“Hey, feel like grabbing a late lunch?
Tessa called to say that she and Susan are at Joe’s Crab Shack,” Cade said.
“Not today. As a matter of fact, I was
thinking I would duck out early, if you don’t mind covering my last two
patients. Madison is still pretty sick and I feel like I need to check on her.”
“Absolutely. Tell her I hope she feels
better.”
“Sure thing, thanks.”
Rowan quickly shut off his computer,
hung his coat on the coat rack in the corner of his office, and grabbed his
keys. He informed Lisa, their newest receptionist, that he’d be out the rest of
the day, but assured her that Cade would take care of his appointments. Just as
he turned to leave, Erin rounded the corner. Not what he needed today. She’d
not stopped hounding him about the altercation with Susan at The Launchpad
since it happened.
“So, ditching your responsibilities for
the new woman, are you?” Erin said curtly.
“Lisa, if any emergencies come up, just
give me call. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Rowan continued without a glance at Erin.
Erin continued to follow Rowan out into
the waiting room, uncaring of the patients that filled the office. “You know, I
have every intention of pressing charges against Susan for her psychotic
episode the other night.”
“I’m sure you do Erin.” Rowan walked
through the waiting room and nodded to the few patients waiting for their names
to be called.
“When are you going to realize that I’m
the best thing that ever happened to you?”
Rowan glanced at her over his shoulder. “You’re
right. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. Because if not for your
conniving evil ways, I would have never met Madison and, honey, she puts you to
shame in more ways than you can imagine.” Rowan turned his back to her and left
the office without another word.
Rowan hated having to work with Erin,
but he knew what he was getting himself into when he decided to go into
practice with Cade. If he had to endure Erin so that he could spend more time
with Madison, he would and he’d continue doing it with a smile on his face just
as he had for the past four months. The shit he had to deal with in regards to
Erin and even the situation from the other night was worth every moment he
spent with Madison. The past four months had been amazing with Madison. Spending
nights and weekends together had been more than he’d hoped for. Every day that
passed made him realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He
knew she loved him and although she never hinted that she was ready for a
lifetime with him, their relationship was certainly going in that direction. He
was more than alright with small steps, one day at a time, but with a promising
future. After having his heart broken by Erin, he was thankful that Madison
enjoyed the same slow pace he did when it came to their relationship.
On the drive home, Rowan tried several
more times to contact Madison with no luck. He silently panicked when she
wouldn’t answer the phone because it was so unlike her. The beating of his
heart increased when he pulled into Madison’s empty driveway. A million
scenarios flashed through his mind in rapid syncopation and none of them had a
promising ending. As sick as she’d been earlier, there was no way she should be
driving. Driving in her condition would be just as bad as driving drunk. Rowan
went to pick up his cell just as it vibrated in the cub holder. Josiah’s number
flashed across the screen.
“J, are you with Madison?” Rowan’s voice
hitched as his anxiety grew.
“She’s sitting next to me. Listen, Rowan,
she’s pretty dehydrated so we’re on the way to the ER, meet us there.”
Rowan didn’t even wait to hear if Josiah
had anything else to say before he ended the call. He pulled out of the drive,
the tires throwing up gravel behind him, and made a beeline for the hospital. It
took Rowan all of fifteen minutes to make it to the emergency room where he was
greeted by a worried Josiah. Any other person and Rowan might think the glazed
over look and the wringing of his hands were signs of paranoia, but not him, not
Josiah. He’d seen a lot of shit in his time out of the country and the man was
solid, more than anyone Rowan knew.
“Where is she?” Rowan asked as he
slipped past Josiah to the nurse’s station.
“They took her back about five minutes
ago, as soon as we walked in.”
Rowan recognized Cheryl, one of the LPNs
on shift today. “Hi Cheryl, can you tell me what room Madison James is in?”
“Hi Doctor Worth. You know I’d love to,
but I can’t. I’ll let the doctor on duty know you are out here, though.”
