Practically losing control of the car as he ducked away from Emma’s pummeling left hand, Brian fought with the steering wheel as the vehicle heaved from side to side, tires screeching. The instant he regained control, he slammed on the brakes and with difficulty managed to pull to the side of the road despite angry honking and rude gestures from other drivers. By now, Juliette was screaming.
From his EMT lectures, he knew he had to keep her from injuring herself until her seizure abated, and thankfully the car’s seat belt helped. His biggest concern was her head, which he was able to keep away from the car’s metal frame, letting it hit up against the pillow during her violent contractions. With his other hand he tried to keep her powerful legs from injuring themselves against the dash. The fact that she was in such good physical shape made it that much more difficult. Brian had to use all the strength he had.
Although at the time it seemed interminable, finally her contractions lessened and then abated altogether, and Brian could let her sag back against the seat and the car’s door with her head against the window. Instinctively he knew it had only been a couple of minutes. A bit of blood trickled from her mouth, suggesting she had bitten her tongue, but he could see that she was breathing normally again.
He straightened up in his seat and quickly unbuckled his seat belt. Juliette was crying uncontrollably in the back, so after leaping out of the car, Brian opened the back door, leaned in, and enveloped his daughter in his arms. He told her over and over that all was okay, that Mommy was fine, and that they would take her to the hospital.
“Now Daddy has to keep driving, okay, sweetheart?” Brian soothed at length when Juliette’s tears lessened. Gently he removed her arms from around his head.
Somewhat reluctantly, Juliette let him straighten up. After he gave her shoulder another reassuring squeeze, he got back into the front seat and checked Emma again. She was awake, but seemed disoriented. He told her that they were almost home but that he was going to take her to the hospital, the same hospital where Juliette had been born. He also told her that she had just had a seizure, to which she nodded but didn’t respond audibly.
After exiting the Henry Hudson Parkway at the Dyckman Street exit, it was only a short drive to the Inwood campus of the Manhattan Memorial Hospital. Like all New York City boroughs, Inwood had several hospitals. The Murphys had chosen the MMH, as it was known in the neighborhood, for Juliette’s birth because it was where Emma had had her tonsils removed when she was a child. It was also familiar to Brian. During his second year as an NYPD patrolman, he’d been assigned to the 34th Precinct for a number of months to fill in for someone on sick leave and in that capacity had spent quite a bit of time at the hospital, particularly getting some work on many of his days and evenings off. It had been a way for him to make extra money, as the hospital liked having a uniformed officer on-site. He had spent enough time there that he’d even gotten to know a few of the doctors and nurses on a first-name basis.
“Is Mommy going to stay at the hospital?” Juliette asked as Brian turned off Broadway onto the hospital grounds.
“I doubt it,” he said. “But we have to see what the doctors say. We just want to make sure she’s okay.”
Brian drove up to the Emergency Department entrance and pulled to a stop at the ambulance dock.
“Emma, how are you doing now?” he asked. “Are you okay walking into the hospital or do you want me to get a gurney for you?”
“I’m okay,” she said in a monotone, speaking up for the first time since the seizure.
“Are you sure?” To Brian she still seemed somewhat disoriented, certainly not herself. Even though she didn’t answer, he got out of the car, got Juliette out, and walked around to the passenger side. When he opened the door, Emma made no effort to move, so he reached in and undid her seat belt. He then made sure they all had their face masks on.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s get you inside.” Gently he encouraged her to climb out of the car and with somewhat unsteady legs she walked into the ED holding Brian’s hand for support.
Chapter 4
August 19
As it was 4:30 and getting close to dinnertime, the Emergency Department was only moderately busy. The Murphys had to stand for a short time at the information counter, but when Brian explained why they were there, a pleasant triage nurse immediately ushered them into a treatment cubicle and encouraged Emma to lie down. As she took Emma’s vital signs and got more of a history, a clerk who had accompanied them got their name and health insurance information. The clerk also got Brian to sign a permission-for-treatment form. Once the paperwork was done, Brian and Juliette hurried back outside to deal with the car.
At the car Juliette started crying inconsolably, demanding that she wanted her mommy through near hysterical tears. Although normally quite patient with his daughter, Brian felt unnerved himself, and when she refused to get into her car seat, he had to forcibly control himself. Doing so made him realize that he needed some backup. Although he could have called his mother, Aimée, he chose to call Camila, who’d become almost a surrogate mother for Juliette over the previous five months. As he expected, Camila was horrified when she learned what had happened to Emma and immediately offered to come over to MMH to take charge of Juliette.
“Okay, sweetie pie,” he said to Juliette as he disconnected the call. With help on the way, he felt he had a better hold on his emotions. “Camila is coming to take you home.”
Juliette greeted this news with even more forceful tears, but Brian took it in stride. He knew she would feel better as soon as she was back in familiar surroundings. He picked up Juliette and held her close to comfort her, and though she continued to cry with less intensity, she still pressed her face into the crook of his neck and hugged him forcibly.
In just a little more than ten minutes, Camila arrived. A moment later she was reaching out for Juliette, who was happy to transfer from Brian’s arms to Camila’s. “Oh, my poor baby,” she said while hugging the child. It was obvious she had a strong maternal instinct, and he greatly appreciated her presence in his life in moments like this.
Camila was a thirty-two-year-old first-generation Cuban American with an engaging, upbeat personality, a ready smile, and frequent laughter. She looked more like a teenager than an adult, especially with her preferred dress being fashionably ripped jeans. She was of medium height and build with long dark hair parted in the middle and an olive complexion that both Brian and Emma coveted, as she never had to bother with sunblock. Like Brian and Emma, she had spent most of her life in Inwood, and they shared some common friends. The difference was that she had grown up on the predominantly Latino east side of Broadway whereas Brian and Emma had been on the largely Irish west side.
Like Brian, Camila had gone to Adelphi University but had majored in business, which was the reason she’d responded to Brian and Emma’s employment search. They had specified that they were looking for someone to help with a startup security business. Luckily for both parties, from day one it had seemed a match made in heaven since Camila’s business know-how complemented Brian and Emma’s law enforcement experience. When the pandemic exploded in the New York area in March, asking Camila to move in was an easy decision, as was her decision to accept. She had several aging grandparents living at home with serious health issues whom she wanted to avoid putting at risk.