Caro Carson - Her Texas Rescue Doctor

“The one who got treated better than I did?”

“I don’t know about better. Maybe faster, but there was a good reason. Let me tell you what happened.”

Mrs. Burns’s sad tale had exactly the effect that Grace had known it would. Sophia was subdued, silent. Probably, like Grace, she was thinking how fortunate she was to have been born into a loving home, where the concept of Daddy hitting Mommy was unimaginable. This afternoon was a vivid reminder that other children were not so lucky.

“Then I’m glad they moved her,” Sophia said.

“I know. Me, too.”

“That would have been a mess, if the two of them had started fighting again. People would have come running, and these curtains wouldn’t have kept us hidden. Hell, the guy could have thrown her right into our cubicle or something. I can’t be involved in that kind of thing. Can you imagine the shock on everyone’s faces if the curtain had come down and they’d seen Sophia Jackson lying here?”

Grace was silent. That wasn’t exactly the empathy she’d expected.

“Martina is threatening to leave me if I’m involved in any fights,” Sophia said. “She told Deezee the same thing.”

Martina was a publicist, and one of the few people whom Sophia still seemed to listen to. Then again, Martina had been Deezee’s publicist first. She’d introduced the two of them, actually. It was yet another reason that Grace doubted Deezee had any real affection for Sophia. She’d been awfully good for improving his damaged reputation. He’d had the opposite effect on hers—so now Martina was helping Sophia, too, for a hefty retainer fee.

Sophia let go of her hand and pushed herself into more of a sitting position. Her pain was clearly lessening. The medicine must be kicking in. “What time is our flight? I’m ready to get out of here.”

I’m not.

Grace wanted to stay here, where Deezee and publicists had no importance. Here, someone else was in charge.

The curtain rings slid open, and Dr. Gregory walked in, laptop under his arm. Intelligent, empathetic, authoritative—Grace wanted to run to him and cling to his hand.

She stood up to let him have his rolling stool, but he waved her back down and took the straight chair on the opposite side of the bed. When he asked Sophia how her ankle was feeling in the boot, he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. His bedside manner, when he was literally bedside, was sympathetic and focused on the patient.

Then again, what man didn’t focus on Sophia Jackson? The two of them looked quite striking together. Maybe not at a glance—Sophia had on that killer coat dress and her hair still looked fabulous after a couple of hours in a hospital bed, while Dr. Gregory was kind of lost under his baggy coat and shaggy hair—but they both had vividly blue eyes and really great bone structure. They’d make beautiful babies together. Beautiful, intelligent, talented babies.

Another stab to her chest caught her by surprise. Jealousy? She couldn’t be jealous of the attention Sophia was paying to Dr. Gregory. The idea of Dr. Gregory and Sophia together ought to make her happy.

“The ankle will heal, as long as you don’t push it too soon. That’s the good news.”

“There’s bad news?” Sophia asked, half playful, half fearful. Clearly, she’d decided to try being charming and pleasant. She was succeeding.

Dr. Gregory opened his laptop. “Let’s look at that chest X-ray.”

Grace’s heart squeezed again at the sight of their two heads leaning over the computer screen together. The good news? He’d make a wonderful brother-in-law. The bad news? Her sister was too shallow to look past the surface to see what a quality guy the doctor was.

I can see it.

Yes, but you aren’t the one who needs to see it.

Grace snapped out of her conversation with herself. Chest X-ray? Sophia hadn’t mentioned that she’d gotten her chest X-rayed along with her ankle.

“I have pneumonia?” Sophia sounded very skeptical, but she was looking at Dr. Gregory in a whole new way, like maybe he did know something she didn’t know, after all.

Dr. Gregory smiled kindly at her, an appealing little crinkle of the corners of his eyes behind unattractive brown frames. “Walking pneumonia is the common term, because younger adults tend to get this particular kind, and they keep gutting it out and going to work despite feeling sick.”

Oh, Sophia liked that implication that she was a trooper, Grace could tell. The show must go on, and all that jazz. Sophia relaxed back on her pillows a little bit.

“See this cloudy part of your lung? That’s fluid accumulating in a place air should be. I could’ve diagnosed pneumonia on your lung sounds alone, to be honest, but since you were going into X-ray anyway, it was best to have your lungs checked out.”

For weeks, Grace hadn’t been able to persuade Sophia to take care of that cough, but Dr. Gregory had been able to do something about it. Still, Grace was astounded at the pneumonia diagnosis. She’d thought the cough was bad, but she hadn’t expected it to be that bad.

“How long have you been coughing?” Dr. Gregory asked.

Sophia looked to Grace, the keeper of all mundane information. “How long? A couple weeks?”

Dr. Gregory looked at Grace, as well, waiting for her answer.

Grace felt that little flutter again that came with having his attention on her. “At least a month. It started shortly after...after we got back from Vegas.” She’d been about to say shortly after you and Deezee were caught in the police raid on that club, but she didn’t want to remind Sophia of something that would make her feel bad. Sophia had apologized for that already. Besides, she was finally showing her good side to Dr. Gregory, and Grace wanted him to see that her sister was a good person.

“I had pneumonia for a month and didn’t know it?”

“I imagine you’ve felt worn-out every day,” Dr. Gregory said, his attention back on Sophia.

Sophia nodded, managing to look like a martyr without looking overly dramatic at all. She was a great actress.

“But you’ve kept working anyway?” he asked.

Another nod.

Grace should have felt her usual amusement at how Sophia could have anyone eating out of her hand. Instead, she felt a little irritated. Sophia had been working only if one counted clubbing as work. The pile of scripts that represented future work kept stacking up, because Sophia had been too tired to evaluate new projects after running around with her boyfriend. Today’s clinic opening had been the first actual work Sophia had done in weeks, and she’d tried to cut that short.

She had a good reason for that. She must have felt awful. She’s really sick. What kind of sister am I to hold it against her?

Dr. Gregory nodded at Sophia in what surely looked like approval. “You need to take a break, starting today. Pneumonia won’t go away by itself. I’m going to discharge you with some antibiotics. You’ll want to see your own physician once you finish the medicine to be certain your lungs are clear, but in the meantime, you need to rest. Drink more fluids than you want to, and don’t skip any pills, even once you start feeling better.”

Discharge her? He was sending them away with some pills and a plastic boot? Grace felt a little panic. She didn’t want to start negotiating an airport with a sick sister in a wheelchair. Her sister had laughed with her a few minutes ago. She was being positively pleasant to Dr. Gregory now. Texas was good for her. They needed to stay right here.

“You shouldn’t fly again until we’ve had a chance to clear up some of this fluid in your lungs,” Dr. Gregory said.

Yes! The man was a miracle. Forget clinging to his hand. Grace wanted to throw her arms around him.