The Bone Collector

19

Life was hectic. Between the kids, the pregnancy and starting community service in my old role, I was exhausted. Once again, I was running late for yet another appointment. Being late seemed to be the only consistent thing I could manage.

I hung up my plastic apron after finishing the autopsy and found splatters on my blouse, brain bits maybe. With a sigh, I had to detour to my office and grabbed an extra large lab coat to cover the stain. Half jogging down the hall way I found myself irritated by the squeaks of my crocs. It didn't take a lot to irritate me these days, poor Miguel was receiving the brunt of it but seemed to handle it.

I wound my way through the corridors to the elevator and up to the maternity ward. Miguel was already sitting waiting for me, tapping his dress shoes in impatience as he flipped through a baby magazine. I smiled apologetically and sat beside him only to immediately stand as the doctor called my name.

"How are you doing?" The doctor asked me as I laid on the bed.

"Albert is crawling and Cristobal is climbing." I said assuming the man was smart enough to read between the lines.

I was stressing. If Albert wasn't trying to get into a room he shouldn't, Cristobal was climbing up the library shelves to prove he could. Even the nanny we hired looked like she struggled with the boys and she was qualified for that stuff.

"Well let's she how your little girl is doing." The doctor said moving along from the questioning.

The screen filled with the image of Amadita. We had chosen her name months ago, before we knew of the gender. We wanted to pay homage to Dita and if we had a boy he was going to be named Nestor. I was grateful for a girl because although I loved the idea of keeping Nestor's name alive it would hurt to always have the reminder that he was gone.

"She is measuring perfectly. I'll schedule the Caesarean section for Friday." The doctor said wiping my stomach down.

"Can't it wait?" I asked. "It's Albie's birthday party on Saturday."

"Monday then, but any later and you could go into natural labour which would risk tearing your scar." The doctor warned.

I nodded and let Miguel help me off the bed. Taking the image of Amadita's face with us, we walked back to my office in the bowels of the hospital. I still had four hours of my shift and if I didn't complete enough hours in the week my community service could get extended. It sucked being forced to work until the baby was born but at least I wasn't on a road side picking up litter.

"Has Ellie arrived yet?" Miguel asked as I closed the door behind us.

"No, the moving truck broke down. She wasn't keen on driving late so some people are going to come down with her." I answered with a sigh as I sat in my office chair.

I had no energy left so I wasn't looking forward to waiting up late but it had taken months to convince Ellie to move to Southern California. She didn't have any family for support, only her brother who had joined the military and was never here. That had been my bargaining chip to get her to move here. When Nestor's estate was finally sorted, I had set up a trust for his son Harry. The home Nestor had owned was now in Harry's name and I had created a college fund for him too.

"I can have Marcus meet her at the house, you need to rest." Miguel said as he massaged my shoulders.

"No, I begged her to bring Harry down here. I'll be there to welcome them to their new home." I said.

"Your brother kept them a secret for years, just like he did you. Perhaps, that was for the best." Miguel said and I knew he had a point.

"It's too late now, Miguel. I can't live in ignorance of family, look how little is left of ours." I said pulling myself up from the chair with a groan. "Now, I need to get back in there before they dump another body on me for an unnecessary autopsy."