Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (23 page)

“You touch her….”

Aaron laughed loudly.  Amira looked from one brother
to
the other confused.

Ignor
ing
Aaron’s
telep
athic
comments, he smiled at
Amira
.

“Good morning
,
Amira.”  Wrapping his arms around her, he felt a rush go through him as she wrapped her arms around his waist. 
Lifting
her chin up, he kissed her
hard
on her lips
staking his claim
.  

“Really you two
?
  Maybe you can take it back to the bedroom?”

Amira blushed.   “Good morning
,
Aaron.”

“Why
…
good
morning sweet Amira
!
You look positively radiant this morning.”

“
Thanks
,
Aaron, I actually feel better than I have in a very long time.  I didn’t realize it was that noticeable though.”

Turning
to Dragan, she took in his drawn appearance.  “
A
re you ok?”

“Of course, just a bit tired this morning and not looking forward to going back to work.”

“Oh, I thought you didn’t have to go until tomorrow?”

“
I am sorry, my schedule changed a bit
.  I forgot that I promised one of the doctors I would look at some test results.  I will pick them up, check on a few patients and the
n
come back home in time for
a late dinner
.”

“
Perfect
.  That
will
give me time to go home.”

“Why?”

“
Excuse
me?”

“Why are you going back to the cottage, I just figured you would stay here.”

Dragan heard Aaron coughing uncontrollably.  Turning he stared at him.  “Are you ok?”

“I think he is
trying to tell
you to stop
trying to tell me what to do
.
  Aaron, you will be joining us for dinner?
”

Both men watched her walk out the door, one grinning and the other
one scowling.

“
Wouldn’t
miss it for the world.”

Dragan walked into the outer office.  “Dr. Reynolds!  We weren’t expecting you.  Is everything ok with your family?”

“Yes
,
thank you.  I need
ed to come in
to take care of a few things. 
Please
do not
disturb
me this
morning
.  As far as you or anyone else is concerned, I am not here.”

“Of course
,
Doctor.”

Carla stepped aside as Dragan strode purposefully by her.  He looked
tired
, but
there was something else
,
and
she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.   In all of the years he worked at the hospital, he had never missed a day of work.
When he had called to say he was going to take a couple of days off, she almost dropped the phone.  Immediately calling his clients, she couldn’t wait to tell the other nurses that he would not be coming in.  The office gossip ran rampant
,
and their
imaginations
speculated
on his
absence
.

Reading her thoughts, Dragan smiled to himself.  If they only knew the source of his distraction was a woman, the twittering would be even more intense.

Sitting down hard at his desk, he thought
back
to his conversation with Aaron. 
He could
not
believe that she was
really
sick, and she didn’t tell him.  Even after their emotional and at times savage lovemaking.

Flipping through the manila folders on his desk, he saw the one from Dr. Kinsley
.
  Curiously, he opened the file
feeing his
blood r
u
n cold through his veins as his eyes quickly scanned page after page of
Harvey
’s notes.  It was
,
Amira
. 
There
she was in cool medical terminology,
r
ight before his
eyes;
he had everything he needed to learn more about her
condition
.  In the blink of an eye, his world
crashed
down
around
him and
realiz
ed
two things
were
staring at him in the face.  The first, according to her file,
he found out
she was
not just a little ill, she was dying
, and the second,
was the realization that he
was head over heels in love with
her
.

Tears
welled
in his eyes as he continued to read
the report.
  Her original blood disorder, though complicated, was not deadly if monitored.  Protein C
deficiency
,
an inherited blood disorder
,
is passed down through the
family’s
bloodline and
causes abnormal blood clotting.  He knew there were many levels to this disorder from mild to extreme.  Amira’s
Protein C Deficiency
was extreme
,
and once
diagnosed
,
she
was seen sometimes weekly
,
by Dr. Kinsley.
Dragan was sure that she was in pain at times from the disorder.
No wonder the doctor
had become
attached to her.  He probably knew more about her than anyone else
she
knew.  Her family history
stated that
the father had died of an
aneurysm
at 30.  It was determined that he was not the carrier of the disease, but the mother
was
,
and she
died a year
after
the
father
from a
Pulmonary Embolism
. 
Quickly doing the math,
Dragan
realized that
Amira
was 10 when her mother passed away.  He
could not even imagine the
emotional
pain she must have gone through finding herself parentless and all alone.
  Frowning
,
he read her treatments.  She
had to
give
herself heparin shots
and has done so
for years
.  The blood thinning
therapy
worked well with her
.  No restrictions were placed on her
lifestyle
.

