[Second Chances 02]California Dreams (17 page)

“Mommy, I’m scared,” Daniella whimpered, not liking being in the hospital at all.

“I know you are sweetie, but Dr. Patterson’s going to take good care of you. Mommy will be right here waiting for you to wake up when you come back out.”

“I don’t want to go in there. Please go with me,” Daniella started to cry.

Seeing that Grace was losing her resolve, Michael stepped over and spoke to one of the nurses who quickly picked up the phone. After speaking to someone on the other end, she hung up and nodded her head at him.

Michael walked over and took Daniella’s hand. “Hey sprite, did you forget that I’m a doctor?”

Daniella shook her head, “No.”

“How about if I go find some of those funny green pajamas to put on and I’ll go back there with you? Would that be alright?”

Daniella stuck her thumb in her mouth, something she only did when she was very scared, and nodded. Michael gently pulled her thumb from her mouth and kissed her on the forehead, “You wait right here for me. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Michael found the scrub room and quickly prepped and changed his clothes. Dr. Patterson came in and spoke to him, “What you’re doing for that little girl out there…well, I just want to say I admire you for it.”

“I’m not just doing it for her, but for her momma too. I haven’t known her for very long, but something tells me she might hold the keys to my future.”

Dr. Patterson patted him on the back, “That’s the way it was with me and my Marjorie, God rest her soul. She’s been gone eight years now, but I knew the second time we went out together she was going to be my wife. She always used to say she knew it on the first date and I was just slow, but it didn’t matter. We knew very little about each other, but that just made the journey that much more exciting. We got married two weeks after meeting each other and were together for forty-seven years before cancer took her life.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“That was a long time ago and I’m glad she didn’t suffer like some of these people do. Cancer is an evil thing and I only pray that the test we’re about to perform doesn’t come out positive. “

“We’re all hoping the same thing. I better get back out there. I told her I’d be back in a jiffy.”

“See you inside.”

Michael came back out to the pre-op waiting rooms and quickly grabbed a pair of goofy glasses and a mustache from the box sitting on the attending pediatrician’s desk. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up as he headed for Daniella’s room.

“I heard we was having a pajama party in here,” he said, pulling back the curtain.

“Mr. Michael, you look funny,” Daniella giggled.

Michael removed the glasses and glared at her, “How did you see through my disguise? Now everyone will think I forgot to get dressed this morning.”

“No they won’t cuz everybody else forgot to gets dressed as well.”

“You make a very convincing point there.” Walking over to sit on the edge of her bed, he took her wrist and was pleased to see that her heart rate was slower and the tension in her muscles had relaxed somewhat. “So are you ready to go see what’s behind those big doors?”

“Do I have to?” Daniella asked.

“Afraid so, but I’m here and I get to stay with you the entire time. Dr. Patterson said I could.”

Daniella offered him a small scared smile and he clasped her hand in his and nodded at the nurse waiting to roll her out of the room. “Tell mommy ‘Bye’ and we’ll see her in a few minutes.”

Grace leaned down and gave Daniella a big hug, just managing to keep her tears at bay. Coming around the bed, she grabbed Michael around the neck and kissed him on the lips, “Thank you. Please don’t let anything happen to her.”

“Gracie, you’re worrying again for nothing. Jane’s waiting right outside those double doors. Please go keep her company, and as soon as I can, I’ll come get you. This will only take about thirty minutes, okay?”

Grace nodded and walked to the doors, turning and watching until the bed containing her daughter and the man who was quickly becoming a vital part of their lives disappeared from sight.

“Ma’am?” the officer guarding the door asked.

Grace turned around and pushed through the doors, straight into Jane’s arms where she collapsed in tears.

*****

Trent tried to calm Sara down as the taxi drove them to the hospital. After speaking with Samuel, he had located the quickest flight out and they had touched down at the airport hours earlier than they had thought possible.

“Do you think she’s out of the procedure yet?” Sara asked.

“I don’t know, but there’s the hospital up ahead. Let’s go find out.” Trent paid the driver and removed their carry-ons from the trunk. Entering the hospital, he searched for and found the security office and led Sara over there.

“Hang tight for just a minute right here.” Trent entered the security office and explained who he was and why they were there.

The head of the security team personally came out and took their luggage back to his office. “Good luck upstairs, folks.”

