"Clancy's."

"Is Jim Douglass there?" I asked when someone finally picked up after ten rings.

"Who?"

"Jim Douglass. He's supposed to be working there tonight. This is Dr. Caselli over at CityHospital. His wife delivered their baby this evening. I was trying to reach him..."

"There's no Douglass here." The voice was abrupt on the other end of the line.

"Are you sure? Is this Clancy's?"

"Yes, it's Clancy's, and we got no Douglass working here. The only bartender we have is Clancy. You must have the wrong place. Sorry."

The phone line went dead.

CHAPTER SIX.

"Where have you been?" Page asked as I entered the ER nurse's station.

"I was up in labor and delivery."

"What were you doing up there?"

"Delivering Regan's baby."

"What?"

Page shook her head in disbelief. "What happened? I didn't think she was due yet."

"She wasn't. Her father, who had a stroke a while back, became combative this evening and pushed her down the basement stairs. He went on some sort of rampage involving beer. Regan's lost quite a bit of blood, but she's doing fine. The baby is small, so they're going to keep her in neonatal tonight."

"I leave you alone for a second and look what you get yourself into."

"As if this isn't bad enough, I've got another problem."

"What's that?"

"Regan asked me to call her husband. He was supposed to be tending bar at Clancy's tonight. I called the number she gave me and they told me he wasn't there and that he never worked there."

"Oh...that doesn't sound good."

"I know. The last thing she needs right now is to find out her husband's been lying to her."

"You know, Caselli, your life gets more and more like a soap opera every day," Page said. "Oh, and speaking of soap operas, while you were gone, you got two phone messages."

"From who?"

"Sean called. He said everything is fine but to call him if you got a chance. The other call was from your friend Rosetti. She said to call her at home before eleven thirty."

"Was Morrison looking for me while I was gone?"

Page shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Good. Thanks, Page." I went into the doctor's lounge to return Sean's call.

My eyes burned with fatigue and my head hummed from the subsiding adrenaline rush as I dialed Sean's number.

"Hello?" came from the other end of the phone line.

"Sean, it's Mina. Is everything all right?"

"Yes. Dad's been sleeping, like you said. He only has half a bottle of pain medicine left and I don't want to run out. I was looking for the phone number for the hospice nurse and couldn't find it. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I tacked it up on the refrigerator underneath the "Bad Cop-No Donut" magnet. Oh, and you won't have to worry about Regan being your dad's nurse anymore."

"Oh? Did you call hospice and have her taken off the case?"

"No, I didn't have time before work," I lied. "Regan delivered her baby tonight."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Sean, are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Regan came into the ER tonight in premature labor. It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is...I better get going," Sean said, cutting me off, obviously not wanting to hear any more. "Dad is starting to stir. Maybe I can get him to eat something."

"I made some chicken soup before I left this afternoon. It's in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf."

"Do you really think he's well enough to take on your cooking yet?" Sean kidded.

"Thanks," I said. "It's only chicken soup. How bad can it be?"

"I gotta go," Sean said, not giving me a straight answer. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay. Let me know if his condition changes."

"I will," Sean said and hung up.

It was ten thirty. I'd missed dinner and was ravenous. The cafeteria wouldn't be open again until midnight, so I pulled out a Diet Coke and my Twinkies and dialed Rosetti's number.

"Hey," I said into the receiver when she picked up.

"Hey, where've you been?" Rosetti asked.

"Delivering Regan's baby."

"Sure...and I'm the tooth fairy."

"I know you don't believe me. But it's all true, and I have witnesses."

"How...when...Oh, my..." Rosetti stammered.

"I know. It's hard to believe. I tried calling you earlier today to give you the scoop, but your line was busy."

"I had it off the hook so I could sleep. I'm still stuck on this stupid all night stakeout. It's the only time these druggies come out. So what happened?"

"She showed up at Sean's. She's Ed's hospice nurse."

"Well, that really clears things up," Rosetti said sarcastically.

We both laughed.

"I know, it sounds weird, but it's true...she showed up today at Sean's."

I went on to tell Rosetti the entire story.

"Married? Pregnant? Oh, my God, Mina, what a mess."

"Yep, I really need your insight into all this. I'm off tomorrow. Do you want to meet for dinner or something?"

