Part 34 (1/2)
As Laura walked into the intensive care unit, her heart fell. Patrick's bed was empty. An aide was stripping off the bedding with practiced, efficient moves. Laura froze. Too often an empty bed signaled the death of a loved one. Just as a deep blackness surrounded her a strong hand on her shoulder drew her back to reality.
She spun around, expecting the worst.
”Laura.” It was a familiar voice. ”I'm so sorry about what happened to your husband.”
”Oh, Tim!” Her frightened eyes bore into his. ”Where's Patrick?”
”Upstairs. He's off the ventilator so he doesn't need the ICU bed. Come on, let's go up.”
”Oh thank G.o.d. Tim, I thought - everything bad has been happening and I thought -”
Tim smiled broadly. ”Wrong. Come on, let's go see. This you're gonna like. We're pretty pleased at our handiwork.”
”Yes, of course. Let's go!”
Patrick lay alone in a semiprivate room, hooked up to a heart monitor and connected to an intravenous line and a urethral catheter. His eyes were closed as Laura tiptoed over to the bed and kissed his forehead. ”Patrick?”
The child stirred and his eyes opened slightly.
”We've been using short-acting sedatives so that he'd wake up just as you arrived. Looks like we timed it just right,” Tim beamed.
”Patrick,” Laura repeated, again leaning over to kiss him on the forehead. ”Honey, you awake?”
The child's eyes opened more widely and a smile crept over his face. ”Mommy.”
”You've had a nice long sleep, baby.”
”I'm sleepy. Do I have to get up now?”
”Here, buddy, let me prop you up a bit.” Tim pushed the b.u.t.ton on the side of the bed.
”Wh ... what's this?” Patrick's eyes left Laura to examine the tube in his nose and then the wires coming from all directions. His free hand touched the bulky protective dressing covering his entire chest.
”You had an operation, honey, remember? We're in the hospital. You're doing just great, but you have to stay in bed for a few more days. Okay?'
”Oh, yeah. Kinda -”
”But you're doing great,” added Laura with a rea.s.suring smile.
”Can they take all this stuff off me? My throat hurts,” Patrick rasped.
”Soon,” said Tim, ”but I'll tell you what. If you're hurting we can give you some medicine. And, you can start eating once we get this one out.” He pointed to the tube in his nose. ”And that'll make your throat feel better.”
”Okay,” said Patrick weakly, ”I'm tired.” He looked up suddenly. ”Where's Dad?”
”Oh, he's not here right now,” she gulped. ”Honey, try to go back to sleep, okay?”
The child was asleep before he could answer. Laura turned to Tim. ”Dear G.o.d, how can I ever tell him?”
”You will, but not right now.”
”Next time he wakes up? Should I? What will it do to him, to his heart?”
”Kids are tough, Laura. He'll be okay. He has you and the other kids.”
Laura stayed with her youngest son for a few more minutes. Then she and Tim left quietly to join the others across at the hotel. Halfway down the hospital corridor she met her father, coming to sit with Patrick.
”Dad,” she fell into his arms. ”I didn't tell him, I just couldn't. He'll be devastated.”
”I know, I know. You'll tell him soon. You go on now, I'll stay with the little man.”
”Thanks, Dad. If it weren't for you and Mom, I just -”
Carl Whelan shook his head slowly. ”You and the children are safe, that's what matters. The nightmares are over, and you can get back to your life now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX.
It was the day before Thanksgiving as Laura and Roxanne sat at the round table in the staff lounge sipping a cup of tea, a plate of homemade cookies on the counter. Both were exhausted after a long day of difficult surgical procedures and looking forward to the long holiday weekend.
Laura kicked off her st.u.r.dy, scuffed nurse shoes and fluffed her hair as it cascaded down from the surgical cap she'd worn all day. ”So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?”
”Mom's doing the cooking, thank goodness. Louis, Will, and Louis, Jr., and of course my little Jose, are coming over. I really miss that little guy since they moved to one of those big old houses in Hyde Park. As soon as he's well enough, Louis plans to start the renovation.”
”That's great, Roxie.”
”And he's so grateful that you worked things out for him at the hospital. Getting them to cover the medical bills and the half million settlement means so much, I can't tell you. It's not only the house, but now they have a replacement car, a big station wagon. And, well, a life.”
”Which you are a big part of, if I'm not mistaken.” Laura grinned at her friend, relieved that she'd made the decision to stick by Roxanne during the resolution of the Ruiz malpractice case. As soon as she'd returned to Tampa from Philadelphia, Laura set up a meeting with Cliff Casey, Tampa City Hospital's CEO.
”Look,” she'd told him that first week of September, ”I don't want trouble for the Hospital, but what happened to Wendy Ruiz in the ER that night shouldn't have. You know that Sam Sanders has subpoenaed me in a malpractice case, and even though I'll be a so-called hostile witness, I'll have to tell the truth.”
”Laura, you're a physician,” Cliff replied. ”You know how hectic things were that night. The whole Ruiz family coming in at once, swamping the ER. Two dead on arrival, and the child had a transecting spinal injury. She would have been a paraplegic.”
”I know that, but it's no excuse for mismanagement of a chest wound and you know it, Cliff. I think you should settle the case. Mr. Ruiz will not make unreasonable demands if you offer to settle.”
”Well, his lawyer isn't sounding so reasonable,” Cliff pointed out. ”Three million dollars and going for punitive. Triple damages, that'd be nine million.”
”I think if you offer something fair, something equitable, Mr. Ruiz will overrule his lawyer. I don't think he wants to go to court, but he's desperate. Please give it a try.”
Laura kept at Cliff until he finally directed his attorneys to negotiate something they could absorb. The hospital would be hurt if Laura testified against it, hostile witness for the plaintiff notwithstanding.
”I'll make you a deal,” Cliff had said. ”I know that you've just gotten back with the kids, and you'll have to get them settled in for the new school year, and get settled in your own life. But what I'd like you to do is take on the additional role here as director of the emergency room. We need someone with your strict standards and intimate knowledge of trauma care. Since you trained at City Hospital in Detroit under the pioneer of modern trauma management -”
”Yes,” Laura said softly. Even her face softened, her eyes suddenly bright.
”Yes, you remember Dr. David Monroe, or yes, you'll do it?”