The Surgeon's Perfect Match

by Alison Roberts

Awareness of her filled the darkness, overwhelming any physical considerations. Fear stepped in. Holly had been in terrible danger. He couldn’t remember why, but the desperate need to do something was paramount. He struggled to move. To open his eyes.

  ‘Take it easy, son. Everything’s all right. You need to rest.’

  No. Everything wasn’t all right.

  ‘Pop?’ Ryan couldn’t recognise the odd croak that seemed to be his voice. He had to blink and concentrate on trying to focus his vision.

  ‘It’s me,’ Jack confirmed. ‘I’m here, Ryan.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘You’re in the intensive care unit, lad. You got yourself a bit mashed up.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘You got smacked, don’t you remember? By an ambulance, of all things.’ Jack’s chuckle was strained, as though laughter had only just won over tears. ‘Not a bad idea, that’s what I say. If you’re going to get run over, you may as well choose a vehicle that can help pick up the pieces.’

  Ryan didn’t care what had hit him. Or what injuries he might have sustained. There was something far, far more important he needed to know. With a mouth as dry as the Sahara and a thickened tongue, it was too hard to get more than one word out at a time, but a single word was all he needed.

  ‘Holly?’

  There was a tiny pause. A hesitation that hung in the air as Jack gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Ryan could hear the beep of a monitor falter as his heart skipped a beat. Why did he need reassurance? What had happened to Holly that Jack was reluctant to tell him?

  He managed two words this time. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘She’s been admitted to hospital. I’ve been to see her a few times. She’s asleep just now.’ Ryan’s hand received another squeeze. ‘They reckon she’s going to be all right, son. She’s just needed a spot of dialysis to help her along.’

  Oh, no! The kidney had failed.

  His dream had failed. Instead of being able to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved, he would be sentenced to watch her slowly die. He didn’t bother trying to open his eyes again. Why hadn’t that damned ambulance done a better job of running him over? This was far worse than any physical pain could be.

  ‘She’s going to be all right,’ Jack repeated firmly. ‘And so are you, thank God.’ He cleared his throat. ‘And thanks to Holly, of course.’

  Ryan pushed the lead weights of his eyelids up again. ‘Why?’

  ‘You were at death’s door, lad. The bump on your head isn’t so bad but you broke your leg and you needed to have your spleen taken out. You lost way too much blood and they didn’t have enough of the good stuff to give you. There’s some crisis in the blood bank at the moment apparently. Anyway, you weren’t looking so good this time yesterday, let me tell you.’

  There was a connection here that Ryan wasn’t getting. He felt lines in his forehead gather as he frowned. ‘And?’

  ‘And Holly insisted on giving you some of her blood. One unit was OK, they were happy enough to let her do that, but it wasn’t enough and Holly insisted on giving you more.’

  ‘No-o.’ The word was halfway between a sigh and a groan. How could Holly have put herself at risk like that? A major blood loss was a dangerous strain even on a healthy body. On a system that was still adjusting to something as big as a new kidney, it could be devastating. How could any responsible doctors have allowed her to take a risk like that?

  His thought must have been obvious.

  ‘She insisted she felt fine,’ Jack explained. ‘She got another doctor on her side. Doug somebody? Anyway, she gave this speech to your doctors. Said they would never find a better match and she demanded the chance to help. She said…’ Jack had to clear his throat twice this time. ‘She said she loved you and she was prepared to take whatever risks were associated with giving you more blood. She argued some medical stuff about them giving her some packed cells or something to replace her blood and that you needed the whole blood far more than she did.’

  ‘And they let her?’

  Jack was smiling. Ryan could focus well enough now to see the tear that tracked a tortuous route down the deep wrinkle lines on his grandfather’s face.

  ‘She was pretty damned persuasive. And she did seem fine. She sat in here with you all night. It was this morning that she fell over. They’ve given her all kinds of stuff. They said the dialysis is just to try and give that old kidney of yours a bit of a rest.’

  Ryan shook his head. ‘Not my kidney,’ he said. ‘Holly’s.’

  ‘You need to rest again, too.’

  Ryan had no option. He was being pulled back into that dark place, his mind and battered body under the control of medication.

  ‘Tell Holly…I love her.’

  ‘I’ll do that, lad. I think she knows, mind you. And I’ll tell you something else. She loves you. You’re a lucky man.’

  Indeed he was. Holly loved him. She had risked her life to help him. Nobody did something like that simply from gratitude. How could he have ever doubted the strength of that love? It didn’t matter a damn what had precipitated them finding each other. The only thing that mattered was that they belonged together.

  For ever.

  Ryan managed an approximation of a smile. ‘I know.’

  ‘Sleep well, lad.’

  ‘You’ve been very lucky, you know that, don’t you?’ Doug Smiley wasn’t smiling at the moment. ‘Don’t scare me like this again, young Holly.’

  ‘I won’t, I promise.’

  ‘I’m going to hold you to that.’ The older physician did smile now. ‘Want some more good news?’

  He’d already given her the rundown on her vastly improved condition so more news had to be about someone else. Holly caught her breath and sat forward eagerly. ‘Ryan?’

  ‘He’s looking great. Going to be moved out of ICU and into the ward later today.’

