Violetta Craft's Arc

Chapter 26 of 65

The studio worked for six days. On the seventh, Jordie called Violetta from the house at two in the afternoon. Elowen's breathing had turned fast and shallow. He had counted her chest rises for a full minute and got sixty-eight. The pediatrician told him to bring her in. Violetta left her pattern pieces pinned to the table and drove straight to the clinic. Jordie met her at the door with Elowen wrapped in a thin blanket, her face pale, her nostrils pulling with each breath. The nurse took Elowen back within a minute. A doctor listened to her lungs and ordered oxygen and a chest scan. He said the word bronchiolitis and then said RSV. Preemies could crash fast with this. They were admitting her. Violetta stood at the side of the small bed while a nurse taped a line to Elowen's foot and fitted a cannula under her nose. The numbers on the monitor climbed and dropped and climbed again. Jordie held Violetta's elbow. She did not cry. She watched Elowen's ribs and counted along with the machine. A resident came in and said the next twelve hours would tell them how sick she was. He said to expect worse before better. Fluids, oxygen, suction every two hours. No visitors past the parents. Violetta nodded at each sentence and signed the forms Jordie slid in front of her. By nine that night, Elowen's oxygen need had gone up, not down. The nurse raised the flow and said the doctor wanted her moved to the step-down unit for closer watch. Violetta followed the rolling bed down the hall. In the new room she sat in the chair by the crib and put her hand through the rail so Elowen could feel her thumb. Jordie went out to call both families. Violetta pulled out her phone and opened the note where she tracked the dress. Sleeve set, done. Hem, half. Lining, cut. She read the list twice, then closed the note. She texted the studio owner that she would not be in that week, maybe the next. She asked her to hold the table. Then she set the phone face down on the chair arm and watched the monitor. The dress had ten months. Elowen had tonight. The showcase would keep. She would not leave this room until her daughter's numbers came down and stayed down.