“I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” said Charlie, and he crooked a finger at her, beckoning her closer. In a stage whisper, he told her, “We men are pathetic, stupid creatures who occasionally manage to hold it together long enough to get one of you lovely women to fall in love with us. If he mentioned the L-word, you aren’t out of the game just yet.”
“But was I ever really in it? I shouldn’t even care, as long as he helps Levi, but so help me, I do.”
The heaviness of caring for a man who was so ambivalent toward her settled over her like a thick fog, its weight bearing down on her and dulling her reactions. Between that and the crushing urgency of wanting to be with Levi, Rhiann was barely standing.
The radio beeped just then.
“Trust me, if he even said the L-word, he’s thinking it. Don’t give up hope just yet.”
Charlie winked at her as he reached for the radio.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Patrick
TWO HOURS AFTER he woke up, his eyes crusted from the purge of tears and little sleep, he pulled his car to a stop in front of Rhiann’s apartment. Her car wasn’t in the lot, but for all he knew it could be broken down again. Hopefully she was upstairs, because the conversation they needed to have deserved privacy.
He couldn’t be sure she wasn’t working today though...
Anxious to see her, he got out and climbed the stairs to her apartment two at a time. His knock was firm, loud, echoing in the quiet of the mid-morning hour.
Shuffling noises came from inside. Someone was home, at least.
Unable to be still, he shifted from one foot to the other while he waited for her to come to the door.
At last the door creaked open.
“Rhiann, I—” He cut himself off abruptly.
Rhiann hadn’t answered the door. An older woman peered out. Her hazel eyes narrowed suspiciously at him.
“Can I help you?”
Patrick looked at the door again—yes, it was the right apartment number. “I was looking for Rhiann Masters.”
Her eyes traveled his length and calculated his value. Finally she deigned to answer him, once she’d deemed him worthy of an answer. “She’s at work. You’ll have to come back later.”
A soft cry came from inside, and as she turned to look the door opened wider. Over her shoulder, Patrick could see Levi, lying on the couch. The baby’s color was ashen and his breathing labored.
Concern washed over Patrick. “How long has Levi been like this?”
The woman stiffened up, clearly taking his words as an accusation. “He was ill when I got here. Rhiann knows that he’s getting worse. I’m sure she’ll be home soon. She’s a good mother.”
“I know that.” Patrick shouldered past her and crouched down next to Levi. “Hey, little buddy. You look like you feel pretty bad.”
Levi raised a hand toward Patrick, but it fell limply back to the couch. Only the faintest of smiles crossed his lips.
Patrick brushed his hand across the back of Levi’s forehead, relieved to feel a normal temperature. He wasn’t sure that he could handle the stress of Levi being ill. He tried to stay calm as he mentally calculated all the things that could be causing Levi’s decline.
Had he picked up a virus while surrounded by all those people at the fundraiser? Had his tiny ticker reached its predetermined number of ticks?
“Now, see here—!” the older woman began.
Her bony hand dug into Patrick’s shoulder like she might be able to physically remove him from the apartment. Patrick would have found it laughable if he hadn’t been so worried about Levi.
“I’m his doctor,” he said, without sparing her another glance.
Rubbing his hand over his jaw, he cursed himself silently for not bringing his medical bag with him. He’d never imagined he’d need it.
“What?” The woman’s hand left his shoulder to flutter in front of her mouth, shaking. “I don’t know you... How do I know you’re telling me the truth? You could be a serial killer for all I know.”
Brushing Levi’s hair away from his face, Patrick stared at the baby again. He checked Levi’s pulse with his fingertips and wasn’t happy with the numbers. Without his equipment he could only go ahead based on visuals. Levi’s breathing was ragged, and every breath seemed to be a struggle.
Patrick made a decision, scooping Levi into his arms. “Levi needs to go to the hospital now.”
“I haven’t called his mother yet.”
“I understand that. But I also know that every minute we wait could put this baby’s life at risk.” He stared her down. “So, here’s what you do. You call the station house and have Dispatch put you through to his mama. Tell her that I was here and that I’ve left with Levi to go to the hospital. If she thinks you need to call the cops, you can tell them to find me in the pediatric cardiology department of Metro Memorial Hospital.”
“You can’t just take him...” Disapproval and a smidgeon of fear darkened her face.
“I can and I will. Now, please gather his things and call his mother.”
Patrick cradled Levi to him, the sound of the little one’s ragged breathing sending a spike of fear chilling down his spine. The change in breathing when he raised him upright cemented for him the fact that Levi’s illness was related to his heart.
He had planned the surgery for next week, but it wasn’t going to be soon enough. Levi needed surgery yesterday. And Patrick could only hope that the baby was strong enough to survive it.
The babysitter stopped arguing and threw some diapers, a change of clothes and some formula packets into the diaper bag.
“Has he eaten today?”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t even get him to drink any formula. Rhiann said he’d refused for her too.”
“Is there a car seat here?”
She nodded. “I have one in my car that he uses on occasion. It’s my grandbaby’s, though.”
