by Amy Ruttan
It wasn’t long until they arrived at Mad Ron’s. He just hoped that his brothers weren’t inside. He didn’t want to have to explain Kiri, even though there was nothing to explain. His brothers would know something more had passed between them.
Even if that something more had been five years ago.
And he couldn’t risk his brothers finding out what he’d done.
The dancing had been the only time he’d been free. It hadn’t been his favorite job in the world, but it had let him have just a taste of freedom.
It was a secret that only he and Kiri knew about. And he was tempting fate by taking Kiri to Mad Ron’s, which wasn’t far from his family’s bodega and Little Heliconia, but it was a weekday and he was hoping Dante and Rafe were working and that Santi was in a bit of a honeymoon phase with Saoirse and wouldn’t be making an appearance.
He parked the bike out front. Loud music was blaring from the open door. The palm trees surrounding the building swayed in a gentle breeze, rustling the fronds and the bamboo wind chimes hanging outside.
Kiri handed him the helmet. “I thought we were going to explore South Beach. I wasn’t expecting a ride over the water.”
“You’ve been stuck in Miami Beach too long. You’ve driven the causeway in a car before.”
“Yes, but there was something about not having the safety of metal surrounding me...”
Alejandro chuckled. “Well, I’ll buy you a mojito. That will calm your nerves.”
He breathed a sigh of relief when he scanned all the plush red leather booths and didn’t see any sign of his brothers or Mad Ron, which was probably a good thing.
Gracias a Dios.
“Would you like to sit outside and enjoy the breeze?” he asked.
Kiri nodded. “That would be nice.”
Alejandro waved to Ángel, who was working behind the bar. They took a seat in the farthest corner of the patio. The palms and hibiscus bushes were covered in fairy lights, but they weren’t on right now.
Actually, they had the whole patio to themselves, which was nice in one way and a bit awkward in another.
Kiri sighed and leaned back in the chair. “It’s wonderful out here.”
“Worth the motorcycle ride?”
“Not sure about that. Ask me when we have to drive back over that causeway to get back home.”
He grinned. “Well, if you pried your eyes open you could enjoy the sights of the islands with all the beautiful homes and all the big yachts.”
“Do you have a yacht?”
Alejandro cocked an eyebrow. “As you’re technically my boss, you know how much I get paid. No, I don’t have a yacht.”
“I figured you had some money stashed away from your days of dancing.” Then she blushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to assume or bring that up.”
“No, it’s okay. Nothing much is left. I paid off my school loans, if you recall. The rest went to a down payment on my condo five years ago.”
“What did your parents think of your chosen career path before becoming a surgeon?” she asked.
“Not much. My parents died when I was ten.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she reached out to touch his hand. “Did you have other family to take care of you?”
“No, my parents were the only ones who came to America from Heliconia, long before I was born. The rest of my family is back on the island, but I have never really met them. It was just me and my brothers. They’re all older. The twins Dante and Rafe were legally adults at the time our parents died. Santi was only thirteen and I was ten. My brothers took care of me.”
“That was nice of them. You said they were all in the medical world. What do they do?”
“They’re all doctors.” He smiled as he thought about his brothers. He was proud of them and he was sure that his mami and pappi would have been proud of them all too. They had all worked hard to get where they were. “Dante is a neurosurgeon, Rafe is a epidemiologist and Santi was in the army as a doctor, but currently he’s a paramedic. He recently got married.”
“Are the older two married, as well?”
“No, I think they’re confirmed bachelors.”
Like me.
Only he didn’t say that out loud. Usually he did when he was talking about his brothers, but for some reason he didn’t want to tell Kiri that.
“Besides, they’re too ugly to get married.” He winked at her.
“I’m sure they love it when you call them ugly.”
“Oh, yes, I’m the baby. I’m perfecto.”
“Ha-ha, yeah, sure,” she teased.
“And what about your family? I know your parents come from Mumbai. Do you have any siblings?”
“Yes, I have an older sister. She’s married with a couple of kids. They’re great kids. I miss them.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Then why did you move so far away from them?” he asked.
“The job was too good to pass up and the kids are older now. It’s not too cool to hang out with boring aunt Kiri anymore.”
Alejandro chuckled. The waitress came out and handed them menus. “We’ll have one of Ángel’s mojitos and a virgin mojito for me, please, as I’m driving.”
The waitress nodded and left.
“How strong are these mojitos?” Kiri asked with trepidation.
“Strong enough, or so I hear. I don’t drink.”
“I remember,” she said, blushing again. She picked up her menu. “What should I try? I’m not really used to Latin cuisine. Other than Mexican.”
Alejandro grimaced. “That’s not the same.”
“Then you pick. I’m pretty adventurous.”
“Are you?”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me with that evil grin.”
