by Amy Ruttan
The paramedic nodded and they worked together to get the man up onto the stretcher and hooked up to an IV for fluids and a cannula for oxygen.
As they loaded the patient into the ambulance the young paramedic turned to them. “Can I assume you’re taking him once we get to the hospital?”
Axel should tell him no, that he wasn’t working today, but this was his patient and he wanted to see it through.
He always saw his patients through.
“I’ll be there. Let the emergency room staff know Dr. Jacinth and I will be taking this patient.”
The young paramedic nodded and Axel turned back to Betty.
“Care to take a rain check on lunch and go to the hospital to possibly repair an aortic aneurysm?”
“Isn’t that for a cardiothoracic surgeon?”
“You’re looking at a fully qualified surgeon, who happens to also specialize in trauma. I can do it. I’ve done it before in emergency situations. I can handle this.”
Betty’s eyebrows arched. “Color me impressed.”
“Let’s go.”
“Right behind you.”
Axel hailed a cab and soon the taxi was whisking them off to the hospital. They arrived just after the ambulance had pulled up and was unloading the patient.
As the stretcher hit the ground Axel had his hands on it, wheeling his patient through the doors and ordering instructions to the flurry of residents who were there to meet the ambulance.
Betty was on the other side, calling for her scrubs and ordering tests for a possible rupture aortic aneurysm.
The paramedics signed off on the patient and one of the residents filled in the patient’s distraught wife on what was happening.
Once Axel had the tests ordered and the patient was in the capable hands of the surgical residents Axel and Betty headed to the locker room to change. As Axel rounded the corner, his father came out of an exam room.
“Axel and Dr. Jacinth, what’re you both doing here?” he asked. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy, Dr. Jacinth.”
“I’m fine—” Betty started to explain, but Axel cut her off.
“A patient collapsed at the cathedral. He’s my patient and I’m the one who was first on scene. I will be the one taking care of him and since I’m supposed to be watching Dr. Jacinth, she’s going to be assisting me.”
His father was clearly stunned, but couldn’t really argue back because Betty was standing there. And he knew that his father didn’t want to make a bad impression on Betty. Instead his father stepped to the side, but Axel knew that this wasn’t the end of it.
He knew that once the patient was stable his father would be calling him on the carpet for disobeying his orders but Axel would deal with that later. Right now, he was going to focus on saving this man’s life.
Betty followed him into the locker room and they began to peel off their street clothes and slip their scrubs on. Axel tried not to watch as she changed in front of him, but he couldn’t help but notice her.
As if she knew he was assessing her she turned and looked at him as she tied up her sneakers. She smiled at him.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked, shutting his locker. “I didn’t mean to strong-arm you into doing a surgery if you’re not fully recovered.”
“I’m fine, Axel. I don’t have a concussion and I don’t think anyone has strong-armed me into doing a surgery before.”
Axel chuckled. “I just wanted to make sure you were up for this.”
“I’m up for this.”
“Our outings always seem to end on a note of disaster,” he remarked. It was something of a weird occurrence, forcing them to work together, and he didn’t mind. He liked working with Betty.
“That they do.” She walked over to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go save a life.”
Axel finished getting ready and they both headed out onto the trauma floor.
“Dr. Sturlusson, I have the CT scans of Mr. Bjorn.”
“Thank you, Dr. Einnarsson.” Axel took the scans from the resident and could see where the aorta had torn away from the heart. “Dr. Einnarsson, can you prep the patient and have an intern prep an operating theatre for an emergency aortic dissection?”
“Yes, Dr. Sturlusson.” The resident walked away quickly.
“I guess we’d better get ready for surgery,” Betty said. “I’ll go make sure the operating theatre is prepped and write it on the board.”
Axel nodded. “Make sure that Dr. Einnarsson is the resident who is assisting.”
Betty nodded and walked toward the operating-room floor.
Axel found the patient’s wife pacing just outside the emergency-room doors. He took a deep breath and went out to inform the poor woman that her life was about to change.
And to prepare herself for the worst.
* * *
“Suction, please,” Axel stated calmly as he worked to remove the damaged portions of the man’s torn aorta. The next step would be repairing it with a graft while the patient was on bypass and, by the looks of the dissection, he would have to repair the valve on Mr. Bjorn’s heart from where the tear started.
After talking with the patient’s wife, Axel learned that Mr. Bjorn, who was a Swedish tourist, had suffered from problems with high blood pressure. He fit the usual demographic of such a dissection. Middle age, high-blood-pressure problems. The poor man thought he was just having heartburn, when really he was experiencing something far more sinister.
Axel glanced up to see Betty across the table from him.
Just like before when he’d been in the operating room with her while she was doing an emergency cholecystectomy, they were working together so well. It was as if she’d been his partner his whole surgical career.
It was a nice change.
