by Loree Lough
Wade grimaced. Fat lot of good your prayers are gonna do, he silently scolded this patient’s mother, ’cause if the Big Guy exists, He ain’t listening.
Only yesterday, Wade had spent nearly eleven hours in the OR with little Emily Kirkpatrick. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of God would stand idly by as a six-year-old endured such intense and constant pain. Now, shaking his head, he forced a bright smile and shoved his way into the child’s room.
“Dr. Cameron,” Emily’s mom said, hands still clasped in prayer, “how good to see you.”
Humbled by the gratitude on the mother’s weary face, Wade felt himself blush. “How goes it, Mrs. Kirkpatrick?” He grabbed Emily’s chart from the plastic slot attached to her door, tucking it under his arm as he met the woman’s eyes. “Get any sleep last night?”
“Oh, I managed to catch a few winks. How about you? You’re the one who spent eleven hours in the operating room.”
Long ago, he’d accepted that now and then, he’d run across someone who seemed to have turned nurturing into an art form. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was one of those people. “Slept like a baby,” he answered.
Laughing, Emily’s mom grabbed her purse. “If you don’t mind, I’ll run down the hall and grab a quick cup of coffee while you’re examining Emily.”
“Take your time,” Wade said, dragging a chair closer to Emily’s bed.
Emily opened sleepy eyes. “Hi, Doc.”
He perched on the edge of the chair. “Hi, yourself, kiddo. How y’doin’?”
Emily managed a wan smile. “Hurts,” she said, pointing to her chest.
“Sorry to hear that, sweetie.” Gently, Wade laid her chart beside her on the mattress. “You’re due for a little medicine soon, so by suppertime, you’ll be feeling much better.”
She gave a weak nod.
“So how’d you sleep?” Gently, he touched a finger to the end of her upturned nose. “Did those busybody nurses keep you awake, taking your temperature and stuff?”
Her smile broadened a bit. “Yeah, but it’s okay. Mommy says they’re just trying to help me get better.”
He took her tiny hand in his. “What’s this?” Wade asked, grinning.
“A ladybug, crawling on a daisy,” she said. “This nice man came in and painted it on me.” Her blue eyes darted around, then settled on something across the room. “Miss Patrice brought him here.”
Wade followed Emily’s gaze to where “Miss Patrice” stood, entertaining Emily’s roommate. If the young woman had seen him enter, she gave no sign of it; her attention was fixed on her one-child audience.
Which was fine by Wade; volunteers had good intentions, what with their puppets and face paints and musical instruments, but in his opinion, their main contribution was to wear out his patients and generally get in the way.
“And if Nurse Joan tells me you don’t eat your supper again tonight,” Miss Patrice made her monkey puppet say, “I’m going to tell my best friend.”
The child snickered. “Yeah?” the girl demanded, grinning. “Who’s your best friend?”
“Why, Santa Claus, of course!” Miss Patrice manipulated the sticks controlling the puppet, making it tousle the child’s hair. Wade would have bet the kid’s peals of laughter could be heard all the way to the bank of elevators down the hall. He couldn’t help but notice that her merriment had crept to Emily’s side of the room, too.
“If Santa finds out you’re not taking proper care of yourself,” said the puppet’s gravelly voice, “there’s gonna be T-R-O-U-B-L-E.” She made the monkey wiggle a hairy finger under the girl’s nose. “And you know what that spells!”
“Trouble!” Emily answered, grinning from ear to ear. For the moment, at least, she appeared to have forgotten her pain.
Patrice whirled around, eyes wide and smiling, and, puppet balanced on her forearm, stepped up to Emily’s bed. “And just who do you think you are, li’l missy, the Spelling Bee Queen?”
“No, silly,” she giggled, “I’m Emily Kirkpatrick.”
“Pleased t’meetcha, Emily Kirkpatrick!” The monkey tickled her chin. “My name is Mortimer Mohammad Mastriani McMonkey.”
“That’s a long name!”
Mort did a little jig on the edge of Emily’s bed, then tapped a paw to his chin. “Yes, it is a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it. Tell you what…you can call me Mort.” The monkey’s hands rested on its hips. “Now tell me, cutie, how’re you doin’?”
