by Rebecca York
I picked up Stella from daycare. Come to my office.
Alicia had been dozing for the last two hours. Melody could leave her for a few minutes. As she collected her bottle of water and phone, Heather arrived.
“Dr. Olson said to replace you here for two hours.”
“Thanks, Heather.”
Melody found Stella sitting on Aidan’s lap. His stethoscope around her neck, she moved the disc on his shirt. “Your heart goes boom-boom bada-boom.” She giggled. “Mommy, I’m a doctor.”
“Great. How about dinner?”
“Doctor’s more fun.”
“No, pumpkin, being a real doctor is no fun. It’s a lot of work. And Dr. Aidan needs to work. We’re going to dinner.”
“I stay with Aidan.” Stella pursed her lips.
“Actually, I’m coming with you.” He put Stella on the floor and held her hand. “I’m sure you’re very hungry too, little doll.”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
At dinnertime, the evening shift personnel would be swarming the cafeteria. Aidan didn’t mind being seen by his staff eating with his nurse? What a change.
Despite her worry about Alicia, she enjoyed their simple dinner at the hospital cafeteria, with her daughter babbling and giggling between them. In fact, she couldn’t care less about gossip now that she knew Aidan would be at her side in case of problems and she could trust him implicitly.
Chapter Ten
After putting Stella and Pink Teddy to bed in Aidan’s on-call room, Melody placed her pink phone next to her and reminded her to push the M icon if she woke up and wanted Mommy. To be on the safe side, Melody waited until her daughter drifted off before returning to Alicia’s room.
She found Heather at her side, watching the patient. “How is she?”
“So-so.” Heather stood to leave. “I’m not sure if she’s awake or asleep, but she mumbled from time to time, blurting names. To me, it doesn’t make sense. Do you know her personally?”
“She’s my neighbor.”
“Maybe you’ll recognize the names. Other than that, no change in her condition. Bye. I’m going home.”
“Thank you, Heather.” Melody settled in the chair vacated by her colleague.
Right now, Alicia was sleeping peacefully. According to her chart, she’d received her medicines, injected into the IV bag. Aidan had been called to another patient’s bedside. As long as he wasn’t in surgery, Melody could text him.
Alicia ok. No change. Got her drugs.
Good. His laconic answer indicated he was busy.
Melody played an easy game on her cell phone to while away the time.
“No, John, no.” Alicia’s husky voice startled Melody. Clear words—although gruff—had replaced the gibberish of this morning. Was that progress?
Focusing on her patient’s mouth, Melody set her phone on the night table.
“Don’t leave. John, no.” Eyes closed but with a frown between her brows, Alicia seemed to be reliving a painful scene from the past, talking to her late husband, John Loren. A few more words followed, too difficult to hear and understand. Then she dozed again.
“Careful, Greg, Tim. Drive care...” Oh God, now Alicia was dreaming of her sons, maybe thrown back in time to their last conversation on prom night.
Pain squeezed Melody’s insides.
“Both...dead... No, officer, no. My boys...” Tears slowly rolled from the corners of Alicia’s eyes and the postoperative delirium continued.
Melody bit her lip. Should she text Aidan? But Alicia drifted off. For how long?
Fifteen minutes later, a scream jarred Melody.
“The baby... No baby... I...see baby... John, please...let me see...baby.”
What was she jabbering about? What baby?
Alicia stirred, her face scrunched as she seemed to fight a creeping state of confusion.
“John...let me see her...my daughter...please...lost...no...”
Oh God, had she lost a baby girl? She’d never said anything about a daughter.
Alicia fell back into her silent stupor and Melody wondered if her trips to the past had stopped. She placed her hand on the patient’s forehead. It was warm. She slid a thermometer into Alicia’s mouth. 101.2 degrees. Not high enough to cause worry. Still, it was higher than normal.
She texted Aidan. Temp: 101.2 Muttering on and off, words and names from her past. Doesn’t make sense. Advise.
No answer came. Aidan must be in surgery.
