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“Good. Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t worry about the paperwork. You can finish up in the morning. Go home and de-stress after this. You need it.”
After a deep sigh, Rebel’s shoulders drooped. She knew the benefits of letting go or destressing or whatever you wanted to call it, after such an event. Time to take a breather on duty was often a luxury, rather than the necessity it should be.
“Maybe you’re right.” Conceding felt like weakness, but her mind overrode the emotions. She wasn’t officially an employee yet, so she had no real place here.
“I’ll walk you out. I have to recover my briefcase anyway.”
“I hope it’s still there. My backpack is there, too.” She shook her head, having forgotten about it in the rescue crisis. What a pain that would be to replace all of the items in her wallet if it had been stolen.
“I’m sure it is. This hospital complex doesn’t have a lot of crime and there were plenty of people around.”
As they approached the exit, Duncan turned to her. “So where’d you get such an unusual name? You don’t look like a rebel to me.”
She smiled, some of the tension lifting, even though she recognized his distraction technique. She’d used it many times on her patients, and she appreciated his efforts for her now. “It was something my father gave me when I was a kid. Apparently, as a toddler, I was quite the rebel and the nickname stuck.” She gave him a slant-eyed glance. “My given name is Rebecca, but if you ever call me that, I’ll slap you silly.”
Duncan laughed and some of the tension seemed to let go of him as well.
“Agree.” He offered an arm for her to move ahead of him. “I think Rebel suits you better anyway. Rebecca is too tame for all that wild hair.” Curiously, that hair made him itch to touch it, feel its texture and softness. Check that. Not gonna happen.
They left via the double doors that whooshed open on quiet hydraulics. They approached the parking lot, now alive with police and security.
“Wow.” Rebel looked at the area now packed with fire trucks, rescue vehicles, an ambulance and a police aid directing traffic away from the area. “Guess we’ll have to file a report, won’t we? And someone’s got to find out who that baby belongs to.” The person probably worked in the building and had forgotten to leave their child with the sitter.
From behind them, Rebel heard a gasp. A young woman dashed past them toward the car and the police officer putting up yellow tape.
“What happened to my car?”
The officer faced her. “Is this your vehicle, ma’am?” He set down the crime-scene tape and stepped closer to her, the sun glinting off his reflective sunglasses. He removed them and wiped his forehead.
“Yes, what happened?” She gestured to the mess it had become.
“Can I see some ID?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She dug into her purse as Duncan and Rebel moved closer. “Someone breaks into my car, and I’m the one who has to show ID?” She shook her head in obvious disgust. “I was only at work for half an hour and someone broke into my damned car.”
“We broke into your car,” Duncan said, his voice soft, and Rebel shivered with anticipation as to what his next words would be.
That confession got the officer’s attention, and he looked between Duncan and Rebel, keen eyes putting together the scenario.
“You broke into my car?” The woman looked him up and down, then at Rebel, completely baffled. “Why?”
“Because your son was in there.” Even though his voice was as soft as silk, the words were hard to hear.
Rebel took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, certain she’d have knots in her shoulders later. Duncan held her gaze and gave her a nod and she moved a little closer to him. The close proximity brought her some comfort and feeling some of his strength made her realize she was going to get through this difficult situation. With the power this man exuded, she thought she might just be able to get through anything.
CHAPTER TWO (#u2e71ae3d-769c-5d0b-b5b0-403fb0b1a3a1)
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, my son? Eric’s at daycare.” She swallowed, her blue eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. She looked between Rebel and Dr. McFee trying to figure out if they were telling the truth or if this was some sort of sick joke.
“No, ma’am. Your son was discovered in the backseat of this vehicle.” The officer took her ID from her limp fingers.
“N-no, he wasn’t. He’s at daycare.” She looked at Rebel and Duncan, and then at the car as she put the pieces together and completed the horrifying puzzle.
The back door hung open.
The car seat was empty.
The diaper bag lay upside down on the floor.
She focused on Rebel. “Isn’t he?”
“Did you forget to stop on your way here?” Duncan asked as gently as possible.
“Did I forget…? Of course I didn’t forget.” Anger flared in her face, then was quickly replaced by fear. She began to hyperventilate and her grip on Rebel’s arms loosened.
“Then you left him in the car on purpose?” the officer asked.
“No! I would never…” Her eyelids fluttered.
“She’s going out.” Rebel held on to the woman’s arms as the purse and wallet thudded to the pavement.
“Go get us a gurney,” Duncan instructed the security guard, who ran into the building, and took some of the woman’s body weight from Rebel.
