The Second Heart (11 page)

“Oh, well I am here visiting my daughter. My
name is Rob Carpenter.”

“Great. I just need to see your ID.”

Rob reached down automatically to his pocket
and found it empty. His heart sank as he realized that he had left
both his wallet and cell phone in the pockets of his jacket, which
was neatly folded over the back of one of the chairs in Meredith’s
room. “I left it in my daughter’s room. Can you just escort me
there so I can show you?” He glanced down at his watch. Down to
eight minutes.

The security guard shook her head. “I’m
sorry, but I can’t leave this station unattended.”

“Okay. Is there a phone I can use to call my
wife?” Rob asked impatiently.

“There’s a pay phone out in the lobby.”

“I don’t have my wallet!” Rob cried,
exasperated.

The security guard looked sympathetic. “I’m
sorry, I can’t let you use this phone. It’s for the doctors and
nurses only.”

Frustrated, Rob turned and walked back out to
the lobby. His eyes searched the room for someone who might be
willing to help him. His gaze came to rest on Nate Dowering, who
returned his stare with a small smile. Rob approached him. “Would
you believe they won’t let me back there now?”

“That’s too bad,” Nate said with a shake of
his head. He ran a hand through his wavy dark blonde hair.

Rob continued, “And I left my cell phone and
wallet up there, so I can’t even call my wife to let her know. Do
you think I might borrow your cell phone to call her?”

“Sure,” Nate said with a generous smile. He
fished down into his pocket and pulled out a sleek, top-of-the-line
phone. He turned it on and navigated to the calling screen before
handing it to Rob.

Rob dialed his wife’s number and was
listening to the second ring when he realized his mistake. He
berated himself; now Nate Dowering had Amelia’s number. He would
have to convince the reporter that they weren’t worth remembering.
Amelia picked up on the third ring, and Rob explained his
predicament. His eyes moved to Nate furtively. How could he tell
Amelia to hurry without piquing Nate’s interest?

Finally, he said, “You should have Vi come
down with you, too. There are some really cool things in the gift
shop that I think she’d like.”

Amelia’s laughter came loudly through the
phone. “Honey, have you
met
Vi? A hospital gift shop is the
last place she would buy anything!”

“Well, this one’s different. Just bring her.
See you soon, okay?” He hung up the phone before Amelia could press
him for more information with Nate listening so attentively. He
handed the phone back to the reporter, saying, “Thanks so much.
I’ll be happy to get back with my family.”

He started to walk away, when Nate asked,
“How old is your daughter?”

“Twenty-three,” Rob said. “Thanks again.” He
stepped away quickly before he could be asked any more questions,
and hoped that no damage had been done.

* * *

Back in Meredith’s hospital room, Amelia hung
up her cell phone. “He wants both Vi and me to go downstairs to
look at something in the gift shop.”

Vi scoffed. “No thanks, I’m not the teddy
bear type.”

“Did he say who the celebrity patient is?”
Meredith asked.

“No.” Amelia looked thoughtful. “He sounded
weird on the phone. I think we should just go down there.”

Vi looked skeptical, turning to Meredith.
“Will you be okay here by yourself?”

Meredith smiled. “Sure. I can watch some TV.”
To prove her point, she pulled out the television remote that was
attached to her bed and pressed the button. The screen that hung in
the corner of the room flickered to life, showing the hospital’s
in-house patient channel.

After Vi and Amelia left, Meredith flicked
through the channels on the TV, stopping when she found the news. A
building in Thailand had collapsed following the morning
earthquakes, killing over three hundred people. She frowned,
feeling ashamed. In all the excitement of her own illness, Meredith
had pushed the fires, rain, and earthquakes to the back of her
mind. She wondered if Vi’s prediction would come true the next day,
and hoped it wouldn’t.

After a few minutes, there was a soft knock
on the door. “Come in,” Meredith said.

A nurse came in that Meredith hadn’t seen
before. “Glad to see you’re awake,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve got
some good news for you!”

Meredith sat up straighter, waiting for him
to continue.

“You’ve been given the all clear to eat
something. Isn’t that great? The bad news is, it’s all clear broth
and Jell-O for you until further notice.” He gave her a winning
smile, and Meredith couldn’t help but smile back. His positive mood
was contagious. “There’s a menu under the phone with the number for
the hospital room service,” he said, with a sarcastic emphasis on
the words
room service
.

