Doctor, Mommy...Wife?

by Dianne Drake

  “I should probably take this,” he said, reaching over to the vanity top to grab it. “Simon Michaels speaking,” he said, as he playfully rubbed the palm of his hand over her right breast.

  He listened for a second then dropped his hand from her breast, and said, “When?” His voice was dead serious. “How is she doing?” He listened for a minute and finally said, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes... No, you’re not interrupting anything. I said, I’ll be there.” With that he clicked off his phone and stepped out of the shower abruptly, leaving the cold air to flutter in behind him.

  Goose bumps raised on her body. “One of our patients?” she asked, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her as she stepped out. Simon was already half-dressed.

  “No. It’s Amy. She was in an accident tonight and she’s on her way to Lakeside right now. Yvette had her rerouted halfway across town so I could take care of her. Which I can’t because I don’t work in the hospital.”

  “Is it serious?” Del asked, running into the bedroom and dropping the towel to pull on her clothes.

  “She’s not conscious, and that’s all I know.”

  She wanted to ask him if he needed her there, but that didn’t mesh well with their new relationship—dragging a lover along to visit an injured little girl. So she followed him out the door, and down the flight of steps to the outside door, then onto the sidewalk. “If there’s anything I can do...”

  Simon shook his head. “I’ll call you later.” Then he was off in an abrupt run, no goodbye, no goodbye kiss. Nothing. She stood there for a second and watched him until he turned the corner, then she turned and walked toward her condo feeling quite...unresolved. Although it wasn’t his fault. Amy was in trouble and his place was with her and Yvette.

  Still, it was unsettling having him practically jump out of bed and into the arms of his ex-wife, no matter what the circumstances. Oh, well, she thought as she keyed herself into the building and said hello to the night concierge, who was sitting at the front desk reading a mystery novel. It was good while it lasted.

  Very good. And best of all, come morning she wasn’t going to kick herself because she’d wanted it just as much as he had. I am human, she thought, as she took one final appraisal to make sure every piece of her clothing was in perfect array before she entered her condo and was forced to confront her parents. Straightening her hair a little, and making sure her blouse was buttoned properly, she glanced at her watch. Two hours, all in. Not bad. Not bad at all. Especially for someone who’d started out the evening not even wanting a minute of it.

  * * *

  Del puttered around her condo for a while, folding Charlie’s clothing, talking to her parents, all of it very restless energy. She knew where she needed to be and it certainly wasn’t here.

  “Why don’t you go to the hospital and help your friend through this?” Her mother’s suggestion was very much at the forefront of her thoughts, especially when she considered how he’d been there to help her when Charlie was sick. Simon hadn’t left her side, and she wouldn’t have gotten through it without him. But the thought that held her back was Yvette. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him with his ex, as that would remind her that Simon was at one time part of a happy little family group, even though she knew that wasn’t the case now. But a badly injured child had a way of making people grow closer and, having just been in his bed, she wasn’t sure she could go that route this soon after.

  “He was a big help to me,” she told Gloria, who was getting Charlie ready for bed.

  “Then go to him, dear. I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you.”

  But she felt a little strange running after him when just an hour ago they’d forgotten for a few minutes there was an outside world for them to worry about. But she had to behave maturely about this, didn’t she? Simon might need her. And she was pulled toward him as she paced her condo, going back and forth from wall to wall. “Look, do you mind watching Charlie for the night? I think I need to be with Simon right now.”

  “Of course we don’t mind watching Charlie, do we, Charles?”

  Charles Carson smiled. “I’ll walk you over to the hospital.”

  “I’ll be fine on my own.”

  “You may be thirty-five, but you’re still my little girl and my little girl gets her father’s escort to the hospital even though it’s only a couple blocks away.”

  Del nodded. Now wasn’t the time to argue with her father. She just wanted to get to the hospital. So she threw on a lightweight jacket and waited for him at the front door. “I’m glad you’re both here,” she said, giving her mother a hug. “It makes life easier. And Charlie loves having you here.”

  “Not as much as we love being here with him,” her mother said. “Now, you go on and take all the time you need. Charlie will be just fine with us.”

  Del’s dad opened the door for her and took hold of her arm as they entered the hallway and went to the elevator to wait. “You like this fellow a lot, do you?” Charles asked her.

  “We’re friends.”

  “Last time we checked you were colleagues.”

  “Things change. And he’s been a big support to me, especially when Charlie got sick.”

  The elevator door opened and they got in and rode down to the first floor. “He was there for me every step of the way. I didn’t even have to ask him.”

  “And the two of you are dating now?”

  Dating and so much more, but that wasn’t something she cared to discuss with her dad. “We’ve had a couple of dates. Nothing fancy. Just...nice.”

  “He’s not like Eric, is he? Someone who’ll string you along with his promises for years, and cheat on you every chance he gets.”

  “Simon and I don’t have that kind of relationship. It’s casual. If he dates someone else...” she tried to imagine Simon with another woman and her heartbeat increased a beat or two “...that’s his business. Like I said, we’re just casual friends.”

