The Surgeon's New-Year Wedding Wish. Laura Iding

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      Danny was frowning and he tugged on his father’s arm to get his attention. The boy signed a question. She watched with a puzzled frown, wondering what was wrong.

      “If I call Auntie D., she’ll cut her visit short,” Quinn said to Danny’s silent question. She noticed Quinn signed and spoke to Danny at the same time, regardless of the fact that Danny could hear. “I’ll call her later on to let her know what happened, okay?”

      “Auntie D.?” Leila repeated, knowing full well she was poking her nose into his personal business yet unable to help herself.

      Quinn hesitated, as if he might not answer, but then said, “Danny’s caregiver. She’s really Danny’s greataunt, she helps look after Danny while I’m at work.”

      “I see.” So there was an Auntie D. in the picture, but no mother. She wanted to ask more, but this wasn’t the time as she still needed to call Radiology to get the CT scan and X-rays, and check out her other patient. “Give me a few minutes to get the radiology exams ordered.”

      When she’d finished making all the arrangements, she crossed over to where Jadon was examining Charlie. “How is he?”

      “Fine. I can’t find any major signs of injury other than maybe a sprained wrist.”

      “Great.” She smiled at Charlie. “Guess you’re pretty lucky, huh? At least you won’t be stuck in a cast, like Danny will be.”

      Charlie frowned at the news. “I think my wrist needs a cast, too,” he said in a serious tone, holding up his injured wrist. “It hurts really, really bad.”

      “Hmm.” She hid a smile and pretended to consider his words as she gently manipulated his wrist. “We could put an immobilizer on for a few days, it’s not as bulky as a cast but it should work to keep the pain and swelling down. But that means you won’t be able to play any video games.”

      “No video games?” Charlie’s eyes widened comically as he realized the impact of his request.

      “Nope.” She took a small wrist immobilizer from the cart even though they generally didn’t like to use them because some exercise was good for mildly injured joints, but she wasn’t worried because she suspected this particular immobilizer wouldn’t last on Charlie’s wrist for very long anyway. She placed it over his sore wrist. “Now, you should wear this during the day, but once your wrist starts to feel better, you can take it off.”

      “Okay.” Charlie seemed satisfied with the compromise. His mother rushed in and he proudly held up his wrist. “Mom, I got a sprain!”

      “A sprain? Let me see.” The woman examined his wrist, then put a hand on her son’s head, checking for other signs of the sledding crash. She gave Leila a harried glance. “Does he have any other injuries? Is he really all right?”

      “Yes, he’s fine.” Leila gave her a reassuring smile. “And he can take off the immobilizer once his wrist begins to feel better or once he’s tired of wearing it. You’re just in time as he’s all ready to be discharged home.”

      “Thank heavens,” Charlie’s mother muttered, giving him a quick hug. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, do you hear me?” she said to her son.

      “I won’t. But can I see Danny before I go?”

      Leila glanced over to where Quinn and Danny were still waiting to head over to the radiology department. “Yes, I’m sure Danny wouldn’t mind if you went over to say goodbye.”

      Charlie scrambled down from the gurney with a guiding hand from his mother and went over to his friend. Danny didn’t speak and Charlie didn’t know sign language, but it was clear to her that the boys still managed to communicate with each other just fine between Charlie’s words and Danny’s gestures.

      Moments later, the transport team came to pick up Danny for his tests.

      “Let’s get this place cleared up. We’ll put Danny in a regular room in the arena when he gets back,” Leila said to Amy, the nurse in charge for the day.

      “Okay. What do you think is wrong with Danny that he won’t talk?” Amy asked, as she began to clear the area.

      “I don’t know and it’s not any of our business one way or the other,” Leila said in a tone meant to squash the rumor mill. She headed over to the nearest workstation to finish documenting Danny’s assessment.

      Although as she completed the necessary paperwork, she couldn’t help wondering the same thing. Why on earth didn’t Danny talk? Especially if he could hear and understand perfectly well?

      Since Quinn had purposefully kept quiet about Danny’s situation, she figured he wasn’t going to tell her just to satisfy her idle curiosity.

      It was an hour and a half later before Danny’s leg was put in a cast, the X-rays having revealed a clean break in his left tibia. The bright lights had started to bother him, though, so as soon as the boy’s cast had been applied, Quinn had shut down the lights.

      Leila entered the room, holding the report containing Danny’s CT scan results. “Danny’s CT scan is clear, Quinn, but I have to tell you, I’d feel better if we kept an eye on him here overnight. Jadon agrees with me on this.”

      Quinn read the results and then glanced down at Danny. “I don’t know if that’s necessary. I can keep an eye on him at home just as well.”

      He was right. As a medical professional he knew exactly what changes to look for. Still, he was also Danny’s father and if she sent Danny home, Quinn would get little if any sleep.

      “Yes, you could,” she admitted, “but Danny does have a concussion and rather than put the burden on you, I’d prefer to keep him here so that we can keep a close eye out for any subtle neurologic changes. Besides, with that cast he’s going to need some decent pain management during the night, too.”

      When Quinn still hesitated, his expression torn, she put a reassuring hand on his arm. “Stay for one night. By the morning he should be feeling better.”

      He stared at her hand and then slowly lifted his gaze to her face. Just as before, a strange undercurrent of awareness tingled between them and she saw a flash of desire in his eyes before it vanished so quickly she might have imagined it.

      “All right. We’ll stay.”

      “Great.” She dropped her hand from his arm, and tried not to cover her confusion. She didn’t understand why she reacted this way to a man who was nothing more than a colleague. She turned toward the door. “I’ll tell Jadon to arrange for a bed.”

      “Leila?” His deep husky voice saying her name stopped her in her tracks.

      Her mouth went dry. She nervously licked her lips as she turned to face him. “Yes?”

      “Thanks.” His serious gaze bored into hers. “You were wonderful with Danny.”

      “You’re welcome.” She smiled and then went out to the arena to ask Amy to arrange for Danny’s transfer upstairs.

      Once the task was finished, she went to relax in the lounge, letting СКАЧАТЬ