Second Opinions: A Lizzy and Dr. Darcy Story (Meryton Medical Romances Book 2)

by Ruby Cruz

  “You’re sure it’s not a bone?”

  “Can you wiggle your toes?” I could, and the sharp pain in my foot intensified briefly, but only at the cut. “I don’t think anything’s broken, but your ankle’s swelling up pretty badly. You at least have a bad sprain from the looks of things.”

  “Can you get the shell out?”

  “I wouldn’t recommend it,” a deep voice chimed in.

  Ana and I looked up at the newcomer and we recognized Chase Hammond. When we continued to stare, he explained, “I was standing at my porch when I saw you fall. Anyway, if you take out the shell, she’ll just start bleeding more. Better to have it removed when she can be stitched up.”

  Even though I knew his logic was sound, I didn’t want any foreign object stuck in me any longer than necessary. Boy, did that just sound wrong.

  “Can you help me get her back to the house?” Ana asked. Upon Chase’s nod, she asked me, “Do you think you can stand?”

  I pushed up from my elbows until I had my good leg under me. My right ankle felt like my foot was dangling from a single ligament, but I persisted until Ana and Chase could get on either side of me to help support my weight until I could get my balance on my good leg.

  I gritted my teeth, and a breath hissed out as I stood. Five wobbly seconds later and we’d barely travelled five feet. “Ah, screw this,” Chase muttered under his breath. His movement away from me caused me to yell, “What the hell?” until the world fell away from me suddenly.

  I yelped as he scooped me up easily into his arms and started walking towards the back entrance of the manor house. My eyes sought Ana’s, but she just watched us, eyes wide. I could do nothing but loop my arms around his neck and shoulders and pray he didn’t drop me. I didn’t want to add a cracked tailbone to my maladies.

  I needn’t have worried that he would drop me. Even through his T-shirt I could tell he was pretty muscular, a fact I hadn’t noticed the night before. Ever since Darcy and I started dating, I very rarely noticed men, at least not in a way that wouldn’t be professional or friendly.

  I was ashamed to admit that as Chase carried me into the house, I definitely noticed his body in an unprofessional way. My guilt deepened as Darcy rushed into the sun room, apparently having seen my accident from the balcony.

  Chase gently eased me onto the sofa where Darcy knelt beside me and immediately began examining my foot. He turned to one the maids and barked, “Retrieve the first aid kit!” I flashed him a look, at which he added a terse, “Please.”

  He began gently probing my ankle, which had already swollen to the size of a grapefruit and had turned all sorts of interesting colors, none of which good. “You need an x-ray to make sure nothing’s broken,” he announced, “but I can remove the shell and stitch the laceration.”

  Chase appeared dubious. “You can do that? Right here?”

  “Not the most sterile environment, I agree, but I have a colleague who is a concierge doctor in the area. I’ve already phoned her, and she is on her way with the necessary equipment.”

  “That’s a real thing? Like the TV show?” I asked.

  “What TV show?” Darcy replied with a slightly confused expression.

  While we waited for the other doctor to arrive, Dr. DeBourgh had apparently been alerted to the drama occurring in her sunroom. By her pinched countenance, I could discern she was none too happy I was oozing blood onto her pretty chaise lounge as Darcy applied a cold pack onto my swollen ankle.

  “What is going on? Lucia has informed me that you’ve been injured.” She eyed my leg propped on Darcy’s lap.

  As Ana explained what had happened on the beach, her pinched face became downright stony. “You needn’t have called Dr. Petrova, especially when two highly capable physicians are currently under this roof.”

  “Lizzy needs an x-ray, and I didn’t think to pack a suture kit or lidocaine with me, both of which are lacking from your own supplies.” He gestured to the first aid kit on the table which was filled with sterile bandages, some antibiotic cream, and an Ace wrap.

  They stared at each other long enough that the tension between them was quite palpable. Even Chase seemed aware of it - after their exchange, he had suddenly become entranced with the impressionistic water lilies painting adorning the wall closest to him. Fortunately, the doorbell rang and after a moment, a woman was escorted into the room.

