by Dianne Drake
“That was amazing,” Gabriel commented, once they were back on the road and the Alcantaras were safely on their way to Iquitos. “Hypnotism. Who would have thought it?”
“Actually, I don’t like to call it hypnotism. That comes with a lot of negative, hocus-pocus connotations. You tell someone you want to hypnotize them and they automatically think you’re going to have them do something crazy. You know, bark like a dog when the doorbell rings, cluck like a chicken when someone utters the magic cue word. Unfortunately, hypnotism has become associated with cheap parlor tricks.”
“But you think it has a positive place in medicine?”
“You saw it for yourself. Actually, did it for yourself. And it works. So, yes, I think progressive relaxation techniques have an amazing place in medicine, in some cases. Ricardo’s type of asthma, specifically, responds well to relaxation. Although I think under different circumstances it’s easier and probably safer to treat with medication, and the result has a more predictable outcome. But when you don’t have that available, then you try what we did and keep your fingers crossed.”
“But you’ve never done it on a patient before?”
“Only a willing volunteer, who, like me, was learning the technique.”
“So maybe you should write an article for a medical journal now that you’ve done it.”
“Maybe we should write that article,” she said, “since you were the one who actually did the work.”
“Like I said, we’re a hell of a team. Maybe we will write that article together.” Gabriel chuckled. “Dr. Navarro told me you had a rare talent for treating children. He was impressed, Arabella, and so am I.”
“Well, for a surgeon, you make a pretty good pediatrician yourself.”
“Not me. Kids scare me.”
“The way taking a scalpel and slicing somebody open scares me.”
“But there’s a certain logic to the body when you cut it open. You know what’s supposed to be there and what’s not supposed to be. If it’s not working right, you know how to fix it—repair that bleeding ulcer, remove that tumor. It makes sense. But kids…When you hear that cough, or when they come in with an elevated temperature, there are so many things to figure out, and most of the time it’s not logical. I mean, when I was still a medical student I had a toddler who came in into the emergency department. His parents didn’t know what was wrong with him, except he’d been crying for hours. He chest was clear, eyes fine, no ear infection, no temperature. Stomach sounded normal, heart was ticking away. No reactions when I prodded anywhere. Couldn’t find any bumps, bruises, cuts, sprains, broken bones. But there was a blueberry up his nose. A damned blueberry! It was dark, stuffed way back there so you wouldn’t necessarily see it if you weren’t specifically looking for something.”
“Let me guess. That’s when you decided you didn’t like pediatrics.”
“That’s when I decided I didn’t want pediatrics in any form. Blueberries up the nose are never logical.”
She laughed. “Except in a toddler who has just eaten blueberries.”
CHAPTER SIX
SHE was amazing. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever felt this comfortable with another doctor. Or even with a woman, not that he wanted to think of Arabella in a womanly way. But it was happening. Right now, she was twisted, staring out at the scenery, and he was casting sideways glances, and not at anything that had to do with her being a doctor. He was acting like a randy schoolboy who didn’t want to get caught peeking.
That embrace on Ricardo’s bed…it had caused a whole lot of distracting thoughts rumbling around in him. The way she’d fit in his arms was so natural, the way she’d pressed herself into him, just for that instant, had been so arousing that had they not been huddled over a sick child, who knows what would have happened?
It was crazy. He was returning to Chicago in a few days, once he was sure his mother would be fine. Or once he’d convinced his mother to go with him. Either way, though, he was leaving, and even if Arabella hadn’t made a conscious choice yet, it was becoming more and more obvious each time he looked at her that she was going to be staying. She was taking Lado De la Montaña to heart, fitting in there. Sure, she believed she was in the throes of making a decision, but knowing Arabella the way he was beginning to, he was sure that a subconscious decision to stay had already been made. Meaning they’d line in two different worlds. Had she returned to San Francisco, they could have worked on a relationship of some sort. Professional, personal. Both. Chicago and San Francisco weren’t that far apart, and while he loved his practice in Chicago he could actually picture himself moving to San Francisco, if that’s what happened down the line.
