Married in Haste. Roz Fox Denny
retrieving my phone. I’m in the car, headed to Mercy G. We just experienced a fair-size aftershock. I’m still shaking even though the tremor stopped.”
“I wish you’d stay put, Abby. We’ve been bombarded by the first wave of casualties. There are so many critical injuries coming in, you’d think this was a war zone. Two things, and then I have to dash. My dad’s probably examining Sam as we speak. Dad’s condominium on Queen Anne is a matter of blocks from Mercy. So tell Elliot that Sam’s in good hands. Since you’ve left school, it may not matter that I haven’t been able to raise Marlo. I did get in touch with a co-worker who said the agency sent everyone home. She also said one end of their parking garage has crumbled.”
Abby heard worry in his words. “Ben, I doubt Marlo got that far. I don’t know the exact time she dropped the girls at school, but I saw them shortly after they arrived. In fact, I’d gone over to talk to them just before the shock hit. At the most, Marlo couldn’t have been on the road ten minutes. Oh, before I forget, I asked Raina Miller, one of our teachers, to keep tabs on my nephews and your nieces. Marlo knows where the Millers live. If no one’s at the school, she’ll find the girls with Raina.”
“That’s great, Abby. I’m up to my ears in emergencies. All the doctors are.”
“Can your mother collect Erin and Mollie?”
“My folks split a long time ago. Mom lives in Rome. I’m all the family Marlo has here. Dad—well, he and Marlo rarely speak.”
“This is the doctor you recommended for Sam?”
“Believe me, Kirk’s patients get better treatment than his family ever did.”
Abby had never heard Ben speak quite so sharply. Which proved, if nothing else, that she knew relatively little about the man she’d been seeing for almost a year. And she’d planned to spend a week alone with him in the mountains? Looking at it like that, she found it easier to understand Elliot’s concern.
Abby heard Ben talking to someone else, then he came on the line again, sounding rushed.
“I’m needed for an injured baby they just brought in. Thanks, Abby, for arranging for Erin and Mollie’s care. If you have a number for Mrs. Miller I’ll jot it down and see if maybe Dad’s girlfriend will go pick them up.”
Abby had come to a street where the signals weren’t operating, and crossing appeared to be in the hands of the bravest. She quickly relayed Raina’s number, concentrating on traffic.
“Thanks,” he said. “With the bridge out, you’ll have to swing south before you can cross and go north to Mercy. I’ll call again when I get a chance.”
She dropped the phone in her lap and gripped the steering wheel tight. She surprised herself by making it across the intersection unscathed. But she couldn’t help noticing that her palms were slick with sweat. So was her forehead. Navigating around debris spilling out in the roadway claimed her full concentration.
More than once Abby considered turning back. Love for her brother and his family kept her doggedly taking the detours that skirted the worst of the damage.
A full two hours after she’d left the school, Abby was about a quarter mile from the hospital. A policeman directing traffic at a cross-street flagged her down and motioned for her to roll down her window.
“Only ambulance and aid cars beyond this point, miss.”
“But…” she sputtered, her fingers clutching the steering wheel. “The hospital contacted me. My brother and his son have been injured.” She blinked back tears. “The nurse said it was urgent, and it’s taken me hours to reach this point.” She explained how she’d started in West Seattle and had to detour along East Marginal Way, then zigzag from street to street. “Please,” she implored, panic cracking her voice.
“I’m sorry, I can’t make exceptions, ma’am. But…I’ll tell you what. My precinct station is a block ahead on your right. I’ll write you a tag to park in our lot. From there you can walk up the hill to Mercy.”
“Oh, yes, please. Thank you, officer. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
He smiled wearily as he wrote out a permit. Abby rolled up her window, then swung around him in the direction he indicated, heading—she hoped—to his station. A short while later, she found it and parked. Once she’d climbed out of her car and locked it, leaving the tag visible, she took a minute to get her bearings.
Midway through her hike up a steep sidewalk that led to one of the city’s oldest hospitals, she heard neighborhood dogs begin to bark and howl. Abby automatically braced for another afterquake. Sure enough, within seconds everything began to jump crazily. To her left, a flower bed of tulips rose and fell, reminding her oddly of ocean waves.
Up to now, she’d been so focused on her destination, she hadn’t really absorbed the surrounding damage. An elegant old home beyond the bed of glads had once boasted mullioned windows. Now jagged, gaping holes left a living room filled with antiques open to the casual passerby. Next door, a neighbor’s wraparound porch had split off the main house. A man, presumably the owner, who’d been surveying his roof from atop a six-foot ladder, scurried down it as the aftershock bared its teeth. He sought refuge under the spreading limbs of a giant fir. As with the previous aftershock, this one quickly subsided. But it made Abby wonder momentarily about the condition of her town house, and also Elliot’s rambling old home that always seemed to be in some stage of reconstruction.
Feeling the first splatter of raindrops from a cluster of dark, fast-swirling clouds, Abby let her earlier concerns slip away. She zipped her windbreaker and pulled up the hood. Tucking her chin to her chest, she ran the remaining two blocks.
Thoroughly winded, she stared up at the solid old hospital, which overshadowed clusters of two-and three-story clinic complexes. Once used as apartments, many of them had been renovated into medical offices. Some had been turned into assisted living quarters for the elderly.
An ambulance screamed past Abby and screeched to a halt under the emergency room awning. She was relieved to note that visible wings of the gray brick hospital appeared to be intact.
As she entered the main lobby, Abby unzipped her jacket and shook rain from her bangs. She located a horseshoe-shaped reception desk, but was forced to wait while a gray-haired clerk fielded calls via a switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Abby strove for a composure she didn’t feel. The aftershocks, along with constant worry over what she’d find here, left her brain addled.
Between calls the operator glanced up. “May I direct you, miss?”
“A nurse, Olivia Warren, phoned me. Earlier. Nearly three hours ago,” Abby said in surprise as she checked her watch. “I, uh, need directions to my brother’s room. His name is Elliot Drummond. His son, Sam, is also a patient. And maybe Elliot’s wife, Blair.” Abby sent up a silent prayer for her sister-in-law, and mentally crossed her fingers. Olivia hadn’t found any record of Blair earlier.
The woman ran a finger down a patient index. She then leafed through a stack of cards piled beside her switchboard. The lighted board constantly went bing, bing, bing in the background. “I—oh, my.” She looked up briefly. “Please take a seat in the lobby. I’ll call a volunteer to assist you.” Making a neat pile of the cards, the clerk again busied herself with insistent callers.
Abby realized the futility of trying to ask another question. She stepped into the teeming lobby and eventually did sit on the very edge of a chair. She called to let Raina know she’d made it, and got through after numerous attempts. Her friend still had her nephews and Marlo’s girls. How long, Abby wondered after telling Raina goodbye, would the clerk’s “minute” be? Her stomach was jittery, and anxiety nibbled away at her calm attitude. But of course she wasn’t alone in her fear. The lobby was filled with pacing, terrified relatives.
Half an hour later, a volunteer in a pale-yellow uniform showed up. At a word from the clerk at the desk, the woman turned and sought out Abby—who rose at once. She rushed to meet the volunteer, and repeated her