Cheryl Wyatt - The Doctor's Devotion

“That’s good enough. You’re legal in a mass casualty situation, which is what I fear we have here.”

“What? No, you can’t possibly ask—”

He could and he would.

“Lauren, listen to me. I need your help.”

She shook her head vehemently.

He swiveled his neck to watch the next chopper prepare to land, its flight crew frenziedly working over someone.

No time to argue.

Facing Lauren again, he increased hand pressure, hunkered his shoulders and got nose to nose with Lem’s granddaughter. “Nurse Bates, I’m not asking. I’m ordering. Triage chopper number three, then meet me at four.”

Desperate hands came up to clutch his. “Mitch, please,” she rasped. “I can’t. I’m not qualified for trauma. I worked OB.”

Compassion vying for impatience, Mitch leaned close to her ear. “Lauren Esther Bates, I’ll tell you what a wise man told me when I doubted I had what it took to be a doctor.”

He eyed Lem respectively, then Lauren pointedly. “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. I’m convinced He put you here for this precise moment. I don’t have enough hands. People are dying. We need you. Go.” He gave her shoulders a nudge—okay, more like gentle shove.

Rage streamed from her eyes, then tears.

She spun and ran to the chopper. He caught the piercing cry she hurled at him upon turning.

Her scathing reaction promised she’d never forgive him for this. But practicing triage medicine wasn’t a popularity contest. He had a job to do and people to save.

He faced Lem. “Sorry, but—”

Lem shook his head. “Just do your job, son. I’ll get a ride home.” Lem affectionately clasped his shoulder.

Mitch eyed the last chopper hovering above a windblown field. “I meant sorry for speaking to Lauren in that manner.”

“She’ll be all right.”

Mitch hoped so as he observed her taking a report from the third chopper crew on his way to meet the fourth.

She probably wondered how he knew her middle name. But Mitch knew nearly everything about her because, true to what he’d said in the car, Lem never stopped talking about her.

He’d already known how her parents had died, but had asked out of sensitivity in order to gauge how many details Lauren knew so he wouldn’t mistakenly speak of it.

Mitch had heard many times how she was named after the Biblical Esther at Lem’s request at her birth.

If Lauren Esther was made of the same moral fiber as her namesake and as her grandpa, she wouldn’t bail on him, his skeleton crew…or the people injured in those choppers.

Lord, I hope like the end of hiccups that You bestowed Lem’s courage, compassion, intelligence, recall, integrity and unflappable grit upon Lauren.

The next two hours would tell.

Chapter Three

Satisfied Lauren was on board with his plans, Mitch sprinted to the last-landed chopper. Three’s crew worked feverishly, but he had peace Lauren could handle it. A medic disembarked and rushed Mitch, who eyed his beeper to be sure he hadn’t missed pages about this.

“Status?” Mitch asked the out-of-breath flight medic.

“Three-car accident. High-speed head-on.” He hitched a thumb toward the interstate. “Mass casualties…” He indicated the array of life flight choppers. “Obviously.”

Blades wind-whipped Mitch’s lab coat as they approached the fleet. Gas fumes permeated the air. “What happened?”

The medic’s eyes hooded. “Texting teen crossed the center lane. Hit a minivan, which spun into a third car. Perpetrating car ejected unbelted passengers. Twelve victims in all. Van folks in bad shape, but we can make it to St. Louis with them.”

“Who’re you leaving with us?”

“Both ejected teens. Driver’s bad, but not as grave as her passenger. Three more too critical for Refuge, and St. Loo’s too far. Place is a godsend.” He indicated Mitch’s center.

“Who’s the imminent death?” Mitch searched chopper windows.

The paramedic pointed to where Ian worked on a critical patient as Kate hurtled the gurney toward the entrance—which Mitch just now realized was still belted in uncut camo ribbon.

He dashed over, pulled his hook knife and slashed the band machete-style seconds before Ian and Kate torpedoed through.

“Not the way you envisioned the ribbon-cutting, huh?” Lauren, who’d jogged up, asked. “Got an extra stethoscope?”

Mitch draped his over her neck and squeezed her shoulders in respect and gratitude. She nodded, then bolted back to the field. Her previous terror and hostility had vanished. Thank You, Lord.

He headed toward operating rooms. Had they even taken the plastic off the equipment yet? If only they had a bigger crew.

But Mitch had wanted to honor the community by saving remaining positions for townspeople needing work.

Ian looked to be thinking similar thoughts. “I got this case. You rally the troops. We need more help. I wish your pararescue jumper friends were here. We could use the PJs’ elite medical skills.”

“No doubt.” But the special operations paramedics were on a mission. Mitch ran back out. Scanned the crowd.

Lord, come on. You know I can’t do this without—

Like exclamation points on the end of his prayer, Mandy Briggs, pediatrician wife of one of the PJs, rushed up. “I’m here to help.”

Mitch nodded. “Anyone else medical, we need ’em. Check ID then team up with a nurse named Lauren at chopper three.”

“Will do.” Mandy instructed medical people to see her immediately. While she vetted, Mitch skimmed accident reports texted from EMTs and police officers on scene.

Amid nurses bearing badges, a uniformed man came forward. “The mayor sent me over, ma’am. I’m an experienced army medic on family medical leave.”

“Excellent. See him.” Mandy directed him to Mitch.

He approached Mitch, raring to go. “Name’s Caleb Landis. What can I do, sir?” He bounced on the balls of his feet and looked unafraid and eager to help. He had the air of a born leader. Good.

Mitch pointed to a chopper. “Triage that one.”

“Yes, sir.”

The head flight medic faced Mitch. “Those three are red-light critical and one grave. Wanted to give you a status. We didn’t have your contact info before because—”

“No one expected this,” Mitch finished for him.

The paramedic nodded. “Most docs would take my head off for not calling first. Thanks for letting us drop without notice.”

Mitch waved him toward his rig. “I call it teamwork.”

“I’d offer my teams to stay and help but we’ve had two more trauma calls across the river.” Apology resided in his eyes.

“We’ll take it from here. You’re free to fly.”

The second the medic settled in his chopper, it lifted.

How was Lauren holding up?

Mitch found her hovering expertly over a patient. She didn’t appear frazzled, but focused and quick on her feet. She held a terrified patient’s hand and spoke softly while wheeling the gurney. Mandy walked alongside, adjusting IV lines. No one rushed, so the patient must not be as critical. Just scared. The way the trembling woman’s eyes fixed to Lauren’s convinced Mitch that Lauren knew calmness was contagious, and she deftly infused it.

Despite the carnage outside, Mitch smiled. Lauren was meant to do this. Take care of broken people.

Lem had given Mitch a summer to-do list that included several big repairs prior to them learning Lauren was coming.

Perhaps repair of a different sort was meant to happen this summer. More than what they had anticipated. Mitch could fix Lem’s tractor, his deck and his aging kitchen and other projects. But he also determined to get through to Lauren’s broken place by summer’s end. Repair the rupture that had so wounded her soul, she’d walked away from the career Mitch was confident had comprised her calling. Then Lem would worry less over her.