  “Well, casual or not, don’t go getting yourself mixed up in another screwy situation like you had with Eric. He was no good for you.”

  That was putting it mildly. “What Simon and I have can hardly be called a relationship, Dad. So don’t worry about me. I’ve got my head screwed on straight this time.”

  The rest of their two-block walk they talked about Charlie and the progress he was making. Then when they arrived at the hospital, Charles left Del at the admitting door and turned around and walked home, while Del’s stomach knotted. This was where she got involved in a whole different way than she’d ever believed would happen and it scared her. But, this was about Simon and his stepdaughter, and they might need her help. At the least, Simon could use the support. So, turning toward the ward, she wandered down the hall, took a look at the admittance board in the emergency room and saw that Amy was in holding in Trauma Five. Which meant Yvette couldn’t be too far away. Gulping, she slipped very quietly into Trauma Five and just stood pressed to the wall.

  * * *

  “Amy, honey, you’re going to be just fine.”

  “I’ll swear, that truck came out of nowhere,” Yvette said. She was standing at the bathroom mirror fixing her hair.

  Simon could smell the liquor on her breath and the stale cigarettes in her hair. So she’d picked up a new bad habit. Nothing like some secondhand smoke for Amy.

  “What was she doing in the street in the first place? And at this time of night?”

  “I was going to the store, and I had her run back to the house to get my purse. I’d forgotten my credit card.”

  “And she crossed the street alone?”

  “She knows how to cross the street, Simon.” Yvette slid into a chair and almost slid down to the floor, she was so relaxed. “I know you taught her.”

  “Of course I taught her, but I didn’t teach her how to do it alone, after dark
, on a busy street.”

  “It was an accident. And if that damn truck hadn’t turned the corner when it did...” She waved a limp hand in the air. “It was all his fault. You should be talking to him.”

  “Did he stop after he hit her?”

  “He stopped, and accused me of being a bad mother. Of all the nerve.”

  Simon shut his eyes for a moment. “Where’s your husband?”

  “Away on business,” she said.

  “Did you call him?”

  “Why? Amy isn’t his kid.”

  “And she’s not my kid, either, but you called me.”

  “Because you can patch her up and see that she gets home.”

  “She’s unconscious, Yvette. That’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a patch.”

  “Maybe Yvette would like some coffee,” Del said from the doorway.

  Simon spun around to see her standing there with a paper cup full of coffee from the vending machine.

  “I saw how she was and I thought...” She shrugged and held out the coffee. “Do you want anything, Simon?”

  He shook his head no, then took the cup from Del and handed it to Yvette. “Drink it!” he ordered her.

  “You know I like sugar in mine.”

  “I’ll go get sugar,” Del volunteered, and in a split second was out in the hall on her way to the bank of vending machines, with Simon on her heel.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, his voice still hanging on to a shred of its accusatory tone.

  “Thought you might need me. And I do have some clout here.”

  “What I need is information about Amy,” he said, running a nervous hand through his still-mussed hair. He hadn’t combed it after their shower together.

  “She’s going into X-ray right now. Still unconscious.” She shrugged. “I looked at her chart before I came down here.”

  “She was hit by a truck.”

  “I know. And the police aren’t holding the driver because it was an accident. Amy crossed against the light. Apparently her mother was across the street screaming at her.”

  “Damn,” he muttered, fixing on the sugar packets in Del’s hand. “She must have gotten confused.”

  “Or frightened, poor thing.”

  “Is Charlie OK?”

  “He’s with my folks. They’d put him to bed before I got home.” She reached out and took his hand. “Look, Simon. She’s in good hands here. It’s a small hospital but the staff is top-notch all the way around and they’ll take good care of Amy.”

  “I should have fought harder for her. Should have gone back to court another time.”

  “You did everything you could do. And when she’s older I think Amy will understand that. But in the meantime, I think you’d better go take care of Yvette. She’s not in very good shape.” Del placed the sugar packets in Simon’s hand and closed his hand around them. “I’ll go see what I can find out and I’ll be back to talk to you directly.”

  He bent down and kissed Del on the forehead. “Thank you for coming. I know I was a little abrupt when I left you on the sidewalk, but—”

  “But nothing. You did what any good parent would do. And I don’t blame you. We all have ups and downs, especially when your children are sick or injured.” She turned and reentered the trauma wing while Simon went to the waiting area only to find Yvette sound asleep, her head on the shoulder of the stranger sitting next to her. He was drinking her coffee. No sugar.

  * * *

  “She’s awake now and they said you can go in and see her for a minute,” Del told Simon, who was standing out in the hall leaning against the wall.

  “Did they give you her diagnosis?”

  “No, I thought that it would be better if they talked to you and Yvette, since you can’t make the decisions for Amy.”

  “Don’t remind me,” he grumbled as he walked through the trauma doors into the main hall, with Del walking shoulder to shoulder with him.

  “She’s in a serious condition, Simon,” Del warned. “Pretty beat up on the outside with some internal injuries, as well.”

  He nodded, and greeted the doctor on call, who was looking at Amy’s EKG tracing as Simon stepped into the cubicle.

  “Daddy,” Amy said weakly. “I’m scared.”

