do you have a minute?” Dan asked in a low voice.
“Sure.” She turned to Josh. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
Josh nodded, sucking on his lollipop with such force that his cheeks were sunk in, making him look like a fish.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, the moment they were alone.
“I need to return to work,” Dan said. “I was planning to be off this week, but unfortunately this patient can’t wait.”
She hid her dismay, knowing better than to ask for specifics. “Who will bring Josh to therapy?”
“Gemma, his nanny, or maybe Mitch.” Dan blew out a breath and shook his head. “You need to understand that I wouldn’t make a decision like this lightly. This patient needs my expertise, or I wouldn’t cut my leave of absence short.”
Deep down, she wanted to ask why Marcus couldn’t do the surgery, but she managed to hold her tongue. After all, what Dan chose to do wasn’t really her business.
One night together didn’t mean much in the big scheme of things.
“Just make sure you keep spending time with Josh,” she said lightly. “Because he needs a father as much as your patients need a top-notch surgeon.”
“I know. Watching him stand was amazing. After the accident …” He paused then cleared his throat before continuing, “I don’t know if I’d be able to forgive myself for that brief moment of inattentiveness just before the crash.”
“Oh, Dan, it’s not your fault,” she soothed, trying to make him understand. “Your car was T-boned because the other driver ran a red light.” She remembered reading about the crash in the newspaper. Scary stuff.
“Thanks for saying that,” he murmured. He stared at her for a long moment, as if he wanted to say something more, but then turned away. She followed him back to where Josh was already waiting for them in his wheelchair.
“Goodbye, Josh, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Molly.” Josh waved cheerfully, before following his father out of the door. She watched them leave, wondering what Josh’s reaction would be once he discovered his father was planning to return to work.
Her heart ached for him. And for herself.
Because she couldn’t help being afraid that once Dan was fully entrenched back in his old life, he’d revert back to his old ways. Being stern and serious, rather than taking the time to enjoy life. Yet he’d promised to maintain his relationship with his son, so she tried to take comfort in that thought.
Of course Josh would always come first. Which was the way it should be. And if he didn’t have time for her, then obviously a relationship between them wasn’t meant to be.
Dan went to the hospital early on Tuesday morning, and it seemed strange to walk through the lobby of Angel’s after being gone for so long. His long white coat flapped against his thighs as he quickened his pace to reach the elevator.
He hurried up to the labor and delivery unit, where a pregnant woman was about to give birth to a baby with tetralogy of Fallot, a birth defect in which the infant’s heart was essentially turned backward in its tiny chest. Normally this type of condition required surgery at some point during the baby’s first year of life, but in this instance the unborn baby had been diagnosed with an additional complication, hydroplastic pulmonary arteries, which required bypass surgery to assist in oxygenating the infant’s lungs. In years past these babies died, but now they could be operated on as soon as the infant was born and these children were now living well into their thirties and beyond.
The biggest catch was that the complex bypass procedure had to be started as soon as the baby was born or the child would die. And it was easily a ten- to twelve-hour procedure.
When he arrived in the labor and delivery suite, there was already a group of physicians and nurses filling the room. One of the nurses noticed him. “The cardiothoracic surgeon is here,” she announced.
“Good. Nice to see you again, Dan. If everyone is ready, let’s get this show on the road,” Rebecca Kramer said briskly, pushing forward the gurney with the pregnant mother.
Rebecca Kramer was one of the neonatology experts on staff at Angel’s and they’d worked together before, but there wasn’t time for small talk as Dan could tell by the fetal monitor tracing that the baby was in trouble. They’d planned this C-section early, and it was obviously a good thing as it seemed the baby would have been born today, regardless. He made several phone calls of his own, making sure the O.R. right next to the one that Rebecca would use was equipped with what he’d need for long, grueling open-heart surgery.
“I want to see my baby,” the pregnant woman sobbed, as they wheeled her into the O.R. suite. “I want to see her, to hold her in my arms before she has surgery.”
Dan was used to this request, and had to steel his heart against her pleading gaze. He glanced at her name on her hospital bracelet. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Thompson, but your baby girl won’t live if we wait,” he said gently. “Have you chosen a name for her yet?”
“Erica,” she said with a sob. “Erica Marie. After my husband, Eric. He’s stationed in Iraq. Are you sure we can’t wait for him? He’s on his way home, he promised to be here soon.”
“I’m sorry, but we can’t wait. The minute Erica is born we’re going to start surgery. The quicker we get started, the better her outcome will be. I’ve had a lot of success, so you and your husband just need to be patient, okay?”
She nodded, but tears continued to stream down her cheeks. “Okay.”
He scrubbed while they prepped the pregnant mother’s belly. Jennifer Thompson wanted to be awake during the C-section so the anesthesiologist topped up her epidural. There was a sense of urgency in both O.R. suites because there wasn’t a moment to waste. Lives were on the line and as always the staff of Angel’s took the care of their young patients very seriously.
He was gowned, gloved and masked when he heard the shout. “We have the baby out.”
“We’re ready,” he called back. And seconds later the neonatal team rushed in, with Rebecca holding the baby in her hands.
As they set the infant on the O.R. table, the anesthesiologist put a tiny breathing tube in place. As soon as the airway was secured, the circulating nurse quickly scrubbed the chest as Dan took the scalpel and cleared his mind, focusing entirely on baby Erica and the complicated heart surgery she needed in order to stay alive.
Ten and a half hours later he lifted his head and stretched his neck muscles with a heavy sigh. It was over and Erica had come through the entire ordeal like a trouper.
He stared at the cardiac monitor, watching her heart rhythm flash across the screen in a fast but relatively steady beat. Her blood pressure was adequate, too, and there wouldn’t be a better time to transfer her upstairs. “Call the NNICU and let them know she’s coming up.”
“Will do,” one of the circulating nurses said.
He broke scrub, knowing the anesthesiologist would take care of the transfer. Erica would need to remain on the ventilator, not to mention on several different medications,
