In Her Hands Read online

  In Her Hands

  Rebekah Blackmore

  Copyright ©Rebekah Blackmore 2020

  1

  “I don't know about you, but I think your rear would look great in this one.”

  Ronnie looked over at the dress that her mother was holding and made a face. The ivory silk the gown was made of was beautiful, and the corset really would make her figure look great, but the lace and beading decorating the bodice and the cap sleeves looked like it was thrown together by a toddler. There were gaping holes where the seamstress had forgotten to add lace, and the synthetic pearls looked like they had been dipped in sour cream.

  To a minimum, the dress was hideous.

  “Definitely not.”

  Patricia shrugged and put the dress back onto the rack. She flipped through a few more hangers before holding another dress out. “What about this one? It looks like Natasha's, doesn't it?”

  Natasha was Ronnie's older sister, the perfect child in their parents' eyes. She had been valedictorian of her high school class, finished her elementary education degree with honors, married a wealthy man, and was well on her way to having three perfect children in a large house with the perfect white picket fence.

  Ronnie, on the other hand, had decided to go to nursing school, and wasn't even sure that she wanted children. She did fine in school, but she was far from being the perfect student, and she preferred her two-bedroom studio apartment in the city to a house in the suburbs any day. Her upcoming wedding was the only thing that made the grade, and that was only because Patricia had taken the reigns on planning it.

  Ronnie made another face, scrunching up her nose and shaking her head before holding out her own pick. It was ivory silk like her mother wanted, but it was much more plain: beaded straps and a blue satin belt around the waist the only features standing out from the gown.

  Patricia sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Veronica, you're far too pretty to wear something like that. You don't want to look like a paper bag next to Kenneth, do you? What will your guests think?” She pulled the hanger from Ronnie's hand and put it back. She grabbed another gown. “Well, what about－”

  Briiiiiiiiing.

  Patricia went silent, her eyes narrowing in disappointment as she looked at her daughter. “I thought I told you to turn that thing off.”

  “I can't turn it off, mom. I'm on call, remember?” Ronnie pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered the call, rolling her eyes as Patricia pouted. “Ronnie Winters, here.”

  “Hey, Ronnie, I know it's your day off, but do you think you can come in?” Ronnie's boss, Kelly, asked, her voice breathless and the sound of the hospital ward echoing into the device. “Tara and Mary are both out with a stomach bug, and I just sent Travis home with strep and a fever. It would be a huge help if you could come in, even if it's just until shift change.”

  Saved by the bell, Ronnie thought, trying to make her relief at ending the outing less noticeable, but it was hard to keep the grin off her face. “Yes, definitely. I'll have to run by my house and grab my scrubs, but I can be there in an hour or so, all right?”

  Kelly blew out a breath. “You're a lifesaver. Thank you so much.”

  “You betcha.” Ronnie lowered her phone and ended the call, turning the screen off and sliding the device into the back pocket of her jeans. She reached up and pushed her hair out of her face before shrugging at her mother, who had her arms crossed and a perfectly-plucked eyebrow raised. “Sorry, Mom, but duty calls.”

  Patricia let out an over-dramatic sigh. “I wish you'd at least consider moving to an office of some sort. How do you expect to raise your children if you're never home? It was hard enough raising you girls without a career holding me back.”

  “We've talked about this, mom. Kenny and I aren't even sure we want kids.“ She ignored Patricia's affronted look and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. “Rain check, okay? We can go look at more dresses next weekend.”

  Patricia nodded before turning back towards the dresses, mumbling under her breath as she continued to thumb through the options. “Ungrateful child . . . doesn't care about me or her father, oh no, she's too good to give us grandchildren . . . might as well pick out a dress on my own . . . ”

  Ronnie forced herself to ignore the urge to roll her eyes again before grabbing her purse off a nearby love seat and heading out towards her car, which was another sore subject with her parents. They had purchased a car for her, some top-of-the-line vehicle with all the amenities, but Ronnie didn't want it to be another thing they could hold over her head. She had a bit of money saved up, and bought a nice, but older, vehicle for less than the sales tax on her parents' purchase.

  Ronnie climbed inside and turned on the engine, humming when her radio started to play. She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road, stopping halfway between the gown shop and her apartment to get a quick meal before going home.

  When she was back inside her apartment, she put her lunch and the car keys on the counter before making her way to her bedroom, shaking her head when she saw her cat sprawled out across an open drawer. Kenny must have left the drawer open in his rush to get to work (he was chronically late), far too focused on grabbing his things than on the potential mischief the little monster could get into to.

  Ronnie picked up the cat, shushing her gently when the cat opened her eyes and squirmed madly. She held her out to avoid getting scratched and put her on the bed before going back over to the dresser, moving a few pairs of socks cautiously before closing the drawer. Reagan had hidden enough dead birds and live mice for Ronnie to know what to look for.

  Once she was sure that nothing else in the room had been left ajar, she went into her closet and grabbed a pair of scrubs with light-blue pants and a tie-dye blue top. She changed clothes before going into the kitchen, pulling the magnetic notepad off the refrigerator and scribbling a note so that Kenny would know where she had gone.