  “Daddy’s here to take care of you now. No need to be afraid,” Simon said gently, taking hold of Amy’s hand. She was dwarfed by the chest tube, EKG leads, IV tubing and oxygen mask on her, and Simon’s first reaction was to assess everything, including blood that was coming out of one of the tubes. “So what are we talking about here?”

  “She needs emergency surgery,” Dr. Ross said, “to remove her spleen. We also need to surgically repair her leg. Her head films are negative for brain damage and she’s alert and reactive.”

  “Daddy?” Amy whimpered. “I don’t feel so good. Is Mommy going to be mad at me for messing up her evening?”

  “Mommy’s not mad. She’s worried.”

  “I didn’t mean to get hit, and I didn’t see that truck. Honest I didn’t.” Amy coughed and a little bit of blood trickled out her nose.

  “I’ll go wake up her mother and get permission for the surgery,” Simon said.

  “How about you stay here and I’ll go wake her up?” Del offered.

  “She can be pretty ugly when she wakes up from a drink.”

  “And I can be pretty insistent.” Del smiled as she squeezed Simon’s arm. “You stay here and comfort your little girl. She needs you more than Yvette does.”

  “Thanks,” he said, hovering over Amy’s bed as the child drifted off to sleep.

  “Why’s she drifting in and out?” Simon asked the attending physician.

  “We gave her something for pain and she’s pretty sensitive to it.”

  “So tell me the truth. Is she going to be OK?”

  “I’d like to get her spleen out of her as soon as possible, to control the internal bleeding. We’re not too worried about her leg. It should repair pretty easily once we get the orthopedics team in place.”

  “Will she be able to endure that much surgery all at once?”

  “We’ll have to evaluate that as we go along,” Dr. Ross explained.

  Damn, he felt helpless. He wasn’t her real dad, and he didn’t even feel much like a real doctor at the moment. The worst part was, he couldn’t make the decisions. By all legal rights he shouldn’t even be here since Yvette had a restraining order out on him. But he didn’t care about that. If they rounded him up and threw him in jail for being at his daughter’s bedside, so be it. This was about Amy now, and Amy needed him here. From the looks of Yvette, so did she.

  Out in the hall, Del looked into the waiting room at the sleeping woman who was slumped all over the man sitting next to her. She knew they weren’t together and could only surmise this was Yvette in her drunken-stupor, passed-out state. It wasn’t going to be easy to shake her out of it. “Yvette,” Del called from the doorway.

  Yvette lifted her head for a moment, then crashed back down on the willing stranger, who didn’t seem to mind having her there. Living vicariously, Del thought as she stepped inside the crowded room. “Yvette, wake up.”

  “I’m awake,” she mumbled, opening her eyes.

  “You need to get up and come back to Trauma with me. Amy needs you.”

  “Kid doesn’t even understand a stupid traffic light,” she said, her voice slurring.

  “Amy needs you,” Del repeated as all eyes in the room turned to her.

  “Her dad is with her.”

  “No, Simon is with her and you made sure he’s not her dad, so he can’t sign off on what Amy needs.”

  The man next to Yvette pushed her upright. “Your kid needs you, lady,” he said.

  “Fine. Tell Simon to sign t
he papers for me.”

  “He can’t!” Del crossed the room and physically pulled Yvette from her chair. “You have to do that.”

  “I faint at the sight of blood,” she complained. “Never could understand Simon and his passion for medicine ’cause you get exposed to all kinds of nastiness.”

  Del steadied the wobbly woman, and pulled her out into the hall. “She’s in Trauma Five. Go down to the nurses’ hub and sign the papers then go down to see Amy in Room Five. She needs to see you.”

  “And just who are you?” Yvette asked, straightening herself up.

  “I’m a friend of Simon’s.”

  “So he’s got a girlfriend.” She laughed a shrill laugh that could be heard the entire length of the hall. “Well, what do you know about that?”

  “What I know is that you’re wasting precious minutes of Amy’s life. You need to go down there and sign the surgery consent form.”

  “OK. OK. I’ll sign it, but I expect Simon to stay here with the kid while I go home and make myself presentable for my husband. He’s coming home tonight.”

  “Honestly,” Del hissed, “I don’t care what you do after you sign the papers. In fact, I’ll be glad to call you a cab.”

  “I’ll just bet you would.” Yvette snorted as she bobbed and wove her way down the hall, where she stopped at the central hub to inquire about the paperwork.

  The unit secretary handed her a consent form, on which she scrawled a signature halfway over the entire page, then she turned and staggered back to the trauma doors.

  “Your cab will be here in five minutes,” Del told her.

  “I don’t suppose you’re paying for it, too, are you? See, I don’t have enough cash on me right now to...”

  Del huffed out an impatient sigh as she took hold of Yvette’s arm and led her to the door. The cab was already there, waiting, so Del got Yvette inside and handed the driver a hundred-dollar bill. “That’s to make sure you get her up to her door,” she said. Whatever happened after that, Del didn’t care.

  * * *

  “How did you manage with Yvette?” Simon asked Del after Amy was taken down to surgery.