Her life had changed so much in the last six months. She’d almost died, and now here she was with the man of her dreams looking at her as if he wanted to take a bite out of her.
A woman with dark hair that was graying sat across the table from Jeannine. They had been introduced some time ago and Jeannine remembered that this was Miklo’s Aunt Jolanda, Seferino’s wife. “How are you, Jeannine?” she asked, and poured more water. “Did you get enough to eat?”
“Oh, my, yes,” Jeannine said with a pat to her stomach. “I won’t have to eat for days.”
“Bah. You’re too thin. You need to eat more,” Jolanda said, and patted Jeannine’s hand.
“I’ve been ill in the last year, and I’m still trying to gain back the weight I lost over it.” Jeannine didn’t know how much to tell the woman. Would she think badly of her if she knew the whole story?
“Miklo told his uncle and he told me that you were hospitalized and almost died.” Her large brown eyes grew serious and she clucked her tongue in sympathy. “I’m just glad you’re better and are spending time with Miklo. He needs a good friend, too.”
“He…told me about his wife,” Jeannine said.
“It was a tragedy.” Her shrug said it all. “But life goes on, and we must go on with it.”
Jeannine gave a tearful laugh at the woman’s insight. “You are so right.”
Jolanda stood and gave Jeannine a quick hug. “Now I have to start cleaning up.”
“Would you like some help? I’d be glad to.”
“Oh, no. I couldn’t ask—”
“You’re not asking, I’m volunteering,” Jeannine said. “I’ll bring dishes to the kitchen and you can tell me where to put things.”
Jolanda patted Jeannine’s cheek. “You’re a good-hearted woman. Just what he needs.”
Before Jeannine could digest that, Jolanda scurried away into the kitchen.
Jeannine gathered dishes from a number of tables and took them to the kitchen, where Jolanda directed her to the dishwasher. Miklo entered the kitchen behind her. “What are you doing?” he asked, and observed her from the doorway as Jolanda returned to the dining room.
“The dishes. What does it look like?” she said, and tossed a white towel at him with a laugh. “And you can help.”
He caught the towel before it hit him in the face. “Me? I’m a highly trained surgeon. I can’t take the chance of damaging my hands,” he said with a self-satisfied smile.
“Sissy.”
Brows raised in disbelief, he took a step toward her. “What?”
Jeannine dunked an armload of dishes into a pan of sudsy water. “You heard me,” she said. Though she kept her gaze on her task, she knew the precise moment he stood behind her. The thread of desire that shot through her made her weak in the knees.
With a gentle hand, he brushed the hair back over her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said, his voice soft as he kissed her temple, his fragrance washing over her.
“For what?” she asked, startled as she leaned into his kiss.
“For everything.” Turning her, he brought her face up for his kiss. Against her will, her sudsy hands reached out to his shoulders and she clung to him.
Seferino was about to enter the kitchen with a tray loaded with dirty dishes.
“Stop!” Jolanda screeched, and grabbed him by the waist. “You can’t go in there.”
“Why not? It’s where the dirty dishes go.”
Jolanda hushed him with an impatient wave of her hand. “Miklo is in there.”
“It’s about time he did some dishes. Let me bring him some more.”
“That’s not all he’s doing.”
“The floors, too? Good man.” Seferino reached out to push the door open with one hand. Jolanda tugged on his sleeve again.
“No! Jeannine is in there with him.” Seferino set the tray down on a nearby table. The two huddled at the door and peeked through the window.
“You can come in now,” Miklo said, and backed away from Jeannine. He wiped the kitchen towel over his face.
Seferino picked up the tray of dishes and brought them in. “Are you going to help with the dishes, too?”
Miklo’s gaze fastened onto Jeannine. “I think I will.”
Miklo paused in the ER hallway before heading home. Being here reminded him of his days as a resident, a time of high energy, a lust for life and his work, a feeling that nothing coming through those doors was beyond his abilities. Now he didn’t crave the lifestyle any longer. He much preferred his duties in the PICU, a more controlled setting, more conducive to a home life, though he didn’t really have one.