“Melody... So...sorry...” Hearing her name had Melody bounce off her chair.
“Yes, Alicia. You need something?”
“Melody... Forgive... Love you... Stella.”
Poor Alicia, so worried about the trouble she had caused Melody with her surgery. “It’s okay, Alicia. I’m a nurse. I’m used to taking care of patients, and you’re a very dear patient. Don’t worry.”
“So...sorry... Love...you...”
“I love you too, Alicia. Stella and I love you.” How could she soothe her?
The patient opened her eyes and blinked. Melody brushed her fingers over Alicia’s cheek.
“Good God, you’re burning up.” The fever was climbing too quickly.
She slid the thermometer between her lips. 102 degrees.
Something had gone wrong. An infection maybe. She texted Aidan.
Alicia’s fever. 102. Advise.
A few minutes later, Dr. Leo arrived. “Drs. Olson and Anwar are in the OR”
Her heart beating furiously, Melody assisted him as he examined the patient.
“I’ll put her on antibiotics and steroids,” he said. “But first, let’s move her to ICU.”
They wheeled the patient to the intensive care unit for close monitoring. A medical aide arrived with the prescribed drugs and injected them into the IV bag.
“If she shows any sign of convulsion, call me right away,” Dr. Leo said.
Focusing on her patient, Melody watched for erratic movements. Fortunately, none came, but the fever wouldn’t budge for the next hour. Then it slowly decreased.
Around 10:00 p.m., Aidan visited the ICU. “How’s the fever now?”
“It dropped to one hundred and two point two.”
“Her face looks relaxed.”
“She was far from relaxed when I texted you. And she kept mumbling things.”
“What things?”
“Bits of conversation from her past...from strongly emotional moments. She begged John, her husband, not to leave her. Then warned her sons to be careful. Then cried while talking to the officer who announced the boys’ deaths. She even talked to me.”
Aidan scowled. “Ah, what did she say?”
Melody shook her head. “Didn’t make sense. She kept saying ‘love you’ and then ‘so sorry, forgive me.’”
“Ah.”
“I think she was worried about causing me trouble with her surgery and stay at the hospital.”
“Ah...maybe. I’m glad her fever dropped. I hope she’ll stop remembering painful things that cause her emotional turmoil. Surgery on the brain requires a calm recovery.”
“Yes, of course. Everything she said made sense. Her reminiscences of real conversations, of true facts. At least she didn’t hallucinate or experience loss of memory. But one thing...” Melody hesitated, trying to remember Alicia’s exact words.
“What?”
“She mentioned a baby, a daughter, that her husband didn’t let her see. She’d never told me she’d lost a baby girl.”
“Ah... Maybe it was too painful to mention.”
“I guess so. There are things I don’t like to talk about.” Like Melody’s issue with her biological mother. “Yet I trusted her enough to tell her.”
Aidan exhaled. “It’s not a question of trust toward you. More like a deep loss, a terrible suffering for her that she prefers to bury.”
“Yes, probably.” She wasn’t totally convinced, yet she hadn’t been able to do anything to help Alicia when she’d squirmed, in the grip of past suffe
ring.
“Melody, Alicia should be getting better. Dr. Leo gave her an antipyretic for the fever with analgesic effect. I’ll stay with her until morning. You go sleep next to Stella.”
“But I can’t—”
“Her discomfort should diminish now. I want to monitor the drug action and her recovery progress. Go now.” He huffed as she frowned. “Doctor’s order, Nurse Parker. I count on you to resume your duties in the morning.”
She couldn’t argue a direct order, even from the man she considered her boyfriend. “Okay, but please call me if her case worsens.”
“I will, but I expect her to improve.” He signaled toward the camera above the door. “I wish I could kiss or hug you, but there’s surveillance here. I promise I’ll take good care of her. Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Thank you, Aidan. I’ll see you in the morning.”
***
True to his words, Aidan kept a close eye on Alicia and the monitor. Around 2:00 a.m., he increased the dose of analgesic to help her relax but stopped the anti-fever medicine. Alicia’s breathing sounded normal and her hand felt rather cold. She was definitely improving.
