again. “Is Becca here?”
“No, she isn’t,” Sue answered. “She’s working.”
For an instant, everything stopped cold inside Seth. He arched his brows. “Working?” He had to work to keep his voice calm. “Where is she working?”
“She’s helping out part-time with our doctor at the clinic in town.” She glanced at her watch. “Matter of fact, I was about ready to go pick her up.”
“I’ll go,” Seth quickly offered. “If you can point me in the right direction?”
“Oh, it’s easy to find,” Sue said, grinning. “Fact is, it’s hard to miss. You follow the road at the other side of the house down the hill to town, it’s called Forest Hills, the clinic is right along West Street, the main drag.”
“Thank you, Sue.” He turned to leave. She brought him to a stop at the door.
“Dr. Andrews, have you come to take Becca home?” Sue’s voice had a note of disappointment.
He looked back to offer her a wry smile. “Only if she is ready to go, Sue. It’s up to her.” Without waiting for a possible response, he opened the door and walked out.
Working. Working. Seth fumed and sped down the winding road as if there were no tomorrow. Dammit, had the woman completely lost her mind? He barely felt ready to go back to work, and she had been in a lot worse shape than him.
Seth found the clinic easily, just as Sue said he would. He found a parking space along the curb, then walked to the nondescript building and stepped inside. The first thing he saw was the back of Becca.
She was slightly bent over a woman who appeared to be weeping. He hesitated, waiting until she turned to walk to a door set in the far wall next to a reception desk, unattended at the moment.
When she opened the door and stepped through, he followed her, sparing a concerned frown for the softly crying woman.
Following Becca through the door, he saw her, shoulders slightly drooping, about to enter another door farther along a hallway. Even in profile, he could see the tension on her face, the tired, anxious look.
Exasperation immediately turned to impatience. Searing anger spiraled through Seth’s entire being. Without thinking, he snapped at her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Five
For an instant, Becca froze in surprise and shock at the sharp sound of Seth’s voice. The sensation swiftly changed into a quick burst of joy inside at the reality of him being there. Then the present reality intruded.
As mere moments passed, she kept her hand curled around the doorknob and turned to scowl at him.
“I don’t have time for this, Doctor,” she said, anger rising to replace all other feelings. “There’s a young boy choking in here.”
Turning the knob, she entered the room, fully aware Seth was right behind her. Dr. Carter stood next to the examining table, on which a boy lay unconscious and gasping for every breath. The doctor was very carefully working a breathing tube down the boy’s nasal passage.
“Foreign object?” Seth quietly asked from where he had come to a stop right beside her.
“No.” Becca shook her head. “Allergic reaction to a bee sting.”
“Have you administered epinephrine?”
“No,” she repeated. “The doctor’s receptionist is looking for—”
“Becca, who is this man, and what’s he doing in here?” Dr. Carter interrupted. He didn’t look up from the boy, but his tone gave clear indication of his impatience.
“The name’s Seth Andrews, I’m also a physician. I worked with Rebecca in Africa.”
Dr. Carter gave Seth a quick glance.
“Have you called for an ambulance?” Seth asked, keeping his gaze on the boy. “He’s still struggling to breathe. He should be in a hospital.”
“I agree.” John sighed. “Problem is the closest hospital is over a half hour away. He wouldn’t have made it there.”
“Not without the epinephrine,” Seth responded caustically. “Why is there none available?”
“Becca told you my receptionist is looking for one.” His tone was sharp. “And I’m beginning to panic here, as I can’t get this tube any deeper.”
This entire exchange lasted no more than a few seconds, during which Becca had moved to stand beside the doctor in case he needed her. Both she and John looked up when Seth spoke again.
“He’s not getting enough air,” he said urgently. “He needs a tracheotomy…now, or there could be brain damage.”
John’s eyes widened and his face drained of color. “I never…I’m not a surgeon…” He glanced at the boy, swallowed, straightened his shoulders and said, “But I’ll do my best.”
“I am a surgeon, and while I’ve never performed this procedure, I know how it’s done,” Seth said. “Would you prefer I do it?”
“Please.”
“Is he sedated or did he pass out?”
“Passed out,” John answered. “He was terrified.”
Seth nodded. “Where can I scrub?”
“There’s a sink behind you.” John inclined his head.
Seth turned, saying, “Becca.”
That’s all he had to say. Becca got busy. By the time Seth turned from the sink, with his hands up, she was masked. She held a lab coat out and he straightened his arms for her to slide it on backwards. Moving behind him, she closed two buttons to hold the makeshift scrub top in place. The next second she was shoving plastic gloves onto his hands, and tying a mask on his face.
“Anesthetic?”
“I’ve administered a low dose,” John said. “We don’t need another reaction.”
Seth nodded, and without saying another word, or asking any more questions, he moved to the side of the examining table, as if he knew without doubt Becca would have everything he needed prepared for him to begin.
And, of course, she did. Still not speaking or looking at her, he held out his right hand. Becca slapped a scalpel into his palm.
Concentrating on the job at hand, Becca was still vaguely aware of a light tap on the door, the quiet voice of Mary, the receptionist, saying, “I found it, Doctor,” and John’s equally soft voice thanking her. He then told her to call at once for an ambulance, and also said to tell the boy’s mother he would be all right.
In short order, working with his accustomed precision, Seth set aside the instrument and inserted the breathing tube Becca handed to him into the child’s trachea. The boy’s