The stairwell door opened and Jeannine walked out, with her backpack slung over one shoulder, obviously ready to head home, too. She hesitated a moment when she saw him. “Hi, Miklo. How are you?” she asked, her pace slowing. She paused at the exit door, her gaze searching his.
In the short time he’d known her, he’d realized that they had become friends. He’d missed that companionship and until now he hadn’t realized how much he’d needed it. He needed to talk to someone, someone who knew what his work life was like and could commiserate with him about cases. Someone who understood him. That hadn’t explained why his hands shook when he saw her. Why his heart beat erratically when he was near her. Three days had passed since the party at Olympia’s and he’d missed seeing her.
“Jeannine, I—”
“Help! I need help!” a female voice cried from outside the exit door.
Jeannine and Miklo dashed out to find a distraught woman in the door of the ambulance bay.
“What’s wrong?” Jeannine asked, and tried to lead the woman inside. “Are you hurt?”
“No, my sister. She collapsed.” The woman dashed out of the door to a car, with Miklo, Jeannine and other staff racing after her.
“Someone get a gurney,” Jeannine instructed.
Miklo saw a woman slumped over in the passenger side of the car. He jerked open the door and pain sliced through his heart.
“She’s pregnant,” the woman said, as tears poured from her eyes. “Please help her.”
Sweat and memories poured over Miklo at the sight of the unconscious woman. Without thought, he reached in a scooped the heavily pregnant woman into his arms. She didn’t rouse at the movement.
“Put her on the stretcher,” Jeannine said, and reached out to hold the woman’s head upright.
“Don’t touch her,” Miklo said, his voice rough. He took a step back from Jeannine.
“Dr. Kyriakides,” Jeannine said strongly. “Put her on the gurney, and we’ll take her inside.”
Miklo complied with a nod as his heart raced out of control. A male attendant took one end of the stretcher and Jeannine took the other, while Miklo hurried along side. “Trauma One,” Miklo said, and directed the gurney there. Staff had already set up the room. A respiratory therapist placed oxygen over the patient’s face, another nurse started an IV, and Jeannine applied the heart and fetal monitors.
“Tell me what happened to her,” Miklo instructed the distraught woman.
“We were at the mall, shopping for baby clothes. She said she had a headache and was tired. She took an aspirin, and we stopped to rest.” The woman shrugged. “She seemed okay for a while and then when we were in the car she fainted. Is she okay? Is she going to be all right?”
“What’s her name?” Miklo asked and flashed his penlight across the woman’s pupils.
“Maria Romero.”
“Thank you for bringing her in.” Concentrating on the patient, Miklo barely looked up.
“She’s had headaches for weeks and took a lot of aspirin, but we all thought it was just from hormones or something, you know?”
“Why don’t you call her husband to come in?” Jeannine asked, knowing they’d need him here soon if the woman didn’t respond.
“Is she gonna die?” the woman shrieked, and clutched Miklo’s arm.
“No. I don’t know yet. She just needs to have her husband w
ith her. He needs to be here.” Miklo gave the woman’s shoulder a squeeze and returned to Maria’s side. “One pupil is blown, the other is sluggish.” He stood upright and faced the staff in the room. “Radiology. Now. I’ll call Neurosurgery on the way,” Miklo said, and pulled out his cellphone.
“You think it’s an aneurysm or a stroke?” Jeannine asked as they rounded the corner to the radiology department.
“AVM. Happens sometimes in pregnancy.”
“I’m not familiar with that term.”
“Arterial-venous malformation. An irregularity at a junction in the vessels of the brain. The pressure of the cardiovascular system in pregnancy causes it to expand and then rupture at the weak point.”
“Oh, God,” she said as they rolled Maria into the CAT scanner room.
