The Amish Midwife - By Mindy Starns Clark Page 0,59
leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes sparkling.
I shook my head.
“They’re fascinating. I remember the first one I ever saw, back in med school.” He went on to say that the corpse was a twenty-eight-year-old male whom his buddies had found dead after a weekend of partying. “So it was assumed he’d overdosed.”
The autopsy itself had taken more than four hours, and preparing all of the samples took another few days, but the toxicology testing of the blood and urine didn’t come back for weeks.
“That’s probably what’s holding things up now,” Sean said. He took a drink of tea and then went back to his story. “Because the coroner suspected an overdose, he took specimens of the liver and brain too.” He paused. “I wonder if they would do that with an Amish mother.”
I had no idea, unless they thought Marta had given her some sort of drug, illegally.
“The really cool thing was when he opened up the body. He made this big Y-shaped incision.”
I was beginning to wonder if Sean should have been a surgeon.
“And then pulled all the organs out.”
I smiled.
“It was obvious as soon as he was opened up that he’d had a massive bleed. It was his heart. A ruptured aorta.”
“What did the toxicology show?” I asked.
“Nothing. He’d had a few beers. That was it.”
I shivered. “What happened next?”
“The coroner put everything back in. The family had an open casket. No one could tell the difference. But at least they had their answer.”
Obviously Lydia hadn’t had a ruptured aorta or the investigation would be complete. I hadn’t thought of her funeral. Would they have had an open casket? I thought of Melanie and Matty and their sister, Christy. Would the children have gone to the funeral? I thought of Will telling his wife goodbye.
“What do you know about the case?” Sean asked.
“Not much. Sounds as though Lydia had high blood pressure. And at some time during labor Marta said they should go to the hospital, but Lydia refused. I know Marta called 911, but it was too late.”
“Did she do CPR?”
“I’m assuming so.” I couldn’t explain to Sean how hard it was to talk to Marta.
“And how about the baby?”
“It sounds as if it asphyxiated. They did a C-section at the hospital…” I looked into his eyes.
“I was off that night.”
I nodded. I assumed he was. “But the baby was already dead.”
He leaned back in his chair. “What a nightmare. It’s these rare cases that really make me balk at home births.” He smiled. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I said. I had malpractice insurance, but the risk of losing a baby weighed heavily on me no matter what. It did in a hospital setting too. I was always aware of the possibility. But it was worse at a home birth without suction devices and a C-section suite down the hall. During a home birth, it all seemed so natural, so right, but before and after and in the middle of a sleepless night, I scared myself with thoughts of dead mothers and babies.
We chatted a little bit more about Lancaster County. Sean agreed that the Amish horses that pulled the buggies were beautiful. I told him they reminded me of racehorses.
“Some of them are,” he said. “Retired race horses.” He told me about his neighbors in Vermont who had horses and how he grew up riding and doing a little bit of jumping. “I would love to have a horse someday,” he said. “Maybe when I settle down.” His eyes danced again. He asked me about growing up in Oregon, and I told him about the hazelnut orchard and the creek along our property and the view of Mount Hood from the top of the hill. I didn’t tell him about Mama dying or Dad’s recent passing. Those details would have to wait until we were closer—something that, as we sat across from each other, seemed imminent.
He ordered dessert—mango custard that tasted as if it’d come straight from heaven. Later, I sat back as he signed the bill, thinking how nice it was to go on a date with a man who didn’t have to worry about money.
He walked me to my car and took my hand as he said, “Could we do this again sometime soon?”
I hesitated, fighting back a twinge of guilt even as I reminded myself that James and I were officially on a break. I was allowed to see Sean, given my current status.