But she wasn’t going home to San Francisco, and he had to remember that every time other thoughts about Bella crossed his mind. “So, have you given any more thought to starting a clinic up on the mountain somewhere?” Dumb question, since he didn’t want to hear the answer. But from her mouth to his ears might put the silly notions out of his mind.
“I’m thinking about it, yes. No decision yet. Just considering my options.”
“Wouldn’t you miss…you know, a modern practice?”
“Honestly, I probably would. But sometimes it nice to be where you’re needed, and there are hundreds of other pediatricians in San Francisco. The loss of one wouldn’t even be noticed. But the addition of a doctor in a place where there’s no medical care at all is a major life event for so many people.”
Damn, she made sense. He wanted to look over at her, watch her reaction to her words, but he had to keep his eyes on the road now. It was too rutted to do otherwise. “I think your patients would miss you.”
“The thing about not having a medical practice is you don’t have patients. When I left, I left with nothing. James bought out my half, and that included my patients, by contractual agreement. So for me, whatever I do, it’s going to be a clean slate. I start over, no matter where it is.”
“Did you two work well together?”
“We worked in the same practice, but we never worked together, to be honest. James was a little more intense in his approach. He liked to wear a white coat and swing his stethoscope from his neck. I liked wearing jeans and T-shirts and anything that made my patients think of me as more of a friend. So, had the occasion arisen, I doubt we’d have worked well together at all.”
For some curious reason he didn’t understand, that made him feel better. The idea that some doctor back in San Francisco could have had the medical symbiosis they had didn’t set right with him, as stupid as that was. He had no right to that jealousy, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a little green-eyed, thinking about Arabella and James together professionally, or any other way. “But you were engaged to the man?”
Bella let out a heavy sigh. “Have you ever done something that seems right at the time, but a minute later you realize it’s a mistake?”
“A minute?”
“Well, maybe not a minute, but let’s just say that in theory we made sense, while in reality we didn’t. So what about you? No marriages in your past, or engagements gone wrong?”
“I’m upwardly mobile,” he said, realizing how utterly absurd it sounded. But it was the truth. He’d traded personal life for professional growth.
“Which means?”
“Which means the doctor doesn’t allow himself much time to play.”
“So, how’s Ana Maria going to fit into all that? Being upwardly mobile doesn’t sound particularly conducive to the duties of raising a newborn.”
“Haven’t figured it out yet. I’ve been offered the position as assistant department head, which is going to take even more of my time, so I suppose I’ll have to do a better job of delegating.”
“Babies need more than a little delegated time, Gabriel.”
“And surgeons can’t strap a baby to their back and go about their day like that’s the normal thing to do. Of course, talking like this makes me seem like a cold-hearted bastard, doesn’t
it?” It was the truth, though. The only thing he knew was that he’d work it out some way. He just didn’t know how.
“No. It makes you seem like a man with a big problem ahead of him. It’s not going to be easy, and I’m sorry about that. But you’re going to be good with Ana Maria. Once you figure out how the two of you are going to live your lives, you’re going to discover that being upwardly mobile doesn’t preclude having someone else on that journey with you.”
“Well, I’m losing sleep. And it’s not just because I have to get up two or three times a night to take care of her.”
“Too bad you can’t take everybody in Lado De la Montaña back to Chicago with you. They’d all love to help. That’s what my sister loved so much about this whole area…the generosity of the people.”
“Your sister?” Odd, she hadn’t mentioned a sister before. Especially one who’d been to Lado De la Montaña. “I didn’t know you had…” His words cut off as he slowed the car, then swerved to avoid a particularly deep rut. As he did so, the ground shifted back on him. Or it seemed that way because as he jerked the steering wheel one way, the car went in the opposite direction, coming to a jarring stop when the right front tire landed in the very rut he’d been trying to avoid. “Damn,” he whispered, as he set the car in Reverse. But before he could put his foot on the gas pedal the earth shifted again, and the rut in which the car was stuck opened up even more. “Get out, Arabella!” he choked.
