by Sandi Lynn
“Dr. Harper?” Dr. Lasher spoke.
“His abdomen is distended. Get the ultrasound now.”
“Grace,” Sam whispered as he stared at me and I stared back.
“Ultrasound is ready,” Dr. Lasher spoke as she handed me the transducer.
“Is this the husband?” Jamieson asked as he walked in. “His wife is next door. She’s stable and wants to know how he is.”
“Dr. Harper, his stats are dropping. He’s going into V-fib.”
I stood there and stared at him and then looked at the monitor. I froze.
“Grace?” Jamieson spoke. “Dr. Harper?” His voice was stern.
“Dr. Harper!” Dr. Lasher shouted.
“Push a round of epi and charge the paddles to 200.”
“Epi is in,” Sara spoke.
“Clear.” I shocked his chest. “Charge to 200 and push another round of epi. Clear.” I shocked him again. “Charge to 250. Clear.” I stared at the monitor and nothing. “Oh no you don’t, you son of a bitch. You are not getting off that easy!” I spoke through gritted teeth. “Push 20 mgs. of Atropine. Charge to 300.”
“Dr. Harper,” Jamieson spoke in a stern tone.
“Clear!”
“He’s got a rhythm,” Dr. Lasher spoke.
“Let’s get a head CT, stat,” Jamieson said.
“I need to get him up to the OR and stop the bleeding.”
“Go. We’ll get the CT up there.”
Jamieson
I stared at Grace as she wheeled the patient out. What the hell happened with her? I went back to check on my patient in the next room before heading up to the OR.
“How is he? How is my husband?” she asked.
“He’s stable for now and we’re taking him up to the OR. He has some internal bleeding, but he’s in excellent hands.”
“I can’t believe this is happening. We were on our way to the airport to catch our flight home, and out of nowhere, cars just started piling up in front of us. We were hit really hard from behind.”
“You’re not from here?” I asked.
“No. We’re from New York. My husband had a finance conference to attend and he thought it would be a good idea for me to come and we could turn it into our anniversary celebration. It was perfect up until this. Dr. Finn, do you think Sam is going to be okay? I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”
“Sam?” I nervously spoke.
“My husband’s name is Sam.”
“Excuse me.”
I walked out of the room and ran up to the OR. Grace should not be operating on him. I placed a mask over my face and entered inside.
“Dr. Harper, I know who your patient is, and I don’t think—”
“Dr. Finn, his scans are up for you to look at.” She interrupted me mid-sentence. “I’m in the middle of repairing his spleen and the tear in his abdominal wall.”
I walked over and took a look at his scans.
“He’s got a subdermal hematoma. Nothing a simple burr hole won’t fix. I’m going to scrub in. Get the drill ready.”
I scrubbed in and then walked over and took the drill from the scrub nurse.
“Are you doing okay, Dr. Harper?” I asked.
“Of course. Did his wife say why they’re here in Los Angeles?”
“Umm. Something about a finance conference.”
There was no way I was telling her any more than that. I drilled the burr hole and then assisted Grace with her surgery.
“Close for me, Dr. Lasher,” she spoke before walking out of the room.
“Grace, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Jamieson. I need to go update his wife.”
“I can do that. You don’t have to.”
“No. I want to.”
“You’re not going to say something, are you?”
“Say what? That her husband is a lying cheating bastard who carried on a secret affair with me for over a year?”
Chapter 42
Grace
I stepped onto the elevator and Jamieson followed me inside.
“I think it’s probably best that you don’t tell her. Let me,” Jamieson spoke. “In fact, you don’t even need to see her.”
“He’s my patient, Jamieson, and I will give his wife the update.”
I walked into trauma room two and stared at the pretty brunette lying in the bed.
“How’s my husband?” she asked.
“I’m Dr. Harper. I went in and repaired your husband’s spleen and the tear in his abdominal wall. I was able to stop the bleeding and Dr. Finn was able to relieve the pressure in his brain. He’s going to be fine.”
“Oh thank God.” She placed her hand on her chest. “We just celebrated our anniversary. He’s the love of my life. If something would have happened to him—” She began to cry. “He’s such an amazing husband and father.”
A sickness formed in the pit of my belly. I wanted to scream at her that he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
“Thank you, Dr. Harper and Dr. Finn, for saving his life,” she spoke. “I will be forever grateful to both of you. When can I see him?”
“He’s in recovery right now. You can see him when they move him into a room. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to tend to.”
I walked out of the room and down the hallway, where I found a gurney to sit on.
“Are you okay?” Jamieson asked as he sat next to me and placed his hand on my knee.
“She seems nice and she really loves him,” I spoke.
“Do you?” Jamieson asked.
“No. Not at all.” I placed my hand on his. “I just hate him for lying to me and for what he did to her.”
“That was pretty evident in the trauma room when he coded. You hesitated, Grace.”
“I was in shock, Jamieson.”
He turned his hand over and interlaced our fingers.
“Maybe you should go home for the rest of the day and get some sleep.”