  She seemed to be in her early thirties and was quite attractive: wavy, strawberry-blonde hair, a smattering of freckles across a perfect, petite nose, and wide sea-green eyes. She was about my height and wore a white coat over a pale blue dress with a flowy skirt that reached just above her knees.

  Darcy gently lifted my leg off his lap and set it on a throw pillow before rising to greet her. When he’d spoken about his “colleague” Nina Petrova, he’d mentioned she was a classmate from medical school. I’d pictured someone shy and mildly bookish, and she was neither.

  She greeted Darcy with a warm hug. “William, it’s so good to see you, though I would’ve hoped we’d be catching up over drinks and not your injured girlfriend.”

  He smiled back at her fondly, and a curl of jealousy formed in the pit of my stomach. I struggled to remind myself they were old friends from medical school. I had a core group of friends from nursing school - friends I’d made through hours of late night study groups and shared angst over passing tests and our board exams. Even knowing that didn’t dissolve the knot in my stomach.

  “I brought what you’ve requested, though I will probably need some assistance with the portable x-ray.”

  “I’ll help her,” Chase offered.

  Dr. DeBourgh cleared her throat. “Nina, it’s lovely you could arrive on such short notice and lend your assistance in this matter.” Despite the words, her tone was laced with acid. Apparently, Dr. DeBourgh regarded Nina with the same condescension in which she viewed me. The jealous knot cleared - anyone who could inspire such ire in Darcy’s aunt was now my ally.

  “Of course. Anything for an old friend.” She smiled politely and turned to me. “You must be Lizzy. I’m Nina.”

  Darcy’s face reddened markedly and he stuttered, “I’m so sorry. With Lizzy being injured, I completely forgot…Lizzy, this is my, uh, friend Nina Petrova from medical school. Nina, this is Lizzy Bennett, my, er, girlfriend.”

  When Darcy reddened to the shade of a pomegranate, Nina merely laughed good-naturedly. “Will, relax. I’ll get the x-ray out of the van and you can get started with stitching up Lizzy’s foot.” She patted him familiarly on the arm and led Chase out to where her van was presumably parked.

  Darcy, still flustered, fumbled with the bag she’d left on the table beside me. He nodded to Ana, who assisted him in finding the appropriate supplies: surgical gloves, saline wash, lidocaine, syringe, suture kit, gauze, and tape. He worked silently and only murmured instructions to Ana when necessary. He warned me as he was about to inject the bottom of my foot with lidocaine. The medicine burned and stung until the numbing began to take effect.

  He instructed Ana to keep my foot steady, not an easy feat since my ankle was still very tender. I bit down on my lip and grasped the cushion beneath me as he rinsed the area with saline, then grasped the embedded object with a pair of forceps. Despite being numb, I could still feel the pressure deep within my foot and an unpleasant crunching sensation as he attempted to wiggle the object free. When his hand came free with a large, bloody piece of shell secured in the forceps, I bit down harder and tasted copper.

  He rinsed the area again and examined the laceration. Nina bent down next to Darcy to examine it. I hadn’t even noticed her come back in with the x-ray machine. “It’s a fairly deep laceration, but it appears to be mostly muscle, no effect to the tendons or ligaments.”

  “I agree. I thought I could feel a grinding when I was removing the shell.”

  “It could have been rubbing against the bone slightly, but we need to do the x-ray to make sure no pieces are le
ft in there.”

  They covered me with a lead blanket, protected themselves with lead aprons, and cleared everyone else from the immediate area. After shooting the x-ray, the two examined the radiograph while Ana held gauze to my oozing wound. They discussed possible scenarios for five minutes. Even Dr. DeBourgh attempted to interject her say. Meanwhile, I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable lying on the couch. Finally, they agreed there was no fracture and it was safe to suture the wound without any further debridement.

  Although I couldn’t feel the needle when it pierced my skin, the resulting pressure was enough to make me wince every time. “Are you okay, Lizzy?” Darcy finally asked me when he saw me wince after the fifth stitch.

