Winners

by Danielle Steel

  “It’s fine, you had a rough night last night.” She could see that he was exhausted.

  “It was a little dicey,” he admitted, as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. “I had a nasty compound fracture, an eighty-seven-year-old woman with a broken hip, a perforated appendix, and a woman who delivered twins at thirty-two weeks. We almost lost one of them, but the neonatal guys worked a miracle and saved him, and then the mom hemorrhaged and almost bled out, and they saved her too. And there were only two anesthesiologists on last night—two of the others were on vacation, and three were sick, so we couldn’t call anyone in. Crazy night.” It often was for him, but she knew he loved what he did.

  “My phone must be out of order. I managed to get through a whole day without being called in for an emergency today. It was nice.” She smiled at him, and bent to kiss him where he sat as he put an arm around her waist. She still had the same slim figure she’d had when she met him, even after four kids. She had long blond hair she wore in a braid most of the time, big blue eyes, and a dusting of freckles, which made her look like a kid.

  “What’s on the agenda for tonight? Any chance we can drop the troops off at their friends’ and steal a night of romance without Chris and Adam threatening to kill each other, or Heather needing a ride?” he asked hopefully, and she laughed.

  “Not a chance. Heather’s going to the movies with friends, and I said I’d drop her off. I think Chris has a date. Adam is spending the night at Parker’s house, and we have to get him there. And I promised to take Jimmy bowling. You can come with us if you want. I’ve been promising him all week, and I didn’t have the heart to postpone it again.”

  “Terrific,” he said with a rueful smile. “I was hoping you’d suggest we go bowling.” He pulled her onto his lap for a kiss just as her cell phone rang.

  “Dr. Matthews,” she said, as she pulled her mouth away from Tim’s. It was her official voice, but she was smiling at him, and she could see on her BlackBerry that it was Ben. They had shared an office for the past ten years, since Tim had convinced her to move to Tahoe after Adam was born. They had lived in Palo Alto before that, and she had just joined a group at Stanford Hospital, and leaving it had been a sacrifice for her. But she did it for Tim and her kids, even knowing that she wouldn’t have the same professional opportunities at Squaw Valley that she did at a teaching hospital like Stanford, but she liked their life here now. Tim was happy, and it was great for the kids. And her work was interesting even here. Her specialty was spinal cord injuries, and she had several challenging cases every year. She and Tim had both gone to medical school at Harvard and done their residencies at Stanford. And they both loved the healthy country life at Lake Tahoe. Tim was always happiest outdoors, more so than Jessie, who missed the city a little. But they went to San Francisco occasionally for a weekend.

  Tim saw her frowning as she listened to Ben, and she glanced over at Tim with a look of surprise. “I heard the sirens, but I figured it was a car accident in the bad weather. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t turned the radio on all day.” And then she listened to him again, and asked a number of questions. Tim could tell it was a spinal cord case, and he could see an evening of bowling alone with his youngest son in his immediate future. She looked serious when she ended the call, after promising she’d get there as soon as she could. She stood up and looked at Tim then, with a shocked expression.

  “A chairlift cable broke today. I don’t know how I missed hearing about that. Several deaths, a number of injuries. Ben has a seventeen-year-old girl with hypothermia and an SCI. He needs me to come in,” she said apologetically.

  “I got that,” he said, as he stood up and kissed her.

  “Will you take Jimmy bowling? I promised. I told them I’d make tacos tonight too. I bought a bunch of frozen pizzas if you don’t feel like cooking. I’m really sorry. I thought maybe I’d get away with a night off too.”

  “I’ll manage. You think you’ll be operating tonight?”

  “Sounds like it. Ben says they’re stabilizing her now, and still assessing her. If she’s stable, we’ll go in. If not, we may have to wait till tomorrow. It doesn’t sound too good. She fell off the chairlift at the high point. The instructor she was with was killed.”

  “I wonder if they’ll call me in too,” Tim said, glancing at his own phone, but there were no messages, and he assumed some of the other anesthesiologists had come back on duty.

  “I hope not. If they call you, Chris will have to drive Heather and Adam and babysit for Jimmy, which will screw up his date and he’ll be pissed.”