Miklo dialed a number on his phone. “Joshua? Where are you? It’s Miklo.” After listening to the response, he nodded. “I’ve got a pregnant woman, possible AVM. We’re in CAT scan right now. Scrub, and we’ll be in the OR in ten minutes.”
“We need to hurry,” Jeannine whispered. “There are decelerations on the fetal monitor. We need to move, or we’re going to lose them both.”
Miklo grabbed the phone on the wall and dialed the hospital emergency system. “Obstetrical emergency team to the OR.” He slammed the phone down. “Let’s go.” Miklo was more determined than ever to save this mother and her child.
“She’s far enough along that the baby can probably be saved,” Jeannine said.
Miklo avoided looking at Jeannine, but concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other in the race to the OR to save this woman.
Within minutes several events occurred. Miklo and Jeannine turned the patient over to the neurosurgery team, the obstetrical team and newborn ICU teams arrived to perform an emergency Cesarean surgery to save the baby, and the newborn ICU team placed a squalling baby boy into the arms of his father, who broke down and wept.
Miklo left the OR, pain vibrating through him.
Two hours later Jeannine found Miklo staring through the window of the newborn nursery. For a few moments she stood beside him, waiting, watching, hoping.
“Miklo?” Though she wanted to reach out to him, she hesitated to pull him from his silent musings. “Are you okay?”
Without answering, he continued to stare at the activity in the nursery for a few minutes. Then he sighed and seemed to withdraw even more. “I don’t think I can do this any more.”
“Do what?” Though it struck fear in her heart, she had to know, had to ask.
“This.” He nodded at the window. “Watch people die.”
“But this one didn’t die. You saved them both, didn’t you know that?” She touched his arm, making sure that he saw her, felt her.
“I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Exactly. If you hadn’t been there, they would have both died, and that man with a baby in his arms would have lost everything.” Tears flooded her eyes as she watched helplessly at Miklo pushing her silently away.
Miklo faced her, angry frustration blazing in his eyes. “Come on, Jeannine—”
“No, Miklo, you come on. This is where you needed to be, when you needed to be here. Do you think that family is any less grateful than you would have been had the circumstances been different?” She dragged in a breath, trying to control the emotions about to spill out of her. “You saved a woman, her unborn child, and gave them back to their family. That’s not a gift to be taken lightly. You know that, Miklo.”
Miklo calmed and met her gaze, saw truth in her eyes. At least, the truth as she believed it. Could he take that truth of hers and live with it, make it his own? Somehow he doubted it. His life, his jaded attitude was too far gone. He’d had a brief interlude into the light of what Jeannine offered, but it wasn’t enough to keep him there, wasn’t enough to make him whole again. She deserved more than half a man to love her, to fully love her, not the half way he had done.
“I know you’re hurting right now, but you have to let them go.” Her lips trembled, and he wanted to reach out to smooth them into a smile, but his hands remained at his sides. “It’s the only way for you to survive. To live again.”
Miklo unclenched his fists and tunneled his hands into her hair, dragging her close against him, not caring where they were or who witnessed the downward spiral of his life. This was the last time he was going to touch Jeannine.
Jeannine’s arms clutched around his waist. “Hang onto me, Miklo. Hang onto me as long as you can.”
“You’re a wonderful woman, Jeannine.” His throat was tight, his tongue thick in his mouth. The effort to suppress his emotions choked him.
“Don’t you dare give me that.”
“I mean it. These last few weeks have been wonderful because of you. You’re bright, you’re beautiful, compassionate and smart.”
“But?”
“I don’t think I can do this again.”
“Do what?”
“Lose someone the way I lost my family, the way Maria was almost lost to her family.” Though he wasn’t related to her, though he didn’t know the family, the situation was too close to home for him to just let go of it so easily. Reason and logic had no place here. “I didn’t love Darlene the way…Losing her almost killed me. If something happened to you, too, I don’t know if I could bear it. At least if I walk away now I know you’ll be safe.”
“Miklo. There are no guarantees in life. Just chances. If you’re not willing to take a chance, then I don’t know what we can do.”
