“They’ll take good care of her,” Keera said, stepping up behind him as the chopper lifted skywards and headed back to Sugar Creek. “I got Wade Andrews, head of oncology and our leukemia specialist, to take charge of her team, and lined up Annabelle Gentry, the best general surgeon I know, in case it’s her appendix. Oh, and Brett Hollingsworth, head of Pediatrics, is on his way in to oversee her general care while she’s here. I’ve got her set up in a private room in Pediatrics, and had a bed brought in for you so you can stay.”
“I don’t know what to say, Keera.”
“You don’t have to say anything. This is about Emmie, and you know how I feel about her and Allie.”
“They’ve missed you,” he said, as she slipped her hand into his and pulled him towards the hospital door.
“I’ve missed them. You don’t know how much I enjoyed our girls’ day out. It was a first for me, and it made me realize how much I missed when I was that age. Also how much I like...” she smiled “...being around children.”
“See, I told you so.”
“Yes, you did, and we’ll talk about that later on. Right now, though, tell me about Emmie.”
“I didn’t know she was sick. Apparently she hasn’t felt well for a couple of days—general malaise, vomiting, which she never told me about, achiness, tender belly, feverish. Allie knew, but the girls conspired to keep it a secret because they were afraid if they told me, that would make it be leukemia again.”
“We all have ways of deluding ourselves, don’t we? Even when we’re young, I suppose. Oh, and Allie called me a little while ago.”
“Allie?”
“Yep, Allie. She didn’t want to talk to you because she was afraid it would make you sad, so she called me. Had Brax dial for her.”
“He’s a pushover when it comes to kids. Can’t ever say no to them.”
“Well, he didn’t say no to Allie and, Reid, what she said was so sweet. She told me if Emmie is sick like she was before, she wants to be the donor. Actually, she called it a door—near, but I knew what she meant.”
“I—I... Twice in a row, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll say it for you. You’re an amazing father, and you’ve taught your daughters to be generous.” As they stepped into the hospital, they headed straight to Pediatrics, where the team Keera had assembled was fast-working on Emmie. Blood was being drawn, X-rays being taken. Pokes, prods, IV, oxygen, all the usual.
“We’re going to get her through this. Whatever it is, I promise, we’re going to get her, get both of you, through this.”
Reid swallowed hard, looking through the window of the procedure room. “The camp burned to the ground,” he said.
“I know. I read the accounts. I’m so sorry.”
“Emmie’s been helping me with the plans to rebuild. I think I may have a budding architect, because the architect I’ve hired is actually going to incorporate some of her ideas. He said a kids’ camp from a kid’s perspective is what I need, and he told her that when she grows up to keep him in mind when she’s looking for a...” He slapped a tear from his cheek. “I feel so damned helpless. Done this twice before, I don’t know if I can do it again.”
Keera stepped up behind him and slid her arm around his waist. “We may not have worked out as a couple, Reid, but I’m your friend, and I’m not going to let you go through this alone. Whatever you and Emmie need, whenever you need it, you don’t even have to ask.”
“I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry. You don’t know how much I wanted to answer your calls or call you. Or just come here and see you. Every day, Keera. Every single day of every single week since that day when you walked away from me.”
“You were right, though. I didn’t give you anything to trust. I was adamant about who I was and what I wanted, and there was no room inside that for us. But it did hurt, Reid, hearing how you believed that my wanting to help you with the camp was me trying to manipulate you. You had a right to that opinion, and everything I’d said or done was responsible for that opinion, and I wasn’t even angry at you. It hurt, but I understood.”
“Dr. Adams,” Dr. Hollingsworth said, stepping out into the hall. “Emmie’s pretty sick, but we’re not sure yet what’s causing it. We’ve got the first round of tests started, and what I’m proposing, because of her past history, is that we put her in the ICU for close observation until we start getting things sorted out. Might be for a few hours, might be for a few days, until we have everything worked up.”
“You don’t think she needs her appendix out?”
“There’s a possibility but, given her history, we’re reluctant to look at that as our first course of action as she’s got several swollen lymph glands.”
Reid nodded. “I did notice that when I examined her, which is why my first thought was...”
“A recurrence of her leukemia,” Dr. Hollingsworth said. “And if Emmie was mine, I’d be thinking the same thing. But Keera said she’s been active, not feeling bad.”
“I asked Beau when he called me earlier,” Keera explained.
“That’s right. She was fine. A little tired the past couple of days but before that she was energetic as all get-out.”
“In my experience, leukemia doesn’t just take you down from being healthy and active one minute to where she is now. So, while we’re not going to rule it out, we are looking for other causes. And make no mistake, she’s a very sick little girl. But we’re optimistic. In the meantime, it’s going to take us about an hour to get her transferred to her ICU bed, so the doctors’ lounge is available if you’d like to go and wait. And our cafeteria is open around the clock in case you want to grab something to eat. I’ll page Keera as soon as we get Emmie situated, then you can come and see her.”
“I appreciate it,” Reid said, extending his hand to the man.