“I’m fine.” I laid my head on his shoulder.
“Don’t make me call your Aunt Cora.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” I glared at him.
The corners of his mouth curved up into a cunning grin.
“Then you don’t know me very well.”
“Jamieson, come on.” I cocked my head.
“Just the day, Grace. You barely slept and now this. Just go home. Relax. Go sit on the beach and just take the day for yourself.” He kissed my forehead. “That’s an order.”
“Fine. Are you working late tonight?”
“No.” He smiled. “I’ll be home for dinner and we can order something in.”
“I have to tell Renata first.”
“I’ll tell her. You go. It’ll give her an excuse to harass me.” He winked.
I gave him a kiss on his cheek, grabbed my things, and made a little detour to the grocery store before heading home. Jamieson said we could order in for dinner, but I wanted to cook for him.
Jamieson
I walked up to Renata’s office and lightly knocked on her door.
“Come in.”
“Do you have a minute?” I asked.
“Of course. Have a seat.”
“Grace went home for the day,” I spoke.
“Is she sick?”
“No, but there was a complicated trauma.”
“Jamieson, what happened?” she asked with concern.
“There was a pile-up on the highway.”
“Yes, I heard about that.”
“The man Grace treated was her ex-boyfriend. He and his wife were here for a finance conference and an anniversary celebration. They were involved in the collision.”
“Oh dear. Are they all right?”
“He coded in the ER. Grace brought him back and then she took him up to the OR, where she repaired his spleen and abdominal wall. I was in there with her.”
“She had no business performing that surgery,” she spoke.
“I know that, and by time I found out who he wa
s, I ran up there. But you know her. I suggested she leave for the day. We barely slept last night and now this.”
“Barely slept?” Her brow arched.
“It’s not what you think, Renata. I told her everything about my past and we talked.”
“Really?” She cocked her head. “And she didn’t go running for the hills, did she?”
“No, she didn’t.” I smiled.
“Telling her about your past is a huge step, Jamieson. How do you feel about it?”
“It felt good to tell her.”
“Sounds to me like you care for Dr. Harper and you’re finally realizing it.” She softly smiled.
“I do care about her a great deal. I guess you could say she’s grown on me.” I smirked. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that she’s gone for the day.”
“That’s fine. You made the right call. But what about you?”
“What about me?”
“How do you feel about this guy here? I’m trusting you aren’t going to say anything to him, right?”
“No, of course not. Why would I?”
“Because he deeply hurt the woman you care about.” Her brow arched.
“It’s none of my business, Renata.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
I got up from my chair, walked out of her office, and went to Sam’s room to check up on him. When I walked in with his chart, he slowly opened his eyes.
“You’re awake. Good. Do you remember what happened?” I asked as I checked his eyes.
“Car accident. My wife.”
“Except for a few scrapes and bruises, she’s fine. She’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“I can’t be here,” he quietly spoke.
“Why? Because of Grace? You’re lucky she didn’t let you die. Yes, my friend, I know all about you and what you did to her. I must say, you’ve got some huge balls for being able to pull that off as long as you did.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, excuse me. My bad. I’m Dr. Finn. The one who drilled the burr hole in your head to drain the pressure from the fluid that was building up.”
“Why would she tell you?”
“I’m not sure you really want me to answer that question.” I smirked. “Anyway, I’ll let your wife know you’re awake and send her up. She’s a beautiful woman and seems to love you a lot. I’m still trying to figure out what she sees in you.” I walked out of the room.
“Jamieson.” Logan walked up to me and hooked his arm around my neck. “Drinks tonight. I’m buying.”
“I can’t, man. I told Grace I’d be home for dinner.”
“What?” He laughed. “You’re kidding me.”
“No. I’m not,” I spoke as we walked into my research room. “I told her everything last night.”
“Damn, man. You’ve fallen for her.”
“I care about her and I figured it was time to share that part of my life.”
“Does this mean the two of you are going to get married? Oh wait, you already are. Is there no annulment in your future now?”
“There will be an annulment. I don’t want to be married. Like I said, I care about Grace, but I don’t want to be married to her.”
“Good luck with that.” He patted me on the back. “Anyway, I got this today.” He smiled as he pulled a sonogram photo from his pocket. “It’s a girl.”
“Congratulations.” I gave him a light hug. “Are things going okay with Riley?”
“Yeah. Things are great. She’s an amazing woman. Maybe the four of us can go out.”
“Great idea,” I spoke.
Chapter 43
Grace
I sat at the table with my phone next to me, waiting for a call or a text message from him. Dinner was already cold as it sat on the table for two hours. I took my plate over to the sink and cleaned up. Just as I was turning off the lights in the kitchen and heading up to my room, the front door opened, and Jamieson walked in.
“Hey,” he spoke. “I got tied up in surgery with a spinal cord injury. Did you eat?”
“Considering it’s ten o’clock, yeah, I did. There’s leftovers in the refrigerator,” I spoke as I started walking up the stairs.
“You cooked?”
