A Baby for the Doctor

by Stephanie Dees

  Ash texted something on his phone and a couple of minutes later someone came to the door and passed in a blanket. He tucked the blanket, fresh from the warmer, around her, and then her eyes wouldn’t stay open.

  As her mind drifted, she realized that she wasn’t afraid anymore. Ash was there and he would take care of them both.

  * * *

  Sometimes being a doctor was awesome. He had patients who had such faith in him that every time they had a skinned knee they wanted to come to his office for him to make it better. Days like today—when his waiting room filled with parents anxious about a measles outbreak—put his parent-reassurance skills—and frankly, his patience—to the test.

  He’d spent most of the day wishing he was at the hospital with Jordan and had come as quickly as possible after his last patient left. He scanned his ID card to get into the PICU. Jordan had texted him every couple of hours to give him an update, but it wasn’t the same as having his eyes on Levi.

  The door opened and Levi’s doctor was standing on the other side. “Ash. I was hoping I would catch you. Levi Wheeler—I know you have a personal interest. He’s not turning the corner like I hoped he would. He’s stable, just not better.”

  “Do you think the antibiotic has the right coverage?”

  “I’m not sure. I added a different one this afternoon. We were planning to lighten his sedation today but I think we’re going to give him another night on the BiPAP.”

  Ash closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers over the spot in the middle of his forehead that hurt. His eyes popped open. “He was neglected. We don’t usually think of Vitamin A for kids over two years old, but Levi was suffering from malnutrition and failure to thrive. There’s a good chance he’s deficient. If he is, it could help.”

  McIntyre smiled. “I should’ve thought of that. I’ll put the order in.”

  “Measles, we’re comin’ for ya.” Ash grinned and pushed off the wall. “I’m going to check on Levi now.”

  From outside the door he could see Jordan standing by Levi’s bed, reading him a story. He put the gown and shoes on and stuck his hand under the automatic dispenser for the bactericidal gel and entered the room where two of his favorite people were.

  His step hitched.

  Two of his favorite people. When did that happen?

  Jordan glanced up from the book, her blue-green eyes looking a little tired. “He’s still sedated, but I thought maybe the sound of my voice would be soothing.”

  “I’m sure it is.” He walked a little closer. Jordan’s cheeks were flushed. “You feeling okay?”

  “Tired.”

  Ash put his hand on her forehead and she swatted him away. “I’m fine.”

  “Jordan. Your eyes are red. Your cheeks are flushed.”

  “I’m not sick.” She turned on her heel and wavered, reaching a hand out for the rail of Levi’s bed. “I’m not.”

  He reached for her forehead again and this time she let him. She was burning up. “You need to be in bed.”

  “I’m not leaving Levi. I’m not...leaving...” Her eyes fluttered closed and she started to fall.

  Ash caught her midway to the cold hospital floor and eased her into the reclining chair. He slammed the call button by Levi’s bed. “Can I get some help in here, please?”

  He brushed damp hair away from Jordan’s face. “You stubborn, stubborn woman. You just...need to get well. Okay, Jordan? Just get well.”

  Chapter Nine

  Jordan opened her eyes and, as light speared in, closed them again immediately. Ouch. The last thing she remembered was being mad at Ash for saying that she was sick, when clearly she was just tired from being up with Levi for the past few days.

  Levi.

  Putting her hand on her aching head, she narrowed her eyes into slits to keep the light from making it worse. She turned her head toward the window and saw the most beautiful sight. Levi was in the crib next to her bed. No more PICU, no more BiPAP. He had a very thin tube for oxygen around his face, and all but one of the IVs were gone. He was sitting up, playing with two brightly colored monster trucks.

  Beside him, dozing in what looked like the most uncomfortable chair ever made, was Ash. She’d obviously been out for a while and he’d picked up her slack, making sure Levi had the care he needed. What kind of person was she that she had thought him selfish and shallow?

