Читать книгу A Forever Family Collection - Коллектив авторов - Страница 28

ABBY watched in wonder at the huge array of equipment being unloaded in the ambulance bay. All this for one baby?

She caught sight of a familiar face at the back of one of the crates. ‘Linc!’ she shouted, as she pushed her way through the jumble of people.

Lincoln Adams was the neonatologist she usually worked with at San Francisco Children’s Hospital. She gave him a quick hug and led him inside the emergency department.

‘Are you okay, Linc? You look really tired.’

He shook his head, his hands on his hips. ‘Let’s just say a certain man…’ his eyes followed James Turner as he strode through the department ‘…appeared at my door at 3 a.m. yesterday morning and told me I had to come to Pelican Cove. I haven’t slept in two days.’ He ran his fingers through his short, spiky hair. ‘He wouldn’t take no for an answer.’

Abby nodded. ‘I know exactly how you feel. I’m really sorry, Linc. He asked me for the best neonatologist that I knew. And you were the natural answer.’

Lincoln leaned over and gave her a hug, obvious fatigue making him hold the position a little longer than necessary. ‘It’s not your fault, Abby.’

‘Want to introduce me?’ Luke’s voice made Abby jump.

‘Yes, sure.’ She noticed the amused expression on Linc’s face. ‘Lincoln Adams, this is Luke Storm, he’s the President’s cardiologist and unfortunately for him he’s the only doctor at the moment to have met the security protocols required to treat the President’s family.’ Lincoln held out his hand towards Luke and the two men shook hands briefly, each sizing the other up. ‘Luke, this is Lincoln Adams, the best neonatologist at San Francisco Children’s Hospital. He’ll be the man looking after our imminent arrival.’

Luke eyed up the new recruit suspiciously. Was there a reason he’d been so keen to hang onto Abby? She may have had an out-of-date box of condoms in Pelican Cove, but what about her home in San Francisco? Was there something more to this relationship?

Lincoln Adams pulled uncomfortably at his crumpled T-shirt. ‘Is there somewhere I can get changed, Abby? And somewhere we can get our equipment set up? I want to make sure that we are ready.’

Abby gave a quick nod. ‘We’ve designated a room for you…’ she rolled her eyes ‘…and all your equipment. Have you brought some extra staff?’

Lincoln gave a quick nod.

‘That’s great. I’ll also assign one of our NPs to your team to familiarise you all with the surroundings. Come with me and I’ll show you where the room is and you can let your staff start to unpack.’ She placed her hand firmly at the small of his back. ‘In the meantime, you look like death warmed over. I’ll show you where you can shower and change, and then I’ll take you for something to eat with David Fairgreaves. It’ll give the two of you a chance to discuss your patient.’

Lincoln nodded gratefully. ‘You do know that’s the only reason I came here, right? The chance to work with David Fairgreaves was too good an opportunity to miss.’

‘And the fact you’ve looked after the First Baby won’t be too shoddy on your résumé either, will it?’

Lincoln shook his head and the two of them walked down the corridor together, leaving Luke with an uncomfortable feeling twisting around inside him. What was this? Why did he feel uneasy about the relaxed relationship Abby obviously had with her professional colleague? Wasn’t it just what he would expect from her?

He was sure that Lincoln Adams looked and felt exactly the same as he did. Like a fish out of water. In a strange place, with strange people and patients he didn’t know.

Luke glanced at the piece of paper he had clutched in his hand. The list of cardiac patients he’d seen that morning at the clinic. Everything had been straightforward, easy almost. He’d been assigned a secretary and a nurse that morning who’d sorted out every test he’d ordered or prescription that he’d written for the patients. This place ran like clockwork and it made him a little envious of his overloaded clinic back in Washington.

He wandered back through to the emergency room.

‘Dr Luke!’

Lucy, Reuben’s childcare worker, came careering through the doors towards him. ‘Oh, thank God it’s you,’ she gasped as she sat Reuben down on the worktop of the reception desk. Reuben was crying at the top of his voice, holding his arm outwards away from his body. ‘He cut his hand, playing on the beach.’ She glanced over her shoulder. ‘Is Abby here?’

Luke shook his head. ‘She’s just taken one of the new doctors through to the other side of the hospital.’ He looked down at the red-faced child and shook off his feelings of unease. He could do this. He was a professional. ‘So what do we have here?’

He gently lifted the handkerchief that was held tightly on Reuben’s hand and assessed the damage in an instant, lifting Reuben up into his arms and signalling for Lucy to follow.

‘We’ll go through to one of the suture rooms,’ he said quickly. ‘Can you give Dr Tyler a page please and tell her to come back to the ER?’ he asked one of the receptionists.

The woman gave him a quick nod and picked up the nearest phone.

Luke placed Reuben on the bed in the suture room, pulling one of the angled lights a little closer. He quickly set up a trolley and scrubbed his hands under the sink, before putting on some gloves and opening the sterile suture pack. Lucy kept her arm around Reuben, whispering in his ear and pointing out the characters painted on the walls.

‘So what happened, Lucy?’

