A White Knight in ER

by Jessica Matthews

  He wouldn’t have missed the experience for all the lemon meringue pie at the bakery.

  ‘Yup,’ Gene teased. ‘From what I saw, you enjoyed yourself.’

  ‘I did,’ Jonas admitted.

  ‘Bonnie’s wondering why you haven’t called her.’

  To be honest, he hadn’t thought about it. Life with the Ericksons had kept him busy. Now that Gene had mentioned seeing him with his entourage out for a walk, Jonas realized how much more satisfying his days had become since Megan, Angie and Trevor had been a part of them.

  He liked coming home to Megan and her brood, noticing the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. It reminded him of the happier days of his childhood. As luck would have it, Megan had insisted on reciprocating and now they’d fallen into an easy routine of alternating dinner between their homes.

  The spring weather allowed him to walk the six blocks with Penny and then return after dark. The next night, Megan would arrive with Trevor in his stroller and Angie on her trike. Afterwards, he and Penny would accompany them home.

  It was a far cry from his former routine of hurrying to the golf course and grabbing a bite on the way, or sprucing up to take someone to dinner.

  As for Bonnie, he simply hadn’t found the time for her. It hadn’t occurred to him until this minute that he didn’t want to make the time. Perhaps he was mellowing, or just plain bored with the sameness of playing the field, but being around Megan and the kids suddenly had become more fun than he remembered ever having with the Bonnies of the world.

  And he could remember some exciting experiences.

  ‘I’ve been busy.’

  ‘Then you don’t mind if I introduce her to a friend of mine?’

  ‘Be my guest.’

  ‘Great.’ Gene’s face brightened, as if he’d been afraid he would create an incident. ‘Have you found someone who wants your dog?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘What about Megan?’

  ‘Her daughter wants to own Penny something fierce. Megan isn’t thrilled at the idea.’

  ‘What am I not thrilled with?’ she asked as she appeared in the doorway.

  ‘Owning my dog,’ Jonas said, drinking in the sight of her familiar face. In spite of her cheery smile, he noticed it seemed more forced. Her blood tests to check for drug toxicity were due today. Although she couldn’t possibly have received the results already, the fact that the tests had to be run in the first place had probably reminded her of a situation she would prefer to not think about.

  She leaned against the doorframe. ‘Someday we’ll get a dog.’

  ‘No time like the present,’ he said.

  ‘When Angie and Trevor are old enough to take care of it.’

  ‘If you start now, they’ll get into the habit,’ he coaxed.

  ‘Sorry. As much as I love Penny, I’d want a smaller dog. One that won’t eat us out of house and home.’

  Jonas turned to Gene. ‘Can you believe I’m already on my second bag of dog food?’

  ‘Buy a bigger bag,’ Gene replied.

  Megan straightened. ‘I’d love to discuss dogs with you, but your favorite patient is here.’

  Jonas glanced at the clock as he set his mug on the table. ‘Violet’s early.’

  ‘Violet? Who’s Violet?’ Gene asked.

  ‘Mrs Spears,’ Megan supplied. ‘She’s in three.’

  Jonas walked with her. ‘How’s her leg?’

  ‘Much better. I still can’t believe we’re sneaking her into the department to treat her.’

  Jonas’s boss had insisted that he do whatever he could to send Mrs Spears to one of the family practice clinics for treatment. Unfortunately, Violet had refused. So Jonas had taken matters into his own hands. Violet appeared promptly at seven-thirty each morning and six o’clock each night. Sympathetic staff whisked her into a room, treated her leg and sent her home without the admission clerk’s knowledge.

  ‘After today, we probably won’t need to,’ he said. Pausing outside room three’s door, he asked, ‘Are you OK?’

  Megan gave a half-hearted shrug. ‘Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? I just had my blood taken by a student vampire with a dull needle and I have a headache and nausea that won’t quit.’

  ‘Did you take your pills?’

  She glowered at him. ‘I’m going to forget you said that. I’m swallowing so many pills that my stomach doesn’t recognize anything unless it’s in tablet form. To be honest, I’m not sure I can handle two more weeks like this.’

