by Ava Riley
Josiah took a quick glance around the room in search of where she might keep her keys. He needed to get her to the hospital because whether she had the stomach flu or not was beside the point. The woman lying before him had all the signs of dehydration and there was nothing he could do for her here. Placing his hand on the side of the couch and pushing himself up, his movements were quick as he picked up papers that were spread out on the coffee table in hopes that she buried them there. When he didn’t find what he was looking for there, his steps quickened heading for the kitchen to check for some kind of hook that might hold her keys. No luck and just when he decided to check her bedroom he remembered that Rowan kept his keys by the door. Bingo! A colorfully woven basket sat on a vintage round table the size of a snare drum, and within the small vessel a set of shiny keys stared up at him.
Josiah snatched up the keys, then quickly went back over to Madison. Just as he mulled over whether or not to take anything other than her purse, Madison stirred.
Placing gentle hands on her shoulders as she tried to sit up, he eased her onto the couch. “Whoa, take it easy. Look, Madison, we need to get you to the hospital.”
“No, no. I’m fine. No hospital please. Just help me to my bed if you would.”
“No can do. You’re pretty dehydrated so we need to get you to the ER. I’ll call Rowan on the way there to meet us, okay?”
Madison didn’t argue. Josiah didn’t know if it was because of her lack of strength or because she understood the severity of the situation. And he didn’t have time to find out either. He scooped her up into his arms, grabbing her purse from the coffee table, and headed to her car. After he got her all situated, making sure her seatbelt wasn’t too tight, he ran into the house when she started to dry heave, taking the steps two at time and retrieved the miniature trashcan from the guest bathroom. Slipping into the driver’s seat, he kept his eyes on Madison while he adjusted the seat then the mirrors. Without hesitation, he reversed the car out the drive, and headed to the emergency room.
Chapter 8
Sitting at the oak desk in his small office, Rowan checked the clock in the corner of his laptop one last time. Close enough, he thought. He had five more minutes before the time he had given himself to call Madison again, but as far as he was concerned it was close enough. She’d been sick all day and it worried him, especially since it had been bad enough for her to miss work. He pulled his cell from the front pocket of his lab coat and dialed her number. On the fifth ring, he heard her angelic voice, but not the one he wanted to hear. The message was much more energetic than what he’d heard the last time he talked to her. Rowan quickly hung up and dialed again. Once more her voicemail came on. He didn’t bother with a message because he knew if she were too sick to answer the phone, she sure as hell wouldn’t be checking any messages. Just as he slid his phone into his back pocket, Cade sauntered in his office.
“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 overc
rowded 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.
Rowan’s eyes scanned from her head to her feet, needing to take all of her in then he let his eyes drift to the beeping monitor sitting on the cart next to the bed. He inched a little closer and saw that all her vital signs looked normal other than an accelerated heart rate, but nothing to be alarmed about. Letting out a sigh of relief, he slowly made his way over to her, not wanting to startle her.
“Rowan,” she said in a whisper, squeezing her eyes tighter.
“Shhh, I’m here,” Rowan said, wiping at her tears as he lowered himself in the worn chair next to her bed. How many others have sat here wondering if their loved one would be okay, he absently thought?
“I’m so sorry, Rowan. Believe me when I say I’m sorry,” Madison said between sobs.
“Why are you apologizing? Baby, you can’t help it that you’re sick. Please don’t apologize.”
“I was careless and this is all my fault.”
“What are you talking about?” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to her ear.
Madison opened her eyes causing the tears to trickle at a steady pace, “Dr. Granger didn’t tell you?” When Rowan didn’t respond, she turned her back to him. “I’m...I’m pregnant.”