“I had a op’ration yesterday.” She gave Wade an adoring look. “Dr. Cameron fixed the hole in my heart.”
The puppeteer met Wade’s eyes. For a moment, no one spoke…not even Mort McMonkey.
“Yes, so I heard,” Miss Patrice said at last.
The puppeteer had the most expressive face Wade had ever seen. The short, reddish-brown curls topping her pretty head reminded him of the elves on those cookie packages. He wondered why she allowed it to cover one eye; it seemed to him those big brown eyes were so warm, they could thaw an igloo.
She looked vaguely familiar, and he was about to admit it when she moved Mort aside enough to expose her name badge. Patrice McKenzie, it said.
“Will you be having supper with us tonight, Emily?” Mort asked.
Wade was too stunned to hear Emily’s response. He’d met a Patrice or two since that night, but how many Patrice McKenzies could there be? Can’t be that Patrice, he told himself.
Could it?
She blinked, confused, he presumed, by his scrutiny.
It had been fifteen years since he’d shared a bleak ER waiting room with a teary, terrified girl, but he’d recognize those big brown eyes anywhere. If the young woman on the other side of Emily’s bed wasn’t the same Patrice, he’d eat his stethoscope.
Mort started hip-hopping again. “Well, well, well,” the monkey said, “it looks to me like your Dr. Cameron is a real live hero, Emily Kirkpatrick!”
The girl’s mother stepped into the room just then. “Yes, yes he is,” she said, standing beside him.
Hero? The very idea was laughable! Wade wanted to warn them all that, in the first place, though Emily’s condition was much better than it had been at this time yesterday, she was far from out of the woods. And in the second place…
The train fiasco that had sent him to the ER all those years ago flashed through his memory. Heart pounding, Wade checked his watch. “So, are you ready to show me your incision, Em?”
She nodded. “Okay, I guess.”
Because of her heart condition, Emily wasn’t as big as other girls her age. The operation made her seem even smaller, frail, vulnerable. Wade finger-combed golden locks from her forehead. “Say goodbye to Mort,” he said gently, “’cause we need to close the curtain.”
She shook the monkey’s tiny, hairy hand. “G’bye, Mort. See you later?”
“You betcha!” The puppet waved at Emily, at the child in the next bed, at Mrs. Kirkpatrick, then at Wade. “See yas later, ’gators!”
As Patrice started for the door, Wade grabbed her elbow. “Mind hanging around a minute? I have something to ask you.”
Her dark brows rose slightly, as if to say, What could you possibly want to ask me?
“Okay,” Mort answered in Patrice’s stead, “but it’s gonna cost ya, Doc.”
For a reason he couldn’t explain, Wade abandoned his all-business demeanor. “Name your price, monkey face.”
The kids and Mrs. Kirkpatrick laughed as Mort slapped both fuzzy hands over his mouth. “Monkey face? Well, I never!” He shook a furry finger at the doctor. “It was gonna be just a cup of coffee, but after that remark, you’ll hafta throw in a slice of pie, too!”
Small price to pay, Wade thought, for a private session with Mortimer Mohammad Mastriani McMonkey…and his handler.
“I’ll be in my office,” Patrice said.
For the second time in as many minutes, she’d used her own voice. Like everything else about her, it was adorable.
But wait—had she said her office? “Since when do h
ospital volunteers have offices?”
Patrice laughed, the sound reminding him of the small copper bells that used to hang on his mom’s back porch.
“Technically I’m not a volunteer,” she explained, walking backward toward the hall, “But I am the person who makes sure there are volunteers for the children. I’m the pediatric social worker who heads up Child Services.” She opened the door. “You know where the Zoo Lobby is?”
Wade didn’t like admitting that he hadn’t a clue. “Ellicott General is like a small city, and I’ve spent most of my time in the ‘heart’ of town, if you’ll pardon the pun.”
Mort came to life again. “I get it, Doc,” the monkey said. “Cardiologist…heart…. Ha-ha-ha.” Mort patted Wade’s shoulder. “First-floor elevators to the giant stuffed animal cages, left down the hall, office on the right.” Clapping, the monkey added, “The sign above the door says Child Services. Got it?”
