One Night in New York Read online

  Sam nodded. “Of course, Dr. Walker.”

  “Good catch, Sam. Thanks for looking at the bigger picture.”

  Sam shrugged. “In pediatrics we sometimes have to look at the bigger picture when it comes to kids.”

  He left the consult room and Mindy leaned back in her chair, but only for a moment. She got up and entered the exam room where Dr. Alexander was just dressing his handiwork.

  “There, all done.” He grinned down at Ms. Bayberry. “Now, when those babies are born, there won’t be any sign of a scar.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Alexander,” Mindy said.

  Dr. Alexander shrugged. “Sam’s my girlfriend’s roommate. It was the least I could do.” He collected up his things and left.

  Mindy turned to her patient. “Your babies are fine, Ms. Bayberry. There is no sign of injury to your uterus or your placenta. Things with the babies look stable. However, your spleen was damaged in the accident.”

  “What does that mean?” Ms. Bayberry asked, her voice rising an octave. The monitors on her alerted Mindy to the up-kick in blood pressure.

  “It means we have to go in and repair your spleen.” Mindy moved toward the bed. “May I look?”

  Ms. Bayberry nodded and Mindy lifted the blanket, to see the bruising on the left side of her abdomen. The patient winced.

  “Yes, we need to go and repair the damage,” Mindy said gently.

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “Laparoscopically,” Dr. Ootaka said, coming into the room, trailed by two of his residents. “I’m Dr. Takeo Ootaka. I have done this procedure countless times. You are in good hands.”

  “What about my babies?” Ms. Bayberry asked nervously, her eyes instantly darting to Sam, who stood by the door. She’d obviously latched onto Sam as a bit of a safety blanket, which often happened in traumatic situations.

  “Dr. Napier and I will be in the OR the entire time. We’ll monitor your babies and make sure they stay right where they belong.”

  Dr. Ootaka grunted in approval and then turned to the male resident with him. “Prep this woman for a CT and then surgery. May I look?”

  Dr. Ootaka didn’t wait for permission as he leaned over Ms. Bayberry’s left side.

  “Yes. Yes. We’ll take care of this, Ms. Bayberry,” Dr. Ootaka said.

  Mindy gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder as Dr. Ootaka’s residents began to prep Ms. Bayberry and Mindy walked with Dr. Ootaka to the hall, with Sam trailing behind.

  “I plan to have your patient down to the OR in the next hour, maybe less. I don’t need to tell you that massive internal bleeding will put those babies in jeopardy.”

  Mindy nodded. “My resident and I will be ready, scrubbed in and waiting.”

  Dr. Ootaka nodded. “Good.”

  “Let’s go, Dr. Napier.”

  “I thought you wanted me to stay with Ms. Bayberry?” Sam asked.

  “She’s in good hands with Dr. Ootaka’s residents. They can monitor her. Right now we have to get a neonatal team ready and on standby in case Ms. Bayberry goes into premature labor.”

  “You think that will happen?”

  “I hope it won’t,” Mindy said quickly as they moved down the hall to gather their team and ready them for surgery. She stopped and stretched her back, groaning.

  “What’s wrong?” Sam asked.

  “Just a sore spot. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a long rotation in a hospital.”

  Sam grunted. “What, they don’t have long rotations at the hospitals in California?”

  “For your information, Dr. Napier, I had a private practice, or did you not hear a word Dr. Chang said when she introduced me?”

  “You told me in no uncertain terms that your personal life was not my concern. I’m just your resident.” There was a devilish twinkle to his eyes as he said it.

  Darn him.

  He was proving to be a challenge.

  “You’re right. I did. So why don’t you go back to Ms. Bayberry and continue to monitor her until she’s brought down to the OR. Also, make sure her next of kin is updated on the situation.”

  “Of course, Dr. Walker.” Then he did a little bow of his head and headed back to the exam room where Ms. Bayberry was.

  Mindy sighed. He was a pain, but he was a good physician. The way he was with Ms. Bayberry, reassuring her, taking care of her.