“I’ll make sure it gets back to you.”
Pulling some keys out of a purse on the table, she walked to the door and leaned out of it. The faintest beep-beep came from the lot below.
“It’s in the blue sedan. You’ll need to install it yourself, because I haven’t got a clue how these fancy new seats go in.”
He nodded at her as he picked up the diaper bag. “Call the station and get them to call Rhiann. She needs to meet me at the hospital as soon as she can.”
As he carried Levi out the door he heard her on the phone, asking the dispatcher to put her through to Rhiann because of an emergency with her son.
He talked to the baby as he walked down the stairs. “I hope that call doesn’t panic your mama too much, because I think we’re all about to have a rough day ahead of us. She needs you to get better. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you do.”
It took a little maneuvering to get the car seat from the babysitter’s car while juggling Levi in his other hand.
“This would be so much easier if you’d let me sit you down—you know that?” he asked Levi while he struggled with the car seat.
But Levi clung to him, and he didn’t want to upset the baby when the little guy was already struggling to breathe.
“Here, let me hold him while you get it strapped in.”
Patrick looked over his shoulder to see the babysitter, standing next to his car. She carried her purse and had put on a light sweater.
“If you’re taking him to the hospital, then I’m going with you.”
Levi let the older woman take him, but he whimpered in protest. More time had passed than Patrick was comfortable with while he fought to get the car seat installed correctly in his backseat. He thought about calling an ambulance, but now that he had the seat installed he could probably get him to the hospital just as fast.
He hoped.
While he settl
ed Levi in the car seat, the babysitter got into the passenger seat. Clearly she’d meant it when she’d said she was coming along for the ride.
After finally getting Levi buckled in, he brushed his lips over the baby’s pale forehead. His words were so low that only Levi could hear him. “You have to be okay. You hear me? I can’t bear to lose another child.”
Rhiann
Charlie had just pulled the rig away from the ED at County when the radio crackled. Rhiann sighed. That should have been their last call of the morning before they broke for lunch. She was itching to get home and check on Levi. She had a gnawing in her stomach, urging her to get home.
Charlie grabbed the radio after voicing a choice expletive. “What have you got for us, Dispatch?”
“Nothing for you, but I have an urgent message for Rhiann. Mrs. Bradley called to say that a man came by and has insisted on taking Levi. I’m afraid the call cut out after that. We’re trying to reach her again and will pass on any info we get.”
“Ah, crap...” Charlie fussed.
Rhiann’s ability to breathe disappeared with the dispatcher’s words. Tears started leaking down her face and she panted for air. Someone had taken her baby? The giant lump that rose up in her throat refused to be swallowed.
“Mark us as off the clock, will ya, Dispatch? I’m going to take her straight to her place. She’s in no shape to drive.” Charlie reached over and squeezed Rhiann’s hand. “You all right?”
She shook her head. “Levi...” she managed to gasp on a strangled breath.
Her chest tightened until it felt like Charlie had backed over her chest with the ambulance. Lungs she’d used for years forgot how to breathe.
“I know—and I’m going to get you there as fast as safely possible.” He flipped on the blue lights and pulled a U-turn at the intersection. The siren blared over the impossibly loud beat of her heart. “You let me worry about that.”
Rhiann wiped the tears from her face, but more kept pouring down. Guilt welled up and threatened to choke her. She shouldn’t have left him. She’d known he needed her and still she’d gone to work. What kind of mother left when her sick baby needed her?
In her brain, synapses fired and question after question filled her mind. What if he wasn’t okay? What if the last time she saw him was to be him reaching for her and her denying him? Someone had her baby. Who knew what they might do to him? What if she never saw him again? Pete had said he didn’t want him, but what if he’d changed his mind because of Patrick’s pushing?
She gasped, fighting for air that refused to go into her lungs. “Charlie, I can’t breathe. I can’t...”
Charlie reached over and pushed her head down between her knees. “You gotta get it together. You are a strong, independent woman. We are about five minutes out and that’s all the freaking-out time you get until you have the full details on what’s happened. Do you hear me?”
Rhiann mumbled something that must have sounded like an agreement because Charlie continued with his tough love pep talk. Her adrenaline levels surged and her skin crawled with the need to do something, to find her baby. Sweat beaded on her face.
“Levi needs you. You have to be strong for him. Come on and breathe for me. Inhale. There you go. Now, let that breath out and get it to take some of that anxiety with it.”
Rhiann kept her head down and focused on breathing and calming her emotions while Charlie drove them toward her apartment. Charlie kept on talking. She focused on the soothing, familiar sound of his voice, trying to keep panic and negative thoughts from taking over her mind and shutting down her body.
Her cell phone rang just then and she pulled it out. “Hello?”
“Hello, Mrs. Masters—this is Jeannine at MMH Pediatric Cardiology. Your son has been admitted here and Dr. Scott has asked if I’d keep trying to reach you. He said he tried to call you a couple times and sent you a few texts as well.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Rhiann hung up the phone and opened the missed texts. Patrick had texted her the same information.
