Chapter 30

While Ken and Jeff had raced over to the SPCA hospital, Andy and Kelly were driven down to Bellevue. When she told Sam Duncan what had happened, he picked up the microphone of the radio connected to the police net and spoke a few words. Like the Collins' Rolls, it, too, was equipped with hidden red light flashers and a siren.

He had traveled only a block when a police cruiser cut in front of them and, with its siren wailing, cleared a path for them to the FDR Drive, and then downtown. Jim Fletcher was also on the staff at Bellevue and knew his way around both its bureaucracy and its labyrinthine hallways. He had given Sam explicit directions to the Emergency Room entrance where he figured Sheila and Caitie would be.

Entering the sprawling complex, the two women looked around and almost laughed when they saw Prince in the corner of the entrance lobby trying to make himself as small and unobtrusive as possible. For a Royal Bengal tiger, weighing over 600 pounds, that wasn't very small.

Seeing the women, he jumped to his feet and communicated, "We don't have a moment to lose. Please get on my back, both of you. I can get you to Caitlin's room far faster than you could get there any other way."

The two women looked at each other and shrugged. They were both wearing cocktail dresses, but just hiked the skirts up to their hips and got on astride the tiger's back. Looking down at her bare leg, Andy shrugged and said, "I guess my legs aren't really that bad, are they? It's a good thing they're tanned, or they'd look really yucky!"

Kelly just giggled.

To facilitate their boarding, Prince was lying flat on the floor. The instant they were settled, with Andy in front and Kelly holding her around the waist, the huge animal got to his feet and smoothly trotted off down a corridor. His gait was so smooth and flowing neither woman had any real sense of motion, yet they were weaving in and out, passing hurrying people moving in the same direction at a speed at least triple theirs. After a series of twists and turns and two separate elevator rides, they passed a nursing station where Prince ignored the gasps of amazement from the two nurses there and finally stopped at the door of a room.

Gently nudging the door open with his nose, Prince entered the room and immediately dropped flat on the floor to let the women off. They found themselves in a room — one of the very best in the facility, they found out later — with two beds. There was a curtain drawn separating the two beds, and they couldn't see the one closest to the window. But on the nearest bed they saw Caitie with her arms around a doctor's neck.

As they entered, they heard her say, "I'll tell Mommy and Gram as soon as they get here, Dr. Caulkins. Everything that happened was all me!"

Then she kissed him again with all of her power causing the poor men to almost collapse on top of her. Seeing the two women, she exclaimed, "Thank you, God! They're here."

When Caulkins stood up, the women were able to get a good look at Caitie and were utterly appalled. While just hours before Caitie had been the picture of health, now she looked incredibly pale and drawn in spite of her deep tan. In fact, her tanned face had a very strange pasty-gray look.

When Andy looked at Caulkins, she was shocked. The man was crying. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. "We're losing her, I'm afraid." Then he slumped down in a chair beside the bed and bawled.

As weak as she was, Caitie reached out her hand, took his and just held it. Although her voice was weak she said, "Mommy and Gram, it's all my fault. Dr. Caulkins didn't want to do it, and the anaesthesiologist, Dr. Dawson, just about rebelled. I threatened to get Prince into the OR and make them. So it's all me. I did it to myself!"

"But what did she do?" Kelly asked. "What's happened to her?"

Looking up at her while still slumped in the chair, Caulkins replied, "She donated over four pints of her blood!" With his eyes still tearing he continued, "Can you believe it? She's only a little girl and Bill Dawson says he doesn't know how much blood she has, but doubts it's as much as six. This poor girl is running on empty. And now it's much too late. The blood shipment isn't due here for at least two more hours, and there's just no way..."

After rising slowly from his chair he extended his hand and said, "I'm Dick Caulkins. As you probably gathered, I'm the surgeon on this case." Then he looked puzzled and said, "But who are you two? I heard Caitie say 'Gram' and 'Mom, ' but that can't be right.

Kelly's irrepressible sense of humor asserted itself. With her brows knitted, she looked puzzled. "But what's the problem? I don't understand." Then feigning understanding she exclaimed, "Of course! You've probably never met a woman who delivered at the age of nine! That's it, isn't it?"

Then she extended her hand and said, "Hello, Dr. Caulkins. I'm Kelly Fitzpatrick, Caitlin's mother. I guess our little imp said it all: You did what she ordered you to do, and for that we're very grateful." Turning to Andy, she said, "And this is my mother, Andy Taylor."

Focusing on Andy for the first time, Caulkins' jaw dropped. "But ... but ... but you can't possibly! Good grief, girl, you're not eighteen! You can't possibly..." Then looking at the two women together he said, "You're the same age..."