  Twenty minutes later, Ronnie tossed what was left of her lunch in the trash can at the entrance to the pediatric ward and went to the nurses station, sneaking up behind one of her coworkers and pushing her head down towards her paperwork.

  “What in the－dammit, Ronnie, really?” Britney exclaimed, pulling the rubber band out of her platinum-blonde hair and redoing her ponytail.

  Ronnie laughed and tried to mess up Britney's hair again, but Britney pushed her rolling chair away from the desk. “You should watch your language, you know. There's children around,” she teased, nodding towards Britney's swollen abdomen.

  Britney put her hand on her stomach and shook her head. “All of the patients on this floor are children,” she reminded Ronnie, sticking her tongue out as she handed her a stack of clipboards. “Travis was supposed to settle a few new patients in rooms 102 and 103, but since he left, do you think you could do it? Kelly wanted you in the day room with the older kids, but she got sick, too－”

  Ronnie shook her head. “Say no more.” She held her hand out, taking the clipboards and flipping through their files. “I can get Kara and Timothy set up, and they can keep an eye on some of the younger patients. I'll check in-between rooms, too.”

  Britney nodded. “That's fine. Get them set up quickly, though; we don't want to leave our newest guests alone for too long.” She turned and typed something into the computer before pushing herself off the rolling chair and grabbing a stack of clipboards for herself.

  Ronnie watched Britney waddle down the hall before looking down at her stack and sighing. She tolerated check-ins on her best days, but after spending the morning with her mother, she wished that she could just interact with the children. She didn't have to be serious like she was with the parents, and all she had to worry about was making the children smile. When she was doing check-
ins, however, she had to appear professional and answer the parents' questions as best as she could, to make them feel like their child was staying in a home away from home. All of the nurses did their best to make the patients and parents comfortable－none of her paperwork gave the length of time the children would be in the hospitals care, and spending a few days or a few months in one place was made a lot more pleasant by a welcoming atmosphere.

  Ronnie shook her head and tucked the clipboards under her arm before making her way to the day room, where a few of the older children had already begun to gather.

  She walked over to a large black sofa, where a teenager with a scarf wrapped around her head and a boy with dark hair sat, his prosthetic leg lying next to the sofa. “Good afternoon, Tim, good afternoon, Anna. Is everything going well?”

  Tim nodded, but Anna groaned before dropping her head onto the couch. “My mom won't stop texting me about my appointment tomorrow. I haven't answered any and she's sent me, like, twelve messages.”

  Ronnie snickered. “She's just worried about you, sweet pea.”

  “I know, but she will be here in, like, two hours. She can worry about me then; she doesn't have to do it every hour of every day.” She adjusted her seating, leaning her side against the arm of the couch and pulling her feet up under her thigh. She rested her head against her hand.

  Ronnie reached over and straightened Anna's scarf before looking back and forth between the adolescents. “Where's Kara? I need the three of you to keep an eye on some of the younger kids while I settle some new families in. I'll check on you, of course.”

  Timothy shook his head. “Kara is still in her room. Her parents were supposed to come up today, but I guess they were having car trouble or something.”

  Ronnie let out a breath through her nose and nodded. She hated situations like that. Kara's parents were kind people and clearly considered their children to be the center of their world, but they lived well over two hours away. They tried to make to the hospital as often as they could, but lately, their weekly visits had dwindled to once every other weekend.

  “I'll let Kara rest, for now, but do you two think you could handle the younger crowd? It shouldn't be for too long; I just have to get a few new families settled and then I'll be right back out.”

  Anna looked apprehensive, but Timothy nodded eagerly. Ronnie smiled at him. “Thank you. The movie channel is streaming Disney today so it may only be one or two children who come in here－I just need the two of you to make sure they can reach whatever they'd like and that there's no arguing. I'll come check on you two every fifteen or so minutes, all right?”

  “All right.” Timothy smiled at Ronnie before dropping his head against the back of the couch. Anna pursed her lips and forced a grin.

  Ronnie glanced around the room before walking over to the Creative Corner and opening a locked cabinet, pulling out a box of safety scissors and glue sticks. She put it on a table before locking the cabinet again, slipping the key into her pocket and going back into the hall.

  She pulled the stack of clipboards out from under her arm, flipping through the first board before going into the first room which was, surprisingly, empty. The bed was rumpled and unmade, and there was a woman's bag sitting open on the windowsill. There was also a little girl's jacket and a worn teddy bear that was missing an eye piled against the foot of the bed.

  Ronnie looked down at the file again in confusion. Clearly, the Vascar family had gotten into the room all right, but she didn't have the foggiest idea of where they went after that. Most of the new families were too hesitant and uncomfortable with the idea of their children living in a hospital day and night to look around.

  Occasionally there were families who decided to stray, though, and Ronnie knew that she just had to wait them out. They'd come back to the room eventually, and Ronnie could welcome them then.