He usually avoided working with other surgeons or doing a vast majority of the cardiothoracic surgeries. His father liked to remind him over and over that Axel didn’t have seniority here. Just because he’d served on the tactical navy, just because he’d saved lives every day for those lost and injured at sea, just because he was an excellent cardiothoracic surgeon and trauma surgeon, didn’t give him first choice of what surgeries he did.
And as he was the son of the Chief of Surgery, other surgeons thought he was either a spy for his father or spoiled. Axel preferred to work alone anyways. He was controlling about how he did things, because how he did things saved lives. He didn’t have time to explain his process to others.
Working with Betty was completely different. She understood him.
“You’re doing a fine job on that repair, Dr. Sturlusson,” Betty said, her hands working beside his as they did the repair together.
“As are you, Dr. Jacinth.” Axel looked around and could see surgical interns hovering in the background. As well as the resident, Dr. Einnarsson, who was standing next to Betty. There was something else he never really got to do either and that was teach while he did his surgery. Also, he never really drew a crowd like this.
“Dr. Einnarsson, can you tell me what the protocol will be for our patient here once he is discharged?”
Dr. Einnarsson’s eyes opened wide above the surgical mask. “He will have follow-up scans and take blood-pressure medicine to treat his condition.”
“Very good, because left unchecked his high blood pressure can rupture the graft.” Axel finished removing the damaged section. “He’ll be staying in Iceland for a while, to recover and make sure that his blood pressure is under control before it’s safe to fly.”
His pulse kicked up a notch as he thought about flying. He closed his eyes and counted back from ten and that little bit of anxiety that had flared at the thought of flying again faded.
Betty was watching him and her big blue eyes were wide with concern. As if she saw his small, momentary lapse of concentratio
n.
“Dr. Jacinth, is everything okay?” Axel asked, not looking at her.
“Everything is great here, Dr. Sturlusson.” That statement was laced with a question on the end. As if she was asking if everything was okay with him. As if she didn’t believe him.
This is what happens when you let people get too close to you.
He should know better.
Once this surgery was done and Mr. Bjorn was in the ICU he was going to take Betty home, but not to his house. It was obvious that she was okay now so he was going to take her back to her rental.
Axel needed space.
He had to distance himself from Betty and that was hard to do when she was staying in the guest room. If he didn’t distance himself now, then he would regret it. She would regret it too and he didn’t want to hurt her.
There was no future for them together.
He didn’t deserve someone like her.
* * *
Something had changed in that operating room. Betty wasn’t sure what it was, but something about Axel had shifted and he had thrown up his walls again. Standing across from her as they finished repairing Mr. Bjorn’s aortic dissection was that big, broody, annoying Viking who complained about her boots and then threw her over his shoulder like a marauder.
He wasn’t the same Axel who had had his arms around her in the viewing tower of the cathedral. The one who’d spoken gently to her, carried her to bed, made her breakfast and smelled so good.
Yeah, he smelled really good.
When he’d been behind her, his arms on either side of her and his chest against her back, his head over her shoulder as he’d whispered in her ear, he’d smelled like sea and earth. Clean and masculine. And just thinking about his whispers in her ear made the butterflies in her stomach flutter.
And she was completely annoyed at herself for having that kind of reaction to him.
You are not here to fall for a man. You are not here to fall for a man.
She had to get some distance and the only way she was going to get distance was if she returned to her rental. It would be a very bad idea to stay a couple more nights in Axel’s house.
Axel came into the locker room and barely glanced at her.
“How is the patient?” she asked.
“He’s stable and in the intensive care unit. His prognosis is good. I’m going to stay the night here though. I want to watch him.”
“Okay. I was going to go back to my rental tonight, but if you want me to stay with Eira I can.”
“Yeah, that would be great, and then I could help you move back to your place in the morning.”
“That sounds good.”
She was relieved and she was exhausted. Even though she didn’t have a concussion, she was feeling the effects of her accident and lack of sleep right now, because of standing during the long, long surgery to repair Mr. Bjorn’s aortic dissection.
“Thank you for helping me in there,” he said. “I appreciate it.”
“That’s what I’m here to do.”
He nodded, but still wouldn’t really look her in the eye. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Axel left the locker room and Betty sat down on the bench and let out a sigh, running her hands through her hair.
Why did she have to muck up every relationship?
Her phone buzzed and she looked at it.
It was Thomas again.
And even though she knew she shouldn’t answer it, she did.
“Thomas,” she said with exasperation.
“Betty, I was beginning to think you’d fallen off the edge of the earth.”
“You knew where I was, Thomas. I told you about the job when I accepted and gave you my sabbatical notice.”
“Iceland is the edge of the earth.”
“Not really. It’s between North America and Europe.”
Thomas sighed in exasperation on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t call to argue over semantics with you.”