Trent and Sara rode the elevator up to the first floor and as they got off, Sara spied Grace curled up in a chair next to Jane, and ran across the room.

“Gracie?” she whispered as she knelt down in front of the chair.

Grace opened her eyes and saw her sister looking at her, tears reflected in her eyes and lunged for her neck. “Oh Sara, I’m so scared for her.”

Trent followed behind, pulling Jane into his chest for a hug before letting her go and helping his wife up off the floor. “So, what’s happening?”

Jane filled Trent in as best she could, and they all settled back to wait. Five minutes later, Samuel arrived and joined them. Grace tried her best not to look at the clock on the wall, but when thirty minutes had passed, and then forty she became restless.

“What’s taking so long?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure Michael will come out and talk to us when he can.”

Grace nodded, wishing she could have gone with Daniella, yet knowing that wasn’t possible.

Trent and Samuel caught up as Samuel filled him in on the Quintana brothers. “So, let me get this straight. Trevor Ward has a sister that no one knew about, who just happened to be a nurse. She managed to slip a knife into Hector’s room and Julian used it to stab the guard in his escape attempt. But then someone killed the sister?”

“That about sums it up. Stan interviewed Trevor last night and he’s livid and wanting revenge. If Julian still has cartel members in the states, he should tell them to get back to Colombia. Trevor’s on lockdown right now, but once he’s going to trial, he’ll have access just like every other prisoner these days. Internet. Email. Phone calls. If he wants to get even, he won’t have any problems finding willing participants.”

“Let’s just hope for everyone’s sake the cartel goes back to Colombia before the bloodshed starts. They can fight it out down there, but if they start it on American soil, than we’re gonna have to weigh in and I’m thinking a ‘take no prisoner protocol’ might be the way to go. Off the record of course.”

“Of course.” Trent looked up as he heard the doors guarding the operating rooms open. Seeing the large blonde man walk through them, he nudged Samuel, “Is that the Michael I’ve been hearing so much about?”

Grace looked up and then ran to him, “Is she okay? What took so long?”

“Here, come sit down and I’ll tell you everything.” Michael led her back over to the others and Jane did the introductions. Sitting down, he pulled Grace down next to him, “Daniella’s going to be fine. The bone marrow procedure went fine. The delay was in starting the IV. She was slightly dehydrated, and that made her veins really hard to find. And before you ask, they gave her some sleeping gas before they started the IV so she didn’t feel a thing or even know what we were doing.”

“We?” Grace asked.

“I started her IV. I watched the nurse try twice and then Dr. Patterson saw my frustration and gave me permission to do it.”

“Let me guess, you got it the first try?” Jane asked.

“Of course. I always start my patients’ IVs. I’ve had lots of practice, sad to say.”

“What about Daniella?” Sara asked.

“She should be waking up in a few minutes. They’re waiting to give her the final reversal drug as soon as I’m back in there. I don’t want her waking up to strange faces.”

“I want to be there with her,” Grace all but demanded.

“I knew you would be,” Michael said, producing a facemask and gloves from his pocket, “and that is why I brought you these. Put them on and then you can go back to recovery with me.”

Grace took the gloves and mask, holding back her tears of gratitude for his thoughtfulness.

“What about the tests? When will those results be ready?”

“A few hours at most. They have a very good pathologist on staff here, but I’ve already been asked to provide my expert analysis of the slides. They’re going to page me as soon as they’re prepared and ready to read.”

“Come on, let’s go wake up your daughter.” Michael led Grace back to the recovery room, making sure he stuck close, but not so close that she felt smothered by his attention. He wanted to wrap them both up in bubble wrap and keep them safe from the dangers of the world, but he was also a realist and knew that wasn’t practical or possible.

He’d use whatever skills he possessed to help make their world a safe place to be once again, and if the inevitable occurred and Daniella had cancer, he’d move heaven and earth to make her better. He was committed to seeing this through to the end, no matter the outcome.

Michael pulled his eyes away from the microscope, a huge smile upon his face. “Dr. Meckler, I don’t know that I’ve ever been this happy before after looking at bone marrow slides.”

Dr. Meckler smiled in return, “It’s these type of pathology reports that keep me coming to work every day. Knowing that there is always the possibility of it
not
being cancer keeps hope alive.”