“I did. Good night.”
“Grace, wait. What do you mean good night?”
“I’m tired, so I’m going to bed. Enjoy your dinner.”
I went into my room and shut the door. I was mad. Did I have a right to be? Yeah, I did, because all he had to do was shoot me a quick message. But instead, I just sat at the table, across from an empty plate and seat, and waited for him like an idiot. As I was changing into my pajamas, the door opened.
“Excuse me?” I cocked my head.
“Please, it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before. What is your problem?” he asked as he stood in the doorway.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit, Grace. Talk to me.”
“Fine. You want to know what my problem is? You could have at least called or texted me to let me know you wouldn’t be home,” I spoke with an irritated tone as I put on my pajama bottoms. “I cooked dinner for you. I never cooked for you before and I thought it would be nice.”
“I’m sorry. I had an emergency surgery. You of all people should understand that.”
“I do understand that, but you could have at least called or even had one of your residents tell me if you couldn’t.”
He stood there in the doorway and stared at me. I could tell he was carefully thinking about his next words.
“Patients come first, Grace, even before you.”
“You just don’t get it, do you?” I shook my head. “Maybe this thing we’re trying, whatever it is, isn’t going to work.”
“You’re right, maybe it isn’t. Good night.” He slammed the door.
“Asshole!” I yelled.
I climbed into bed and tossed and turned a few times before I got comfortable. As I lay there, I thought about why I reacted the way I did. I was a trauma surgeon and I knew better. I knew emergency surgeries come up all the time that prevent us from coming home. It’s the life of being a doctor. I used to cancel on Sam all the time due to emergencies. The difference was I would let him know. But then again, I had to realize that Jamieson had never been in a relationship before, and as much as I hated to admit it, he more than likely didn’t think about telling me. Ugh. I threw back the covers, opened my door, and walked down the hallway to his bedroom. After lightly knocking, he told me to come in. When I opened the door, I found him sitting up in bed looking at his phone. His eyes diverted to me and I stood there for a moment and just stared him. Neither one of us said a word. I slowly walked over to the other side of his bed and climbed under the covers. He wrapped his arms around me and lightly kissed the top of my head.
“I know I upset you and I’m sorry.”
“And I realize it really wasn’t your fault. You don’t answer to anyone. You never have,” I spoke.
“This is new to me, Grace. It’s going to take some practice, and along the way, I will make mistakes. I’m going to need you to forgive those mistakes and just know that I’m trying.”
“I know. I’m sorry for what I said.”
“Me too. Next time, I will let you know. I promise.”
I turned around in his arms and looked up at him. His lips gave way to a small smile and, instantly, I melted. I climbed on top of him and smashed my mouth against his. I wanted him like I’d never wanted him before. He welcomed it and rolled me over on my back, hovering over me and taking total control. After copious amounts of foreplay, he thrust inside me. My body greeted him with warmth as he moved in and out of me with perfect rhythm. Our lips meshed, our hands wandered, and we made love in several positions before he exploded inside me and I had orgasm number three. I laid my head on his chest and we both fell asleep until our alarms went off the next morning.
“Shower?” He smiled as he softly kissed me good morning.
“Defin
itely.” I grinned.
I took in a deep breath as I stood outside Sam’s room. His wife was there with him, holding his hand.
“Good morning.” I smiled as I looked at her. “Have you been here all night?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t leave him.”
“Well, I’m just here to check his vitals and his surgical incisions. Why don’t you go get yourself a cup of coffee from the cafeteria and maybe some breakfast?”
She looked over at Sam.
“Go ahead, sweetheart. Let the doctor do her job.”
She gave him a smile as she leaned over and gave him a kiss. When she walked out of the room, I glared at him.
“Grace, I can’t believe you’re here. So this is where you moved to.”
“Yeah,” I spoke as I lifted his gown and checked his incisions. “Your wife is very nice and you’re nothing but a shithead. She doesn’t deserve you. She deserves to know what a lying, cheating bastard you are.”
“Are you going to tell her?” he asked with a nervous tone.
“No. It’s not my place to tell her. You’re the one who lied for over a year. If you feel the need to seek out other women, you have no business being married. Your lack of respect for women repulses me. You got lucky that I’m a nice person and won’t tell her. But when the next woman you lie to comes along, your luck might just run out.”
“Dr. Finn was in here yesterday and he told me that you told him about me. Then he said something really strange.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“I asked him why you would tell him about me and he said I didn’t want to know the answer. What was he talking about?”
“Dr. Finn is my husband.”
“What?” He swallowed hard.
“Good morning, Sam.” Jamieson smiled as he walked into the room and took a look at his head. “I trust my beautiful wife is taking care of you?” He winked at me.
“I can’t believe you got married. You barely know this guy.”
“Trust me. She knows me,” Jamieson spoke.
“We met in New York. In fact, we met while me and you were still together. He’s the reason I moved here. I didn’t know how to tell you because I didn’t want to hurt you. So me finding out about your wife was my ticket out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other patients to see.”
