Felicia Mason - The Single Dad Finds a Wife

“Operate? His appendix? But he’s just four,” David said.

“Appendicitis is not uncommon in children,” Spring said. “Toddlers, even infants, can develop it. But it’s harder to diagnose in the younger ones.”

David Camden looked genuinely distressed. “Are you sure?”

Spring didn’t know if his question was a result of her earlier misdiagnosis or the first and typical question from a worried parent of a sick child. Either way his question reminded Spring about their precarious financial situation. This was one of those situations where the generous donations to the Common Ground ministries paid off. The surgery Jeremy needed would not bankrupt his father or leave him with the choice between paying medical bills or paying to keep a roof over their heads, even if said roof was that of a hotel.

She nodded in answer to his question. “This is something that can’t be ignored,” she told him. “And it can’t wait. If his infected appendix isn’t removed, it could burst or leak, and that would lead to peritonitis, which can be fatal, particularly in children.”

She didn’t want to scare him, but he needed to know all the facts to make an informed decision regarding his son’s health.

David swallowed. His gaze connected with hers. She’d seen it before, the parents of her young patients looking in her eyes and trying to determine if she was leading them in the right direction.

“I...” David swallowed again, then took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. “He’s never been sick. Nothing like this. I just... Is he going to die?”

Spring’s heart ached. She wanted to close her eyes and cry out at the arbitrariness of illness. But she maintained eye contact with him. “We need to get that appendix out as soon as possible.”

“Was it something I did? The jelly beans?”

She placed her arm on his. “Mr. Camden...David, it’s not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. There is no way to prevent appendicitis. It happens or it doesn’t. All we can do is deal with it when it does occur. And Jeremy is in good hands. Dr. Emmanuel is board certified and our top pediatric surgeon.”

He nodded.

“I know he’s in good hands,” David said. He looked away for a moment, as if embarrassed again, then met her gaze. Spring was sure he was going to ask how much the operation would cost.

“Dr. Darling, I don’t know you, and I don’t know if you’re a woman of faith. But I need to pray right now. Will you join me?”

The question was not at all what she’d expected. But without a moment’s hesitation, Spring nodded. That this man who had so much on him would ask a virtual stranger to pray with him said a lot about his character.

She bowed her head and a moment later felt his hand connect with hers. It was warm and strong and felt like an anchor in a storm. Given that he was the one in need, Spring could only marvel. When he began praying, she felt her own resolve grow stronger.

* * *

The surgery would last the better part of an hour. Parents, even the parent of a four-year-old, weren’t allowed in the operating room. So rather than watch him pace the waiting room for an hour, Spring suggested they go to the hospital’s cafeteria for a coffee.

Although open in the middle of the night with reduced kitchen staff, the cafeteria remained essentially empty with few people filling the gray-and-black aluminum chairs. Spring led the way across the room.

“Pardon the retro penitentiary waiting room look,” she told David. “This part of the hospital, while open to the public, is used primarily by staff, so it’s last on the renovation list. Patient rooms and family waiting rooms were the hospital administration’s first priority.”

Spring got a couple of coffees, and they settled at a table near the windows overlooking a courtyard in shadow.

“When the weather is nice,” she said, “people like to go outside to eat or take a coffee break. The fresh air itself is medicinal, especially when you’ve been cooped up inside for hours.”

She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She was at a loss as to why she was so nervous. Over the course of her eight years at Cedar Springs General, she’d had hundreds of conversations with the parents of her patients, many of them in this very cafeteria. There was no reason for her heart to have such an erratic rhythm or for her hands to feel so clammy.

It was as if she were suddenly displaying symptoms of hypoglycemia or an anxiety attack. Since she was prone to neither, she had a pretty good idea of the cause of the rapid-onset malady.

“Mr. Camden—”

“David,” he said.

Her mouth edged up in a slight smile, and she nodded. “David, Jeremy is in excellent hands with Dr. Emmanuel. He’s one of the best in the region, and Jeremy’s a trouper.”

She watched as he looked about the room at the empty tables. Across the cafeteria, a maintenance worker had parts of an ice machine’s compressor on the floor and a couple of nurses were chatting as they sipped from tall tumblers.

“I guess I’ve been rather preoccupied lately.” He stirred his coffee although he’d added neither cream nor sugar to it.

Spring wanted to, but she didn’t ask the obvious question: preoccupied doing what? Whatever he wanted to tell her would come out in his own way.

“Jeremy has rarely been sick,” he said. “He had a bit of colic when he was much younger, and he’s had a couple of colds, but never anything that required being in the hospital, let alone an operation of any kind. I’ve been blessed that he’s had good health.”

When his gaze again connected with hers, Spring saw the beginning of panic in his eyes.

She reached out a hand and placed it on his arm in a gesture of comfort.

“I’m a grown man,” he said, “and I’ve never had an operation. Not even my tonsils out. He has to be terrified. I should be—”

“You can’t be in the operating room,” she reminded him. “The procedure will take about an hour and a half. Dr. Emmanuel has barely gotten started. We’ll be there in recovery when Jeremy wakes up. He needs you to be strong and focused. He’s going to be sore for a while afterward.”

David nodded. Then he wrapped his hands around the mug and contemplated the brown liquid in it. “I know.” He exhaled as if releasing all the tension that had built up inside him. “I know,” he said again.

Spring sipped at her coffee, letting the silence act as a balm to his tattered emotions.

“There’s something you need to know,” he said. “About me. Us, I mean. I’m not homeless. We’re not homeless,” he clarified.

“You don’t have to—”

“Yes,” he interrupted. “I do. I know you heard what happened at the clinic—about my insurance card. But I really did leave my wallet in the hotel room. I’m here in Cedar Springs for...for some business meetings. My sitter, who is my mother, is out of town. She had the dates of this trip mixed up. That’s why Jeremy is with me. I don’t normally have a four-year-old when I go on business trips.”

“What type of business are you in?”

A buzzing sounded before he could answer her.

“Excuse me,” Spring said, lifting a phone from her pocket. “I need to take this.”

He nodded, and she answered. “This is Dr. Darling.”

She listened for a moment, her eyes going wide. “Oh my. Okay, I’ll be right up.”

“What is it?” David asked. “Is Jeremy all right?”

She nodded to David and motioned for him to get up.

“Excellent,” she told her caller. “I’ll be there shortly.”

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “There’s been an accident and they need another set of hands in the ER. I can show you the waiting room. It’s quite comfortable.”