"Yes. Dinner would be good. I'm off tomorrow, too, so that will work out great," Rosetti said. "It seems like such a long time since we've actually spent time together, and with this new event, we have a lot of catching up to do. So how are you doing with all this...I mean with her coming back in this condition and all?"

"I think I'm still in shock," I said, taking a bite of Twinkie. "Things have happened so fast. It doesn't seem real...I need time to think about it."

"I bet," Rosetti said. "Well, I gotta get going. I have to be at the station for another briefing with the task force. We're supposed to take these guys down tonight after we make a couple more drug buys. I'll just be happy when this is all over."

"Be careful out there. Do you have your vest on?"

"Yes, Mother Mina, I have the vest on."

"Good. Call me when you get up tomorrow. We'll make plans for dinner then."

"Okay. Have a good night," Rosetti said and hung up.

I took the last bite of my Twinkie and chugged down the rest of my Diet Coke. I leaned back in the lounge chair and closed my eyes. It was only ten thirty, but it felt like I already put in my twelve hours.

"Express team-neonatal nursery...express team-neonatal nursery" came over the house paging system. That was not good news...

I bound up the stairs two at a time to the third floor, praying that it was not Regan's baby who was in trouble. When I reached the nursery, there were doctors and nurses everywhere. Machines beeped. Alarms sounded. Someone yelled, "Clear." And then I heard the discharge of the defibrillator paddles.

Three white-coated doctors performed CPR on the tiny body. I stood in the doorway of the neonatal nursery, frozen in silence. For the second time that night, my worst fears had come true: it was Regan's baby they were working on. Nurses scurried in and out of the nursery retrieving syringes and medications. Another nurse stood off to the side and recorded everything that occurred. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd done something or didn't do something to cause this. I went over in my mind all the steps I took to deliver this baby into the world.

The defibrillator paddles discharged again. This time, the heart monitor beeped with the beginning of a heart rhythm. The pack of doctors and nurses cheered.

"Get Children's Hospital on the phone so we can have this baby life-flighted to their neonatal intensive unit," one of the physicians shouted. A nurse ran past me to make the call.

The heart monitor continued to beep its normal rhythm. "What happened?" I asked one of the residents.

"She went into cardiac arrest. We think she has a valvular heart defect, but we won't be able to tell until we transfer her to Children's. They'll do an echocardiogram there to confirm our diagnosis."

"Where's the baby's mom?"

"In her room."

"I'll go back and see her. I'm a personal friend." I knew Regan wouldn't want to rest knowing her baby was in danger. "Anything you want me to tell her?"

"You can tell her that for now the baby is stable, but we have to get her over to Children's for more extensive testing and observation. Tell her we'll probably life-flight her out within the hour."

"When will she be able to see her?"

"She can see her before we leave for a minute, then she can see her tomorrow at Children's once her obstetrician discharges her."

"Thanks, Doc," I said, then headed down the hall to Regan's room.

I tapped on the heavy wooden door and slowly pushed it open.

"Regan, can I come in?"

Relief swept over Regan's face when she saw it was me. "Mina! I heard the call for the express team to the neonatal nursery and now they won't let me see my baby. What's going on out there? Is everything all right? Is my baby all right?"

"Your baby's fine right now, but they need to transfer her to Children's Hospital. Her pediatrician thinks she has a bad heart valve. They need to get her over to Children's so their specialists can take a look at her."

"Oh, God!" Regan cried, covering her mouth with her hand. "When?"

"Tonight. Probably within the hour."

"I want to see her...when can I see her?"

"You can come with me and I'll walk you down. You can only see her for a few minutes, though, because as soon as the helicopter comes, they have to leave."

Gingerly, Reagan got out of bed and put on her robe and slippers. Regan trembled as she held onto my arm as we walked down the long hallway to the neonatal nursery.

"Is she gonna be all right?" Regan asked, pulling me close.

"She's gonna be fine. She'll be getting the best care from the best doctors in the area over there." I could only imagine what Regan was feeling at that moment. Fear, anxiety, and the worst feeling of all, uncertainty. She couldn't be sure that everything would turn out all right.

"Does she have a name yet?" I asked.

"Yes. Tess. Tess Marie," Regan said. "She's named after my grandmother."