Rowan nodded and for the first time
since leaving the hospital, wished he was still employed here. The time ticked
by at a snail’s pace in his mind, but in all reality, it’d only been about
thirty minutes since Josiah had arrived with Madison. Since arriving at the emergency
room, Rowan had been banished to the waiting room. Cheryl had come out and
informed him that Madison had her blood drawn and had been taken for an
ultrasound just to make sure that everything was normal. He bit his tongue,
withholding the words he wanted to shout at the entire staff on duty that in
fact had everything been normal he’d be having a nice dinner with his girlfriend
and not pacing the floor of an overcrowded emergency waiting room.
Rowan lowered himself in the seat next
to Josiah, spinning his cell around in his hand debating on whether to call
Cade and Tessa to inform them of his whereabouts and what was going on. He
unlocked the phone, calling Cade first since he’d be the more level headed of
the two. Cade, of course, offered to cancel their appointments to come right
over, but Rowan said it would just be the two of them along with Josiah sitting
and waiting. When he got around to calling Tessa, he couldn’t even argue with
her. He’d tried to tell her to just wait, to finish her lunch with Susan, but she’d
hung up the phone before he had a chance to even finish telling her why they
were at the hospital. Twenty minutes later, he watched as her and Susan rushed
through the double sliding glass doors.
“Have you heard anything?” she asked
winded, Susan in tow.
“Not yet.”
“Well, what the hell, Rowan. You used to
work here. Certainly you still have some kind of pull.”
“Tessa, I have to wait like everyone
else. Besides, they took her to a room as soon as Josiah brought her in, so at
least I can be thankful for that.”
“Hi J,” Tessa shot him a courtesy
glance. “Do you have any idea what could be wrong with her?” she asked Rowan.
“Not a clue. J actually checked on her
for me, but from the sounds of it she’s pretty sick. Couldn’t keep anything
down and he also said the blood vessels around her eyes had burst from vomiting
too much.”
“Wow, it’s that bad?”
Rowan just shook his head. He didn’t
want to think about how sick Madison was.
Without a word to Tessa, he walked over
to the nurse’s station.
Chapter 9
Susan hung on the outskirt of their
little circle while Rowan filled Tessa in on what was happening with Madison. She
felt like an intruder because she knew that had she not been out with Tessa she
wouldn’t have heard anything about her condition at least for a day or two. Susan
liked Madison, but they hadn’t gotten very close because they hadn’t spent the
time together like she had with Tessa. Not wanting to feel like she was
impeding on their conversation, she quietly slipped away from them and slid
into the seat next to Josiah.
“Have you all heard anything?” she asked
as she cocked her head around to watch the interaction between Rowan and Tessa.
“Not yet. I’m sure we’ll hear soon,” he
responded, folding his arms over his chest and crossing his outstretched legs
at the ankles. “Usually when a former doctor is involved in an ER visit in any
capacity they put a rush on it, unless of course a trauma case comes in.”
“Of course,” Susan said absently, her
eyes scanning the other patients silently wondering what they were all here
for. What ailment did they have that brought them here to sit in a crowded room
with other sickly people for hours on end?
Susan wasn’t a cold person, she cared
for others, but sitting in a hospital waiting room flooded her with reminders
of her own time waiting for some heartless doctor to come coldly tell her
family that her Nana had died without thought to how someone so dear to them
could be gone in an instant.
“Yeah, so…I’m just gonna go outside for
a bit. Can you let Tessa know to come tell me when she knows something?” Susan
mumbled.
“Do you want some company?” Josiah
asked.
“No, that’s okay.”
“Of course it is,” he said under his
breath. “I’ll let her know.”