  ***

  Two hours later, Ronnie finished showing her second family around and made her way back to the missing family. Unlike when she had gone into the room the first time, the family was in the room waiting for her. She untucked the clipboard from under her arm and glanced into the room, observing the way that the family interacted as they faced away from her.

  There was a young boy sitting on the window sill, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his shins. He was wearing a pair of blue hospital-approved pajamas and fuzzy dragon slippers, his light-brown hair a mess as he pressed his face against the window. A young woman (the boy's mother, most likely) was standing beside him in a pair of jeans and a fitted olive-green sweater. There was a female toddler on her hip, her face buried in the woman's layered auburn hair. The woman kept bouncing the toddler and pointing to something outside of the window, but the toddler wasn't budging. The woman sighed before bumping into the boy's knee and pointing to something else.

  Ronnie gave the family another moment of silence before knocking on the door frame. The boy glanced over, before looking back towards the window. The woman turned around, adjusting her hold on the toddler.

  While the woman had an attractive figure from behind, it was nothing to how beautiful her features were. She had light-blue eyes and long eyelashes, as well as a pair of the most shapely cheekbones Ronnie had ever seen.

  Ronnie slid her clipboard back under her arm and walked over to the woman, holding her hand out in greeting. “Hi, I'm Ronnie. I'm one of the nurses here.” The woman shook her hand. Ronnie smiled at her before glancing at the boy. “This must be Tommy.”

  The woman nodded and rocked back on her heels. “I'm Amy, Tommy's mom, and this,” she bounced the toddler again, tapping her on the nose, “is Morrison. Tommy is a bit shy.” She smiled apologetically.

  Ronnie scribbled the names down on her clipboard before moving closer to Tommy, who flinched before pulling his legs in tighter. Ronnie understand the message and took three big steps back, making a note of that, as well. “Most children are nervous when they first stay here, but I bet that once he meets some of the other kids, he will settle in just fine.” She tried her best to make her smile reassuring. “In fact, we're having a movie night tonight. He can make some new friends there. Before we do that, though, I need to give you and your children then grand tour.”

  2

  Ronnie pulled into her parking space a little over an hour after the end of her shift. She shut the engine off and tilted her head back, closing her eyes and breathing out her nose. Long days normally didn't bother her, but after she finished her introductions and her three o'clock rounds, her day flipped when a patient slipped into cardiac arrest. She had been in the care of Ronnie and her team for nearly four months. For a while, it seemed like the five-year-old was getting better, but her body had stopped responding to the chemo a month earlier.

  All life-saving efforts were made, but the child passed away a little over an hour later.

  Ronnie stayed in the car for several minutes before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She could feel the dry grit of her mascara smudging along the top of her cheeks, but she was far too mentally and physically exhausted to care.

  She gathered her possessions and went inside the apartment, her brows furrowing as she flipped on the lights in her entry way and her living room. She knew it was late, but she had still expected Kenny to wait up for her like he normally did.

  Oh, well, Ronnie thought, yawning and rubbing her eyes again. She was out later than usual, and Kenny had an early day. She locked the front door and turned off the living room lights before making her way down the hall to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and rubbed the mascara from her cheeks, immediately feeling more relaxed.

  She finished washing her face and brushing her teeth before walking across the hall to the master bedroom. She could hear Reagan purring from the end of the bed, but she couldn't, surprisingly, hear Kenny's usual snores. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and aimed the light at the bed, her brows furrowing when Reagan was the only body that she saw.

  Ronnie went
over to her nightstand and turned on her lamp. The bed was bathed in a dull yellow light, the comforter and sheets revealing they hadn't been touched since she had left the house for her shift. She turned on her phone again and went to her messages, hoping that she had just missed a text from Kenny, but the last message in their conversation had been from earlier in the day. There wasn't any missed calls from him, either.

  Ronnie sighed and turned her phone off. She plugged it into the charger and set it on the nightstand before going over to the closet to get her pajamas and to see if Kenny's police uniform was still hanging up.

  Fortunately, the empty hanger solved the mystery of where Kenny was. It was unusual that he didn't let Ronnie know he had been called in, but the closet at least put her mind at ease. She grabbed her pajamas and changed before collapsing down onto the bed on top of the covers, falling asleep almost instantly.

  ***

  Ronnie woke up several hours later to her phone ringing. She groaned and rolled over onto her side, slapping her hand down onto the nightstand until she found the device, answering the call without looking at the ID.

  “Hello?” she said groggily, pressing her face against the pillow to stifle a yawn.

  “Hey, baby.”

  It was Kenny. Ronnie rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Hey. What time is it?”

  “A little after six. Listen, I'm going to be stuck here for a few more hours, but I'm going to swing by Nevermore and grab some breakfast before I go back to do my paperwork. Do you want me to drop you off something?”

  Ronnie's stomach growled in response. “Mmm. Yes, please.”

  “Your normal?”

  “Yes, please. Can you get me a croissant, too? It'll save me some time before my shift.”

  “All right.” There was rustling in the background, as well as someone yelling. Kenny let out a long, irritated breath. “It might be an hour or so before I can get to Nevermore. Think you can stay up that long?”