Around five o’clock, a pharmacy tech brought the steroid and antibiotics. Without waiting for the morning nurse—in this case, Melody, who’d driven Stella to daycare—Aidan injected the correct doses into the IV bag and documented the injections in the patient’s file.
To avoid disturbing his patient’s rest, he decided to wait until she awoke for a thorough exam. Reassured by the readings on the monitor, he settled in his chair and allowed himself a nap.
“Melody...you here?”
Alicia’s voice jerked him out of his doze. He stood and bent over her. “How are you feeling, Alicia?”
“Dr. Aidan?” Alicia opened her eyes.
“Don’t move your head. Are you thirsty?”
“No, I’m good. Feeling rested. Where’s Melody?”
“Wow, you’re forming whole sentences.”
“Whole what? You don’t make sense, doc.”
He laughed, but didn’t tell her that last night her chatter hadn’t made sense at all. “Glad you’re back to yourself. Let me examine you.”
He removed the bandage on her head, scrutinized and cleaned the suture points, and placed a new adhesive dressing over the incision. Next, he listened to her lungs and heart, and nodded. “You’re doing great, Alicia.” He threw a glance at the monitor. “And your blood pressure and pulse are almost normal.”
“Thanks to you, doc. No complications at all.”
“Actually, last night you had us worried with a high fever and delirium.”
“What did I say?”
“A lot of gibberish, nonsense.” He wouldn’t worry her, now that the worst was over. The phone ring saved him the trouble of explaining anything. “Good morning, Melody. Good news here.”
“Tell me.”
“Alicia is awake and alert. Back to her normal self.”
“Wonderful.”
“How was your night in my bed, without me?”
She chuckled. “Okay, I guess, with Stella kicking quite often. Could have been better with you in it.”
“Don’t I know it. We’ll remedy that later.” Alicia waved a hand. “Alicia says hi.”
“Tell her I can’t wait to see her. I’ll drop Stella at daycare and then resume my shift at Alicia’s side. Bye, now.”
“No rush. We’ll be here. See you.” He turned to Alicia. “She’ll drive Stella to daycare and stay with you all day.”
Alicia didn’t comment but frowned and remained silent for a couple of moments. “You said I was delirious. Was Melody staying with me at that time?”
He sobered, guessing the rest of her questions. “Yes, she was your nurse all day, until I sent her to sleep and took over.”
“So, Melody heard all my...gibberish.”
“I assumed so.”
“Did she mention some of the things I said?”
“Alicia, it was the effect of the fever, a result of the surgery on the brain.”
She pursed her lips. “Tell me exactly what Melody caught from my mumbling.”
Exasperated by her persistence, he huffed. “She didn’t give me a full report. She said you uttered names and words not really connected. You cried and screamed.”
“Which names? Please, doc, tell me everything Melody said.”
He understood her concern and worried the stress might send her into a new bout of fever and delirium. “She said you mentioned your sons and your husband John. She understood you referred to the night of the accident. She also said you talked about a baby you may have lost. A daughter you wanted to see, but your husband didn’t let you.”
“My husband?”
“You mentioned John again in your mumbling.”
“Ah... Yes, John. John Parker, Melody’s father. Did Melody comment?”
“She just said you never told her you lost a baby daughter.”
“Ah... What did you tell her, doc?”
“Nothing. It’s not up to me to disclose a past that doesn’t concern me. I don’t think you have to worry. I shredded all the draft letters. And you didn’t reveal much during your delirium.”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “I want to remain the surrogate mother and grandmother Melody and Stella love. I would have died if she’d guessed I’m her real mother.”
“Relax, Alicia. She’ll never know.”
A guttural shriek from the ICU’s open door made him spin around in alarm, and he caught a glimpse of green disappearing out the door. He dashed to the hallway and saw Melody running toward the elevator. Stella wasn’t with her. She must have left her in his office for a few minutes to check on Alicia before going to the daycare. He rushed to the stairs and ran down to his office, in time to see her grabbing her daughter’s hand.