  She’d seen the look of longing when he’d been watching Dr. Chang working on patients. The drive, that look of ambition, she knew it well. When she had been in her obstetrics fellowship she and Dean had worked side by side to gain the attention of one the most noted maternal-fetal specialists on the West Coast, Dr. Guild.

  The spark of competition and rivalry. That’s what had driven her and Dean closer together, why the attraction had grown. At least, that’s what she’d thought. Now she wasn’t so sure.

  It wasn’t competition or rivalry with Sam, but he was trying to show his self-worth. He was trying to prove to her that he was tough, that he didn’t have a soft underbelly when it came to his patients.

  Or to her.

  And then an image of their night together flashed through her mind. Of Sam and her together, his arms around her, his hands in her hair and his lips against her skin. It caused her blood to burn.

  Mindy took a deep, calming breath. She couldn’t think of Sam that way. He was a resident. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. She didn’t want one. They were too much trouble.

  Sam was here to learn from her. That’s all.

  And Mindy had to keep telling herself that to get through the rotation, heck, the next week while he was on her service. When he was off her service and back in Peds then there would be a safe, comfortable distance between the two of them.

  He was after a pediatric fellowship, not OB/GYN, and she didn’t have any room to mentor a fellow. OB/GYN fellows went through Dr. Finn. All she was here for was maternal-fetal medicine and infertility issues. She was here to bring in big cases, to bring in money for West Manhattan Saints.

  She was here to rebuild her life and that life didn’t include Dr. Sam Napier.

  It couldn’t.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SAM SHOOK HIS head at the nurse in the OR, who was holding up his cellphone again so he could see that it was buzzing. Sam mouthed the words “Not important” and “Scrubbing in” to the nurse, who was annoyed that his phone on the sterile tray was the only one giving her an issue.

  He cursed under his breath as the water washed over his arms. He knew exactly what those texts were about.

  Darn Langley.

  “What’s with all the texts? Is it from the woman you slept with last night?” Rebecca asked, as she came up beside him to scrub in.

  “What?” Sam snapped.

  Rebecca smirked. “Oh, come on. I’m not an idiot. Holly told me all about you. So who is the woman?”

  “I don’t know what Holly has been telling you. Whatever it is, it’s not true. No one and it’s not her.”

  “Aha, so you admit you got some action.”

  Sam cursed under his breath. “Would you stop concerning yourself in my personal life?”

  “Okay, I didn’t mean to tick you off.”

  Sam rolled his eyes and lathered the soap over his hands. “If you must know, it’s my mother. She got wind that I’m on an OB/GYN service this week as a sort of a punishment.”

  Rebecca frowned. “I wouldn’t call working with Dr. Walker a punishment. Have you read some of her papers? She’s a big deal.”

  “I didn’t say it was punishment.” In fact, it wasn’t. He was enjoying his time on Dr. Walker’s service, but he knew his mother. Nothing was as worthy or extraordinary as neuro.

  Sam rinsed and then shook his hands over the sink. He headed into the OR and was helped into a gown and gloves. He was hoping that they were just a precaution, that they wouldn’t have to be used to deliver the twins.

  Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the neonatologist team, ready and
waiting. Then he saw Mindy, attaching the monitors and watching as the babies’ heartbeats came online.

  Please, let them stay in.

  He knew the survival rate for infants so young was low.

  “Dr. Napier?” a small voice called out to him.

  Sam went over to Ms. Bayberry’s side. She was trembling, waiting for anesthesia, her arms strapped down.

  “I’m here,” he said.

  There was relief. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Of course. Where else would I be?”

  Ms. Bayberry smiled. “How are the babies?”

  Sam glanced over at Mindy and the monitors. Mindy nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

  “They’re doing really good, Ms. Bayberry.”

  “Please, just call me Linda. I feel like an old lady when you call me that.”

  Sam chuckled. “Deal. As long as you call me Sam, then.”

  “Sam?” she said. “I would’ve never pegged you for a Sam. I thought you were Scottish.”

  “I’m American too.” He winked.

