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I basked in the comfort of the prevailing silence. I spread an arm over her shoulders, pulling her to myself, while we watched the men switch out the beds. Helen and her family beamed with joy.
Henry's face and those of his hospital staff were adorned with the same expression.
It was a sight I didn't get tired of seeing. If I proposed, would Stacy’s face radiate that same energy?
The box was in my pocket. I found it difficult to leave the house without it. It was still seeking the perfect opportunity to propose.
Maybe, it's time.
"Dad and the staff are thinking of organizing a party to celebrate our union," she said.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Ourunion?" I repeated.
"Oh no no no…not likethatunion," she corrected.
I let out a sigh of relief because I almost thought that someone had found out about my plans and leaked them.
"I mean the union between both our hospitals," she explained as she looked away bashfully.
"I think it's a matter worth celebrating though," I said. "This would be the first time I didn't have to buy another hospital."
"So I'm your first," she said with a teasing smile.
"Yes, you are a lot of my firsts," I said.
"That is something that makes me genuinely happy to hear," she said and snuggled up to me.
A party celebrating our union huh? Wait…that's not a bad idea at all.
Chapter twenty-one
Practice
Ethan
Everything was moving smoothly at Stacy's hospital. As planned, I had sent staff over to help get her staff up to speed with modern practice. With the subsidized health plans, Henry reported that they were receiving more patients than usual. They didn't have a fully operational surgery team, so Ben and I sent some of our forces over.
Ian helped with making sure that they understood how the management would work. The mistake that Stacy and her mom had made was making the team dependent on them. Not a bad thing, but it would backfire if they weren't able to coordinate properly. Like what happened during the James incident.
Allison went there as well to help run the emergency drills. It might seem like we're preparing them for the worse while helping them become more stable with self-reliance, but the main reason I was doing all this was to make sure that Stacy wouldn't have a lot to do during this initial period.
I felt bad, considering how much she enjoys the four walls of the hospital. But whenever I recalled what happened to her mother, I worried that she'd suffer the same fate during her pregnancy. Maybe I could get Olivia to talk to her. Stacy was a month pregnant, so there was no problem for now. I even left her behind in Glen Allen so she could get a feel for the new changes and her specific role.
I went back to Richmond because I still had work to catch up on. No offense to Stacy's place, but I couldn't get enough practice. I worried that I had gotten rusty. I had to switch roles with my staff, working under their supervision during surgery. I became their assistant. The new nurses and doctors found it weird, but the rest of them knew this was simply how I did things.
I needed to practice more. Ian mentioned that he had gotten a lot of demands for correctional plastic surgery. Not my forte, but something worth learning. So I helped out there as well. I jotted down the things I had learned and practiced them on the plastic anatomy models I had bought. My stitches were still sublime and in peak condition.
It didn't take me long to realize that the only reason I was working this hard was because I missed Stacy and needed something to distract me. I sank into my chair and pulled out the ring box. I inspected the ring again and again. I've never really feared anything; but with Stacy, I realized there are things I am afraid of.
Being abandoned.
Being a parent.
Asking her to marry me.
