Chapter 15

I really do try to see the best in people. But with morning people, sometimes it’s too damn hard.

-Krisney’s secret thoughts

Krisney

I woke up with the worst pain I’d ever experienced.

My stomach felt like somebody had kicked it, and I immediately knew that something was very wrong.

I sat up, disoriented, and stared at the wall.

All I could think about was the words Reed had uttered to me over lunch.

I want a chance.

I moaned when another wave of agony rolled through me.

Then I felt something wet between my legs, and it definitely wasn’t from my dreams of Reed.

No, there was just way too much for it ever to be considered that.

I reached for my phone, and dialed Reed.

***

Reed

“Did you use anything, or take anything?” Dr. Torres asked. “Did you take anything new that you’ve never had before?”

The pain was etched all over Krisney’s face.

“The only thing new that I’ve done over the last twenty-four hours is the essential oil that was given to me by a nurse at your office, Caria. She gave me some Patchouli oil for my stretch marks.”

Dr. Torres wrote it down, then went to his phone to look up the side effects of that oil.

I ran my rough hand down the soft skin of Krisney’s arm, but she didn’t look at me.

“What about that tea?” I paused, remembering something she’d taken. “Did you drink that?”

Krisney’s face fell, and her eyes finally met mine. “Yes.”

“Do you remember what it was?”

“She said chamomile. It was in the box still. That’s at home, though.” She shook her head as another pain rocked her, and I looked to the monitor to see that another contraction had hit.

I looked in frustration at the other medicine that wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop her labor from progressing, and instantly felt a wave of disappointment roll through me.

If we couldn’t get her contractions to stop, we wouldn’t have a choice but to deliver the babies today.

Eight weeks early.

A lifetime when it came to a preemie baby.

“Nothing else?” Dr. Torres asked, sounding worried himself.

When the drugs wouldn’t work the way that they were supposed to, we’d tried alternate means. When those hadn’t worked, we’d started questioning why.

Which led us to this point.

“Nothing but the oil that Caria gave me.” Krisney moaned.

“What kind of oil was it again?” I asked her as I pulled out my phone.

She closed her eyes, and a tear slipped free.

“Patchouli?” She shrugged, gesturing to the bag I’d grabbed for her on my way out her door with her in my arms only two hours before. “I think. I’m not sure the exact name. It’s in my purse, though.”

I walked forward and took the bottle out of her purse. It was the same bottle type as the one that Caria had given me lavender oil in last week. Why she’d given me the lavender oil, I didn’t know. But she had. Being a generally nice person, I took it. It was still sitting on the desk in my office at work.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it, but I’d taken it because I tried not to look like the complete dick that I was in my place of work.

Palming the bottle in my hand, I handed it over to the nurse who was closest to me.

“Take this down to the lab, and see what the hell is in it.” I paused. “And tell them this is a rush. To do it in the next ten minutes, or I’m coming down there myself to do it.”

The nurse nodded her head and rushed out of the room.

Dr. Torres and I weren’t the only ones worried.

I didn’t think it would be anything bad. Not really. I was just being thorough.

We couldn’t get the contractions to stop, and there had to be a reason why.

That was just the most obvious reason at this point.

And, when the call came nine minutes later as to what was in the bottle, I grew confused.

“It’s Pennyroyal,” the lab tech said the moment I answered. “Do you know what that is?”

“I’ll look it up,” I said, then hung up before the lab tech could tell me what it was.

Pennyroyal.

Pennyroyal.

Why did that sound so familiar?

I pulled out my phone and did a quick search, and my heart fell.

“Pennyroyal. Side effects for pregnant and breastfeeding: If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, it is LIKELY UNSAFE to take pennyroyal by mouth or apply it to your skin. There is some evidence that pennyroyal oil can cause abortions by causing the uterus to contract. But the dose needed for this effect could kill the mother or cause her life-long kidney and liver damage. Pennyroyal leaf tea seems to be able to start , which could also threaten a pregnancy,” I read aloud.

The doctor with me, Torres, swore so loudly that a nurse came in from outside.

“She was given that, wasn’t she?”

I looked over to see tears in Krisney’s eyes.

“I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.” She started to weep, and I wanted nothing more than to bring her in my arms and tell her that it would be okay. But I knew it wouldn’t be okay.

Whatever she’d ingested, both orally and transdermally, had been enough to induce labor.

Seeing as she was thirty-two weeks, the babies, if born today, would have a long road ahead of them. And, since they were twins, they were already smaller than normal thirty-two weekers.

“It also says that the side effects of the pennyroyal could cause liver, kidney, and sometimes nervous system damage,” I told Torres.

“That would account for the odd kidney function test,” Torres said. “We attributed it to the pregnancy, but it’s more than likely due to the oil. I think it’s best to get the babies out, so that whatever affects it had on Krisney, the babies don’t have to have, too.”

I agreed.

When my eyes met Krisney’s, I saw resignation there.

Sorrow, regret and disgust followed soon after.

“It’ll be okay,” I told her. “We’ll get through this.”

Krisney looked away.

“Just get them out. Make sure they’re safe.”

***

The babies were born by Caesarian section two hours later.

Two hours after that, Krisney was in the first stages of both liver and kidney failure.