She shook her head. ‘He wanted to try and find the rock pool you showed him yesterday but he slipped and he cut his hand on a broken bottle hidden in the sand. I can’t believe it happened. The beach is usually so clean.’

Luke bent down and looked Reuben in the eyes. ‘Okay, big boy. I’m going to spray some magic stuff on here to make this nice and numb. Then I’ll be able to clean it.’

The tears still rolled freely down Reuben’s face and he sniffed loudly. ‘I want my mommy.’

‘I know, Reuben, but she will be here in a minute. Let me see if I can make this better.’

He gave the laceration a quick spray and waited a few minutes before touching it. The cut was deeper than he’d first thought and would definitely need sutures. ‘Can you give your fingers a wiggle for me, please, Reuben?’

‘I want my mommy.’

‘She’s just coming, I promise. Now, let me see you wiggling your fingers.’

Reuben stuck out his bottom lip, before wiggling his fingers. Luke checked carefully, ensuring there was no further damage. He gave Lucy a rueful smile. ‘There’s no permanent damage,’ he said, ‘but I’m going to have to suture this.’

‘You’re going to have to what?’ Abby had appeared in the doorway, white-faced and breathless. She crossed the room in two strides, wrapping her arms around Reuben and brushing against Luke’s gloves in the process.

He stepped back to give her a few minutes.

‘What happened, Lucy?’

‘I’m really sorry, Abby, but he cut himself on the beach. Luke said that he needs some stitches.’

Luke was back over at the sink, throwing one set of gloves in the disposal bin and scrubbing his hands again. As he pulled on a fresh set of gloves, his eyes were drawn elsewhere. One of Reuben’s trousers legs had bunched up and revealed a dark purple bruise on the soft tissue at the back of his shin. Had that been there last night? He didn’t think so. Or had it happened yesterday when they’d been surfing? One thing he knew for sure—a child shouldn’t bruise that easily.

He gave Abby a quick smile. ‘Are you okay with me doing this, or do you want to get someone else?’ He was more than capable of suturing the laceration but if Abby would prefer one of her other colleagues, that was fine.

Abby shook her head. ‘Sorry about the gloves,’ she murmured. ‘I should know better.’

‘No worries. You’ve got your mommy head on right now. Do you want me to do the sutures?’

‘Yes, please. As long as you don’t mind his overanxious mother hanging over your shoulder.’

Luke smiled. ‘No problems. But I should warn you, I expect some singing while I’m doing this.’ He raised his eyebrows at Lucy, who quickly realised he wanted something to distract Reuben.

‘We can do that, can’t we, Abby?’ She started to sing a nursery rhyme.

Abby quickly joined in as Luke bent his head and expertly inserted a row of sutures along the laceration then covered it with a white dressing.

‘All done. Well done, Reuben.’ He ruffled Reuben’s hair with his hand. ‘I think that deserves a special treat. How about I give Lucy some money to buy you a huge pancake at the canteen with chocolate syrup?’

Reuben’s eyes widened like saucers, his injury quickly forgotten. ‘Can I, Mommy? Please?’

Abby smiled. She didn’t often indulge his sweet tooth, but her heart had stopped when her page had gone off, saying Reuben was in the ER. She was so relieved it was nothing serious.

‘Of course you can, honey,’ she said. ‘I’ll need to fill out a little paperwork at the front desk. I’ll be there in a minute.’

Lucy picked up Reuben from the bed and headed towards the door with him. Luke caught Abby’s arm as she headed towards the door.

‘Abby…’

She noticed the expression on his face. ‘What’s wrong, Luke?’

‘Maybe nothing. It’s just, I noticed a new bruise at the back of Reuben’s shin. Maybe it was there yesterday, but I don’t remember it.’

Her face paled. A whirlwind of possibilities started flooding her mind. The last thing that the mother of a child with ALL wanted to hear. New bruises.

‘But I watch him so carefully. I mean, I check all the time, I hadn’t noticed anything…’ Her voice drifted off.

A chill spread across her skin. She hadn’t checked him carefully that morning. Not like she usually did. This morning her head had been filled with hot and steamy memories of the night before. Had she missed the bruise?

Luke slipped an arm around her waist. ‘It might be nothing, Abby, I wasn’t trying to alarm you. It’s just…it caught my eye when I was stitching his hand, so I thought I better mention it.’ Her weight had sagged against him and he could see the distress on her face as her mind raced to its own conclusions. He walked over to the reception desk with her. ‘Look, you fill out the paperwork and I’ll meet you in the canteen with Reuben, okay?’

She gave a little nod, her mind obviously distracted, and he bent over and lightly kissed her cheek. Her fingers lifted to her cheek and her eyes flickered over to meet his. ‘What? Yes, okay. I’ll see you in minute.’

Luke left her at the desk and strode through to the canteen, where Reuben was busy asking Jan to make him the biggest pancake possible. He lifted Reuben from Lucy’s arms. ‘Will you go and see that Abby’s all right?’ he asked, and she nodded silently and headed back towards the door.