  “Is my husband on his way?” she asked.

  “He’s in the waiting room. I’ll give him regular updates, I promise.” Sam glanced up as Dr. Ootaka entered the OR, with Rebecca trailing him. “I think they’re going to get started soon. I’m going to watch those babies like a hawk. I won’t let them out of my sight.”

  Linda sighed and nodded, staring back up at the ceiling.

  Sam stepped out of the way of the anesthesiologist and glanced up in the gallery. He could see Holly amongst the crowd of eager onlookers. Whenever Dr. Ootaka did a surgery he always garnered a lot of attention. Enzo and Kimberlyn would’ve been all over this. He missed them.

  The room was filled with some of West Manhattan Saints’ finest surgeons.

  His mother should be pleased with that, instead of harassing him with endless texts about wasting his time when he should be focusing on pediatrics. And if he’d changed his mind about pediatrics then he shouldn’t be slumming in OB/GYN when he could switch over to neuro. She could pull some strings.

  Even though he hadn’t read the texts, he knew exactly what they said, because they were always the same.

  Always. It annoyed him. As if he wanted her help. Sam didn’t want anything from her.

  At least that was one thing his mother had going for her; she was a creature of habit.

  Sam moved toward Mindy as Linda drifted off and they put the tube down her throat. Sam watched the monitor closely, keeping his distance.

  “She can’t be under too long, Dr. Ootaka,” Mindy piped up as she took her seat next to the fetal monitor. The steady sound of the two heartbeats beat in time with his own.

  “I’m well aware of that, Dr. Walker. Ten blade.”

  The surgery began as laparoscopic incisions were made and the camera inserted to get a better look at the damage done to the spleen.

  “You should really move closer,” Mindy whispered. “You could learn a lot from Dr. Ootaka.”

  “I’m fine right here, Dr. Walker.” Sam eyed the monitor as the heartbeat of twin A began to rise, but just slightly.

  “Are you sure?” Mindy asked.

  “I promised her that I wouldn’t take my eyes off the babies. Even if it means they’re still inside her.”

  “Okay, then.” There was a hint of admiration in her voice and it secretly pleased him that he had impressed her.

  Don’t think about that.

  All eyes in the gallery were focused on Dr. Ootaka and his team.

  “Do you know what injection I gave Ms. Bayberry before we came in here?” Mindy asked casually.

  “Is this a test?” Sam asked confused.

  “Sort of. Just passing some time. So do you?”

  “Since the risk of pre-term labor is high I would hope that you injected some corticosteroids into her, thus speeding along lung development of the babies.”

  “Correct, Dr. Napier.”

  “I’ve dealt with preemies before, Dr. Walker. I do work in pediatrics.”

  “What about a micro-preemie? Have you ever delivered or worked on a micro-preemie before?”

  Sam grinned behind his mask. He could never forget Maya, who was Enzo’s niece. He had been there when she’d come in. She had been his charge and he’d made it his personal mission to take care of her. Maya was alive because of him. “I have. In my first year.”

  “You’ve seen a lot, then,” Mindy remarked.

  “I have, and I hope to see more when I gain a fellowship spot with Dr. Chang.”

  “No disrespect to Dr. Chang, but she’s not a neonatologist. If you want to work with preemies you should be working with Dr. Hall in the NICU.”

  “Dr. Hall is a great surgeon, but I need a peds fellowship before I move into neonatology. Like you, I want many feathers in my cap.”

  “You’re very sure of yourself.”

  Sam didn’t respond. They’d had this discussion before and it didn’t bother him that she thought of him that way. In surgery that was a compliment. Suddenly an alarm went off and Mindy leapt to her feet.

  “Dr. Walker, what is going on down there?” Dr. Ootaka demanded. “This is a delicate procedure.”

  “I am well aware of that, Dr. Ootaka,” Mindy snapped. “One of the twins is distressed.”

  “Is she in labor?”

  Mindy shook her head. “No. Just the baby being active and jostling around.”

  The general surgical team had stopped what they were doing so as not cause any more damage by the moving baby and because of that Linda’s blood pressure went down.

