Standing up, he motioned for Jeanne to step out of the room with him. Once in the hall he said: “It’s certainly not a particularly worrisome fever, but I think it is a fever, nonetheless. What should we do? God! I wish that Dr. Bhatt wasn’t on vacation. The last thing I want to do is go back to the MMH Inwood ED, not with the way we were treated earlier.”
“I’m with you there,” Jeanne said. “I don’t think it will be necessary, but I do wish they had at least done a Covid test.”
“The doctor was adamant it wasn’t indicated, but who knows. I’m still irritated. I also wish they had done basic blood work just to be sure she wasn’t coming down with something.”
“I have to use the bathroom fast,” Juliette said urgently to Camila from inside the room yet loud enough for Brian and Jeanne to hear. As they ducked back inside, they saw Juliette and Camila disappear into the bathroom and the door slam behind them.
“Uh-oh,” Brian said. “Sounds like more stomach issues.”
While they waited, he picked up Jeannot Lapin as a nervous gesture and gave it a close inspection. “This little rabbit has been a godsend. I’ve never been into stuffed animals, but this one is damn cute. Did you really have it since you were Juliette’s age?”
“Just about,” Jeanne said. “Maybe a year older.”
“How did it stay so pristine?” Brian asked. “In comparison, Bunny looks like she’d been through a war.”
“I don’t know, to be truthful. I guess I’ve always been on the meticulous side.”
Five minutes later Juliette and Camila emerged from the bathroom. Juliette made a beeline for Brian and rescued Jeannot Lapin. Then she climbed back up on the bed and rolled over on her side, assuming the same position she’d been in when Brian and Jeanne had arrived.
“A bit of diarrhea,” Camila reported. “And some cramps, but I think she feels better now.”
“Thank goodness,” he said. He placed his palm on her forehead. “She seems to be about the same temperature as before.” Juliette pushed his hand away.
“She said she wanted to sleep,” Camila said.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Brian said. “Is that right, Pumpkin? You want to take a nap?”
Juliette nodded, and he could see she had her eyes closed. “Okay,” he said. “Hopefully you’ll feel back to normal when you wake up. We’ll be downstairs if you need us, okay?” He straightened up and herded the others out of Juliette’s room.
As they were descending the stairs, Jeanne asked if Brian might be willing to give Grady Quillen a call to see if he was comfortable giving the names of the Inwood families he’d served over the last year.
“I suppose, but to be honest, I’m not sure I have the stamina at the moment to pursue the kind of Erin Brockovich investigation you have in mind.”
“Of course you don’t,” Jeanne reassured him. “As I said, I don’t know how you are functioning as well as you are. But I have both the time and the inclination. If you can get me the names, I’ll start the process and you can participate as much or as little as you’d like.”
“All right,” Brian said. It was the least he could do in the face of all the help and support Jeanne was so generously providing.
Chapter 29
September 2
As dawn’s light slowly crept into the master bedroom preluding sunrise, Brian’s eyes popped open. Other than his eyelids, he purposefully didn’t move a muscle lest he disturb Juliette, who was sleeping on her side with her head on a pillow facing him. She was in Emma’s place in the bed, and Jeannot Lapin was on its back between them with Juliette’s arm thrown over the stuffed rabbit’s midsection.
As far as sleep was concerned, the first part of Brian’s night had not gone well. He’d had trouble going to sleep even though he was clearly exhausted from having slept so poorly the night before. He’d even dozed off in the kitchen while having something to eat with both Camila and Jeanne. They’d encouraged him to go to bed, which he did, but by the time he got upstairs, out of his clothes, and brushed his teeth, he no longer felt tired.
Finally, after ten o’clock, he’d broken down and tried one of Emma’s Ambien tablets, which provided a few hours of sleep before he was awakened by the sound of his bedroom door creaking open. By reflex from his martial arts training, he’d tensed, ready to spring up and face any potential intruder, but it wasn’t necessary. With the help of the half-light in the room coming in through the white, gauzy curtains from the streetlight outside the window, he recognized Juliette in her nightgown holding Jeannot Lapin. Brian had sat up and asked her if she was okay, and she’d answered by asking him if she could sleep with him.
“Absolutely, Sweet Pea,” Brian had said immediately, throwing back the edge of the sheet. Juliette responded by jumping up onto the bed, scrunching down under the covers, and placing Jeannot Lapin between them. A moment later she’d melted his heart by saying: “I miss Mommy.”
With some difficulty, Brian had told her that he understood and that he missed Mommy, too. With those few words spoken, Juliette had fallen asleep and eventually he had dozed off while hoping he could at least partially fill the void that Emma’s passing had created.
As the intensity of the daylight gradually increased, Brian got a progressively better view of his angelic daughter’s features, and he marveled at the sheer mystery and mind-boggling implausibility of the reproductive process. How could it have been possible for him and Emma to create such a perfect human being? But then in the middle of his appreciation, he noticed something disturbing. Juliette’s forehead was covered with tiny, iridescent droplets of perspiration, and the discovery brought a pang of fear down his spine. With the pandemic threatening a fall surge, a prolonged fever was certainly not a welcome sign.
Being careful not to wake his daughter, Brian slipped out of the bed. As carefully as he could, he folded down the light cotton blanket, leaving only the sheet to cover her. He then turned down the air-conditioning a few degrees before he went to retrieve the thermometer in her bedroom. Although he hated to do it because she was sleeping soundly, when he got back he woke her by gently shaking her shoulder.
Juliette’s response at being disturbed was to cry and then complain that she didn’t feel well. He could see that the whites of her eyes were mildly suffused red.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked. “Is your throat sore?”
Juliette nodded. “And I have a headache,” she said, putting her hand momentarily on her forehead.
“I think you might have a fever.” He felt her forehead with his hand, admitting to himself that she did feel warm. “We need to take your temperature.”
Although she initially complained that she didn’t want her temperature taken, she eventually succumbed to Brian’s persistent urging. As they waited for the requisite three minutes, he stroked her head, marveling at the color of her hair and wondering where it had come from in either his or Emma’s genealogy. Juliette kept her eyes closed the entire time.
When the time was up, Brian took out the thermometer. When he read it he caught his breath. It was 102.3! Making an effort to camouflage his concern, he said: “Yes, you do have a fever. Do you feel warm?”
“No, I feel cold,” she said, and ostensibly shivered.
Quickly, he replaced the blanket that he had earlier turned down. After he told her to stay in bed, he slipped on his robe and walked down the hall. When he reached Camila’s room, he knocked softly. From inside he heard a muffled: “Just a minute.” A moment later the door opened, and a sleepy Camila stood in the door frame, clutching her robe closed.