican Riviera.”
“Is salsa a requirement?”
Mom winked. “To me it is!”
I drove straight to the taqueria down the street. When I left, Mom and Laurie were watching the Spanish language station, which had made me even hungrier for a burrito.
I ordered a carne asada taco for me and a chicken burrito for Jim.
What about poor Kiku? Suppose she hadn’t eaten?
I ordered a cheese quesadilla for her, just in case. Maybe I could sneak it past the nurse.
By some miracle of the parking goddess, I was able to park directly outside the hospital.
I tried George’s cell phone again.
No answer.
I dialed Kiku’s home phone number.
Nothing.
I knew he’d been evading the police, but now that they’d made an arrest, why go into hiding? I tried to ignore the bad feeling creeping into the pit of my stomach. Where was he? How could he miss the birth of his child?
I climbed the hospital front steps and made my way toward the maternity ward, clutching the food bag in my hands. It had taken all my willpower not to tear into the taco, burrito, and quesadilla in the car.
I asked the nurse at the front desk for Kiku’s room.
“She’s in room twelve. Let me see if she wants any visitors.” The nurse indicated some hard plastic chairs against the wall.
I sat and waited. When the nurse didn’t return in five minutes, I tore into my taco. I had salsa and sour cream dripping down my face when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
Jim laughed. “Geez, Katie, did you just get off a life raft?”
“Breastfeeding makes you really hungry,” I said, covering my mouth with my hand.
Not even talking was going to stop my chewing.
Jim nodded sympathetically, then looked hopefully into the white bag on the chair next to me. “So does labor.”
“Right! Like you’d know. Last time you practically slept through it all.”
Jim stared at me. “I did not!”
I laughed as I handed Jim his aluminum-covered dinner. “How’s Kiku?”
He tore into the chicken burrito. “Asleep. They gave her the epidural and told her to rest awhile. Any luck finding George?”
I shook my head.
“Typical,” Jim muttered through a mouthful of food. “This is good. What else did you get?”
“I got a quesadilla for Kiku.”
Jim raised his eyebrows, looking like a puppy asking for a bone.
“You can eat it,” I said.
Jim happily gobbled down the quesadilla. “We haven’t had Mexican food in a long time.”
I smiled, although my mind was on George. “Where could George be?”
Jim grunted. “Who knows? Flake!”
We sat in silence as Jim polished off the rest of my taco.
“You really were hungry, huh?”
Jim ducked his head. “Nerves, I guess.”
I leaned in to kiss him. “You’ve already been through this once, and this time it’s not even yours.”
He nodded. “You see any vending machines around? I’ll buy you a Coke.”
I stretched my legs. “I’ll go. I think I saw one on the way in.”
I wandered through the maternity ward in search of a soda machine. I peered through the window at the newborns. Laurie suddenly seemed so big to me. Her umbilical cord had fallen off long ago, she was holding her own head up, and she definitely didn’t need the swaddling. Not to mention she could pee all over her changing table!
My eyes welled with tears. My little girl was growing so fast!
I turned down the hallway toward a Coke sign. Something connected in my mind. The last time I had had a Coke was at Heavenly Haight. Brad and Svetlana had owned that together-that much I’d been able to gather from the reports.
The reports!
With my rush to eat, I’d left the reports at home on the coffee table.
I returned to Jim and handed him the Coke. “Do you think it’s strange that Jennifer worked first at El Paraiso, owned by Brad and Michelle, and then later at Heavenly Haight, owned by Brad and Svetlana?”
“Strange? Not really. If Brad liked her, and we know he did, then he probably moved her ‘job.’ Maybe people at El Paraiso were getting hip to the affair and he wanted her out of there or something.”
“All the owners are dead now.”
“Not all. Mrs. Avery owns everything now.” Jim said.
“You think Rich is also managing Heavenly Haight?”
Jim shrugged. “Don’t know. Why?”
“Maybe George is hiding out there.”
“Forget about him, honey. What’s the use? We can’t force him to come to the birth of his child.”
“He may not even know she’s in labor.”
Jim snorted. “Why wasn’t he staying close to her, then? Why isn’t he picking up his cell phone? I know you like to hope for the best in people, and I don’t want to disappoint you, but my brother is a major loser, Kate, with a capital L.”
Thoughts of Brad dead in the bay flashed through my mind, followed by the image of Michelle sprawled in her living room.
“What if he’s in trouble?”
Jim pivoted on the plastic chair. “What kind of trouble?”
A nurse cruised by us. I stopped her with my hand. “How is Kiku doing?”
“Are you her family?”
Jim nodded.
“Let me get her doctor to speak with you.”
Kiku’s doctor, a tall Indian man with a very pleasant de meanor, assured us she was all right. He reported that despite all the efforts to assist in Kiku’s labor she wasn’t dilated past three centimeters. They had scheduled a cesarean for the morning.
We peeked in on Kiku, who was sound asleep.
Ah! The miracle of drugs.
Even though it was half past one in the morning, I convinced Jim to drive past El Paraiso on our way home, thinking that George might be there. All the lights were out. Not a single car in the parking lot.
“Let’s get home and look at those reports,” Jim said.