  “Dammit,” Mindy cursed under her breath. “We have to get that baby to calm down. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to deliver or risk the mother bleeding out because they can’t repair her spleen.”

  Sam thought back to when his stepmother had been pregnant with twins. The boys had been active and the only way his father had been able to get them to settle down had been to talk to them softly, in a deep, even voice.

  “Let me try.” Sam stepped forward and placed his hands on Linda’s belly. Leaning over, he began to recite an old Gaelic song his father used to sing to his brothers. He was very aware that all eyes were on him and that everyone was listening to him sing, but he didn’t care.

  He’d made a promise to Linda Bayberry. It was better if the babies stayed in utero.

  The alarms disappeared, the jostling settled and the babies were no longer a threat to their mother’s spleen removal.

  “Whatever you’re doing, Dr. Napier, keep it up,” Dr. Ootaka said. “It’s unconventional, but it works and that’s the most important thing.”

  It was a compliment and Sam took it and continued singing, his hands on the side of Linda’s abdomen where the more restless twin was. As if in appreciation of his singing, a gentle kick nudged his palm, reminding him why he did what he did in the first place.

  Mindy smiled as she watched Mr. Bayberry lean over and kiss the top of Linda’s head, his hand on her belly. Linda was still groggy and missing her spleen, but the babies were okay, though Mindy had every intention of keeping Linda in the hospital for some time to monitor her, especially since she’d had a major organ removed.

  It was touch and go, especially when that one twin had started acting up and then Sam had stepped up and calmed the fetus down. As if the fetus had known the mother trusted him.

  He’d sung to the babies. Calming them and melting her heart.

  Would Dean ever have done that? She seriously doubted it.

  Sam might put up barriers to keep people out, but he had such a soft spot, especially when it came to children, and for her that was something that was highly attractive in a man.

  Dammit.

  Mindy shook her head and headed down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. It was late at night so really she should just head for home, but she wanted to stay and monitor Ms. Bayberry through the night.

  The cafeteria had limited service so late, but at least she could get a sandwich fro
m a machine and coffee. When she entered the dimly lit cafeteria there was one other soul there, hunched over a table, eating a pathetic-looking sandwich and nursing what looked like a generic can of diet soda.

  Walk away.

  Only she couldn’t, because she was a weak fool. “You did good in there today.”

  Sam looked up. “Dr. Walker? I thought your shift was over?”

  “I could say the same thing about yours as well, Dr. Napier.”

  Sam shrugged. “I made a promise. I’m going to stay here and monitor her for the night.”

  “Funny, that’s what I thought I was going to do.”

  Sam cocked an eyebrow. “An attending? Usually attendings fob those kinds of jobs off on us lowly residents or even lower interns.”

  Mindy chuckled. “Mind if I join you?”

  “No, not at all.”

  Mindy sank down into the hard plastic chair and let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t realized how long she’d been standing.

  “Is the patient’s husband with her?”

  Mindy nodded. “He is. She’s still quite groggy, but in stable condition.”

  “Good. Are you planning on keeping her in the hospital for a while?”

  “Yep. She needs to heal. She’s had major surgery and is pregnant with twins, which adds an extra burden on the body. I’ll probably keep her here until those babies are ready to be born.”

  “That’s a long time.”

  Mindy shrugged. “The protein in her blood was a little high for my liking and as I gave her an injection of cortocosteriods the chances that she could develop pre-eclampsia are slightly higher now. I’d rather have her here, where I can watch her.”

  “Now, that I didn’t know,” Sam remarked, as he slid the uneaten half of his sandwich toward her.

  “What?” Mindy asked, gladly taking the sandwich.

  “The risk of pre-eclampsia and the ACS.”

  “Any time you give a pregnant woman a drug it’s risky. When you add the stress of twins, well… Mindy trailed off. “We’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “I will. You should go home and sleep. You look like you didn’t get much sleep last night.” And then he winked, causing her to blush.

  “That was inappropriate, Dr. Napier.”