“What?”
He opened the driver’s side door and fairly flew out, dragging her along with him. But before she was fully out of the car, the earth shifted again, pulling the whole front end of the rental car down into the earth even farther.
“Arabella!” Gabriel shouted, as he fell backward, and started to roll down the embankment along the side of the road. “Arabella…”
“Gabriel…”
Bella shoved on the car door, trying to force it open, but it was stuck. It did open a little, but not enough to let her climb out, and from her vantage point she could see that the other car door was stuck fast against part of what had been the road. Naturally, the windows wouldn’t respond to the controls, wouldn’t lower, and full-powered cars these days had no other way to roll the windows down. No handles.
Besides being stuck inside the car, unable to get out, the car alarm was sounding…an eerie, repetitive, staccato honk breaking loose from somewhere under the hood. Loud, even bleats split the air, mostly likely being heard by no one except the two of them. “Gabriel, can you hear me?” she shouted, rolling over on her back, hoping she had enough room and force to kick out the side window.
Nothing. Not a word from him, but he’d been OK when he’d climbed out of the car only moments ago, so she had to keep telling herself he was fine. Gabriel was fine. He had to be! And she was trapped…had to get out before another quake hit, turning the road into a sinkhole that would gobble up her car even more than it already had.
Sucking in a deep breath and holding it, Bella shut her eyes and kicked the car window as hard as she could with both her feet. Damn her rubber-soled athletic shoes, anyway. Not only did they not break the glass, they didn’t even budge it, as in pop the whole glass sheet out, the way she’d hoped would happen. So she tried again, this time bracing herself even harder against the console and gearshifts between the two car seats. It hurt her back, dug hard into her kidneys, and didn’t give her the best leverage, but there was no other way to go about this if she wanted to get out.
And she wanted to get out!
One more time, she thought, sucking in another deep breath before she gave the window a second good kick, this time giving in to the panic and frustration setting in. In doing so, she shrieked so loudly she got a good adrenalin rush going, which gave her the necessary strength to break that window. No more then five seconds later she was scrambling out, using the car door as her brace to push herself up to the road, which was about at mid-chest level, the hole was that deep.
It was only when she was lying flat on her belly in the middle of the road that she finally looked back at her little rental, discovering how badly it was being devoured by the earth. Its front end was more than five feet down, sitting at a forty-five degree angle with its nose crammed into the dirt wall of the hole and its back end barely jutting up above the hole where the road had been only moments earlier.
Seeing the dangerous situation as it was…that’s when Bella started to shake. She’d read so many stories about how giant sinkholes opened up during earthquakes and swallowed houses and cars and people. “Don’t think about it, Bella,” she whispered as she pushed up to her knees and looked around for Gabriel.
She didn’t see him anywhere. “Gabriel?” she yelled. “Can you hear me? Where are you?”
No answer.
“Gabriel!”
No answer again. He must have fallen over the edge. That thought caused panic to set in—hard, ominous panic reaching out its cold, bony fingers, threatening to strangle her. She had to find him. Had to help him. “Gabriel, answer me!” she screamed, her voice high-pitched from frustration and fear. “Please…”
Crawling to the edge of the road, she looked down. It wasn’t a bad grade, thank God, more of a gentle slope but over some nasty, jagged rocks. The vegetation wasn’t dense though, and she could see a good bit of the way down. Could see everything but Gabriel. But he had to be down there somewhere. He wouldn’t have simply got out of the car and run away, leaving her there alone.
“Gabriel!” she shouted, hanging on to the edge of the embankment, her fingers digging into the dirt as the earth rolled underneath her. It was no worse than a ship hitting a bad wave but, still, Bella squeezed her eyes shut and buried her head in her arms, her face to the road, until the aftershock had played out. Then she looked down the embankment again, focusing on one sector after another, rather than taking a wide sweeping check. That’s when she found him. After about two minutes of deep, focused scrutiny, she saw something that resembled a body.