“Oh, and that camp of yours. I’ve heard good things. Hope you can get it up and running again because I have a couple of patients who could benefit, and I could be up for a little volunteering myself.”
“Working on it,” Reid said numbly, because numb was all he felt. Numb, but not alone.
* * *
“Are you sure I can’t get you something?” Keera asked as they shut the door to the private room that would be Emmie’s once she was out of Intensive Care. “Coffee, tea, a soft drink?”
She felt totally helpless because there truly was nothing she could do to help him except stay with him. And that wasn’t helping, at least not in the way he needed.
“Thanks, but I’m good.”
“You’re going to have to keep yourself going for Emmie’s sake. You know that, don’t you?”
“Is this my pep talk?” he snapped.
“No, it’s your reality check. I know you’re scared, and I wish I knew what to do to make that better for you but other than being here, trying to take care of you, I can’t.”
“That’s right. Keera the nurturer.”
“That’s not fair, Reid. And I know you’re snapping at me because of Emmie. But I always knew my limitations, and was honest about them. So, please, don’t take it out on me now, because I do want to help you.”
“I know,” he said, sitting down on the side of the guest bed. “And I’m sorry. It’s been a horrible few weeks, thinking about everything I did wrong. Then with all the arrangements concerning the camp...now this.” He looked up at her. “You didn’t deserve what I said about you that day, and you don’t deserve it now. I am sorry, Keera. Truly, sorry. Please, believe that.”
“I do,” she said gently. Then chuckled. “Oil and water. That’s us, isn’t it?”
He patted the bed, inviting her to sit down next to him. When she did, he pulled her into his arms and simply held her. “Not really. I seem to recall a pretty good mixing.”
“We were go
od, weren’t we? And in more ways than that.”
“In more ways than that. But that was pretty spectacular.”
“Look, Reid. When this is over, when Emmie’s back on her feet and all cured of whatever it is she’s caught, and I’m going to believe she caught a bug of some kind until someone tells me otherwise, well, anyway, when it’s over, I really do want to help get the camp going again. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks, wondering what I could do that wouldn’t pit us against each other, for starters. So I’ve decided to rebuild the clinic for you, if you’ll let me. Make it a real clinic, though. Not just a make-do cabin. Furnish it with everything you need rather than all the odds and ends, like you had. Will you let me do that for you?”
“Insurance money isn’t stretching far enough to get me everything I need. I was on the verge of committing to another make-do clinic simply to get it up and running.”
“But I want to do better for the kids.” She pulled away from him and looked straight into his eyes. “And I’d like to help with the actual building, as in setting up the interior, if you’ll let me. But if you don’t think we can work together again, I’ll write you a check for whatever you need.”
“That’s generous. For the third time tonight I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes. It’s a simple word, and the beginning of something that will be so good.”
“The thing is, if Emmie’s leukemia has come back, I don’t know if I can go through with plans to rebuild. Not now, anyway. Maybe not for a long time to come.”
“Then let me take over. You take care of Emmie, and I’ll make sure your camp plans go forward.”
“Why do you want to do this?” he asked. “Especially after the way I treated you last time you made the offer to help.”
“Because I believe now. Believe better, believe differently. And it’s also because—” Her cellphone interrupted her, and five seconds later she jumped up from the side of the bed. “Got to leave for a couple of minutes. Be right back.”
It was time to visit Megan. She was going through one of her sullen periods, which happened when she missed Keera. And only Keera could take care of fixing it.
“I’m here, sweetheart,” she said, picking up the girl, who instantly clung to Keera for dear life.
“She has a real attachment thing going,” Dolores, the daycare worker, said. “Kept telling me she wanted her mommy.”
“I know she does.” But there was no mommy to be had.
“That’s you, Doctor. You’re mommy to her, no matter what the circumstances. You’re the one she wants now.”
Keera smiled, not sure what to do. Her initial fears of not being able to manage this were gone. So were her fears about her lack of natural instinct, because she did have her common sense intact. And as far as Megan being Kevin’s child, it didn’t matter any more. He’d done a good thing bringing this child into the world, and she wasn’t a reminder of anything except she was a little girl who needed a real mommy or daddy. “Look, I’m going to keep her with me for a little while. When she gets over this, I may bring her back.”
Or she might just beg off the surgical rotation for the morning—she only had one minor procedure scheduled—and ask one of her associates to take it. Then she could stay with Reid and keep Megan comforted as well. For someone who wasn’t a nurturer, she seemed to being doing an awful lot of that lately. “I’ll call you or whoever’s on duty later on and let you know what we’re going to do. And in the meantime, I think Miss Megan and I might go down to the cafeteria and find us a banana and yogurt for breakfast. Does that sound yummy to you, Megan?”
With her head tucked as tight as it could be into Keera’s chest, Megan gave her a nod. “Then afterwards we’re going to go visit Doc Reid. Do you remember him? He’s the nice man who took care of you when you had measles.”
She nodded again.
“Oh, by the way,” Dolores said as Keera left. “Social services called here yesterday, looking for you. I didn’t take the call but I saw the note and wasn’t sure if the message got to you or not.”