  “I’ll do my best not to spoil his evening,” Tim said, as Jessie went upstairs to change. She was wearing torn jeans and an old sweater, and Ben had sounded anxious for her to come in as soon as she could to help with the evaluation. She was back downstairs five minutes later, with her hair brushed and in the braid, wearing a turtleneck sweater, black jeans, and boots, and she grabbed her heavy parka off the hook in the front hall. She looked a little more serious than she did in an old sweater and torn jeans, but she still looked very young for forty-three.

  “I’ll call you as soon as I know what I’m doing, and if I’ll be there all night.” She kissed him on her way out, and a few minutes later she was in Tim’s Jeep, heading to the hospital. She left her van for him, since he’d need it to drive the kids. She noticed that the roads were icy, and she drove carefully on the way to the hospital. She was already thinking about the patient Ben had described to her, and the people who had been hurt in the chairlift accident. It was one of those things that could happen in a ski resort, although you prayed it never would. Just thinking of it made her shudder, and worry about her kids. All of them were avid skiers, especially Chris and Adam. What if it had been one of them on the chairlift today? She pushed the thought from her mind as the car started to skid and she got it back in control. She was used to driving on snow and ice, and she pulled into the hospital parking lot a few minutes later, parked Tim’s Jeep, and walked into the hospital. She went to her locker to change into her white coat with her name on the pocket, and she slipped it on over her sweater and jeans. She was in the trauma unit five minutes later, examining Lily and listening to Ben as she did. Lily was stable but still unconscious, and she agreed with his diagnosis of the case. He suspected a T10 spinal cord injury. If he was right, Lily would never walk again. Jessie wanted to operate on her that night to do all they could.

  Ben went to the waiting room with her so they could explain it to Bill. He was sitting on the couch, with his head leaned back against the cushions and his legs stretched out. He looked as beaten as he felt. He opened his eyes as soon as they walked in, and Jessie met his eyes with a serious expression and introduced herself. Ben told him that she was the neurosurgeon they’d been waiting for. Bill did not look pleased when he saw how young she was.

  “Is there a more senior member of your group?” he asked bluntly, and Jessie looked momentarily stunned. No one had ever asked her that before. But she could see how distraught he was over his daughter, and she understood. She spoke to him in a gentle voice.

  “We are the senior members of the team,” she said, indicating Ben. “We’ve been in practice here for ten years.”

  “What did you do before that?” he questioned, with eyes that probed hers.

  “I was in a practice at Stanford Hospital, where I did my residency.” Ben appeared offended, but Jessie didn’t. She had kids the same age as Lily—Ben was a bachelor with no family.

  “Where did you go to medical school?” Bill asked her with an intense, aggressive glare, and Jessie could see Ben bristle at the question.

  “I went to Harvard,” she said quietly, as Ben objected.

  “This is ridiculous. Dr. Matthews is one of the most respected neurosurgeons in the state. People send their spinal cord injury cases here to consult with her. I went to UCLA, if you want to know that too. And I did my residency at UCSF in San Francisco.” He was furious at B
ill questioning their credentials, but Jessie didn’t blame him. She would have wanted to know the same things if someone was going to operate on one of her kids.

  “I have a son almost the same age as Lily. I understand how you feel,” she said compassionately, but Bill wasn’t reassured. He was too frightened to be gentle or even civil with either of them.

  “How do I know you know what you’re doing?” he asked her, and Jessie didn’t flinch.

  “You don’t. You have to trust us. We don’t have a lot of choices here. I’d like to operate on Lily tonight, Mr. Thomas. If you’d rather wait until tomorrow to check out our credentials, I understand, but I think it will benefit Lily if we operate sooner. The swelling could get worse, which is liable to do further damage to her future motor function.”

  “What does that mean?” He narrowed his eyes at her, and he did not look pleasant.

  “We don’t know how extensive the damage is. She has a spinal cord injury, but the scans and X-rays don’t tell us everything we need to know, about nerve damage, for instance. If her injury is ‘complete,’ she won’t walk again.” She knew she had to be honest with him. He looked as though he might faint. “If it’s incomplete, we have a chance. I’m hoping it’s incomplete, but I won’t know until we get in and take a look. But we can wait until tomorrow morning if you prefer. I’d rather not, but I defer to your wishes.” She was putting the full burden of responsibility on him.