“Then why did you call, Thomas? Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” Her stomach flip-flopped when she said that out loud.
“I am calling from Mexico.”
She closed her eyes and could feel tears of anger stinging her eyes. “Thomas, why are you calling me?”
“I need you,” he whispered.
“Why are you whispering?”
Then she realized why Thomas started talking to her so weirdly. He wasn’t alone. She was with him.
“Goodbye, Thomas.” She disconnected the call and rubbed her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t let him get under her skin again. That was why she’d come here. To put him behind her. But how could she do that when he was calling her and messaging her?
She wasn’t sure if she could ever be free from him.
She got out of her scrubs and put on her street clothes. As she picked up her jeans her ticket for the cathedral slipped out of her pocket. She picked it up.
Their day had been so lovely.
Of course, when she’d gone out with Thomas that first time it had been magical too, for a short while. And then it had fallen apart. So horribly.
Tonight she’d stay with Eira and then she would go back to her own place and return to treating Axel as a regular work colleague.
She’d focus on putting the ghost of what she’d had with Thomas to rest, then she would be able to return to New York and move on with her life. And she wanted so desperately to move on. If only she could find the strength to do just that.
She couldn’t remember that last time she’d felt strong. Coping with her father’s death had used up every ounce of strength she’d had. It was hard to recall how she’d been before she’d lost him. Before she met Thomas. That was part of the problem too. She really didn’t know who she was any more. Betty glanced at the receipt for the viewing tower. She crumpled it up and threw it in a nearby trash can. She finished getting dressed and headed out of the locker room.
“Dr. Jacinth!”
Betty turned around and a young, handsome man was waving at her, as if he knew her. He was vaguely familiar.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m Stellan, I was the paramedic on the night of the accident and at the cathedral.” He had really light blue eyes and blond hair and, though he was undoubtedly handsome, he didn’t really hold a candle to Axel.
Don’t think about him.
“Oh, yes I do remember you. Sorry, I’m not the best with faces sometimes.”
He grinned at her, those blue eyes sparkling. “I was wondering how the patient with the aortic dissection was doing? Sometimes as a paramedic we don’t really get to see the outcome of our cases.”
“We repaired the dissection and the patient made it through surgery and is in the intensive care unit.”
“Good,” Stellan said, but he rubbed the back of his neck, as if he wanted to say more to her.
“Was that all?” Betty asked.
“No, I actually wanted to know if you wanted to go out for a drink?”
The question stunned her. “Actually, I’m watching a friend’s niece tonight. Maybe another night?”
Stellan was disappointed. “Sure. Do you need a ride?”
“I can take a cab.”
“No, I insist. It’ll have to be in the ambulance as I need to return it to the depot, but I can take you home.”
Betty was so tired and she didn’t want to leave Eira alone for any longer so she found the address in her text messages because she wasn’t sure she could properly pronounce the street name without Stellan laughing at her. “Do you know where this is?”
Stellan leaned over her phone. “I know exactly where that is. It’s not far from my place. Let’s go.”
Betty was relieved. She followed Stellan out to the ambulance, but had a feeling that some
one was watching her. She turned around briefly, but no one was there.
CHAPTER TEN
FOR THE LAST WEEK, since the day he’d taken her back to her rental after the accident, Axel had managed to avoid Betty. He’d been able to largely avoid his father as well, with the notable exception of their confrontation after the surgery when the old man had lit into him about bringing Betty back to work against his wishes.
But Betty was clearly fine, her laceration was on the mend and she hadn’t had a concussion. She was running the surgical resident program and working with the residents well.
Better than he ever had.
And his father was clearly happy that she was doing so well.
His father had remarked that Betty was a chip off the old block, just as talented as her late father had been.
Mr. Bjorn was on the mend and Axel was overseeing his care. It was good enough for Axel. He was able to melt back into the background and just do his work. Even though it was hard to keep his distance from Betty. He missed her and it was difficult having to see that paramedic, Stellan, showing his interest her.
The night that Betty had watched Eira, he’d seen Stellan and Betty leave the hospital together. He’d seen the way she smiled when she talked to Stellan. Knew that Stellan had a bigger personality. He was charming and several doctors in the hospital spoke highly of him.
It was no wonder that he seemed to be sweeping Betty off her feet.
Stellan could offer her more than he could.
Axel was tied to Iceland and Stellan probably didn’t have the same ties as Axel did.
Betty deserved to have someone who could make her smile, the way she smiled when she was around Stellan.
Axel scrubbed his hand over his face and took another sip of his now cold coffee. He’d been working at catching up on his charts for several hours, but he wasn’t getting far. Not when his mind kept wandering.
Eira had been so displeased with him when he’d returned home only to take Betty back to her place. She was angry that he’d sent Betty away. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t trying and Axel didn’t have the capacity to explain to her why he wasn’t trying.