“As soon as she wakes up she’s under arrest,” the officer said, and shoved his shades back on.
“As soon as she wakes up she needs to see her child, so back off.” Dark anger flashed in Duncan’s eyes, and Rebel held her breath.
“She put her kid in mortal danger. He may die.”
“I understand. She’s not going anywhere, so you can arrest her later.”
For the second time in less than an hour Rebel and Duncan entered the ER with an unexpected patient.
“Can you start an IV?” Duncan asked. “The others are working on a new trauma.”
“Yes,” Rebel said, ready to be helpful and hide the fear surfacing in her veins. Facing her fears was what had led her to ER nursing, but some days the fear nearly did her in.
Duncan pointed to the counter behind her. “Supplies are there. Get some saline going.”
In seconds Rebel had everything prepared and inserted an IV into the back of the woman’s hand.
Duncan rummaged in a cabinet beside her. “Aha.” He moved closer to the patient. “Make sure that’s taped down well.”
“Why?”
He held up the small mesh-covered capsule. “Old-fashioned smelling salts.”
“Haven’t seen those used in years.” Thinking outside the box was what kept ER nursing interesting. “Let ‘er rip.”
The instant Duncan popped the capsule with his fingers, the noxious scent invaded the room. He waved it beneath the woman’s nose, and she jerked away.
“Wake up for me,” Duncan said, and patted her cheeks.
“Her name is Amanda Walker.” The police officer arrived from outside with her belongings.
“Amanda? Amanda. Wake up now.” Duncan spoke to her.
Rebel leaned close to Amanda’s ear. “Eric needs you.”
Amanda’s eyelids fluttered, and she jerked away from Duncan’s hands. “Yuck, what is that?” She struggled to wake from unconsciousness and coughed.
“Amanda, I’m Dr. McFee, and you’re in the ER. Do you remember what happened?” Amanda kept her eyes closed and frowned.
“Eric? What about Eric?” She opened eyes that appeared to have no memory of the recent events in the parking lot. Not unusual. The brain provided wonderful coping mechanisms to assist in dealing with emotionally painful situations. None of them were going to help her now.
“You were on the way to work and what happened?”
“What do you mean? I parked and came into work like I always do.” She focused more on Duncan and glared. “Why are you asking about Eric? Did the daycare call?”
“No, ma’am…” Duncan interrupted the officer with a glare. He clenched his jaw, not wanting to verbally castigate the officer when he had a patient on his hands. “No. Daycare didn’t call.”
“I was…No. Is Eric okay? What’s happened?” She tried to sit up. “What’s going on?”
Rebel stepped forward and glanced with hesitation at Duncan. He didn’t know her, had never worked with her before, so he had no reason to trust her or her abilities as a nurse. Then again, he had no reason not to trust her. He nodded.
Rebel placed her hand over Amanda’s with a gentle touch. Compassionate energy pooled around Rebel in such waves that Duncan felt them. This woman was made of tough stuff. So far turning out to be a damned good ER nurse. Gorgeous and smart. Hard combination to find.
“I’m Rebel, one of the nurses. I…discovered Eric…in the back of your car.”
“No, you didn’t.” Amanda shook her head in denial and jerked her hand away from Rebel. “He’s at daycare.” Amanda placed a trembling hand over her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes as trickles of the truth emerged from her subconscious. “You’re scaring me now.” Amanda looked around the room, at the glaring overhead lights, at the medical equipment, at the IV in her arm. Then she took a deep breath.
The wail that followed emerged straight from her soul.
The hair on Duncan’s neck twitched in reaction to the agonizing cry no amount of comfort could touch. He looked at his newest coworker.
Tears overflowed Rebel’s eyes as she stood with hands clenched in front of her. Even the cop turned away.
“N-o-o-o. No. No. No.” She hopped off the gurney, her eyes wild. “You people are crazy! His dad always drops him off.” Her breathing came hard and fast.
“Amanda. Think back to this morning. Was there a change in your routine? Did you deviate…?” Rebel asked questions designed to trigger her memory.
“No!” She pointed a finger at Rebel. “Wait till I call my husband. He’s a lawyer, and he’ll…My husband…is…sick…today.” Amanda collapsed to her knees. Sobs croaked out of her in an unrelenting torrent of realization.
Rebel knelt beside her. “What happened? Can you tell me?”
“His office has daycare.” She huffed in a few breaths. “He always takes Eric. Always.”
“And he’s home sick today?”
Amanda nodded, then slumped over onto the floor. “I killed my son! Oh, God, I killed my son.”