  ‘You can do it,’ he urged, aware of many health-care workers who’d stopped their post-exposure prophylaxis because of the side effects. ‘After I finish here, I’ll talk to Susan and we’ll modify your dosage.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  Returning to the nurses’ station, Megan knew she couldn’t quit. She had too many people depending on her to take the risk, but the next fourteen days stretched ahead like fourteen years.

  Louise held out two charts. ‘Pick one,’ she said.

  Megan took the one closest and read the name. Anthony Goodman. ‘Who’s the other?’

  ‘A woman with abdominal pain. I’ll give her to Bonnie.’

  Megan called Mr Goodman out of the waiting area and ushered him to room five. ‘Have a seat,’ she said, motioning to the bed.

  ‘I’d rather not,’ the sixty-year-old man answered. He wore a pair of jeans, a red plaid shirt and work boots, and his face bore the weathered appearance of a man who’d spent his lifetime outdoors and smoked. The fingernails on his right hand showed the discoloration common to nicotine use.

  ‘You see,’ he went on to explain, stretching his back as if he was trying to work out a kink. ‘My back really hurts. It started about four hours ago.’

  ‘Have you lifted anything heavy or pulled anything?’

  ‘Nope,’ Mr Goodman said, shaking his head. ‘It started hurting right after I got up this morning. All I did after that was go to the donut shop for morning coffee with the rest of my poker buddies. Honest to gosh, I didn’t lift anything heavier than my plastic cup, but I’m telling you, Nurse, I’m in pain.’

  Megan jotted down her observations, then recorded his vital signs. ‘Put on this hospital gown so the doctor can examine you. We’ll be back in a few minutes.’ As an afterthought, she added, ‘Do you need any help?’

  ‘I can manage.’

  By the time she returned, with Jonas in tow, Mr Goodman was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands rubbing his lower back.

  Megan had hardly closed the door when their patient begged for relief.

  ‘Let’s find out what’s causing this first,’ Jonas said.

  Megan watched from a discreet distance while he pressed up and down Mr Goodman’s back to check for sore muscles and tender vertebrae. Goodman’s facial expression didn’t change, so she guessed that wasn’t the problem.

  Jonas helped the man lie down and began checking out his abdomen. Megan saw Goodman wince as Jonas pressed on the lower left quadrant, but so far she couldn’t begin to guess at what was wrong.

  He pulled his stethoscope out of his coat pocket and began listening to the pulses in his patient’s groin area. Although he listened intently, Megan watched his gaze travel down Mr Goodman’s legs where she saw the sight that had captured Jonas’s attention. A lacy pattern of blue covered his extremities, which suggested that his circulation was poor.

  Finally, Jonas straightened and hung his stethoscope around his neck. ‘We’re going to run a few tests, Mr Goodman. The first one is an ultrasound, where we use sound waves to create a picture of what’s happening inside you. I also want some blood tests so we can get an idea of your general health.’

  ‘Can you give me something for my pain?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Jonas apologized. ‘Until we know for sure what’s wrong, a painkiller will only mask things. I promise, though, we’ll hurry.’

  He motioned Megan outside. ‘Get someone from Radiology here, stat. I also want the lab here on the double and I wan
t the usual, along with a type and cross-match for six units. I also want Life Flight put on standby.’

  Life Flight was the air ambulance service that ferried their worst patients to Denver for treatment.

  ‘He’s that bad?’ she asked.

  ‘I suspect he has a leaking triple-A.’

  She knew he meant abdominal aortic aneurysm.

  ‘If I’m right,’ he continued, ‘I want the helicopter ready to take off as soon as the ultrasound is done. I’ll be in two if you need me.’

  Megan rushed to do his bidding. Their hospital wasn’t equipped to handle vascular surgery, and whenever aneurysm cases appeared in the ER, time was of the essence.

  Louise called the hospital departments while Megan dialed the helicopter service and explained the situation. Fortunately, they had one chopper free and would place it on standby to await her word before taking off for the thirty-minute flight from Denver to Stanton.

  She returned to Mr Goodman’s room to find the lab tech leaving and the ultrasound tech organizing herself and her equipment for the painless procedure. ‘Dr Taylor will be waiting for those pictures as soon as you’re done.’