Susan slipped from her seat and hurried
outside, the swooshing of the sliding glass doors a sweet sound to her ears. The
stench of the physically ill encompassed her, overwhelming her and thrusting
her to a time she wanted to forget. She’d only been nine years old when she sat
in a similar ER while her Nana lay in a room with strangers surrounding her. The
doctors hadn’t even allowed Susan’s mother to be in the room with her, knowing
that she would be taking her last breath without any of her family there to be
with her. Oh they had tried to keep her alive, but her body had already
suffered so much from a stroke the previous year that when she caught pneumonia
there had been nothing they could do. Nana’s body just refused to take anymore
abuse and her will to live had slipped away. Remembering that time now, Susan
had actually been glad that she hadn’t been allowed to see her. She didn’t want
her last memory of her Nana to be in a hospital bed hooked up to machines. She
held on to the memories of smiles, laughter and a yellow legal pad always at
the ready, their only form of communication since the stroke took her ability
to speak. Being here flooded her with emotions she hadn’t been prepared to deal
with. Susan pressed her shoulders against the wall, closed her eyes to the
world, and inhaled the fresh air.
****
Josiah sat next to Rowan and waited as
patiently as he could. When Susan had gotten up to go outside he’d started to
push himself from the chair he occupied to follow, but she didn’t want company,
or at least not his company. She’d made it painfully obvious that she didn’t
want him and quite honestly he wasn’t sure why he gave two blows to the wind
whether she did or not. What he needed was to make a trip to a local bar and
find some hot little number to take him home. He just needed to find some
release from something other than his hand, because what he wanted was to feel
the heat of a woman consuming him.
Josiah tried to occupy his mind with
small talk with Rowan, but Rowan’s agitation of having to wait made it
difficult for even that. He watched as Rowan rested his elbows on his knees and
twisted his hands, checked his watch again, and then pushed his back against
the plastic chair letting out a sigh. A quick reminder to Josiah that getting
caught up in a relationship with anyone for anything more than physical
pleasure wasn’t worth the worry or heartache he witnessed with Rowan at this
moment.
When Tessa went to check on Susan
outside, Josiah walked up to the nurse’s desk to see if he could possibly get
some information, before Rowan gave himself an aneurism. As he waited for a
nurse to return, one of the ER doctors came through the locked double doors
with the confident strides of a gladiator, his expressionless face giving away
absolutely no information. He headed over to Rowan and Josiah followed close
behind. Rowan made quick introductions. Patrick Granger had worked with Rowan
and was the attending on duty tonight and had been the one taking care of
Madison.
“Rowan, come on back with me. Madison
is ready to see you,” he said shaking Rowan’s hand.
Rowan and Dr. Granger slipped past the
secure doors and Josiah found himself awkwardly standing in the middle of the
ER waiting room, surrounded by the sick and he couldn’t do anything to help
them. He felt out of place, felt as if he should be helping the patients, but
it wasn’t his job at the moment. He shoved his hand in his pockets and walked
to the row of vending machines on the far wall opposite the nurse’s desk.
****
Rowan tried to gauge Dr. Granger’s
expression as he spoke to him, but he was as expressionless as a sloth. Most
doctors, over the course of their careers, had learned to don such a face
because too many times if they didn’t a family member would be too hysterical
to talk to.
“How is she?” was all Rowan could get
out. He didn’t want bad new; he didn’t think he’d be able to handle it if
something happened to Madison. Of course he’d be at her side no matter what,
but he’d seen what his father went through after losing his mother and Rowan
knew that same emptiness his father felt would be something Rowan would carry
with him, as well.
“She’s fine. She’s in room three,
waiting for you.”
Before Rowan could get out another word,
Dr. Granger was gone, leaving him standing just past the doors leading to the
rooms. He quickly turned to Josiah before the doors closed sealing him and
Madison in as if they’d been quarantined, and held up a finger signaling to him
he’d return in a bit. He walked as quickly as he could to where Madison waited
with his heart dropping to his toes as he saw her laying on her side with an IV
attached to her arm. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she was awake from the
tears streaming down her cheeks. Rowan’s heart clenched at the sight of her. She
lay in a fetal position with her free arm wrapped around her stomach and
although her hair was pushed away from her face, it was in a ratted mess while
her skin indeed was pale with red blotches. He tried not to think the worst,
yet the way she clutched at her stomach had him doing a blind diagnosis. It
could be anything. Was it her appendix and if so did they catch it in time? Was
it her liver? Several other things flashed through his mind that he didn’t want
to think about.