The sound of her voice in his head made him want to let go, let go of everything that had been holding him back, but he couldn’t. The ability to take that step and keep going had somehow been blocked by the pain of the past, the pain that would never let him go.
He pulled back and released her. He turned away, unable to bear the worry, the concern, the love in her eyes. He knew she loved him. Every step they had taken together had brought them closer, and she had fallen over the edge. It was in her touch, in her kiss, in every breath she took when she was with him. And it was his fault that she was hurting so badly.
“I’m very concerned about you.”
“I’m so sorry I’ve dragged you down with me. Hurting you was never my intention.”
“Miklo, you deserve to be happy, no matter who you choose to be with. Spending your life paying for a mistake that wasn’t yours is just plain wrong. No one should give up their life for such a thing.” She grabbed his sleeve. “Accidents and tragedies happen. They are part of life. We’ve both suffered long enough, and we deserve to be happy.”
He thought of her and the pregnancy that had almost ended her life. They had both lost a child. She hadn’t given up, she had survived and persevered, changed her life, and was now a success. “You are one of the bravest people I have ever met in my life.”
“I’m not brave, just too stubborn to quit.” Her watery gaze held his.
She gave him a sad smile that made his heart lurch. Taking two steps back from her, he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Something is broken in me, Jeannine, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
“If you’ll let me, I can help you.”
“You already have.” Miklo took another step back from her. Needing the space between them for a moment before he broke down and took her in his arms again. “I’m sorry, but I need some time right now.”
Jeannine looked away, sniffed and nodded. “I understand.”
And she knew it was over between them. Recovering from devastating events was impossible for some people. Miklo might never recover, even though he’d made an attempt.
Closing the gap between them in two strides, he cupped her face in his hands and pressed a hard kiss against her mouth. “I’m sorry.” Seconds later, he released her and walked away.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RATHER than waiting by the phone like a teenager who’d been dumped by her boyfriend, Jeannine worked as many shifts as she could and ke
pt herself busy. Miklo hadn’t called her since the night they had spoken outside the nursery window, just a few days ago. He might call her, he might not. She understood that, accepted it, and she resisted the temptation to call him. It didn’t stop her from looking up and hoping every time she saw an attending physician with dark hair come into the lounge for a cup of coffee. Their time together was probably over.
“So, how’s Dr. Hottie these days?” Trish asked as they entered the break room.
Jeannine reached for the coffee-pot and poured them both a cup before she answered. “I’m…not sure.”
“What do you mean?” Trish demanded, and sat straight upright in her chair, her eyes bright with suspicion.
“It’s that simple.” She stirred creamer in her coffee and watched the black liquid swirl into an amber color. “He’s busy. I’m busy,” she said with a shrug, and tried to look casual about it.
“Did something happen that you’re not telling me?”
The concern in Trish’s voice was almost enough to bring tears to Jeannine’s eyes, but she resisted the urge to give in to that indulgence. She’d survived much more than heartache, and she wasn’t about to give in now. “Maybe we really aren’t as compatible as I thought we were.”
“But you said the sex was fabulous!”
“It was,” she said in a hushed tone, and looked around to see if anyone lingered in the hallway. “Relationships aren’t just about sex.”
“They’re not?” A completely innocent look covered Trish’s face as she thought about it. “Oh, dear.”
“No, they’re not, silly, and you know it.” She playfully batted her friend on the arm and released a pent-up giggle. The tension of the day had been heavy, and she needed the release.
“Wow. I’m glad you straightened me out on that one. No telling how long I could have gone on having fabulous sex with someone thinking I was having a relationship.” Trish chuckled and sipped her coffee, then she leaned forward in her seat. “So what do you think happened between you and Miklo?”
Six Sexy Doctors Part 1 (Mills & Boon e-Book Collections): A Doctor, A Nurse: A Little Miracle / The Children's Doctor and the Single Mum / A Wife for ... / The Playboy Doctor's Surprise Proposal Page 56