“If I had a long mustache I would be twirling the ends and laughing maniacally.”
She rolled her eyes, but chuckled under her breath. “Well, I guess I’m mostly adventurous. I don’t eat beef.”
“Really? Why?”
“I’m Hindu.”
“Chicken is probably your safest bet, then,” he said.
The waitress came back with the drinks then. She set a huge mojito down in front of Kiri, whose eyes widened at the sight of it. His alcohol-free mojito was smaller, but was still a big glass of slushy goodness.
“Would you like to order anything else?” the waitress asked.
“Yes, two orders of pollo asado please.”
The waitress nodded. “Coming right up.”
“What did you order?” Kiri asked.
“It’s chicken. You’ll like it.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to Mad Ron’s. I’ve been busy working on my pro bono program at Buena Vista.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry about that, but the board was very clear. Or rather Snyder was.”
“I know. You’re just doing your job but, still, it’s not the right decision.”
“My hands are tied. José got his liver and this baby will be taken care of. You can’t save them all.”
“We should be able to save them all,” he said.
“You’re right,” she said soberly. “We should, but it’s not like Buena Vista is closing its doors to children. We can still save children.”
Alejandro sighed. “It just doesn’t feel like it’s enough.”
“It never is,” she said, and that hint of sadness was in her voice again.
“Who did you lose?” he asked, catching her off guard.
“Pardon?”
“I’m a good reader of people and there are moments where you seem so sad I can’t help but wonder who you lost. I lost my parents and I’m familiar with that expression.”
She shrugged but wouldn’t
look him in the eye. Instead she poked at her mojito. “I didn’t lose anyone. I hate to see children suffer. It’s the worst part of the job.”
“Of course.” Kiri was right, Alejandro knew that. Not being able to save all the children was the hardest part of the job. It tore his heart out when he lost one of his little patients, but there was something more to it than that for her. Something deeper.
He knew that pain. A pain he would never bring on anyone else.
Before he could ask any more questions his phone rang. “It’s the hospital.”
Kiri leaned forward. “Well, answer it.”
“Hello? Yes, this is Dr. Valentino. Yes. Are you sure?” His heart sank as he heard the other doctor on the other end tell him what he didn’t want to hear. “Okay, I see. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll be in to check on him later.”
He hung up the phone and let the words sink in.
Dammit. He’d been hoping for better news. This was not the kind of news he wanted to hear, especially in light of their conversation.
“Is it José? Do you have to go?”
Alejandro shook his head. “It’s not José. That was the cardiology team about the baby.”
“Oh, I see.” And Alejandro knew that she understood exactly what had been said on the other end of the line.
The baby needed a new heart.
The baby had been officially put on the UNOS list, because without a new heart that little miracle baby he’d found in a cardboard box behind the hospital would die.
And the odds of finding an infant heart in time were very slim indeed.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE REST OF the lunch at Mad Ron’s was pretty somber after Alejandro had fielded that call about the baby. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the cost involved or the fact that they probably wouldn’t be able to find a heart in time.
Either way, it hurt her, as well.
She’d never wanted that infant to be sent to County. She’d wanted to keep him at Buena Vista where the top surgeons in Miami could take care of him, but her hands were tied. There was no more money in the pro bono fund for anyone.
Still, she felt responsible. Like it was her fault this child might not make it.
Like you blamed yourself when you miscarried.
She shook that thought away. It had taken her a long time to stop blaming herself for the loss of her child. And who was she kidding? There were moments she still blamed herself.
“I can’t believe he survived as long as he did,” Alejandro murmured.
“So he has hypo plastic left ventricle, double outlet left ventricle, tricuspid atresia, atrial septal defect, ventral septal defect and pulmonary stenosis?” Kiri asked. “You’re right. It’s a miracle he made it out in that heat.”
Alejandro nodded. “They put him on UNOS because the only way to stabilize his heart, which is totally out of rhythm, is to give him a Fontan procedure. The problem is that the pulmonary resistance is high because he’s a newborn. It takes months to drop, so they can’t do the Fontan. The baby doesn’t have months to wait for the procedure and because his heart disease is so complex, his little heart is swelling, so it’s better to wait for a new heart.”
Which would be costly. But she didn’t say that. He knew. They both did. Usually transplants weren’t done on babies so young. It was rare, but they could do it.
“You never know what could happen. It’s true that more adults die than children, making infant and children’s hearts harder to come by, but since older children can take adult hearts, he has a better shot of landing an infant or a small child’s heart. If his current heart is enlarged there should be space to take a toddler’s heart.”
Alejandro nodded. “Yes, that’s not what I’m worried about, though. As his guardian I can’t do the transplant surgery. Heart transplants are one of my specialties. I’m the one the cardiology team calls when a heart transplant needs to be done on a child. A baby’s vessels are so much more delicate. Especially a preemie’s.”
