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It didn’t take Mr. Luther long to zoom in on her unhappiness. As she would have guessed, he commented on it.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked as she wrapped the blood-pressure cuff around his arm.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, there is. You’ve got that pitiful look. Usually you come in here with a smile on your face. I bet your face would break if you smiled right now.”
“I think we should concentrate on how you’re doing.” She pumped the bulb attached to the cuff.
For once Zoe wished Mr. Luther would go back to being the sad, self-centered man she’d known before the transplant. At least he wouldn’t be focused on her.
“You know, the doc doesn’t look much happier when he comes in.”
He didn’t? Why did the idea make Zoe’s heart beat a little fast? Maybe Gabe was as miserable as she was. Zoe continued to do vitals. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“You two have a fight or something?”
“Mr. Luther, I appreciate your concern, but Dr. Marks and I are fine.”
He grunted. “Don’t look fine to me. That baby deserves happy parents.”
That statement Zoe couldn’t argue with.
On the way home that afternoon, she stopped by to visit her mother. Now that Gabe wasn’t at the house, Zoe had made a habit of going each afternoon. Going home to Gabe’s house wasn’t comforting for her. It was just a place to lay her head, no longer the place of dreams it had once been.
With the exception of the one escape episode, her mother seemed to have stabilized and was thriving since moving to Shorecliffs. She seemed more aware, and despite most of what she talked about being in the past, it at least made sense. With her confusion remaining at bay for the time being, Zoe’s guilt had eased. Her mother was as happy as she could be.
Today her mom was well dressed and sitting in a cushioned chair in the lobby. There were a number of other residents there as well. Zoe took an empty chair beside her. “Hey, Mom, how’re you today?”
Her mother smiled.
The tightness in Zoe’s shoulders eased. Her mother was having a good day. There was a sparkle in her eyes, not the dull look of reality slipping away. “I’m fine. How’re you?”
Zoe ran her hand over her extended middle. “Me too.”
“Baby?” her mother asked.
“Yes, I’m having a baby.” Zoe had to remind her almost every visit. Anything that had happened recently her mother couldn’t remember, but she could recall almost anything in detail from her childhood. “He’s growing.”
“Your daddy and I had a big fight about you.”
Was she making that up? Zoe had never heard this story. To her knowledge, they had never fought.
“He was mad when I told him I was going to have a baby. He didn’t want a family.” Her mother’s face took on a faraway look.
“Mom, I’ve never heard you say anything like that before.”
“That’s not something you tell a child. A baby should be wanted. Loved.”
A deep sadness filled her. “He didn’t want me?”
“After you came he loved you dearly, but he never adjusted to family life. He was always looking for a way out.”
Was she expecting Gabe to embrace an ideal he wanted nothing to do with? Was she asking the impossible from him? Was that why he had left? They had been happy together for two weeks without more commitment. Could she settle for that if it meant having Gabe in her life? Her child having a full-time father?
Was there some way she could convince Gabe she would take him any way she could get him? Make him feel like what he could give was plenty.
* * *
Gabe searched the patient’s open abdomen. Something was wrong. He could feel it.
“Suction.” He looked again. Nothing. The surgery was going by the textbook. So why the nagging feeling?
The phone on the OR wall rang. One of the nurses answered. “Dr. Marks.” The nurse held out the receiver. “Do you know a Zoe Avery?”
“Yes. Why?” Was the baby coming? It was too early. It was at least another six weeks away.
“This is the ER calling.”
Gabe’s heart went into his throat.
The nurse continued, sounding perplexed. “They said they found your card in her purse. She’d had a bad car accident.”
Zoe hurt! The baby?
Gabe looked at Dr. Webber standing on the other side of the surgery table. He was more than qualified to handle the rest of the operation. Gabe had to get out of there. See about Zoe. He spoke to the fellow. “You’ve got this. I gotta go.” Gabe didn’t wait for a response before he hurried out the doors, leaving them swinging. Zoe needed him and he would be there for her and Will this time.
He flipped his surgical headlamp up on his head and didn’t bother to remove his gown as he raced toward the staff stairs that would get him the two flights down faster than the elevator. Less than a minute later he burst through the ER doors, one of them hitting the wall.
“Whoa,” one of the techs said as he put his hand out to stop Gabe. “Can I help you, Doctor?”
Gabe pushed the man’s arm away. “Where’s Zoe Avery?”
“Let me check the board.” The
tech turned to the large whiteboard on the wall. “Trauma Six.”
Gabe looked around wildly. “Where’s that?”
“This way. You must be new here. Were you called in to consult?”
“No. She’s my...uh...” What did he call Zoe? His friend, girlfriend, lover, the mother of his baby? Thankfully he didn’t have to explain more before they reached the room. Gabe rushed inside.
His heart sank and his belly roiled. The stretcher was surrounded by people working on Zoe. Two different monitors beeped, one giving Zoe’s heart rate and the other the baby’s. Oxygen hissed as the doctor gave orders.
With his gut churning with fear at what he might see, Gabe stepped closer. “Zoe.” Her name was barely a whisper over his lips.
The doctors and nurses were so busy they didn’t even respond to him. Gabe looked over one of their shoulders. Zoe’s eyes were closed and she wore an oxygen mask. Around it and beneath he could see her pale, bruised skin. Her right arm lay to her side with an air cast on it. The real focus was on Zoe’s leg. There was a large gash on her thigh.
“We need to get her to surgery, stat. She’s lost a lot of blood. Do we have a next of kin?”
“I’m it,” Gabe said. “She’s my girlfriend.”
The ER doctor turned and looked up and down at Gabe. “Aren’t you Dr. Marks?”
“I am.”
“Okay. Let’s get her up to the OR,” the doctor ordered. To Gabe he said, “You take care of the paperwork and the surgeon will be out to speak to you in the waiting room.”
“I’ll see him in Recovery,” Gabe shot back. He watched helplessly as Zoe was pushed away. The first chance he had to tell her how he felt about her he was going to. If she would have him, he’d promise to do whatever he could to make her happy.
* * *
Zoe worked at opening her eyes. Why were they so heavy? Someone held her hand. She shifted. That hurt.
“Don’t move, honey.”
That voice. She knew that voice. Gabe.
Dreaming, that was what she was doing. Her eyes fluttered closed.
