Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 35 of 70

The cramp came back in the car on the way home from the park. Lymber sat in the passenger seat with the beaded skirt bunched around her knees. Paul drove one-handed, Jett asleep in the car seat behind him, Violetta buckled beside her brother with the puppy on her lap. The pain rolled low and tight, then eased, then came again. Lymber pressed her palm to her stomach and counted. Three cramps in ten minutes. She said, Paul. He looked over. She said, the clinic. He turned at the next light without asking why. Polly met them at the entrance. Lymber had called her from the parking lot because Polly had said to call her first, always. Polly took Jett out of the car seat and unclipped Violetta and told Paul to walk Lymber inside. The nurse at the desk looked at the beaded gown and did not comment. They put Lymber in a room and hooked a monitor to her belly. The doctor came in and pressed on her stomach in four places. She asked when the c-section was, and Lymber said six weeks ago. The doctor nodded and ordered a scan. Paul sat in the plastic chair by the bed and held her hand. He said, you're okay. He said it once and did not say it again. The tech rolled the wand across her stomach and watched the screen. The doctor came back and sat on the stool. She said the incision inside was healing but a small area was inflamed. She said it was not an emergency. She said no lifting over ten pounds for two weeks. No stairs more than once a day. Rest. Come back Friday. Lymber lay on the bed in the gown with the beading pressed into her back. Polly stood in the doorway holding Jett. Violetta sat on the floor with the puppy between her knees. Paul still had her hand. Lymber thought about the ten-pound rule. Jett weighed twelve. Violetta weighed twenty-six. She looked at Paul. She said, you'll have to carry them. He said, okay. Polly said she would come in the mornings for the first week. Lymber did not argue. She signed the discharge papers as Mrs. Craft, slow, the way Paul had signed the marriage book. The nurse handed her a printed sheet with the Friday appointment circled in pen. Outside the sun had dropped behind the buildings. Paul helped her into the car. The cramp was gone for now. The dress still fit. The ring was still new. But she would not lift her own son for two weeks, and the wedding day was already something she had to be careful after.