“Yes, that is a conundrum. You may not be able to perform the surgery, but you can stand over the surgery and guide a resident.”
He shook his head vehemently. “A resident is not touching that baby.”
“Oh, no? Who is, then?”
He then stared at her. “You are.”
“Me?” She had done pediatric heart transplants, but she wasn’t sure if she could operate on that child. Not when Alejandro was the guardian. It hit a little too close to home for her.
“You are the head of pediatric surgery. I want you to be the one to do it.”
“I’m not a transplant specialist. You need to have one of your residents do it,” she argued. She didn’t want to risk hurting the baby.
She just couldn’t.
He shook his head. “No, you’re a good surgeon.”
“How do you know? I’ve only ever assisted you once.”
“I saw for myself how you retrieved that liver. You may not have split it, but the veins were easy to graft back into José. I also have my sources.” He grinned deviously.
“Your sources?” she asked.
“I like to check out my competition. You were Dr. Vaughan’s top student and Dr. Vaughan only chooses the best. I’m sure you’ve done these procedures before under his tutelage. I know he’s done infant heart transplants and I know you have, as well.”
“I’m not really your competition, I’m the head of the department and I’m not a specialist in transplant surgery.”
“Everyone is competition,” he said seriously. “Something I’ve learned the hard way.”
“Really?”
He took a drink. “When you have to work and fight your way through a competitive program and specialty and you’re a minority, you have a longer way to arrive at the destination. I fought the whole way. I worked hard to get where I am and I’m very protective of what I have.”
Kiri smiled. She understood that all too well. Being a woman of an immigrant family, short and a bit of a wallflower when she’d been younger, she’d had to learn to speak up in a very competitive surgical program.
She’d learned to fight for everything she wanted, as well.
Even if she lost that fight. She never gave up.
You’ve given up on one thing.
And she tried to not think about the fact that she was never going to have another baby. She’d decided after she lost hers that she was never going to put herself through that kind of pain again, and her obstetrician had told her she had a hostile uterus so it would be unlikely she would conceive again, let alone carry a child to term.
“You’re sad again,” Alejandro remarked.
“What’re you talking about?”
“As I said, I can read people.” He leaned forward. “You went somewhere else. Your thoughts drifted. Where were you?”
Nowhere.
“I’m not sad,” she said, plastering a fake smile on her face.
Liar.
Where she was was a dark place. A place where all her dreams had been laid to rest.
Alejandro stared at her with those piercing dark eyes seeming to read her soul. “Something is bothering you.”
“Well, I am far from home. I’ve spent my whole life in New York City, rarely traveling except once to Vegas...” Then heat flooded her cheeks as she thought of the one time she had traveled there. “And then to see family. That’s all the traveling I’ve done.”
“How was the wedding?” he asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
“What wedding?” she asked, confused.
“The bachelorette party from five years ago. You were the maid of honor, I believe? The trip to Vegas.”
“Oh, right. It was good. They’re still together.”
“Well, that’s good.” He smile
d. “So this is your first time in Florida, then?”
She nodded. “It is and I have to say I’m not missing the cold at all. I like this heat and the sun.”
“It’s not always this beautiful. In the summer it gets humid and then there’s hurricane season.”
“We’ve had hurricanes in New York.”
“You’re right, you have. I guess, then, that Florida—other than the fact we don’t usually get snow and we have alligators—is really no different from New York.”
“Alligators.” She shuddered. “I’m not a fan of reptiles or bugs.”
“Perhaps we’ll have to take a drive down to the Everglades and I’ll take you out on a fan boat into the swamp. See if we can spot some gators.”
“No, thank you!” And Kiri shuddered again. “I’m fine right here, in the city, where it’s somewhat safe.”
This time it was his turn to have a strange look pass across his face. “The city is not as safe as you think.”
“Well, no city is safe,” she agreed, but she could sense there was tension between them. “But I seriously doubt that an alligator is going to take an elevator and knock on my door.” She was trying to ease the tension between them.
He laughed, his eyes twinkling, his demeanor relaxing. “Not an alligator, but maybe other beasts.”
“Now that I’ve been to Mad Ron’s and surprisingly haven’t been knocked on my butt by the mojito, probably because of the chicken, is my tour of Miami done for the day?”
Alejandro grinned. “Hardly. There’s still so much to show you.”
“Should I be afraid?”
He shrugged. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I don’t know you well enough to trust you,” she teased.
“Don’t you?”
“One night together and one surgery does not equate to knowing each other. I have secrets and I’m sure you do, as well.”
And she meant what she said. She was sure that he had secrets, just like her.
Alejandro reached into his wallet and pulled out some money, weighting it with an empty plate so that it wouldn’t blow away in the wind.