Meredith nodded and thanked him as he checked
her vitals and offered her more painkillers. She replied, “No, it’s
not as bad now, and the morphine makes me too loopy.”

He smiled and said, “Suit yourself,” before
sauntering out of the room.

As he was leaving, a doctor came into the
room, opening the door wide as she did so. Out in the hallway,
Meredith could see the ER nurse from downstairs, Eleanor. Eleanor’s
eyes met hers with a grave expression before the door closed behind
the doctor.

Meredith raised her eyes to the beautiful
doctor who stood before her. The woman was tall and looked to be in
her mid-forties, with sleek white-blonde hair and icy blue eyes.
She had high cheekbones and sophisticated arched eyebrows, giving
off an overall air of cool detachment.

“Good afternoon. I am Dr. Wells.” Her voice
reminded Meredith of cold water running over hard stones. ”I hope
they’ve kept you comfortable while you’ve been waiting for me. I
came over here from Phoenix Mercy specifically to help with your…
unusual… case.”

“I’m sorry, but what exactly is my case? No
one has told me anything.” Meredith felt frustrated that doctors
were being brought in from other hospitals while she was being kept
in the dark.

“Oh, you poor dear,” Dr. Wells said
sympathetically. The display of emotion seemed uncomfortable for
her. She sighed briefly and then said, “You have a growth in your
abdomen, and we really aren’t sure what it is.”

Meredith blanched. “Is it cancer?”

Dr. Wells tapped her foot impatiently, and
Meredith couldn’t help but feel a strong dislike for the woman.
With exaggerated patience, Dr. Wells responded, “Like I said, we
don’t know what it is. At present, it does not appear to be
affecting any of the surrounding organs, though we do believe our
best course of action will be to remove it. Once we have extracted
the growth we can do a biopsy to learn more about it. I’ve
scheduled your operation for eight o’clock tomorrow morning, unless
you have any objections.”

Meredith shook her head numbly.

Dr. Wells continued, “You might like to know
that your friend Dr. Sparling has asked to participate. You must
have made quite an impression.”

At that piece of news, Meredith did feel
better. She liked Dr. Sparling’s friendly demeanor and energy,
especially as she contrasted it with Dr. Wells’s frigid bedside
manner. She wondered if Dr. Wells saw her “case” as nothing more
than a resume-builder.

After Dr. Wells left, Meredith called room
service and ordered some broth, opting for chicken over vegetable.
As she hung up the phone, the door to her room opened once again
and Eleanor, the austere ER nurse, stepped in, closing the door
firmly behind her. Eleanor faced Meredith with a determined
expression, saying, “I need to talk to you.”

Meredith was taken aback at the nurse’s
direct manner. “Okay, so talk,” she said, goaded into equal
brevity.

Eleanor started to open her mouth when the
door opened again. Dr. Sparling came in, smiling kindly at Meredith
until she saw that Eleanor was also in the room. With a look of
surprise, she blurted, “What are you doing up here?”

Eleanor’s eyes met Meredith’s with a pleading
expression before she turned to face Dr. Sparling. “I was taking
care of her downstairs and so I came up to check on her before I
headed home.”

Dr. Sparling grinned warmly. “Eleanor, don’t
tell me you’re growing a heart after all these years!” Then she
turned to Meredith. “Well, I came up here to talk to you about what
to expect tomorrow for your surgery, okay?” She looked at Eleanor
pointedly, a silent suggestion for the nurse to leave.

Briefly, a flash of frustration passed over
Eleanor’s face before she hid it under an impassive expression.
“Well, I hope you’re feeling better then,” she said lamely, leaving
the room.

As the door hissed shut behind Eleanor, Dr.
Sparling stepped closer to the bed. “Meredith, I’m sure you know by
now that you are a pretty special patient.”

“So I hear.”

Dr. Sparling continued, “There are going to
be a lot of people wanting to have a hand in your case who really
have no business being here.” She looked meaningfully at the door
that Eleanor had just walked through. The young doctor walked
around the bed and sat down in the recliner on Meredith’s right.
“I’ve spoken with some of the administration, and they agree with
me that you are going to need an advocate here in the hospital to
protect you from the self-interested looky-loos.”

