“Has anything changed?” Mark asked.
“No, but I’m really worried. Anna has been so distraught about the loss of her husband I’m not sure she’s been as attentive to her children as she should have been.”
“I’ll have a look and see what we come up with. Don’t worry.”
They stopped at the last door.
“Anna isn’t a fan of doctors.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.” He gave her a reassuring smile.
Laura Jo nodded and knocked quietly on the door before she opened it. “Anna, someone is here to check on little Marcy.”
Laura Jo entered and he followed close
behind. A lone light shone, barely giving off enough light for him to see the room. There was a twin bed shoved into the corner and another at a right angle to that one where two children slept feet to feet. There was also a baby bed but it was empty because the child was in her mother’s arms. The woman was reed thin, wide-eyed and had wavy hair. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.
“Hi, Anna, I’m Mark, and I’ve come to see if I can help little Marcy. Why don’t you sit on the bed and hold her while I have a look? I promise not to hurt her.”
Anna hesitated then looked a Laura Jo.
“I’ll sit beside you.” Laura Jo led her over to the bed.
Mark went down on one knee and placed his bag beside him. He pulled out his stethoscope. The heat he felt as he put his hand close to the child’s chest indicated she was still running a fever.
“I’m only going to listen to her heart and lungs now. Check her pulse.” He gave the mother a reassuring smile and went to work. Done, he asked, “How long has she had this fever?”
“Since yesterday,” the mother said in a meek voice.
He looked a Laura Jo.
“I had no idea.” She sounded defensive and he hadn’t intended to make her feel that.
To Anna he said, “I’m going to need to check Marcy’s abdomen.”
“Let’s lay Marcy on the bed. That way she’ll be more comfortable,” Laura Jo suggested.
Mark moved his hand over the child’s stomach area. It was distended and hard. Something serious was, without a doubt, going on. He glanced at Laura Jo. Their gazes met. The worry in her eyes was obvious.
“Anna, thank you for letting me see Marcy.” He looked at Laura Jo again and tilted his head toward the door. As he stood he picked up his bag and walked across the room. Laura joined him. He let her precede him into the hall and closed the door behind him.
Laura Jo looked at him.
“Marcy has to go to the hospital.”
“I was afraid of that. What do you think the problem is?”
“The symptoms make me think it might be an obstructive bowel problem. This isn’t something that can wait. Marcy must been seen at the hospital.”
“I’ll talk to her.” Laura Jo went back into the room.
Mark pulled out his phone and called the ER. He gave the information about Marcy and they
assured him they would be ready when he arrived. Finished, he leaned against the wall to wait.
Soon Laura Jo came out, with Anna holding Marcy in her arms.
“Anna has agreed to go to the hospital as long as you and I stay with her,” Laura Jo said. “I need a few minutes to let someone know to see about her other children. Will you drive?”
His stomach tightened. He didn’t want to but what was he supposed to say, “No, I might injure you for life”?
“If it’s necessary,” Mark answered.
Laura Jo looked at him with a question in her eyes before he turned to walk down the hallway to the front.
“The car seat is by the front door,” Anna said in a subdued voice.
“I’ll get it.”
He was still working to latch the child seat into his car when Laura Jo arrived.
“I’ll get that.”
With efficiency that he envied she had the seat secured and Marcy in it in no time. Laura Jo didn’t comment on his ineptness but he was sure she’d made a note of it. She would probably call him on it later.
Anna took the backseat next to Marcy, and Laura Jo joined him in front. Before pulling out
of the parking space, he looked back to see that the baby was secure and that Anna was wearing her seat belt. “Are you buckled in, Laura Jo?”
“Yes. You sure are safety conscious.”
Yes, he was, and he had a good reason to be. Mark nodded and wasted no time driving to the hospital. He pulled under the emergency awning and stopped.
As they entered the building Laura Jo said to Anna, “We’ll be right here with you until you feel comfortable. They’ll take good care of Marcy here.”
Anna nodded, her eyes not meeting Laura Jo’s.
They were met by a woman dressed in scrubs.