Wade was about to echo “Got it,” when Patrice winked and ducked into the hall.
“She spreads such joy wherever she goes,” Mrs. Kirkpatrick said as Wade pulled the curtain around her daughter’s bed. “And isn’t she just the cutest thing?”
“Yeah, cute,” he muttered halfheartedly, opening Emily’s file. He’d never been a big advocate of non-family members meandering in and out of the hospital, overstaying their welcome, leaving behind their germs. And Patrice McKenzie had built a career of inviting them to do just that.
He wondered how much joy she’d feel like spreading if he gave her his two cents worth on the subject.
He pictured the long-lashed, dark eyes, heard her lilting voice in his memory, and found himself fighting an urge to rush through Emily’s examination so he could make his way past the Zoo Lobby to the Child Services office…
…and the lovely lady who’d breathed life into Mortimer Mohammad Mastriani McMonkey.
She caught sight of her reflection in the silver frame that held a photo of her father, taken before the fiery car crash. Instinctively, she fluffed her hair, effectively hiding the scar. The hideous, horrible welt coiled from just below her right earlobe to the corner of her eye, like a rope that tied her, permanently, to the accident that had paralyzed her father.
Patrice sat back and squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn’t until her knuckles began to ache that she realized how tightly she’d been gripping the chair’s wooden armrests. It had taken several sessions with her pastor to realize why she refused to get rid of the picture…and the scar. Flexing her fingers, she sighed. “Someday,” Pete Phillips had counseled, “you’ll give them both to God. Until then—”
Footsteps, just outside her office door, cut short the memory. Grabbing a pen, she hunched over the papers piled high on her desk and feigned hard work.
“Knock, knock….”
She recognized the charming baritone: Dr. Wade Cameron.
Patrice looked up and smiled. “Hi,” she said, standing. “Come on in.”
He placed a partitioned cardboard tray on one of the chrome-and-blue upholstered chairs in front of her desk, then sat in the other. “All they had was cherry,” he said, handing her a plastic-wrapped slice of pie. “Hope that’s okay.”
A nervous giggle popped from her lips. “Oh. Wow. I, um, I was only kidding,” she said, as he put a disposable cup on the corner of her desk. “About the pie, I mean.”
He held up one hand. “We had a deal.” Grinning, he glanced at the puppet, leaning on the silver picture frame. “Well, the monkey and I had a deal, anyway.”
She liked his smile. Liked his eyes, too. There was something familiar about him. No big surprise; thousands of medical professionals made up the Ellicott staff. She’d probably passed him in the halls, or shared an elevator, or stood in the cafeteria line with—
“Your directions were great,” he said. “I found your office just like that.” He snapped his fingers, then glanced around the room. “Kinda dim in here. You want me to hit the lights?”
She lifted her chin. “No. Thank you. Fluorescent light…” Pausing, Patrice folded both hands on the file folders stacked on the blotter. “It’s…it’s hard on my eyes.” Not quite a lie, but not exactly the truth, either. She found the incandescent glow of the sixty-watt light-bulb in her desk lamp more than adequate to work by, and it prevented people from seeing her scar.
“Well,” Wade said, pointing at the mess on her desk, “I can see you’re busy, so I’ll get right to the point.” He leaned forward, balancing both elbows on his knees. “I think we’ve met before.”
She put her hands in her lap. “Really?”
He nodded. “Fifteen years ago, in the ER at University Hospital.”
Patrice swallowed. Hard. Because fifteen years ago today, her brother had died. She felt her mouth drop open. “So that’s why you look so familiar. You’re the nice boy who bought me chocolate milk.”
One shoulder lifted in a slight shrug. “I didn’t buy it—the nurse at the reception desk gave it to me.”
“I stand corrected. You’re the nice boy who brought me chocolate milk.”
Wade stared at his clenched fists.
Patrice peeled the lid off her cup of coffee. When the puff of steam evaporated, she realized it wasn’t coffee, after all, but hot chocolate. Smiling, she said, “So you’re still a nice boy, I see.”
Even in the dim light, she could see him flush, reminding her of an innocent boy.
“So how’re your folks?” he asked. “I remember seeing them, too, that night.”
