Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Sixty-Five
31st March 1975
Near Balderschwang, Bavaria
Upon waking up, Kiki was aware of how much her back ached. As unlikely as it seemed, it had gotten worse, enough to keep her awake until a couple hours earlier. Ben murmured something before rolling over and going back to sleep. It was enough to make Kiki wish that she would just have the baby out of her already, so that her body and life could go back to some semblance of normalcy.
At the wedding, Kat had remarked that Kiki was lucky for reasons that had to do with her body type. She only looked like she was six months along though she was nearly to term. She didn’t feel lucky with her back keeping her awake. With a sigh of exasperation, Kiki crawled out of bed and padded across the room to find her dressing gown and glasses. The storm a week earlier had been followed by a cold snap, so the floor was cold under her feet as she walked down the stairs.
The lights were on in the kitchen, which was not much of a surprise. With a household the size of this one there were things needing to be done around the clock. The smell of baking bread and food that was being prepared for breakfast in a couple hours was evidence of that.
“You should not be out of bed” Frau Aue said as Kiki entered the room.
“With everyone having jobs to do, asking someone else to fetch me water would have been stupid” Kiki replied, “And what are you doing up?”
“I find that I need sleep less and less the older I get” Frau Aue said sharply as Kiki removed a glass from one of the cupboards and filled it at the sink. Aue gave her a look when she popped two tablets into her mouth and swallowed them with water. “You are supposed to avoid that sort of thing” Aue said crossly.
“It’s just aspirin” Kiki replied, “For my back.”
Aue continued staring at her. She knew that Kiki was a Physician and that the medical bag that Kiki kept in her bedroom closet had medications far stronger than aspirin. That was just one of the things that Aue and Berg had been watching her for.
These days Kiki had Ermentrud Aue and Nora Berg watching her closely. Both of them had promised Doctor Huber that they would call him if anything happened. Kiki could plainly see the cynical thinking involved in that Huber would need to come all the way from Munich. While she had no doubt about how Aue and Berg had decades of experience, them playing that sort of game was an annoyance that Kiki did not need. That was why she had paid to have Doctor Huber stay in a hotel room in Balderschwang. He was basically getting a free ski vacation out of this, and Kiki considered that a small price to pay to get a little bit of peace in her household.
“Your back is bothering you?” Aue asked.
“At least it is not as bad as another migraine headache” Kiki said as she sat down at the kitchen table and tried to get some weight off her lower back and Aue handed her a cup of herbal tea that she said was good for her as she sat down at the table, the tea tasted like it had pine needles in it. That seemed to work as Kiki watched the breakfast preparations. She was aware that she was aware of the role that she played here as the wife of the Graf of Oberallgäu. Even if she did not have other Titles of her own, that alone would merit the Cooks going about their tasks with half an eye on what she was doing. After a bit, they got bored and started ignoring her presence.
There was a stab of pain in her back, much to Kiki’s annoyance. She was rubbing her lower back until the pain subsided and Aue spoke up again.
“How long do you suppose it was?” Frau Aue asked, “Since the back pain woke you up?”
“Half an hour I suppose” Kiki replied, “You have a theory?”
“I’ve seen this before” Frau Aue said, “We’ll know in another half hour.”
“There are times when I really wish that you were straight forward as opposed to mentioning things you saw in the past that I have no reference to” Kiki said, annoyed.
“In your professional capacity, how many times have you wanted to avoid saying something to a patient in case you are getting something wrong?” Frau Aue asked in reply.
“Point taken” Kiki said, “Still, you have to know how patronizing that can be.”
“Try working with Physicians who think that they know everything and that you are beneath them” Frau Aue said before sipping her tea.
“Point taken” Kiki said, annoyed that she needed to repeat it.
“Unlike most of your colleagues, you have this experience to humble you” Frau Aue said, “My hope is that you do not forget this.”
“Exactly what is so important about back pain in this case?” Kiki asked, not willing to let this go. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“You’ll just get excited over what will likely be nothing” Frau Aue said, “Especially when we are in the wait-and-see part.”
“I never was any good at that” Kiki said, “The waiting. In emergency surgery you want results, the sooner the better.”
“Things couldn’t be more different in my profession” Frau Aue said, “It is all about waiting to see if anything is going to happen and then waiting some more even if it does.”
“Sounds infuriating” Kiki replied.
“It can be, and it is not for the impatient” Frau Aue said, “Mostly it is about keeping everyone calm in the meantime.”