he could never have.
ALYSSA waited patiently until the respiratory therapist finished giving Mr. Waverly a breathing treatment for his pneumonia, then she placed the peripheral IV he required for his full course of antibiotics.
She couldn’t help wondering about Jadon while she worked. It was very unusual for him to snap at anyone the way he’d jumped on Susan. In fact, she’d never seen him as uptight as he’d been during this shift.
Although facing wild Mitch who’d been armed with a butter knife would put anyone on edge.
Had he always been somewhat protective of patients with emotional illnesses? She thought back to those first few weeks they’d worked together, but couldn’t really remember.
Ashamed, she realized she hadn’t taken the time to really understand Jadon. She’d settled for a physically intimate relationship, enjoying the sheer thrill of being with him. And working with him tonight brought the intense feelings of attraction back again. She was aware of him at every moment. It was hard to concentrate when he was near. Yet she also missed him when he was gone.
When he’d left, she’d been upset because she’d started falling for him, even though she’d told herself she wouldn’t, and then later because she’d discovered she was pregnant.
The latter was her fault—to a certain extent—as much as his.
A mere touch from Jadon while they were caring for their patients made her remember the hours they’d spent together making love. Yet there was so much about him she didn’t know. Who was Jadon, really? And what past experiences had molded him into the man he’d become?
Ironic that she knew as much about Jadon as she did about her long-absent father.
They’d become intimate, agreeing they weren’t looking for a long-term relationship, but here they were, about to be parents of twins. What a tangled mess.
She put her troubled thoughts aside, refusing to allow her personal life to interfere with her professional one. As the night wore on, Alyssa became more and more fatigued. There wasn’t much downtime during the night thanks to the full moon hanging over the hospital like a large, yellow-orange bad-luck charm.
She started Mr. Waverly’s antibiotics as Jadon had ordered for his pneumonia and stifled a yawn as she trudged slowly back to the main desk. Every room was full and she knew there would undoubtedly be additional patients assigned to her.
“Alyssa, take a break,” Jadon murmured in a low tone as he came up behind her. “Put your feet up and relax for a bit.”
Jadon’s concern was touching, but she shook her head. “There are still patients who’ve been waiting almost two hours to be seen. I’ll take a break once we’ve gotten caught up.” Which, at the rate they were going, might be never.
“Alyssa, please.” He put his hand on her arm, stopping her from walking away. “Maureen can cover for a bit.”
She looked at his strong hand and wished he’d cared as much about her before she’d become pregnant, and was now not just focused on the babies. She missed being held by him more than she’d realized.
“Soon,” she said, regretfully pulling away. She missed the warmth of his hand when it dropped to his side.
She only had to hang on a few more hours as the oncoming shift started at seven in the morning, yet she also knew that if there were still lots of patients she couldn’t just leave when her shift was up.
A trauma call came in at five forty-five in the morning, giving her a badly needed spurt of adrenaline. A young twenty-one-year-old man had fallen asleep at the wheel, crossed the center line and hit an oncoming car. The woman in the other vehicle was in her midforties, and had been having significant abdominal pain at the scene of the crash. The airbag had saved her from a serious head injury, thank heavens.
“Get a trauma surgeon down here,” Jadon ordered. He glanced at Alyssa. “I want to know her hematocrit and hemoglobin. I suspect she’s ruptured her spleen, bleeding into her belly.”
Alyssa nodded. She quickly finished her initial set of vitals and then proceeded to draw the labs he’d requested. She handed them to the runner and then turned back to her patient. The woman’s name was Elaine Sansone, and the way she moaned in pain on the gurney made Alyssa privately agree with Jadon’s assessment. Elanie’s abdomen was hard and painful to the touch.
“I need a CT scan of her belly stat. Where the heck is Trauma Surgery?”
“I’m here,” Leila Ross said, entering the trauma bay. She was a petite woman with exotic Oriental features and beautiful straight long black hair. “What do you have?”
Alyssa continued checking Elaine’s vital signs, not entirely surprised when her blood pressure dropped dramatically, confirming Jadon’s assessment of bleeding into her belly. “Blood pressure is down to ninety systolic. Do you want me to give more fluid?” she asked.
Jadon nodded. “Give a liter bolus of normal saline. Leila? What do you want to do?”
“A CT scan would help, but if her pressure is that low, I think it’s better if we simply take her up to the OR. I can explore her belly up there.”
“Alyssa?” Jadon glanced at her. “Get Elaine transferred up to the OR.”
“What about the other patient?” The young twenty-one-year-old, by the name of Curt Neilson, had suffered multiple fractures, especially in his forearms and his right leg. His injuries weren’t as critical, so she’d allowed Maureen to handle his care.
“I’m sending him for a slew of radiology films. The orthosurgeon is on his way in. There isn’t much more we can do other than manage his pain.”
Alyssa nodded and began to connect Elaine to the portable monitor so she could transport her to the OR. Leila jumped in to assist and between the two of them they wheeled Elaine up to the OR suites. When the OR nurse took over, Alyssa returned to the ED to help Maureen.
It took a while to get Curt’s X-rays but just as they finished and returned to the trauma bay, he lost his blood pressure, too. But on the monitor his heart rate still looked as if it was doing all right.
“Check his pulse,” Alyssa said sharply.
Maureen put her fingers on his carotid artery, her eyes wide. “I don’t feel anything.”
Alyssa muttered a curse under her breath and doublechecked for herself, although she suspected he was in PEA. “Start CPR,” she told Maureen. Raising her voice, she called, “Jadon? We need your help over here.”
Jadon rushed over and immediately knew what was going on. “His last set of labs were fine, right?” he asked.
Alyssa nodded. “He does have cracked ribs. Do you think he has a tension pneumothorax?”
“Stop CPR.” Jadon picked up an eighteen-gauge needle and inserted it in Curt’s fourth and fifth intercostal space. Within moments his pulse returned.
Maureen’s