Flipping to the recent medical history
,
Dr. Kinsley wrote extensively in her file.   During a routine blood exam a year ago, an ano
mal
y showed up in her blood.  She had done nothing different in her life, no change in her diet, no trips to another country, nothing.  One week it wasn’t there, the next it was.
  Several weeks of testing and an overnight stay
in the hospital,
due to a high fever, was when Dr. Kinsley realized that the anomaly
was mutating
and
attacking her healthy
blood cells.  It was slow moving, the transformation seeming to grow on its own.  From the records and the list of contacts, Dr. Kinsley ha
d
been working hard making the phone calls, doing his due diligence on his patient
behalf
,
but n
o one had ever seen this anomaly.  As far as any of the doctors and specialists could tell, she was the only one in the entire world with this disorder.
  Dragan frowned reading on as the doctor told of the day he told his patient of her prognosis. 
He wrote she took
the conversation of her death well.  Too well
,
according to
Harvey
.  When he found out that
she was in the process of selling everything she had, which ended up being quite a bit as her parents left everything to her and she had a trust
f
und
,
Harvey
was worried that she was suicidal and wrote how he kept an especially close watch over her.  Well
,
as much as he could, Amira started to travel to
monasteries
and other locations looking for holistic healing.  It was then that the good doctor realized that she was still searching for a way to survive.  It seems Amira
’
s
will to live was strong
,
and after
a
year, she rented a cottage in the Berkshires with the good doctor
’
s blessing, happy that she was close again for him to try
to
save.
 

The last entry was Dr. Kinsley’s conversation with him.  He felt sick to his stomach
.  The date was three days ago.  Three days lost in finding a cure
.  Closing the file, he leaned back in his chair resting his head on the seat back.
  He needed samples of her blood
,
and he need
ed
them
now.

Pushing the intercom on the phone
,
he waited impatiently for a response.  Getting
none
, he strode to the
outer
office only to find Carla
arguing
with
the man he needed.

“I am sorry
,
Doctor, but he asked to not be disturbed.”

“
Harvey
!  I w
as just trying to get in touch with you.”

Relief
was written all over the
doctor’s
face.

“Dragan, there has been a change, I don’t know what happened
,
but there has been a change for the better with my patient.”

“
Please
,
come in!”

Pacing the room, the
doctor’s
excitement was palpable.

“She came in this
morning
.  She looked so good, we tested her blood
,
and I put a rush on it.”  Thrusting a piece of paper in Dragan’s hand
,
he grinned from ear to ear.

“Amira was here?  When
?
”

“Oh my God, do you know her?”

“You could say that.”  Stunned
,
Dragan looked down at the paper in his hand.  She was indeed better.  Not by much, but it was better.  There were more positive cells than negative for the first time since the new diagnosis.

Dragan’s voice was strained.  “
What
did she say to you?”

“She said that she really hadn’t done anything different except that she spent the night at her
boyfriend’s
house
.  Weird, I didn’t even know she had one, and she said she woke up feeling different and decided to come in and see me.  I always make time for her in light of her condition.”

Harvey
looked
at his friend.

“Are you ok
ay
?”

“Yes,
of course
, this
is wonderful news!”  He knew that it didn’t sound like it
,
but he was happy
for Amira
.  He knew that it was too much of a
coincidence
for her to feel better after he fed
off
her.  His thoughts racing
,
he
knew he had to get samples of her blood.

“Dr. Kinsley, I would like to run some of my own test
s
.  Do you have
before and after blood samples? 
Do you think
it would be possible for me to get them rushed over?  I have a lab at my house, and I could work on it tonight.”

“
Absolutely
!
Whatever you need.  It will be wonderful having a fresh set of eyes helping me to figure out this puzzle.
You will have them before you lea
ve today.
”