  In his every action, he had shown that he wasn’t. He was steadfast. Unfortunately, that fact didn’t change anything. Not really. He was still the handsome doctor with a different girl on his arm each week. And she was still the same person she’d always been, an introverted farm girl who was more comfortable with horses than people.

  She wanted to call out to them, but her eyes were so achy and tired. Maybe if she closed them for a minute...

  * * *

  The next time Jordan woke, the room was in shadows. The sun had gone down. She wasn’t even sure it was the same day. Turning her head, she took stock.

  A small overnight bag was next to a small vase of flowers on the windowsill. Her sister had been here. Or more likely Mrs. Matthews.

  Levi was asleep in the crib next to her, a soft blue blanket pulled to his shoulders and a stuffed elephant clutched in his arms. The nasal cannula was still in place but he was looking more like himself, with most of the wires and tubes gone.

  When she sat up in bed, Ash looked up from his phone with a smile. “Hey, you’re awake.”

  “Hey.” She was awake, alive and wishing a little desperately for a hairbrush and a toothbrush. She settled instead for a sip of some lukewarm water that was sitting at her bedside.

  “Levi’s doing great. His fever stayed around a hundred today and he went a couple of hours without oxygen this afternoon, so they’re hoping he’ll be able to wean off the cannula tomorrow.”

  “I guess I have the measles?”

  “You guess right, but your case isn’t as severe as Levi’s, probably because you were vaccinated as a child. I’m hoping both of you guys will be sleeping in your own bed by tomorrow night.” He moved and she realized that the IV pole, which she thought was just in the room, was attached to his arm.

  Alarmed, she swung her feet over the edge of the bed. “Ash, what’s going on? Are you sick?”

  He glanced at the IV in his arm and made a face. “No, just getting some fluids and electrolytes.”

  “Why do you need to do that?”

  “You remember me telling you about having cancer as a kid?” When she nodded, he went on. “I had chemo and radiation, too, which killed the cancer in my kidneys but also radiated part of my pancreas. I’ve had insulin-dependent diabetes since I was seven years old.”

  He lifted his shirt and showed her a couple of box-like things attached to his belly. “This one’s an insulin pump and this one is a glucose monitor. They work together and make the kind of diabetes I have more manageable. Um, sorry. I hope that doesn’t gross you out.”

  “It’s not gross—they help keep you alive. Why didn’t you tell me?” Her heart ached for him. He’d been such a little boy to deal with something so life-altering.

  “It’s been a part of me for so long that monitoring my glucose levels and adjusting insulin is just a part of the day-to-day, kind of like...did you know that I drink a green smoothie every day for breakfast?”

  “I did not. Like, with spinach?” She made a face.

  “Kale.”

  “Ooh, hard-core. I guess you don’t put ice cream in yours, huh?”

  He cut his eyes at her. “I do not. Put ice cream. In my green smoothie.”

  “So why do you need an IV?”

  His eyes flickered to hers at the abrupt subject change. “Because when I’m exhausted or dehydrated, and I’m both, my body gets out of whack. I’m sorry.”

  “W
hat? Why? I’m sorry!”

  Frowning at her, he dragged his IV pole over to her and sat on the end of her bed. “Why are you sorry?”

  “I got sick and left you to deal with Levi all on your own. And you obviously haven’t left his side.”

  “I look that bad, huh?” His smile was quick and rueful as he rubbed the stubble on his chin.

  As if. It seemed impossible, but he was even more handsome with the scruff. She raised an eyebrow. “Pretty bad.”

  Ash chuckled. “In that case, I need a favor.”

  “Anything.”

  “Really? Anything? You don’t want to know what it is first?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Now you’re scaring me. What is it?”

  “I have to go to this fund-raiser in a couple of weeks, one that’s important to me. I need a date.”

  She hesitated.

  “You did say anything, remember.”

  “Can I wear my boots?”