“Are you sure that’s not what Dr. Wells is?”
Meredith asked earnestly.

Dr. Sparling chuckled. “No, we did actually
call her. Maybe not the greatest bedside manner, but she knows her
stuff. Plus she’s going to let me stay with you for the whole
thing.”

“I take it you’re my advocate, then?”

Straightening in the chair and offering her a
quick salute, Dr. Sparling said, “At your service!”

Meredith smiled, glad that Dr. Sparling would
be helping her. “Thank you! But, don’t you have to go home and
sleep?”

“I’ll take a nap tonight in the on-call room,
so don’t you worry about me. I’ll be close by if you need anything
at all.”

“Why you, though? Don’t they usually have
social workers for this sort of thing?”

Dr. Sparling paused for a moment, considering
how to answer. Finally, she said, “Given the rarity of your case,
we felt it would be best for someone with a medical background to
be the gatekeeper, so to speak. I’ll have a better idea than a
social worker as to who really needs to be in the room.”

Meredith nodded; Dr. Sparling’s argument made
sense.

The door to the hallway opened once again,
and Meredith’s parents and Vi walked into the room. Rob looked
anxious, seeing that Meredith was not alone.

“How was the gift shop?” Meredith asked
conversationally.

Vi rolled her eyes and looked at Rob
accusingly. “Just about as lame as I had anticipated.”

Rob shrugged. “I guess you can’t please
everyone.”

The three stood awkwardly at the foot of the
bed, waiting for Dr. Sparling to explain her presence. The doctor
did so briefly, and then said, “I’m going to be here all night
keeping an eye on Meredith. Nothing’s going to happen this evening,
so I think the best thing for you all to do is head home and get
some rest so that you can coddle Meredith with gusto tomorrow.” Dr.
Sparling smiled and reached over and patted Meredith’s arm.

Rob cleared his throat. “Maybe you’re right.
Would you mind giving us a few moments to ourselves, please?”

“Oh!” Dr. Sparling started, and then sprang
out of the recliner chair. “Of course! I’ll just go get a cup of
coffee or something. My shift ended at six, so you’re my number one
priority from here on out. I’d like to talk to you a bit more, so
is it all right if I come back in say… ten minutes?” Dr. Sparling
sidled past Amelia and paused in the doorway, waiting for
Meredith’s assent.

Meredith looked at Rob, who shrugged. “Okay,
ten minutes,” she agreed.

Dr. Sparling grinned and disappeared into the
hallway. As soon as she was gone, Rob said, “Meredith, I need to
talk to you.”

“Geez, everyone needs to talk to me,”
Meredith grumbled. Her stomach groaned loudly, and she hoped her
clear food would arrive soon.

Rob continued, undeterred, “Honey, those
reporters are downstairs for you.”

At this piece of news, Meredith’s eyes
widened. “Why?” she asked incredulously.

Rob shifted his weight uncomfortably and
glanced at Vi.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “Dad, it’s Vi. I’m
going to tell her anything you tell me anyway, so spit it out.”

Rob nodded. “Someone tipped them off that a
girl in the hospital has grown an entirely new organ.”

“Whoa, cool!” Vi interjected with an
impressed chuckle.

Rob shot a sharp glance, and Vi’s laughter
died in her throat.

“So what? Another useless organ like my
appendix. The specialist said it needs to be removed, so they
scheduled me for surgery tomorrow morning.”

“Did that nurse Eleanor come talk to
you?”

Meredith shook her head. “She tried to, but
then the doctor came in.”

Rob’s eyebrows knit together as he thought.
Then he asked, “Did the doctors tell you it was an organ?”

“They just said it was a growth.” Meredith
felt concerned, sensing her father’s agitation.

Amelia laid a hand on Rob’s arm. “Honey,
relax. The reporters probably got a bad tip. What’s important here
is that Meredith is being taken care of.”

Rob nodded, recognizing the sense of Amelia’s
words.

Changing the subject, Vi said, “I think I’m
going to stay here with Meredith.” Turning to her friend, she
added, “If that’s okay with you, Mere.”

Meredith smiled, relieved that she wouldn’t
spend the night alone. “That would be awesome. Thank you.” Her
heart swelled as she realized just how good a friend she had in
Vi.