  “And if you don’t know what you’re doing, you cripple her for life, and she’s paralyzed. Is that it?” he said angrily. But he was angry at the fates that had allowed this to happen, the same fates that had betrayed him before, and now it was Lily. There were tears bulging in his eyes, so Jessie forgave him his harsh words. Ben didn’t and had a strong urge to grab him and shake him, which he resisted.

  “Let’s assume I know what I’m doing,” she said in a calm voice.

  “Is her life at risk in the surgery?”

  “We don’t have a choice here,” she explained simply. “The only variable is when. And that’s up to you, Mr. Thomas.” He nodded and ran a hand through his hair with a look of anguish.

  “I swear, if you kill her, I’ll kill you,” he said and seemed as though he meant it. Ben was about to intervene, but Jessie stopped her partner with a quelling glance. She was not afraid of Bill Thomas and could handle him herself.

  “I understand that’s how you feel,” she said firmly. She had a soothing voice, but Bill was beyond that now. He was crazed with fear for his little girl. “Why don’t you think about it for a while? I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere.” She and Ben left the waiting room and went back to check on Lily, who was remaining stable in poor condition, and then they went to the cafeteria for coffee. Jessie had a feeling it was going to be a very long night. She wanted to call Tim and see how he was doing, but she also wanted to know her plans before she did.

  “How can you let that asshole talk to you like that?” Ben said in a fury, handing her a cup of coffee. He was incensed.

  “He’s a father, Ben. She’s his only kid, according to the chart. He lost his wife. He’s terrified he’s going to lose his kid, or that she’ll be paralyzed. Maybe you have to be a parent to understand.” She took a sip of the steaming coffee, and they agreed that the hospital made the worst coffee on the planet, but they drank it anyway—they always did.

  “He threatened to kill you!” Ben said, with all his feathers ruffled. “He acts like we just got out of med school.” And then he laughed. “I think you impressed the hell out of him when you said you went to Harvard. What did he expect? You got your degree on the Internet?”

  “He’s desperate,” she said, as they finished their coffee and went back upstairs. Bill was waiting for them outside Lily’s cubicle in the ICU. There was no change, and Jessie didn’t expect there to be until after surgery. It was Lily’s only hope.

  “All right, you can do it,” Bill growled at her. “You can operate on my daughter, but I swear, if …” He didn’t finish the sentence this time, and Jessie nodded.

  “I’ll get the paperwork drawn up.”

  “When are you going to do the surgery?” he asked nervously. He would gladly have given his life for Lily’s at that moment, or any other.

  Jessie had already checked and knew there was an operating room available. She glanced at her watch. “We need time to prep her. I’d say in about two hours. I want to review the scans and X-rays and tests again with Dr. Steinberg,” she said, looking at Ben, and he nodded.

  “How long will it take?”

  “It’s hard to say. About eight hours, maybe longer. It could be as long as twelve. It depends on what we find once we go in. It’s a delicate procedure.” He hated the choice he had made to use an unknown doctor, with no time to check her out. But Ben was right—Harvard and Stanford had impressed him. He just hoped he had made the right decision. He didn’t want to take the risk of waiting longer, particularly if waiting could cause more damage. He was putting Lily’s life in this woman’s hands. “We’ll do everything we can,” she reassured him again.

  “Thank you” was all he said in a trembling voice, and went back to the waiting room, as Jessie went to look at the X-rays with Ben, and a nurse drew up the papers. She took them to Bill on a clipboard a few minutes later, and he signed them with tears rolling down his cheeks. The nurse took the clipboard from him, without a word.

  Jessie sent Tim a text message while she consulted with Ben. “Patient in extremis. Crazed father. Surgery in an hour. See you tomorrow. Love, J.” His answer came back a minute later.

  “Good luck. I love you, T.” She smiled and slipped her phone back into her pocket, and hoped that Tim had taken Jimmy bowling, but she didn’t want to write back and ask. She and Ben had a lot to discuss before the surgery. He would be assisting, and they formulated a surgical plan as the trauma ICU team prepared Lily for surgery.