  “No.” He smiled and her heart forgot to beat for a second. He was exhausted and stubbly and still his smile could make her swoon.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? Really?” There was genuine surprise and excitement in his voice.

  She was already regretting this decision. But she did owe him one and if that was what he wanted... “I think you know what you’re getting into with me by now, so if my being your date is you calling in the favor, you got it.”

  “I’ll text you the details when I’m awake enough to remember them.”

  Levi stirred and whimpered in his crib. Jordan stood up, swayed and sat back down to regroup.

  She tried again and this time she made it to the sweet boy’s bed, only coughing a little bit. She smoothed his hair away from his forehead and sang again the song she had sung to him the first time she saw him and almost every day since—Our God is a great big God and He holds us in His hand.

  The little boy relaxed and he curled up around his stuffed animal, tucking his hands under his chin as she stroked his soft curls. She covered him with the fuzzy fleece blanket, her legs shaking with the effort of standing so long.

  When she turned around, Ash was sound asleep on her bed, legs curled up, feet hanging off the bed. She drew the blanket over his shoulders and stood there a moment, taking in his beautiful face, even with three days of stubble, even with lines carved from exhaustion. Those small imperfections only made him more attractive, given the reason behind them.

  She resisted the urge to smooth his hair like she had Levi’s. He had many more layers to him than she’d first thought. He was still that guy—the easygoing, guitar-playing ladies’ man—but the more she was around him, the more she realized he wasn’t just that guy. He was real and deep and...complicated.

  She got another blanket out of the closet in the room and settled into the reclining chair to let Ash get a few hours of sleep.

  He’d stepped up and been her rock through this whole experience. Tomorrow they were checking out. And as much as she wanted to be at home in her own bed, there was a part of her that would miss having him right by her side. Things wouldn’t be the same after they left the hospital, and they shouldn’t be.

  She didn’t want to need him. But somehow, despite her best effort, she did.

  * * *

  Jordan sat at her computer, a huge mug of coffee at her fingertips. She and Levi had been home for four days, but his schedule was all out of whack. Consequently, she was severely sleep-deprived and, if she was being honest, still a little weak from being so sick.

  Her spreadsheet was open on the monitor and crunching numbers was giving her a headache. She’d moved here with six horses and a financial cushion, not a large one, but still. How she’d managed to go through that amount of money was beyond her, except that she could see it in black-and-white on the screen. It was horse feed and medicine, fence repair, tack repair, equipment, building maintenance.

  Horses were expensive.

  She’d also been sidetracked by a certain little tyke with big brown eyes and a mop of curly hair. That and a case of the measles no one could have predicted.

  She was exhausted.

  But then she looked at her bulletin board, where she’d tacked pictures of each of her clients. Each of them had a diagnosis and a treatment plan, but they weren’t their diagnoses. They were Juliet and Evan and Portia and Elizabeth Ann and, well, each one of them had a name. Each of them deserved her best.

  A quick knock had her looking up to greet her volunteer coordinator, Allison, a tiny powerhouse with a flippy blond ponytail and a tennis skirt. “Hey, coffee’s on. Grab a cup and we’ll talk about what’s coming up.”

  Allison’s husband had developed an app that made him a kajillionaire before the age of thirty, so she decided to leave her job as an event planner at a major hotel and take her many talents to a job she enjoyed. Jordan thanked God every day that she’d answered the phone when Allison called looking for a nonprofit to plug into. The woman knew everyone in a sixty mile radius and had a knack of making them think volunteering was their own idea.

  She dragged a chair up to Jordan’s desk, which now occupied a corner of the living area, and pulled her tablet out of a giant Louis Vuitton bag. “Okay, I sent you the volunteer schedule for this week. Unless we add new clients to the schedule, we’re covered for all of our therapy appointments. I have people lined up to exercise all of the horses except for Freckles and I have Amelia on him.”

