Silence.
“Baleh.”Yes.“Tell them they may give Behar this surgery—but not the woman who spoke so rudely. She must be nowhere near my wife.”
Relief washed through Jenna, the breath leaving her lungs in a long exhale.
The door opened, almost hitting her as the mother-in-law stepped back inside.
She glared at Jenna, pinched her arm. “You are not a pure woman.”
“For shame, Grandmother,” Delara hissed. “You should be grateful. Miss Jenna fought for your daughter-in-law’s life. Now, you will have a grandchild and not a grave.”
The mother-in-law delivered the husband’s message to Marie and then went back to wait with her son.
Jenna watched while Marie and Delara moved Behar to the operating room, the students following so they could observe the surgery. Then she walked to the kitchen, pulled the satellite phone out of her pocket, and sent Derek a text.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
He had just saved two lives.
6
Jenna gave Behar’s newborn his first bath and put him in a diaper, newborn pajamas, and a knitted hat donated by churches in the United States. Then she gave him a bottle of formula while his exhausted mother slept and her harridan of a mother-in-law went out to make food for herself and her son. Jenna would rather the baby be breastfed, but Behar wasn’t yet fully conscious.
Jenna kissed the baby’s forehead. “I’m so glad you’re here, little one. You had a rough journey, didn’t you?”
The baby’s head was bruised, and his cranial bones had shifted in response to being pressed into his mother’s tight pelvis, giving him quite the conehead. The bones would go back to their normal rounded shape quickly.
Marie walked up to Jenna and pulled off her OR scrubs, anger on her face. She spoke in English, her French accent strong. “What you did was dangerous for all of us. If these men tell others that a midwife here spoke to them, other men might refuse to bring their wives here. Or maybe the Taliban will come to kill us.”
Jenna knew this was true, but if she hadn’t broken the rules, Behar would have labored to death, and this innocent baby boy who was so alive in her arms right now would never have taken a breath. “I can’t say I’m sorry, because I’m not.”
Marie threw her blood-stained scrubs in the laundry basket. “I know you think saving this girl’s life and that of her son was the greater good, but is it? If we get shut down or men start refusing to permit their wives to come here, other women and babies will die. What good will you have done then?”
“I have a moral duty to give the best medical care I can to the women who come here for treatment. I can’t ignore one woman’s suffering for the benefit of others.”
Delara, who had assisted during the surgery, pulled off her surgical scrubs. She didn’t speak English, but she had clearly understood that Marie was angry. “I wish I’d had the courage to do what you did, Miss Jenna.”
Marie closed her eyes, the anger draining from her face. “So do I.”
“My brother is the one who changed the father’s mind, not I.” Jenna told them what Derek had said.
Delara’s eyes went wide at the punchline of the parable of the drowning man. “I must remember that story.”
“Your brother is a good man,” Marie said.
Derekwasa good man.
Was he still on duty in the waiting area?
He hadn’t replied to her text message, but perhaps he couldn’t. If he were truly trying to pass as an Afghan man—Jenna couldn’t imagine that—he wouldn’t be able to whip a satellite phone out of his pocket without arousing suspicion.
“What do I tell Behar’s mother-in-law when she finds out I’m the only one working tonight?” It was Jenna’s turn to take the night shift, and that meant looking after newborns and mothers alike.
“If that horrid woman gives you trouble, call me,” Marie said. “Good night.”
“Sleep well.”
The baby had a strong suck and finished the bottle quickly, his eyes, which had already been painted with kohl, as was the custom here, drifting shut. Jenna settled him in his bassinette and tucked an extra blanket around him to keep him warm. She watched him sleep, an ache in her chest. At this moment, both mother and baby were safe, but what about tomorrow?