“Lynn, this child needs to be seen,” Laura said.
“Is this the girl Dr. Clayborn called in about?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m Dr. Clayborn.” Because he wasn’t on the staff at the hospital he couldn’t give orders. They would have to wait until the ER physician showed up.
“Exam room five is open. Dr. Lawrence will be right in.”
Two hours later Marcy was in surgery. Mark’s diagnosis had been correct. Thankfully, Laura Jo had called him or the child might have died. They were now sitting in the surgery waiting room with Anna. With Laura Jo’s support,
Anna had accepted that Marcy needed the surgery. Mark was impressed with the tender understanding Laura Jo had given the terrified mother. He liked this sensitive side of her personally. What would it take for her to turn some of that on him?
Mark approached the two women and handed each one a cup of coffee from the machine. He slipped into the chair beside Laura Jo. Waiting in hospitals wasn’t his usual activity. He’d always been on the working end of an emergency.
While Anna was in the restroom Laura Jo said, “I think you can go. She seems to be handling this better than I thought she would.”
“No, I said I’d stay and I will.”
“You make a good friend.”
Mark’s chest tightened. No, he didn’t. He’d already proved that. Mike certainly wouldn’t say that about him. Mark hadn’t even gone to the hospital to see Mike before he’d left town. Laura Jo shouldn’t start depending on him.
“You might be surprised.”
Laura Jo gave him a speculative look but he was saved from any questions by Anna returning. Soon after that the surgeon came out to speak to them.
The sun was shining when he and Laura Jo stepped outside the hospital. Marcy was doing well in PICU and Anna had insisted that she
was fine and no longer needed them there. They left her in the waiting room, dozing. Laura Jo had promised to check on her other children and that she would see to it they were cared for properly.
As he and Laura Jo walked to his car, which he had moved to a parking place earlier, Mark asked, “Where do you get all the energy for all you do?”
“I just do what has to be done.”
“You sure have a lot on your plate.”
“Maybe so, but some things I can’t say no to.”
What was it like to feel that type of bond with people? He understood the practical side of doing what needed to be done medically to save a life but it was a completely different concept to support another person emotionally without reservation. Mark understood that well. He hadn’t been able to stand beside his best friend when he’d needed him most. He had even ignored his conscience when it had screamed for him to do better. It hadn’t gotten quieter when he’d moved back to town but he still couldn’t muster the guts to go visit Mike.
“I wish I had your backbone.”
“How’s that?”
“You face life head-on.”
“You don’t?”
“What little I have falls short of the amount you have.”
“Thank you. That’s a nice compliment.”
They had reached his car. “How about I buy us some breakfast then take you home? I’m guessing Marsha has Allie.”
“Yes. I really need to check on her and Anna’s kids. I need sleep. I’m sure you do also. I have to work this afternoon. Don’t you have to be at work this morning?”
“I don’t go in until two and you need to eat. I’m hungry so why don’t you let me get us some breakfast without disagreeing for once?”
She walked to the passenger door. “I’m already too far in debt to you.”
“I don’t mind that.”
She sighed. “I pick the place.”
“Ladies choice, then.”
A smile spread across her lips. “I like the sound of that.”
Had no one ever let her make a choice of where they went? He liked seeing Laura Jo smile. She didn’t do it often enough. She was far too serious.
“Where’re we going?”
“I’ll show you.”
She got in the car and put her seat belt on. When he was ready to pull out he looked over at her.
Laura Jo said, “Yes, I have buckled up.”
He had to sound crazy to her, or over-the-top controlling, but he just couldn’t face hurting someone with his driving ever again. Somehow it seemed easier when he had her in the car with him; she accepted him for who he was. As he drove she gave him directions into an older and seedier part of downtown Mobile. He had last been to the area when he’d been a teen and trying to live on the wild side some.
“It’s just down the street on the right. The Silver Spoon.”
Mark pulled into the small parking area in front of a nineteen-fifties-style café that had seen better days.
“You want to eat here?”
“Sure. They have the best pecan waffles in town.” Laura Jo was already getting out of the car. She looked back in at him. “You coming?”