“Eric is alive, Amanda. He’s not dead.”
Amanda sat up and grabbed Rebel by the shoulders. “You found him in time?” She hauled Rebel into an exuberant hug. “Oh, my God.” Now, sobs of relief overflowed. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Rebel placed her arms around Amanda and looked at Duncan. Those beautiful green eyes of hers pleaded for his help and something inside him emerged. Whether it was the trained physician in him, the male protector of women and children, or he was just reacting to the pain in Rebel’s face, he didn’t know. He just knew he had to respond.
“Amanda, sit up. I’ll tell you about Eric, then we’ll take you to see him.” He assisted her to her feet, protecting Rebel from being overwhelmed. He offered a hand down to Rebel and brought her by his side. His instinct was to place his arm around her waist, to shield her from the pain they both knew was yet to come, knowing the story before it was even told. Instead, he took Rebel’s hand and led her to a chair. She was pale and her hand was clammy. Though she didn’t look it on the outside, he knew she was having great difficulty with this situation. Officially she wasn’t even an employee, and she’d gone above and beyond what was expected of her. She could just as easily have walked away, but she hadn’t. What heart she must have.
Duncan placed his hands on the shoulders of the sobbing woman. This was going to bite. “Amanda, pull yourself together. You need to be strong for Eric. Now take a breath and stop crying.”
In a few minutes she’d managed to subdue her emotions. Tears still dribbled from her eyes, but she could look at him. That was a start.
As the noon hour approached, Rebel felt about a hundred years older than her actual thirty. Days like this were why people left healthcare. Some days being a nurse just wasn’t worth it.
She’d been sitting outside the PICU where Eric had been taken. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to leave just yet. Dr. McHunky had taken the mother inside to see Eric.
Rebel had plopped herself into a chair outside the unit and hadn’t been able to get up. Sitting outside an intensive care unit brought back so many overwhelming memories it shut her down. For years she’d been an unwilling participant in her family’s inherited illness, Huntington’s disease. Watching her brothers struggle to survive had forced her to grow up too quickly, to be too old too soon, to leave childhood behind too early. Events like today sucked her back in time to when she had been a frightened little girl watching her family be taken from her one by one.
The door to the unit swung open, and she shoved aside her past to dive into the present again. That’s what adrenal glands were for, right? Surges of adrenaline kept her going from one crisis to another in the ER, and that ability didn’t fail her now.
“So, how is he, Doctor?”
“It’s Duncan, please.” Though he patted her on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, he looked as if he needed some comforting himself.
“Okay, Duncan. First tell me how he is then tell me how you are. You look like someone beat you with a hammer.” Lines of what could be grief or fatigue showed on his face. Though it was mid-morning, he looked like he’d been up all night.
A small smile twisted his lips and a little relief appeared in her eyes. Mission accomplished.
“I feel like someone beat me with a hammer.” He looked at his watch. “And it’s not even lunch yet.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a very long sigh. “I’ll be okay. I think. Eric’s critical, on a vent, the works. I’ve never seen so many tubes hooked up to a kid that size, and I thought I’d seen it all.”
“I’m so sorry.” She gave his arm a squeeze, intending to offer him some of the comfort she’d offer to any of her patients and families. His arm beneath her hand was warm and firm. Though this child wasn’t related to either of them, he was special and bonded the two of them together.
Duncan turned his dark-eyed focus fully on her, and she gulped at the intensity of him. When he focused on something, it was something else. His dark, dark eyes seemed to have no pupils. His aura nearly reached out to her, like some invisible cloak trying to cocoon her into its warmth.
“And how are you holding up?”
“I’m okay, I guess.” She shrugged. “Are you ever okay after an event like this?” She’d been through many traumas in her career as an ER nurse and some patient situations stuck with her, no matter how long ago they’d happened.
“You might want to go home. The paperwork for employment can wait until tomorrow.”
“I’m good, really—” Denial had gotten her through many tough situations in life, why not one more?
He gave her such a doctor look, knowing she wasn’t all right, knowing she’d been through the wringer today, and knowing she wasn’t telling the truth, that she actually felt a flash of shame.
“Rebel. We don’t always have time to shake off the vibes from work while in the midst of it. Take the time to relax and shake this off.” Duncan spoke like a man who had been on the front line of healthcare for a long time. That kind of experience didn’t come without a toll on the body and the psyche.
“Thanks. You’re right.” She nodded. “I usually like to meet with the charge nurse the day before I start and introduce myself to see who I’m going to be working with. Stuff like that.”