“Levi is at Metro Memorial,” she told Charlie. “Can you take me there instead?”
If Patrick had taken Levi from Mrs. Bradley and straight to the hospital, without waiting to talk to her first, Levi had to be in really bad shape.
Charlie drove on to Metro Memorial in the ambulance. Even though she knew there was a chance he could get into serious trouble for that, he never once said they should go back to the station for their personal vehicles.
He pulled up in front of the main entrance. “I’m afraid this is as far as I go. I’ve gotta get this rig back before they fire us both. But I’ll check in on you as soon as I can. You’re okay?”
She nodded at him and squeezed his hand. “As long as my boy is, I am.”
Climbing out of the rig, she made her way into the hospital. She checked at the desk and was given a room number for Levi on the pediatric cardiology floor. The elevator slow-climbed up to the right floor, and it seemed that no matter how many steps she took toward Levi, she couldn’t get there.
Finally she made it to the room. She swallowed down the massive lump in her throat and opened the door, beyond afraid of what she’d find on the other side.
The bed was surrounded by an all too familiar oxygen tent. Levi lay sleeping. A heart monitor and other monitors were attached to him, their green data constantly updating on the screens behind him. The beeps and bleeps reassured her that Levi was still alive.
“Rhiann!” Patrick called her name, relief evident in his voice.
“How...? How is he?” Her words stumbled past the sobs coming out of her mouth.
“Oh, Rhiann, my dear.” Mrs. Bradley was talking. “I hope I did the right thing by letting this young man bring Levi here. I wanted to call you, but he wouldn’t wait.”
Rhiann stepped up to Levi’s bedside, staring down at him, seeing how hard he fought for each breath.
“Of course you did the right thing. If Patrick says he needs to be here, then I trust his assessment.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked hard. Angrily, she reminded herself that she’d had her breakdown in the rig and now she had to keep it together. Levi didn’t need to wake up to find her flipping out at his bedside. He appeared to be having enough trouble without getting worked up over her being upset.
Patrick laid a hand on her shoulder. “He’s struggling. That surgery can’t wait. His heart condition has worsened and the time for waiting has passed. If you’ll give the authorization, I’d like to do it immediately. As soon as I can get an OR.”
All she could do was nod in agreement. It took all her self-control not to cling to Patrick and avail herself of his strength to help her through this.
The police officer in the corner of the room finally spoke up. He had clearly wanted to watch their dynamic and interactions before he decided to speak.
“We got a call from to say that this guy may or may not have abducted this child. What’s your relationship to the child?”
“I’m his mother.” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked over at her sick baby. “And, no, Patrick didn’t abduct him. He’s his doctor and he’s trying to save him with much-needed surgery.” She looked up at Patrick. “Are you really going to do it now?”
Patrick stepped around the bed and pulled her into a hug. “I’ll get set up and be back as soon as I have some news.” Patrick brushed his lips against her forehead and squeezed her tight before stepping away. He paused at the door. “Now’s not the time, but once we get through this crisis, you and I...we need to talk.”
She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
“Not now. First we have to take care of our boy.”
He was out the door before she could think of how to respond to that.
“So, I don’t think my services are needed here, are they?” The poli
ce officer grinned at her. “Finding out my child abduction case was just a doctor who cares too much for his patient has made my day.”
Rhiann shook her head. “We’re good. You can go.”
“Have a good day, then, ma’am. And I’ll pray for a full recovery for your little boy.”
“If you don’t need me to stay, I’ll be going now too—if I can get a ride back to get my car.” Mrs. Bradley patted Rhiann’s arm and then shuffled out of the room without waiting for Rhiann’s reply.
Sinking down into the chair at Levi’s side, Rhiann started talking to Levi, even though she knew he was currently asleep. “Mommy is here now, sweetie. You are going to be just fine. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. I know it will be, because Patrick’s going to take care of you. He’s going to fix you right up so that you can grow up to be big and strong.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I have faith in him. And I have faith in you.”
A short while later Patrick came back into the room. He brought several people with him, including several nurses and, most surprisingly, his mother. “We’ve got an OR ready now. These nurses are going to get Levi prepped for surgery.”
The nurses took the oxygen tent away from the bed and focused on getting Levi ready to move him to the operating room. The commotion woke Levi up and he fussed for a moment.
“Can I hold him for just a minute—please?” Rhiann begged.
At Patrick’s nod, she picked Levi up for a brief cuddle. Knowing she had to let him go into surgery, and worried that he wouldn’t come out, she knew she had to be prepared for the worst and yet not let him see. She blinked away tears as she eased him back down on the hospital bed.
“Mommy loves you so much. You have to go with Patrick now, but I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”
Patrick grabbed her hand and held it briefly. “I’ll update when I can.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Patrick
PATRICK RAN THROUGH the plan in his head, over and over. He controlled his breathing and brought his focus to this procedure only. Everyday stresses and concerns fell away as he breathed deeply. He inhaled and exhaled, clearing his mind as much as he could.
Heart Surgeon's Second Chance Page 11