  ‘It won’t be long,’ the technician promised. Before she got too far, Jonas joined them.

  ‘Slow day, huh, Doc?’ Mr Goodman asked.

  Jonas leaned against the counter where he could watch both the patient, the technician and the monitor screen. ‘It is,’ he said, although Megan knew it wasn’t. He obviously didn’t want to waste time if his suspicions were correct.

  ‘I wonder who’s going to win the World Series?’ he asked.

  Mr Goodman chuckled. ‘It’s too soon to predict, but my guess is the Yankees.’

  ‘Really? I’m a Ranger fan myself.’

  By the time they’d discussed the merits of every major league baseball team, the test was done. Jonas motioned to Megan to make the phone call and she knew what he’d found.

  By the time she returned, he’d broken the news to his patient.

  ‘This is serious, isn’t it?’ Mr Goodman asked.

  ‘Yes, it is,’ Jonas admitted. ‘Your best hope is to get to a hospital where a vascular surgeon can repair the damaged artery. I’ve already alerted the staff in Denver and they’re getting ready for you as we speak. You should be there in about an hour.’

  ‘Really?’ He seemed more interested in that fact than in his condition.

  ‘Do you have anyone you’d like us to notify?’ Megan asked. ‘Your wife, children, a neighbor?’

  ‘Never been married,’ Mr Goodman answered. ‘You could call my neighbor. Roy Knight. He’ll need to look after my horses.’

  ‘I’ll tell him.’ Megan set Louise to handle the job while she helped prepared Goodman for his helicopter ride. She started IVs so that, if anything happened, he’d have a line ready for use. The blood-bank staff brought the units of blood, specially packed in ice, to send along in case they were needed en route. Nursing notes, physician notes and copies of the ultrasound and lab results had to be prepared to accompany the patient.

  By the time the Life Flight crew of a physician and a nurse arrived in their familiar blue jumpsuits, Anthony Goodman was ready to leave.

  ‘How did you know it was an aneurysm?’ Megan asked once they’d wheeled Mr Goodman out of the ER and the excitement had died down. ‘I always thought they were tough to diagnose.’

  ‘They are. As for knowing, I didn’t suspect until I saw his legs. The next logical thing was an ultrasound or a CAT scan to confirm it.’

  ‘And you were right.’

  Jonas grinned, one of those smiles that showed he was pleased by his success, too. ‘Lucky for him.’

  ‘You have remarkable instincts,’ she said.

  ‘ER doctors develop them,’ he said, ‘otherwise we lose patients we shouldn’t. It also helps because I’ve worked in a lot of different places and seen a lot of different things. Experience is still the best teacher.’

  ‘Do you think he’ll make it?’

  ‘If the vessel doesn’t blow on the way, he has a fighting chance. That’s all we can give him.’

  Without warning, Susan Forbes burst through the ER doors and flagged them down. Instinctively, Megan tensed, then decided she was overreacting. Susan could have come to the ER for any number of reasons. Her entire day certainly didn’t revolve around Megan’s problems.

  ‘I’m so glad I caught you both,’ Susan said. ‘You’ll never guess what happened.’ In the next breath, before either of them could answer, she added, ‘I found Carl Walker.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘YOU found Carl?’ Megan said faintly.

  Susan nodded. ‘Yes. Can we talk in your office?’ she asked Jonas.

  ‘Sure.’

  Megan could hardly hold her questions until they were around his desk. ‘How did you find him? Where is he?’

  ‘Whoa, there,’ Susan said with a smile. ‘Carl’s girlfriend called the other day and gave me his telephone number. Apparently, she tracked him down to Florida where he went to stay with a friend of his. I left message after message and finally he phoned this afternoon.’

  Megan focused on his location. ‘He’s in Florida?’ That was half a country away.

  ‘Not any more,’ Susan announced. ‘He started back last night and should arrive here tomorrow morning. I explained the situation and he promised to come here as soon as he arrives so we can recollect his blood sample. The lab knows he’s coming and, under penalty of death, they will make sure nothing happens to it this time.’

  ‘You’re sure?’

  ‘As sure as I can be. Tomorrow is Tuesday, so we’ll have the results by Friday afternoon.’