  “I’m fine.”

  “I can prescribe some pain medication,” Nina announced. “Unless you still have your New York license.”

  “I maintained it after moving to New Jersey, but I appreciate the offer.” He completed the sutures and covered them with a layer of gauze that he taped in place. He then proceeded to wrap most of my foot and ankle with the Ace bandage.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Chase announced without a trace of irony in his voice.

  “Yes, Miss Bennett has quite the knack for providing a certain entertainment during her visits with me,” Dr. DeBourgh commented.

  “Dr. DeBourgh,” Nina cut in, “I’m very sorry to hear about your father’s death. Please accept my condolences. He was very well-respected in the community.”

  Her stony expression faltered slightly, and I glimpsed the lost little girl in its depths. “Yes, thank you.” The comment seemed to unsettle her because suddenly she announced, “Since you have admirably taken control of the situation, you must excuse me. I have arrangements to attend to.”

  “I’m sorry if I upset her,” Nina apologized to no one in particular after she was gone.

  “Don’t be. As you can see, she’s having a difficult time processing his death,” Ana explained.

  “In any case, I’m glad I could help you guys out, if only to provide medical equipment. And if you have a free moment, Will, I’d love to catch up with you. With all of you, really. I’d love to hear what life in New Jersey is like.”

  “So would I,” Chase added. “How is life in the Garbage State?”

  I flashed him a dirty look. As much as I might disparage my home state, no one from the outside was allowed to do so.

  Before I could tell him where he could shove his rude remark, Ana fixed her dark eyes on him and smiled saccharinely. “You forget that three of the five people in this room reside there and take offense to that comment.”

  “My apologies. I didn’t realize you people from ‘Joisey’ were so sensitive about the subject.”

  His eyes twinkled and she became even more incensed. Was he flirting with her?

  “Thanks for all your help, Chase. I think we’ve received all the assistance we need for now.” The cold, dismissive tone in Ana’s voice had more than a little resemblance to her aunt’s, and I made a mental note to never piss her off.

  With the not-so-subtle dismissal, Chase merely grinned. “I hope your ankle feels better soon, Lizzy. Let me know if you need any more…assistance.” With a final grin, he exited through the front door.

  “I should be going also,” Nina announced. “I have an appointment with a client in twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll assist you with the x-ray,” Darcy offered.

  Nina turned to me with a genuine smile. “Lizzy, I’m so glad I met you. And I do hope we’ll be able to meet again under less…strained circumstances.”

  “Me too. And thanks for the help. Really.”

  Darcy followed her with the machine as Ana sat next to me on the chaise. She sighed heavily.

  When she was apparently going to remain silent, I blurted, “Okay, I have to ask. What was that all about? Who’s this Nina chick? Your aunt looked like she hates her even more than she hates me, and that’s saying a lot.”

  “Aunt Catherine doesn’t hate you or Nina. But she does feel threatened by any woman she can’t exert control over. William and Nina were friends during medical school. They didn’t date, not that I know of, but they hung out in the same group. She actually grew up in this area, and when she decided to open her concierge medicine business here, my grandfather became one of her first clients.”

  “Does your aunt blame her for your grandfather’s death?”

  “Oh, no, nothing that dramatic. When our grandfather first began getting sick a couple of months ago, she and Nina disagreed over the course of treatment, so Aunt Catherine fired her.”

  Whoa. “It must have been difficult for Nina to come here, even if it was a favor to Will.”

  “I don’t know her very well, but she doesn’t seem like the type to hold grudges. Plus, she was helping out a friend.”

  Even with that reassurance, I still couldn’t help wonder how good a friend Nina Petrova had been. Because I didn’t want to dwell on Darcy’s past, much of which I still knew little about, I asked Ana, “What about Chase Hammond? I sensed some hostility there.”

  “His mom is best friends with Aunt Catherine, so the family has attended a lot of the same functions my aunt does. He and his friends used to tease me when I was younger.”

  “Really?”