Mark had been questioning it. He wasn’t sure the place could pass a health inspection.
“Yes, I am.” He climbed out of the car. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
She was already moving up the few steps to the front door.
* * *
Because all the booths were full, Laura Jo took an empty stool at the bar. She didn’t miss Mark’s
dubious look at the duct-taped stool next to her before he took a seat.
“You don’t frequent places like this, do you?”
“I can say that this is a first.”
She grinned. “I thought it might be.”
Mark picked up a plastic-covered menu. “So I need to have the pecan waffles.”
“They’re my favorite.” She was going to enjoy watching Mark out of his element.
“Then waffles it is. You do the ordering.”
“Charlie,” she said to the heavy man wearing what once must have been a white apron, “we’ll have pecan waffles, link sausage and iced tea.”
“Coming right up, Laura Jo,” Charlie said, and turned to give the cook her order.
“I see you’re a regular,” Mark said.
“I come when I can, which isn’t often enough.”
Charlie put their glasses of iced tea on the counter with a thump.
“I don’t normally have iced tea for breakfast.” Mark picked up his glass.
“If you’d rather have coffee…” Laura Jo made it sound like a dare on purpose.
“I said I wanted the same as you and that’s what I’m having. So how did you find this place?”
“Charlie gave one of the mothers that came
through the shelter a job here after her baby was born.”
“That was nice. I’m impressed with what you’re doing at the shelter.”
“Thanks. But it never seems like enough. You know, I really appreciate you helping me out with Anna and Marcy. I hated to call you but I knew I couldn’t get her to the hospital and I was uncomfortable with how Marcy looked.”
Mark really had been great with Anna and Marcy. He’d stayed to give moral support even when he hadn’t had to. Maybe she had better character radar than she believed.
“I’m glad you thought you could call.”
She’d been surprised too that she hadn’t hesitated a second before picking up the phone to call him. Somehow she’d just known he would come. “Were you always going to be a doctor?”
“I believe that’s the first personal question you have ever asked me. You do want to get to know me better.”
Laura Jo opened her mouth to refute that statement but he continued, not giving her a chance to do so.
“Yes, I had always planned to go into medicine. My parents liked the idea and I found I did, too. I’ve always liked helping people. How about you? Did you always dream of being a nurse?”
“No, I kind of came to that later in life.”
“So what was your dream?”
“I don’t know. I guess like all the other girls I knew we dreamed of marrying the Mardi Gras king, having two kids and living in a big house.”
He looked in her direction but she refused to meet his gaze. “Marrying the Mardi Gras king, was it? So did you dream of marrying me?”
“I don’t think your ego needs to be fed by my teenage dreams. But I’ll admit to having a crush on you if that will end this conversation.”
“I thought so.”
“Now we won’t be able to get your head out of the door.”
Charlie placed a plateful of food in front of each of them with a clunk on the counter.
“Thanks, Charlie.” She picked up her fork and looked at Mark. “You need to eat your waffle while it’s hot to get the full effect.” She took a bite dripping with syrup.
“Trying to get me to quit asking questions?”
“That and the waffles are better hot.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes.
“So I remember something about an accident and then I didn’t hear much about you after that. I later heard you’d left town. Did you get hurt?”
Mark’s fork halted in midair then he lowered it to the plate.
Had she asked the wrong thing? She looked
back at her meal. “You don’t have to tell me if you’d rather not.”
“I wasn’t really hurt. But my friend was. I had to leave a few days later to start my fellowship.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story. Too much of one for this morning.”
So the man with all the questions was hiding something. Minutes later she finished her last mouthful. Mark said something. She turned to look at him. “What?”
He touched her face. His gaze caught and held hers as he put his finger between his lips. Her stomach fluttered. She swallowed. Heaven help her, the man held her spellbound.
“You had syrup on your chin.”
“Uh?”
“Syrup on your chin.” Mark said each word slowly, as if speaking to someone who didn’t understand the language.
“Oh.” She dabbed at the spot with her napkin. Mark was starting to shatter her protective barriers. “We’d better go.”