Free The Two-Family House: A Novel by Lynda Cohen Loigman Page A

a roaring in Rose’s ears that wouldn’t stop. The air was thick and she felt a burning in her lungs.
    “Rose, listen to me. More than half the ambulances are stuck on the roads. The snow is coming down too fast. The drifts are three feet high because of the wind and only getting higher. They can’t get the ambulances out. They’re sending them only for absolute emergencies.”
    “This is an emergency!” Rose shouted.
    “They say it isn’t. No one is hurt and no one is dying. They won’t send anyone. They probably wouldn’t get here even if they tried. Rose, look at me. It’s going to be fine. You can have the baby here. People do it all the time. The nurse said there’s a midwife—”
    “No! I’m not having the baby here! I won’t!” She pulled her robe tight and stormed out of the bedroom.
    “Where are you going?” Helen ran into the hallway after her.
    “To call a taxi. I’ll get a taxi to the hospital.”
    “Rose, I tried . I swear, I tried. They’re not even answering the phones anymore. I called eight different taxi companies. No one is out on the roads.”
    Rose started to cry, hot angry tears rolling down her cheeks. She let Helen lead her back to the bedroom, to the chair by the window, where she sat with her head in her hands. Her heart was beating too fast and her frustration turned into a raging wail. “How could this happen? This can’t be happening!” Judith came in then, panicked from her mother’s screams. “What’s wrong? Aunt Helen, what’s wrong with her?”
    “Shh, shh.” Helen was next to Rose, patting her back, trying to calm her, but it had the opposite effect. Rose didn’t want to be comforted. She didn’t want to be brave. She wanted to pound her fists on the floor and scream at the world. And after that she wanted to ride in a shiny white ambulance to the hospital. She pushed herself up off the chair and left the bedroom again. “I’m calling the hospital myself, ” she hissed.
    “I’m telling you, I already called.”
    “I don’t care what you already did!” Rose no longer recognized her own voice, but she couldn’t make herself stop screaming. Something she couldn’t name or control was fueling her fury, pushing her wrath past every boundary she had ever set for herself. When she got to the kitchen, the phone had no dial tone. She hung it up and tried again, jiggling the receiver frantically. Again and again she tried, but it was no use.
    Helen and Judith came running after her, but Rose could only stare past them, stony and unblinking. “The phone is dead. I’m going to have to walk.”
    Judith was aghast. “You can’t walk to the hospital. It’s almost two miles away!”
    “It’s not that far.”
    Helen tried to reason with her. “There’s a blizzard outside—the wind would knock you over, and the snow is up to your waist!” Helen took her by the arm and led her to the window. “Look at it out there. Rose, look. You can’t walk for two miles in that! You could get frostbite, you could fall down, you could collapse!”
    Rose wouldn’t believe Helen or Judith. She wouldn’t. She had to stay focused. She had to get to the hospital to have the baby. If she had him at home and something went wrong, Mort would never speak to her again. If something happened to the baby, Mort would never, ever forgive her.
    “I can do it. I’ll just bundle up.”
    “ Listen to me,” Helen pleaded. “Before the phone went dead I spoke to Dr. Blauner’s nurse. I’ve been trying to tell you. There’s a midwife they know. The nurse said she’s excellent. She delivered a baby this afternoon a few doors down from here, and she stayed there because of the storm. The nurse gave her our address. She’s going to try to get here, she’s going to try to come soon.”
    Rose shook her head no. How could she make Helen understand? She had to get to the hospital. She had to have this baby in a place that smelled like antiseptic and bleach, a place that was safe and