  Jordan made a notation on her to-do list—which she kept on a pad of paper. “Great. Send me the schedules and I’ll post them on the big board in the barn.”

  Allison swiped and tapped. “Done. Next order of business. I’ve had parents asking about adding speech therapy again. I wondered what you thought about me putting out some feelers to see if we could get someone, maybe one day a week for starters until we see how much interest there is.”

  Jordan did the occupational therapy and more recently, she had added a physical therapist two days a week. Hippotherapy was integrated therapy and many of their kids had multifaceted needs.

  A speech therapist could add another layer to the care they were able to provide. It was a good idea. “Let’s start with one day a week to work with clients and request that he or she be present at planning meetings.”

  “Got it. I have someone in mind, so I’ll talk to her and see if I can get her on board.” Allison made another notation in her tablet and looked up. “That’s all I wanted to talk about. Anything else we need to discuss?”

  “When you came in, I was sitting here trying to figure out what we could do to generate some revenue. I have a couple ideas.”

  Allison’s hazel eyes were curious. “Come on, lemme hear ’em.”

  “First...birthday parties. We don’t have therapy sessions on Saturday, so we could book parties on Saturday afternoons. Having just two or three themes might make it easier.” She paused, thinking. “Maybe Royal Birthday and Cowboy Birthday.”

  “Saddle up for a Rip-Roaring Good Time.” Allison’s fingers were flying on her tablet, but she looked up with a grin.

  Jordan blinked. “Whatever you say.”

  “We need a couple more picnic tables and until we get our covered arena, we’d have to give rain checks for rainy days, but it’s definitely doable!”

  “Your mind works at the speed of light. I like it.”

  “You’re the one who thought of it!” Allison’s ponytail bobbed enthusiastically. She started typing again. “I think I have a volunteer with just the skills and connections to pull this off. I just sent her an email, so I’ll let you know.”

  “Perfect. The other idea is beginning horseback riding lessons when we have openings in the schedule. We could do group lessons or private. Since we’re still building our client base, it could be a way to increase revenue.”

 
“You would teach?”

  “Yeah. Or Claire. She’s as qualified as I am to teach lessons, maybe more so. She used to compete. I’ll talk to her about it.”

  “Sounds good to me. I have some time this week so I’ll make up a flyer and send it to you for your approval.”

  “Allison.” Jordan waited until her friend and assistant looked up. “I seriously love you.”

  Allison giggled, her laugh as infectious and bubbly as the rest of her personality. “I love you, too. I’m gonna get out of here before I volunteer for another job.”

  “Shoot me an email if you have any questions.”

  Allison tucked her tablet back into her ginormous purse and started for the door. “Where’s my sweet buddy today?”

  “He’s with Mrs. Matthews. We’re trying to get back into a normal rhythm.”

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better. That was so scary, although I understand the very handsome Dr. Sheehan never left your side.”

  Heat blasted Jordan’s cheeks. “I don’t know that I would say it exactly like that. We’re friends and he’s Levi’s doctor.”

  “Whatever you say. But next time, if you’re going to be hanging out with the hot doc, I’d like to know before I hear it from the prayer chain.”

  Jordan laughed. “Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll see you later.”

  The whirlwind of efficiency that was Allison was out the door as fast as she had come in. Jordan looked at the spreadsheet again, but now that they had concrete plans in motion for generating more operating funds, she didn’t feel quite so panicky.

  Now they just needed time...and a covered arena.

  She dug through the notepads on her desk until she found the one marked Prayer List and flipped to the page with current prayer requests. Under the line that said, Karli adjusts to her new orthosis, she wrote, Covered Arena.

  Under that one, and she wasn’t even sure why, she wrote, Ash.

  * * *

  Ash stepped out of the kitchen and onto the back porch at Red Hill Farm. Claire’s foster daughter Sweetness was healing up nicely from the measles. Her case hadn’t been quite as severe as Levi’s but her symptoms had stretched out a little longer.