Читать книгу Jingle Bell Bride - Jillian Hart - Страница 14

Chapter Five

“I noticed your name on the letterhead,” she said before silence could fall between them. “I didn’t know you were a pediatric oncologist.”

“That’s me.” He rubbed off the fog on the windshield with his shirtsleeve and maneuvered around the building, hitting a patch of ice, which thankfully garnered all of his attention. All day long, she’d been there at the back of his mind, a thought here and there. He wondered how she was doing, wondered why it was so easy to talk to her. Why did he feel comfortable with her? Why her?

“That has to be difficult dealing with critically ill children every day.” Understanding so tender in her voice tempted him to open up.

Opening up was the last thing he wanted to do. Nothing good could come from it. But did that stop him? No. He turned out of the lot, keeping an eye on traffic, and down went his reserve.

“It’s not easy, but it’s what I’m called to do.” He couldn’t look at her, it would be too personal, so he focused on the icy road barely visible through the pounding white flakes. “When I was eight, I lost my little brother, Danny to leukemia.”

“I’m so sorry. That had to be so hard to go through.”

“There was nothing I could do to help him. Nothing I could do to make him better or stop him from dying.” He paused, as if unable to say more.

“I know how that feels.” Her confession hovered in the air between them, too personal, too vulnerable. “I so do. When you’d do or give anything to save a loved one, but it’s impossible.”

“Exactly. I remember standing beside his hospital bed and vowing to be a doctor when I grew up. That way I could help other kids’ little brothers.” He shrugged self-consciously. “Here I am, thirty years later.”

“Helping critically ill children and their families.” New respect curled through her, warm and powerful. “I’ve had to diagnose cancer a few times during my residency. Telling a loving parent that their child has a terminal illness was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Dealing with it every day, doesn’t that get you down?”

“I look at it another way. I help them fight for life.” He hit his blinker and pulled to the curb. “There is nothing more important than fighting for life so love can go on.”