‘One extra-large pancake with chocolate sauce.’ Jan placed the plate on a tray next to a glass of milk. She glanced at Luke’s full arms. ‘Do you want me to carry this over to one of the tables?’

He gave a quick nod and walked behind her to a table looking out over the gardens.

‘I get the window seat!’ shouted Reuben, and wriggled out of Luke’s arms, plunking himself down in the seat next to the glass. ‘Yum, yum!’ He licked his lips in anticipation as the plate was pushed in front of him. ‘Can you help me cut it up, Dr Luke?’ he asked as he held out a knife.

Luke smiled and started cutting the pancake into manageable chunks. His mind was whirring with the possibilities of ALL. Had he seen something minor and jumped to a dramatic conclusion? His instincts said no.

‘My mommy’s the best cutter,’ murmured Reuben as he watched Luke’s efforts. ‘She cuts in triangles, they’re much easier to get in my mouth.’

‘Does she now?’ said Luke with amusement, as he tried to re-jig his efforts into triangular pieces. ‘How’s that?’

‘Mmm, it’ll do.’ Reuben lifted his fork and speared a piece of pancake, the chocolate sauce inevitably dripping down the front of his T-shirt.

Luke felt as if he was holding his breath. The more time he spent in this little boy’s company, the more familiar he felt. It wasn’t just the eyes and hair colour. It was his mannerisms. The things that he did without even realising it. The way he played with a little tuft of hair on his forehead, just as Ryan had. The way that his pinkie nail, and only his pinkie nail, on both hands was bitten down to the quick. The same way his own had always been as a child.

‘Whatya looking at, Dr Luke? Do ya want a piece of my pancake?’ Reuben was brandishing his fork, dripping with chocolate sauce towards Luke.

‘No, thanks, Reuben. You eat it all.’

Luke bit his bottom lip. Ryan had died of ALL and this little boy had ALL too. Four years old compared to Ryan’s fifteen. Life was so unfair sometimes. Children didn’t deserve a disease like this. Children didn’t deserve to suffer. Why did this little boy—Abby’s little boy—have to have ALL?

Luke raised his eyes skyward. Was somebody up there trying to send him a message? There was nothing in the world that Luke wanted more than the chance to have his brother back. The same wild wish or dream shared by every family the world over who had ever lost a loved one.

Maybe he could get a chance to do all the things with Reuben that he never could with Ryan?

But as much as he cared about Abby, could he really do this? Losing Ryan had been the single most painful experience of his life. He’d seen firsthand the devastation the disease caused. He would be mad to put himself through that again.

The swing door for the canteen opened and a still pale-faced Abby crossed the room with a weak smile on her face. She slid into the chair next to Reuben, giving him a kiss on top of his head.

‘Look, Mommy,’ he said, swirling a piece of pancake in the remaining chocolate sauce. ‘This is great.’

She slipped an arm around his shoulders. ‘I’m sure it is, honey.’ Her eyes met Luke’s, and she looked as if she were in pain. ‘I’m going to take the rest of the day off and go home with Reuben,’ she said quietly.

‘Do you want some company?’

She shook her head. ‘No. I need for us to have a little time together. Just the two of us.’

Luke nodded. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard her talk like this. Right from the start she’d said that Reuben was hers and hers alone. She didn’t seem to have made room in her life for anyone else. It was almost as if she didn’t want to share Reuben, and wanted to keep him all to herself.

But she shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden alone. He could see the haunted look on her face. He could almost reach out and touch the physical pain she was feeling. It was evident in every little line on her forehead and around her strained eyes.

Right now, for Abby’s sake, he had to try and make the effort. He had to offer her the support she so clearly needed—and that he’d never had. No one should have to do this on their own. And it didn’t matter how mixed up he felt.

She’d looked distinctly uncomfortable that morning, when she’d found Reuben playing on top of Luke’s bed. Something churned deep down in his stomach. Luke stood up and straightened his coat, walking around to Reuben’s seat. ‘Yuck! Look at those chocolate hands. What do you say that I take you to clean up a little while your mom gets changed out of her scrubs?’ He gave Abby a little nod as he bent to pick up Reuben. ‘See you in five minutes, okay?’

He held Reuben’s hands under the faucet. He could manage this. The simple stuff. The hand-washing and toy-soldier-playing stuff.

‘Why is Mommy sad?’ The innocent question almost stopped Luke dead. Children were so perceptive.

‘Do you think Mommy is sad?’

Reuben nodded. ‘She has the sad face on today.’

Luke knelt on the floor to face him. ‘Sometimes adults are a little sad. It doesn’t mean that you’ve done anything to make her sad, though.’

‘I know.’ He leaned forward and whispered in Luke’s ear, ‘When Mommy’s sad, I get to sleep in the big bed with her. My cuddles make her all better.’

Luke smiled. ‘Well, they sound like really special cuddles. I’m sure they do make Mommy feel better.’ He took a deep breath and swept up Reuben into his arms. What he wouldn’t give right now to cuddle Abby in the big bed. But if he wanted to find a way into Abby’s heart, he was going to have to let Reuben into his.