"We are like hell!" Andy exclaimed. "I'll have you know I'm almost forty-three years old. And, for your information, my daughter, Kelly, is almost thirty-three. I'm the one who gave birth at ten, not her!" With that she stuck out the tip of her pink tongue at him.

Realizing that the two women, who were at least as concerned about Caitie as he was, were trying to tease him out of his blue funk, he just shook his head and said, "I guess it's in the genes, isn't it?"

"What is?" Kelly asked, baffled by his response.

"Your need to comfort the afflicted," he replied simply. "She is her mother's daughter, as are you, Mrs. Fitzpatrick." Shaking his head again, he continued, "But we're losing her..."

At that instant the door opened with a bang and Bill Dawson came in carrying a blood bag. Without a word to anyone he instantly connected its tube to the needle already placed in Caitlin's arm. In moments they could all see the bag of blood drain with incredible rapidity. A few moments later, when the bag was three-quarters empty, a nurse rushed in with another, and moments later another came in with a third.

As soon as the first was empty, Dawson switched them. Although the blood continued to rush out of it, the second didn't empty as fast as the first. By the time the third bag had been connected, the people in the room could see an incredible change in Caitie. Color was coming back into her face, her breathing was far more even and less labored, and she seemed to be relaxing.

At this point Dawson seemed to visibly relax. It was as if a huge weight had just been removed from his shoulders. "Dear God, thank you!" he breathed. Then a bit louder he said, "I guess the age of miracles isn't yet past, is it. She's going to make it!"

"But where... ? How... ?" Caulkins asked, utterly baffled.

Before Dawson could reply, another man entered the room. This man was wearing casual clothes and still had his right sleeve partially rolled up. He was carrying another blood bag, the fourth pint. After looking at Caitie he murmured, "Thank God!" Looking at Dawson he asked, "We were in time, weren't we?"

Dawson just grinned, nodded, and said, "You sure were! But just."

The man then turned to the two women and said, "How do you do? I'm Fred Franklin, chairman of the board at Children's Hospital. Bill Dawson, here, was calling everyone looking for A-B Positive blood. Thankfully, he reached someone at Children's who had some brains. She asked him who it was for, and he replied, 'Caitlin Fitzpatrick.'

"That was all our woman needed to hear. You see we still have Caitie's records in our computer, including her complete blood work-up. Although we didn't have any blood that matched in our blood bank, she went through the computer and found everyone whose blood did match. I'm one of them. She contacted all the people on the list. Anyway, we rushed down here, and I guess we were in time."

By this time Caitlin had recovered remarkably. Seeing Franklin she said, "Thank you, Mr. Franklin, for saving my life." Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she continued, "There's nothing more I can say, except thank you..."

Going to her bedside Franklin said, "Caitie, one of the donors is Nurse Moore. Do you remember her?"

Caitie slowly shook her head.

"Well, honey, she certainly remembers you. Everyone at Children's remembers you! I've heard the story dozens of times about how, every morning, you would go to the nursing station and apologize for disturbing them with your crying at night. You couldn't understand why they always cried when you did.

"Caitie, Nurse Moore was one of those night nurses. 'She's the bravest girl on the face of this earth, ' she said. And you know what? She's absolutely right! And I think the first blood you received today was hers. She utterly adores you. In fact, she's expecting a baby now and plans to name it Caitlin after you, if it's a girl."

Reaching out, he took her hand and said, "But the baby's not the only thing being named after you."

With the warmest smile Caitie had ever seen he continued, "We're naming a new wing of our hospital, the Caitlin Fitzpatrick wing." He grinned and added, "We were going to name it for Susan Collins and Colette Fletcher, but even though they're paying for it, they wouldn't hear of it. Both insisted it be named for the bravest patient we've ever had. Incidentally, it's been designed by an incredible West Coast design team, Karen Chan and Chuck Conrad. And, of course, it's being built by PHA Construction who gave us a very good price."

Caitie smiled at the news but had been shaking her head when he told her the new wing was being named after her. "But, finally, Caitlin, we're petitioning the State of New York to change our by-laws to allow a minor to serve on our board of trustees. After all, we are Children's Hospital, so it's only right. And, Caitie, our first child trustee is going to be you! Please, will you serve? You can add so much!"

Caitie had been steadily shaking her head. Now she looked at her mother and said, "Mom, I can't do a thing like that, can I?"

Only then did Franklin see the two women standing by the bedside. Rising, he extended his hand to Andy and said, "You can only be Andy Taylor. You are, aren't you?" When she just nodded, Franklin whistled softly and murmured, "How can one family have all of the world's beauty?"