“I’ll let you write the official report, but I’m going to go tell the family that’s waiting.”

Dr. Patterson was just coming down the hall and Michael took time to discuss with him the pathology findings and the proposed treatment. Dr. Patterson agreed to go get the prescription filled from the in-house pharmacy, while Michael headed up to the waiting room where Daniella and the rest of her family were waiting.

Grace saw him first and gave him a hopeful look to which he smiled and nodded. “It’s not cancer. The staff pathologist and I both agree, she doesn’t have leukemia.”

The women started to cry and hugged each other quietly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping little girl with the dark circles beneath her eyes.

“So what’s wrong with her?” Trent asked, drawing everyone’s attention as he waited for the answer

“Best guess is she caught a virus that depleted her immune system. That set off a reaction called ITP or Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. In laymen’s terms, her body started producing so many white blood cells to fight off the virus, they started destroying healthy red blood cells, causing severe anemia and the bruising you’ve been seeing.”

“Is there a cure for it?” Sara asked.

“Most of the time in adults, we don’t do anything. The body finds its balance over time and everything goes back to normal. In Daniella’s case, her anemia is pretty severe so Dr. Patterson is going to put her on steroids for a few weeks. That should stop the process and help her recover faster. It could take her up to six months before the entire process is reversed, but she should be her normal self in a matter of days.”

Everyone started talking at once, especially after Daniella woke up and saw her Aunt Sara was there. Michael pulled Grace from the room, “She’s going to be fine.”

“Michael, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us.”

“I don’t want your thanks, Grace.”

Grace looked up at him, “What do you want then?’

“A chance. To get to know you better. To get to know Daniella. To become part of your lives. That is, if you want me to.”

Grace wrapped her arms around him, “I don’t want you to leave. You’ve become a part of our lives over the last several days. I know Daniella trusts you and so do I.”

Michael tipped her chin up so that her eyes met his, “I want to see where this leads. Tell me you want the same thing?”

“I do, but what about your practice?” At the mention of practice, Grace clamped her hand over her mouth, “I completely forgot about Children’s Choir practice!”

“No, you didn’t. Jane talked with Katelin and Derek stepped in to help out this afternoon. My parents were there and said everything went fine. Oh, they’re expecting both you and Daniella for Sunday dinner.”

“I don’t know what to say. Your family has been so good to me, in so many ways…”

“Just say you’re willing to see where this thing we have going leads. We can take it as slow as you need to go, just as long as we’re moving forward.”

Grace nodded before kissing him on the cheek, “I’d like that.”

Michael captured her lips with his, showing her with his actions what he couldn’t yet put into words.

*****

Later that night, Trent and Sara had left to bunk with Samuel. Michael had returned to his parents’ house, and Daniella was finally sound asleep.

Grace and Jane sat in the deck chairs on her back porch, each with a cup of tea in one hand and a chocolate chip cookie in the other.

Grace looked up at the stars and smiled, “It’s amazing to me how everything seems to work out, no matter how bleak it seems at the onset.”

Jane sighed, “I agree. Fifteen years ago I thought my life had ended and I never imagined finding love again. Yet here I am, at my age and planning my wedding. I’ve just landed my dream job and the man of my dreams to share it with.”

“Sara told me that she encouraged you to follow your dreams and if they led you to California, that’s where you needed to go. Are you happy you took her advice?”

Jane nodded, “I don’t think you can ever go wrong by following your dreams. I sure didn’t. What about you?”

Grace thought for a moment and then whispered, “My dreams are just beginning. Michael is going to strike out on his own and set up a practice here for the time being. I need to take things slowly; it’s not just me I have to worry about. I have to think about Daniella as well. He’s willing to take things slowly and see where we end up. I haven’t allowed myself to dream for so long, I’m not sure if I remember how to.”

“We never lose the ability to dream, we just lose the ability to hope and trust ourselves.” Jane watched a shooting star streak across the sky and grinned.
That’s a sign if I ever saw one.

“You may be right. Michael has shown me that hope is still alive and I’m willing to step out of my comfort zone and see where this leads.

“My mom used to say that you can’t ever recognize true happiness if you’ve never suffered devastating loss. Well, I’ve already suffered more loss than most, so if true happiness is knocking on my door, who am I to turn it away.

“I don’t know where my dreams will end up, but I’m ready to take the journey to find out.”