  “When I was younger, I used to be a little overweight, and he’d chase me around with a banana and call me Ana Banana.” I struggled to appear sympathetic, and she narrowed her eyes at me. “Laugh all you want, but I still can’t stomach the sight of bananas to this day.”

  “He’s no longer a kid.”

  “But he’s still an asshole. My friends who summer here say he’s managed to bed most of the female population under twenty-five.”

  “Sounds like a popular asshole.”

  “Don’t start. Why do guys who are hot and built have to be assholes? It’s like as soon as they reach a certain hotness level, a switch turns on and they are duty-bound to become jerks.”

  This was a revelation - I’d never seen Ana become so worked up, especially over someone of the opposite sex. “Oh my God, you like him.”

  “Ugh, not funny.”

  “I’m serious. You’re attracted to him.”

  “You’re just projecting. Not all love stories begin with the girl hating the guy. Sometimes hate is just that and nothing more.”

  Darcy returned to the family room and carefully sat next to me. “We should probably get you a fresh ice pack for your ankle. Nina wrote you a prescription for Percocet if you want it.”

  I shook my head. As much as everything hurt, I didn’t want to take narcotics. “Ibuprofen should be fine. Though I will need a set of crutches.”

  “I’ve already sent Nico for them.”

  “And I need a new outfit for the wake this evening. I wore the only black dress I brought with me to dinner last night.”

  “That can definitely be arranged,” Ana said with a smile. “I’ll take Terry with me if she’s free. I think she’ll enjoy a little shopping since she’s been cooped up here the last few days.”

  “Why is she here?” I asked. “I mean, she seems really nice and your aunt likes her, but now that you guys are here to help out, I’d think she be allowed a few days off.”

  Ana’s smile faded. “I wish it were that simple. In addition to the funeral arrangements, we have to think of the business. Before our grandfather fell ill, DeBourgh Medical Group was in a state of transition. Aunt Catherine is in no condition to deal with our investors, and there are certain matters that need to be addressed immediately.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about - Darcy never talked about his aunt’s business or his role in it. In fact, before that moment, I’d always assumed his involvement in his aunt’s company to be tangential at best, especially because he was so busy dealing with his own workload and patients.

  Darcy gently laid his hand on my knee. “In any case, you shouldn’t worry yourself over my family�
��s business dealings. You should probably get some rest. If you don’t feel up to going to the wake tonight, we’ll understand.”

  “Don’t be silly. This is nothing a pair of crutches can’t remedy.”

  The siblings glanced at each other, a significant look passing between them.

  “Okay, what am I missing?”

  Ana smiled again, her expression overly bright. “Nothing. I’d better get showered and changed if I’m going shopping.”

  “I’ll definitely pay you back for the dress.”

  She ignored my comment and said, “I’ll bring back some ibuprofen as well.”

  After she left the room, Darcy lingered, his hand still on my knee. “Can I get you anything else to make you more comfortable?”

  I shook my head. “You’ve done plenty. I can see why your patients like you so much.”

  “And why is that?” The corner of his mouth twitched upwards, the only indication in his serious expression that he knew what I was implying.

  “Well, now that I’m your patient and not your co-worker, I can say that I like the way you took command of the situation. Your alpha male tendencies do make certain female parts in me take notice.”

  “Perhaps I should show more dominance more often.” His hand traveled up my thigh, and I might have allowed it to travel further if we hadn’t been sitting on his aunt’s chaise lounge with absolutely no privacy.

  “Dr. Darcy?” Terry’s voice sounded from the doorway. “Your aunt is requesting you to join her in the study. I’m to ensure Miss Bennett is taken care of.”

  “Very well, thank you.” His hand remained on my thigh as he leaned forward slightly to deliver a quick kiss to my lips. “If you would like for me to carry you upstairs, I would be happy to oblige.”

  “Not necessary. I’ll just wait for the crutches to arrive. I’m not in a rush to go anywhere.”

  He seemed a bit disappointed that he couldn’t demonstrate any more of his male prowess, but stood and left the room, at which point Terry asked me, “May I get you anything? Some water?”