“Melody—”
She twirled to face him, her eyes wide open, shadowed with pain. “Get out of my sight.” Horror contorted her features.
“Melody, hear me out, please...”
“Never again. Never, you two-faced sleaze,” she shouted, her breathing labored. She tugged at Stella’s hand. “Come.”
“Mommy, you’re hurting me.”
“Quiet.” She let go of Stella’s hand and lifted her up into her arms. “Let’s go.”
“Melody, I never knew—”
“Go away. Let me pass.” She jabbed him with her elbow, pushed him, and yanked open the door.
“Hear me out first, please.”
“Never. The two adult people I loved and trusted the most in this world. Two liars.”
Carrying Stella, she ran down the corridor to the elevator and stabbed the button several times. He couldn’t let her drive in her agitated state. He veered to the stairs. Texting Leo to cover for him, he ran down to catch up with her in the parking lot. He grabbed her arm and drew her to him.
“Let go of me.” Anger shadowed her face. Her brows lowered and her eyes bulged.
“You can’t drive in this condition. You’ll cause an accident.”
She glared at him. “Get away.”
“Think of Stella, for heaven’s sake.” He yanked the little girl out of her arms.
“No.” She held onto her daughter, her hysterical tone and jerky movements betraying her intense distress.
“I’ll drop Stella at daycare. Come with me. My car is right here.”
“Mommy,” the little girl screamed, obviously terrified by the adults’ argument.
“I’m not kidnapping her, for heaven’s sake. But you are frightening the hell out of her.” He clicked on his remote to unlock his car and settled the girl into her car seat. “My little doll,” he started, softening his tone as much as he could. “Your mommy received bad news that hurt her a lot. She needs to calm down and she’ll be fine.”
“Mommy’s not crying, she shouts. She’s mad, not sad.” Perceptive little girl. She knew her mommy well.
“Oh yes, she’s mad. But she’ll be okay soon.�
�� How he wished. The tears hadn’t started yet. With a shock of such magnitude, he anticipated a torrent that would be difficult to stop. If she didn’t cry, he’d be really worried. Bottled-up pain would be more difficult to deal with.
Stella pinched her lips. “You sure Mommy not mad at you? And me?”
“Mommy loves you more than anyone in the whole world. And I love you very much, pumpkin.” He avoided answering her first question. Her mommy certainly resented him right now.
After buckling Stella, he turned to Melody, who’d remained frozen in place next to his car. “Come on. First let’s drop Stella at her daycare.” With a hand on her back, he led her around the car and opened the passenger door for her. “Get in.”
Without looking at him, she climbed into the SUV and sat, as though deprived of the will to think and act on her own. She needed time to digest the astounding news, time to recover from her anger and pain, time to process the information and sort out her feelings. He’d give her that time.
Silence hovered in the SUV during the trip to daycare. When they arrived, he unbuckled Stella and set her down. Deep in her thoughts, Melody didn’t move.
Stella strode to the passenger side and kicked the door. “Mommy, come and hug me,” she demanded, her bangs on the door escalating.
Aidan didn’t try to stop her. Only her daughter could pierce through Melody’s withdrawal. Finally, she opened the door, climbed out, and hugged the little one, pressing her so hard against her that Stella whined, “You’re hurting me.”
“Mommy loves you.”
“Love you too, Mommy. See you tonight.”
Melody sat back in the car.
Aidan resumed driving as slowly as possible.
Eventually, that got her attention. “Are you going to spend all day in this car?”
He suppressed a smile, but didn’t accelerate.
“Aidan,” she hissed. “Don’t you have work today?” she barked as if she were his boss.
“I asked Leo to cover for me until I return.” Maybe it was time to explain a few things. “Melody, I learned the truth the morning of the surgery, when Dr. Turner and his attorney Larry Johnson came to see Alicia,” he said in one breath before she could interrupt him.
“Dr. Turner and his attorney? What are you talking about?”