  Bill sat in the waiting room, feeling like he was living a nightmare. He went to see Lily just before they rolled her away to the operating room. He bent and kissed her forehead as his tears fell on her face. Jessie was already upstairs waiting for her. Bill went outside to get some air for a few minutes after they took Lily to the OR. He stood in the parking lot, crying in the night. It was freezing cold, his tears stung his eyes and cheeks. Minutes later he nearly slipped on a patch of ice as he walked back into the hospital. It was the worst night of his life. He lay down on the couch in the waiting room and closed his eyes. He was wide awake and all he could think of was Lily. He hoped the neurosurgeon knew what she was doing and could repair Lily’s injuries. He lay there all night willing her to live and walk again.

  Chapter 4

  ADAM, HEATHER, AND Jimmy were all home for dinner when Chris left for his date. He stopped to say goodbye to his father in the kitchen, as he was taking two frozen pizzas out of the oven. One of them was slightly burned. And they all complained about the burned pizza, and went back upstairs until the rest of dinner was ready, while Tim put the pizzas back in the oven and lowered the heat, to keep them warm.

  “Have fun, Dad,” Chris teased him, and Tim glanced at him with a pained grin.

  “That’s not funny,” Tim said ruefully. “I guess I should have ordered pizzas.” And then he looked seriously at his son. “Drive carefully, it’s cold as hell out there tonight. The roads are going to be icy.” They all had snow tires on their cars, but he never liked Chris out driving in bad conditions, and the temperature had dropped dramatically that night. The day’s snowfall had turned to ice, but Chris was unconcerned.

  “Becky’s mom is cooking dinner, and we’re going to stay at her place and watch a movie.” Tim knew she lived a few miles away, and was somewhat relieved, although Chris still had to get from their house to hers.

  “Just be careful,” Tim warned Chris, and checked the pasta he was making, as Chris left. He heard the front door close and then started to put dinner on the table. He had made a salad to go with it, and the three younger childr
en thundered down the stairs five minutes later when he called them, and took their usual seats at the kitchen table. Jimmy looked disappointed when he saw the pizzas and the pasta.

  “Mom said she was going to make tacos,” he said, helping himself to a slice of pizza, as Adam took half a pizza for himself, and put a mound of pasta on his plate.

  “She had to go to work,” Tim explained, passing the food around. They ate everything, and he said he’d drop Heather and Adam off as soon as they cleaned up the kitchen. “And we are going bowling,” he said to Jimmy, who grinned happily at his father. He looked pleased as he left the table, and they all went upstairs to get ready to leave. Tim got Jessie’s text then, and responded. He knew it was going to be a long night for her, and hoped she wasn’t too tired. She hadn’t even gotten dinner before she left, but that’s what their lives were like. One of them was always rushing off to work, to respond to an emergency. They were used to it, and so were the kids. It was relay-race parenting at its best.

  Twenty minutes later Tim dropped Adam off at his friend’s house. He’d been invited to spend the night, so Tim didn’t need to pick him up, and Heather asked if she could stay at her friend’s too, so he and Jimmy were on their own for the night. They were at the bowling alley half an hour after they left home, and as soon as they got there and rented shoes, Jimmy asked for a Coke. Tim got one for himself too, and popcorn for both of them, and they started bowling, and Tim showed his son some of the fine points of the game. They had a good time and left the bowling alley at ten, which was a big treat for Jimmy to be out so late. And he loved being with his dad.

  “I want to be a doctor like you one day, Dad,” Jimmy announced out of the blue as they walked back to the car, and Tim smiled at him.

  “That’s a big decision,” he said, as he unlocked the car, and settled Jimmy on the backseat and put on his seat belt. It had gotten even colder while they were at the bowling alley, and the ground was slippery under his feet as he walked around to the driver’s seat. He was worrying about Chris again, and hoped he got home all right. He hated the fact that he was driving, and worried about him at night, and he knew Jessie did too. He smiled at Jimmy in the rearview mirror, started the car, and drove slowly out of the parking lot. He drove home cautiously, as he and Jimmy chatted. Jimmy was asking his father questions about medical school, while Tim kept his eyes on the road.