Page 36 of Protecting the Flame

“Yup.” Still behind her, he feathered his fingers over her ribs. “Might be nothing more than soft tissue, but…sorry, sorry,” he said as she flinched. “You’ve got a great big hematoma here, too.” He touched an area farther down, right below her left ribcage, and then abruptly gave it a thump with his fist. “Does that hurt?”

“Yes.”She shifted forward, blinking back sudden tears. Jesus. “Why did you do that?”

“Trying to figure out if you’ve got an injury to your kidney. Any blood in your urine?”

She remembered that pink smear. “Why?”

“Well, it’s your left flank and where your kidney rests, and you near about jumped out of your skin, that’s why. The kidney is actually retroperitoneal…nestled outside your abdominal cavity and along your spine. A blow or even a well-aimed kick can sometimes bruise or even fracture it. I honestly think you’d be in a lot more pain if the latter were the case, though, but that, in addition to your ribs, probably explains why you can’t get comfortable on your back. Listen, I know this sucks, but I do need you flat. Can you do that?”

“Yes. Give me a sec.” After she slowly worked her way onto her back, she kept an arm draped over her breasts as he gently probed and prodded. “Well?”

“Like I said, we might not know anything about rib fractures unless you drop a lung. You’ve done a lot of heavy lifting already, though, so you’ll probably be okay if you take it easy from here on out.”

“Says the guy with one functional arm,” She rolled her eyes. “Like that’s an option.”

“Truth, that.” Fitting in the earpieces of his stethoscope again, he said, “I’m going to take a quick listen to your belly. You haven’t been sick, so you’re probably fine but…”

“Yeah, yeah, better safe than sorry.” She studied him as he closed his eyes and bowed his head to listen. “Well?”

“Some squirts, some growls.” Then he smiled and opened his eyes. “Noisy in there.”

She was starving. “That’s a good sign, right?”

“Better than silence.” He breathed in his left hand and then placed his palm on her stomach. “Going to palpate here, see if there are any areas of tenderness.”

“Okay.” She kept a careful eye on his expression as he pressed and prodded from the bottom of her ribs to her pelvis and hips. She caught something as he felt around her navel: a slight but sudden cock of his head which was what a person did when surprised. “Is there a problem?”

He answered her question with another gentle prod, his hand cupping the slight swell of her belly. “Any pain?”

“No.”

His face was in shadow. If suspicion or sudden knowledge or even curiosity played on his features, she couldn’t have said, although she felt the questions forming in his mind from information her body might have yielded without her even knowing. He was silent for another beat and then took his hand away.

“Well, then,” he said, drawing the sleeping bag over her belly, “I guess no news is good news.”