She swallowed again. “They’re…” Shaking her head, she cleared her throat. Since it wasn’t likely she’d be seeing him again, except maybe in passing, Patrice saw no point in telling him all the gory details. “We never quite got around to talking about why you were in the ER that night.”
His gaze darting from her face to Mort to his own clasped hands, Wade frowned. “I was checking on the condition of a—” his frown deepened “—a friend.”
“How’d he make out?”
He looked up. “Huh?”
“Your, uh, friend. How is he?”
“He, um, he died that night.”
Patrice leaned forward. “Oh, Dr. Cameron—”
“Hey, we’re old pals, so call me Wade, okay?”
“Sorry to hear about your friend,” she said. “Guess that was a pretty dismal night for both of us, wasn’t it.”
Something was happening behind those sparkling, hazel eyes. Something that made Patrice wish she had the ability to read minds.
Wade got to his feet. “Anyway,” he said, neatly sidestepping the question, “you’re busy, so…”
Patrice stood, too. Somewhere deep in her heart, she’d hoped that maybe the handsome Dr. Cameron’s interest in her was inspired by more than mere curiosity. She checked to make sure her scar was still hidden. Thankfully, it was. But maybe he’d seen it in Emily’s hospital room, where the lights were much brighter than in her office. “Thanks for the hot chocolate,” she said. “And the pie.”
He waved her thanks away. “Well…”
Well, what? she wanted to demand. He’d gotten the information he’d wanted. If he had more to say…or ask…why didn’t he just come out with it?
Wade clapped one hand to the back of his neck. “I, um, I was wondering if, uh, maybe you’d, um, like to have dinner with me sometime.” He pocketed both hands and stood there, a half grin on his face, waiting for her answer.
“Um, well, sure,” she began, “I, uh, I guess so.”
Wade began to laugh. It started slow and quiet, and escalated to a pleasant rumble. Soon, Patrice was laughing with him.
“Maybe we oughta join Toastmasters,” he joked.
“Oh, sure. Like anybody would hire the Um-Uh-Er-Uh Duo to give a speech!”
His smile and laughter dulled. “I’d rather hear you stutter and stammer than listen to…just about anything.”
In the seconds that followed, Patrice stood in silence, unsure what to make of his probing, penetrating gaze.
“So what do you say?”
About their mutual stuttering? she wondered. Or his dinner invitation? Suddenly aware that she was clasping and unclasping her hands, Patrice stuffed her fingertips into the back pockets of her jean skirt. “I—”
“What’s your preference? Italian? French? Asian?”
Her cheeks were hot, and she hugged herself, hoping the low lighting had kept him from seeing her blush. “I’m not fussy,” she said, shrugging. “Food’s food.”
“How do you feel about tacos, enchiladas, chimichangas, quesadillas?”
“Long as lima beans aren’t part of the recipe, I’ll eat just about anything.”
His eyes lit up. “Great, ’cause I know this terrific little Mexican place and—”
“Tonight?”
He shrugged. “Well, sure.” The sparkle dimmed as he exhaled. “Aw, man…I should’ve known you’d already have a date.”
Another nervous giggle popped from her. “Now, really, how could you have known a thing like—”
He interrupted with “You’re gorgeous, for starters!”
When he slapped the back of his neck again, Patrice realized Wade probably regretted the compliment.
Well, she didn’t; it was nice to hear, even if she didn’t believe a word of it.
“I’m not busy tonight,” Patrice blurted.
The glint returned to his eyes and he said, “How about scribbling your address and phone number for me on one of those business cards, there.” He pointed at the plastic holder on her desk.
After grabbing a card and a pen, she printed the information he’d requested. Their fingers touched when he took the card from her extended hand, sending a tremor of warm tingles up her arm and straight to her heart. He was everything she’d ever dreamed about—tall and handsome, with muscles in all the right places and a dimple beside his generous mouth.
Uh-oh, she thought, it was happening already.
Every time she allowed herself to fall boots over bonnet for some good-looking hunk, all she ended up with was another heartache. Well, not this time! she decided, straightening her back.
Wade tucked the card into the side pocket of his white lab coat. “I’ll pick you up at six, okay?”