“It didn’t,” she said, as a lump formed in her stomach, realizing the very best news for Megan could be the very worst news for her.
“Well, you’re supposed to call your caseworker as soon as you can. She said it’s important but not urgent.”
Keera nodded reluctantly, now facing a reality she wasn’t sure she wanted to face. “Later. If she calls back, tell her I’ve got a crisis here at the hospital but I’ll get back to her later.”
After a quick trip to the cafeteria, then with yogurt, milk, a banana, and a couple of coffees in hand, not to mention a toddler, Keera hurried back up to Reid’s room, stopped in her progress by Brett Hollingsworth, who asked her to tell Reid that Emmie was being moved to the ICU right then.
“You’ve sure turned...well, I guess the only way to describe it is domestic. Just look at you, here in Pediatrics with your child, comforting a worried father, taking on the role of camp counselor.”
“Wrong on all counts but one. I am comforting a worried father, because he’s my friend. There’s nothing domestic involved in that.”
“I’ve heard rumors coming from daycare that you try to get down there to group-sing every day.” He grinned. “You know, ‘The wheels on the bus go round...’”
“Yeah, yeah,” Keera said, shoving past him and hurrying on to the room.
“I’m just saying,” Brett called after her.
She ignored him as she pushed open the door, scooted Megan in first, then followed.
“What’s this?” Reid asked.
“It’s what I do in my spare time now.”
“You kept her?”
“Temporarily, which I think may be coming to an end shortly. I mean, when she was sick I promised her I wouldn’t let them take her to one of those places, and I meant it. I was there, raised in them, and there’s no way they’re going to do that to her. So I’ve been managing.”
“I’m not surprised,” he said, rushing over to take the food and coffee from her. “It’s what I saw in you all along.”
“No, you didn’t. You wanted to, but it wasn’t there.”
“Yet look at you now.”
“Someone else just said that to me,” she said, pulling the bedside tray away from the wall and pushing it over to one of the chairs. “And I told him he was wrong.” But not as wrong as he once might have been.
“See, there you go again.”
She shrugged. “OK, so maybe I’m not as bad at this as I thought I’d be. But I’m still a darned sight further away from parent of the year than you are. Speaking of which, Emmie’s being transferred right now, and they should be coming to get you in the next few minutes, once she’s settled in.”
“You’re efficient, Keera.”
“Words to turn a girl’s heart.”
He laughed. “What if I also told you that efficient is sexy?”
“Then I’d nominate you for man of the year.” She opened the carton of yogurt and handed a plastic spoon to Megan, who dug right in. “Because most men have other standards for sexy, if you know what I mean. So it’s nice to hear that something substantial like being efficient can also be sexy.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I have the same standards as other men, as far as sexy goes. And you’ve got all that. But you’ve got more.”
She laughed. “See, now the truth comes out.”
A knock on the door startled them both, and a nurse poked her head in the door to tell Reid that he could see Emmie now.
“Give her a hug for me,” Keera said, “and tell her I’ll come by to see her later on.”
“Ten minutes every hour,” the nurse warned Reid, as he headed for the door. “Wish we could do better as you’re a pediatrician, but I can’t. Sorry.”
“Th
en I’ll see you back here in twelve minutes,” Keera said, and turned her attention to breaking the banana into bite-sized pieces for Megan. Then she dialed the dreaded phone number.
“Hi, Consuela,” she said, when the woman on the other end picked up. “It’s Keera Murphy, and I understand you’ve been trying to get a hold of me.”
* * *
“Hello,” Reid said very quietly, as he stood over Emmie’s bed and looked down. Even though it was a pediatric ward, she looked so dwarfed—by the bed, by the equipment. It was something he remembered from last time, staring at all the hugeness surrounding his little girl. In ways only a parent could understand, it intimidated him, scared him to death. But he couldn’t let on—for Emmie’s sake, even for his own.
“Did it come back, Daddy?” she asked weakly.
“We don’t know anything yet. But soon, I promise.”
“I’m so tired.”
“I know you are, which is why you’re in here. So you can sleep. That’s the only thing you have to do now. Just sleep.”
“What about your patients? Who’s going to take care of them?”
“That’s not for you to worry about,” he said, pushing the hair from her eyes. “It’s all taken care of. Brax is going to see my patients, and Beau and Deanna are watching Allie, so there’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Can I see Keera? I want to tell her how all those clothes we bought got burned up. Do you think she’ll take me shopping again?”
“Keera’s taking care of Megan right now, but she said she’d come and see you soon. Why don’t you ask her yourself if you can go shopping? I think she might...” He didn’t finish his sentence. Didn’t have to, as Emmie had fallen back to sleep.
* * *
“How is she?” Keera asked.
“Worried that all those clothes you bought her got burned up. She wants to go shopping again.”
“And I’d love to take her again. Her and Allie, and...” She paused. Frowned.
“What’s the matter?”
“I got a call from Megan’s social worker,” she whispered, so Megan wouldn’t hear. “They’ve found a couple who might want to adopt her. She wants to schedule a first meeting between Megan and them.”
A Child to Heal Their Hearts Page 16