A body! “Gabriel! I’m on my way.” He wasn’t too far away, his long body stretched out, face down, partially concealed by a bush. Not moving. Instinct, not common sense, took over and she scrambled down the embankment, giving no thought to how steep it really was. Tripping her way down the dirt and loose rocks, she took a tumble herself, landing on her backside, then righted herself and continued, taking another tumble, this time leaving half the skin on her elbows in the dirt. But she got to Gabriel and dropped to her knees beside him, immediately feeling for a pulse. Strong, thank God. But what about other injuries?
“Can you hear me?” she asked, starting an immediate assessment, without turning him over on his back for fear he might have a spinal injury.
Running her fingers lightly over the back and side of his head, she felt a sticky trickle she assumed to be blood over his brow, but she didn’t dare turn his head enough to have a look. “Wake up, Gabriel. It’s a whole lot easier examining a patient for injuries if the patient can tell you where to look.” Silly thing to say, but she had to talk, had to stay connected to him. “And I need you to navigate me back to the village. My car…” She choked off her words as he moaned. Good sign. It meant he was coming to.
“Don’t move,” she warned him, when he moaned a second time. Fat lot of good it did, though. Because on his third moan he tried to roll over. But Bella had anticipated that, and thrown herself almost entirely over his body in an attempt to stop him. “Stop it, Gabriel,” she yelled at him, hoping her voice would break through his fog. “I haven’t examined you yet. I don’t know…”
He moaned again, and this time rolled all the way over, effectively throwing her off him and landing her flat on her bum. “I’m not dead,” he said, sounding a little surprised as his eyes fluttered open.
“No, you’re not dead. And you’re not a co-operative patient either.” She scrambled to her knees then crawled back over to him, already feeling the bruise on her rear end. “Now, listen to me, Gabriel. You were unconscious for a fe
w minutes, I think you’ve been injured, but I haven’t checked you yet. So don’t move. Do you understand? Don’t move until I’ve had a look at you.”
“I’m fine,” he grunted, moving his feet in circles in spite of her warning.
“You’re a bad patient. Stop it, Gabriel!”
“No spinal injury,” he said, as he lifted his arms, then winced. “But one broken or dislocated shoulder, I think.”
“I said don’t move.”
He shook his head, like her words were finally sinking in. “I think I was dazed.”
“Or stubborn,” she muttered, positioning herself to examine his arm.
“You’re cute when you’re angry, Arabella. I see a nice glow under all that dirt on your face.”
“That’s not anger, Gabriel. I was scared.” Angry, too, but he didn’t need to know that. A gentle probe of his upper arm elicited quite a wince from him. “When I got out of the car and couldn’t find you…”
“You thought I’d gone off and left you?”
“I thought you’d fallen off the mountain.” She moved her exam higher on his arm.
“Damn, that hurts like a like a son of a…” He bit his bottom lip against the pain as she probed, then when she eased off raised his right hand to her cheek, brushing his thumb gently across a contusion there. “You’re bleeding. Are you OK, Arabella? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Just a few cuts and scrapes. Nothing serious.” One cut above her eye, and another on her cheek. Her elbows and knees were scraped too, and there were probably more battered places she hadn’t yet felt. But right now all she noticed was the gentle way his thumb traced down her cheek, across her jaw…so light against her skin. Mesmerizing. It felt so good she wanted to linger there for a moment.
But as if nature were conspiring to remind her where she was, the ground shook underneath her in another aftershock, effectively breaking the magic of Gabriel’s spell. Bella sucked in a sharp, ragged breath—one that had more to do with the quake Gabriel had caused in her than the earthquake. Such a sensual touch, and so reassuring, yet here he was, the patient comforting the doctor, while she was the doctor who should have been comforting him. “But overall I’m fine,” she managed. “Lucky, too, I guess.”