  ‘Can I see him?’

  Doug’s smile widened. ‘Just don’t go exchanging any more bodily fluids for now. Or any other bits and pieces that happen to take your fancy. You two have shared quite enough.’

  A kiss didn’t count as exchanging bodily fluids, did it?

  Not the gentle one that Holly bestowed on Ryan’s sleeping lips anyway.

  Or even the much firmer, longer one when Ryan opened his eyes and reached to pull Holly back well within kissing distance.

  Holly’s legs felt wobbly enough to make her sink to the chair positioned near the head of Ryan’s bed but she couldn’t give up the physical contact. Both her hands were linked with his. She took a deep breath.

  ‘I’m sorry, Ryan. It’s my fault this happened.’ Having started, the words tumbled out. ‘You were right. It was a stupid thing for me to try and do. I was out to prove something and I was too thick to realise that I didn’t need to prove it at all.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have done it, Holly. You’ve got no idea how worried I was.’

  ‘I know. I am sorry. I’ll follow Jack’s advice from now on. I won’t run before I can walk properly.’

  ‘I wasn’t talking about the run. I meant that you shouldn’t have risked your life giving me so much blood.’

  ‘But I had to!’

  ‘Really? From what I’ve heard, you put up one hell of fight to be allowed to do it at all.’

  Holly just smiled. When Ryan raised his eyebrows to suggest that he still wanted an answer, she responded with a question instead.

  ‘What was the real reason you gave me your kidney?’

  It was his turn to take a slow inward breath. To measure his words.

  ‘Because I love you,’ he said softly. ‘I had to do something to try and help you survive because I felt like I was watching you die by inches and a part of me was dying right along with you. The most important part. My heart.’

  Holly blinked back tears. ‘Same,’she whispered. ‘That’s exactly the same reason I had to give you my blood.’ She sniffed inelegantly. ‘Only you were trying to die a lot faster than I did.’

&nb
sp; ‘I won’t do it again.’ Ryan’s grasp on Holly’s hands tightened. ‘I haven’t even said thank you.’

  ‘You don’t need to. I wanted to do it. It was my choice. You don’t owe me anything, Ryan Murphy.’

  He smiled. ‘Same,’ he murmured.

  A whole minute ticked past and then another as they simply held each other. With their hands. And their eyes. Holly could swear their souls were touching as well.

  ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

  A gleam of mischief made the gold flecks in Ryan’s eyes sparkle. ‘Same,’ he said. Then he relented. ‘I love you, too, Holly Williams. More than I could ever say.’

  Holly’s eyes were wide enough to make her look appealingly innocent. ‘You’re good at leaving offers open, aren’t you, Ryan?’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Kidneys, bacon and egg sandwiches—that sort of thing.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess I am.’

  ‘So…that other offer you made? Is it still open?’

  Ryan’s face was a study in blankness. ‘What offer?’

  ‘Oh, you know. The one to marry you. To live with you for the rest of my life. To have a family and stuff.’

  ‘Oh…’ The twinkle made it obvious that Ryan had been deliberately obtuse. He had known exactly what Holly had been about to ask. Maybe he’d just wanted to hear the words.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he said with utter conviction. ‘That offer is most definitely still open.’

  ‘In that case…’ Holly did her best to sound suitably solemn but joy was taking control of some of her muscles. Her mouth was insisting on curling into the biggest smile ever. ‘I’d like to accept your offer, please.’

  Recovery for Ryan took longer this time. A period in which Holly and Jack became very close as they shared caring for him. Being such a vital part of the household seemed to give Jack a new lease of life.

  ‘Every cloud has its silver lining,’ he announced. ‘That’s what I say. Never had so many games of chess in my life!’

  It was Jack’s old restaurant overlooking the sea in one of the most beautiful bays in Auckland that Ryan and Holly chose as the venue for their wedding reception three months later, on Christmas Eve. It was Jack whom Holly chose to give her away.

  ‘Not that I’m giving anything away,’ he whispered loudly, right in front of the altar. ‘Keeping you in the family, that’s what I’m doing. As you should be, lass.’

  Keeping that kidney in the family as well. A kidney that continued to perform as perfectly as if Holly had been born with it. Apart from having to take her anti-rejection medications, she was in perfect health. Holly found more than enough stamina to study for and pass the rigorous examination process that saw her become a fully qualified surgeon the following year.

  Jack, at ninety-seven now, was still beating Ryan at the occasional chess game. Turning Jack into a great-grandfather when he was ninety-eight was not planned, but when Holly found herself pregnant both she and Ryan were unanimous in their decision to accept what life had chosen to throw at them, to deal with whatever risks were involved and to be grateful for any joy that also came their way.

  So much came that the name of their daughter was decided the moment she arrived in the world and was pronounced perfectly healthy.

  They called her Joy.

  Holly’s kidney had coped with the strain of pregnancy. And it continued to perform with no hint of her body trying to reject it.

  ‘Of course not,’ Ryan said more than once. ‘Why would it? It was a perfect match after all.’

  And Holly had a favourite rejoinder.

  ‘Just like us.’

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-5868-9

  THE SURGEON’S PERFECT MATCH

  First North American Publication 2006

  Copyright © 2006 by Alison Roberts

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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