  Friday afternoon. Remembering what it had been like to wait for each day to pass, Megan wasn’t sure that she wanted to know.

  Yet she had to. Once and for all, good or bad, the cloud of uncertainty would disappear.

  As if sensing her inner turmoil, Jonas clutched her hand. Megan didn’t care if Susan, or anyone else for that matter, saw that he’d stepped beyond the boundaries of hospital colleagues. Right now, she needed his strength.

  ‘The anticipation has been tough,’ Susan said kindly. ‘I don’t think I need to warn you that those results could go either way.’

  Megan drew a shaky breath. ‘Believe me, I know.’

  ‘You need to think about what you’ll do if his Western blot results are positive.’

  ‘I have.’ The question had hovered in the back of her mind for the past two weeks. Most of the time Jonas had helped her ignore it and pretend the situation wasn’t happening, but the worry had never completely disappeared.

  Susan smiled. ‘I don’t think I need to ask what you’ll do if his results are negative.’

  ‘Other than flush the rest of my pills down the toilet?’ Megan shook her head. ‘No, you don’t.’

  Susan rose. ‘I’d thought about waiting until Friday to talk to you, in case we develop another hitch in our plans, but it didn’t seem right to spring this on you at the last minute.’

  ‘I appreciate it,’ Megan said.

  Susan glanced at their entwined hands, but didn’t comment. ‘I’d like to suggest that you plan something to do on Friday, after we meet again.’

  ‘Plan something?’ Megan asked dumbly.

  ‘An outing,’ she explained. ‘An event to focus on and anticipate.’

  An outing. ‘OK,’ Megan agreed, although her mind went blank before she could think of an activity.

  ‘Whatever you choose to do,’ Susan said firmly, ‘stick to it, no matter what happens or how the tests turn out.’

  No matter what. Megan nodded.

  ‘Then I’ll see you both on Friday.’

  Megan hardly noticed Susan’s departure until Jonas spoke her name. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yeah, sure. I think so.’ Her calm suddenly deserted her as the latest events finally soaked into her brain. ‘Oh, Jonas. I want to know, but at the same time I don’t.’

  Every
thing she’d suppressed poured out and she couldn’t stop the flood. ‘I’ve tried not to ask myself what if, but I have. What if I seroconvert to positive? What kind of life will I have if I need to take these dratted pills for years on end? What if my insurance company finds out? Will they cancel my medical insurance, my life-insurance policy? Who will look after the kids? What kind of burden will I become to my friends, my family? What if…?’

  She couldn’t continue. It was as if the Grim Reaper had poised himself once again to strike. The stress of waiting had turned her into a near basket case last time. The prospect of going through that again brought tears.

  ‘Shh,’ he said as he pulled her to her feet. She went into his arms, and gratefully leaned on him. ‘You’re going to be fine.’

  ‘What if I’m not?’ she hiccuped.

  ‘What if you are?’ He wiped the moisture off her cheeks with his thumbs. ‘You’ll have wasted all this water for nothing.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘But we’ll take each day as it comes,’ he said firmly. ‘Fill your head with ideas on what we should do Friday evening.’

  She sniffled as she nodded.

  ‘It has to be something special,’ he continued. ‘Something momentous.’ He tipped up her chin so that her gaze met his. ‘I know what I’d like to do.’

  Megan dabbed her eyes. ‘What?’

  Hunger appeared in his eyes, as well as a decidedly feral grin. ‘I think we should find a babysitter. Preferably one who can stay until the wee, wee hours of the morning.’

  A fresh lake of tears brimmed in her eyes. ‘You’re so sweet to suggest it,’ she said. ‘But it can’t happen.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I won’t put you at risk.’ She loved him far too much to do such a thing, even though she wanted it more than she had ever imagined. ‘I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.’

  He cupped her face with his hands. ‘Then we have one more reason to hope and pray the test will turn out negative.’

  With that, he kissed her.

  For the rest of the week, Megan pretended a calm that didn’t exist as she threw herself into her routine. She doubted if anyone other than Jonas noticed her edginess, but he was partly to blame. His list of suggestions for Friday evening grew until she had more choices than she could consider. She suspected he’d done so on purpose because weighing her options didn’t give her time to think about the future past Friday.