“Paul, listen to me. I haven’t lost a patient yet and I have no intention of changing that track record. Liam and Drew have this. I promise we’ll do everything we can to save them. Go sit and wait for news.”
“You shouldn’t promise what you can’t deliver on.” Drew’s voice shook as he picked up a scalpel.
“You can do this. I know you can. Now, let’s get that baby out.” She looked at Liam sitting at the head of the table. “Ready, Liam?”
He nodded his head, his eyes huge behind his mask. “Her pressure is all over the place and the baby is under severe stress now. Better be quick if you’re going to do it.”
“Right, let’s do this.” April closed her eyes for a moment and said a quick prayer as Drew cut through the skin. April handed him a set of forceps and waited to take the baby, hoping with every fiber of her being that it would be strong enough to survive.
* * *
“You did well in there.” April ran her hand over Drew’s back as the helicopter lifted off overhead, mother and child safely in the hands of the care flight doctors. “If you hadn’t come back when you did, both Sally and her baby could have died.”
“I could have killed her too. Did you stop to think of that?” The shock on her face made him cringe, but he was past caring. She’d pushed him where he didn’t want to go and it made him sick to relive the mistakes of the past.
“I don’t understand. Why would you think like that?”
The door opened and Liam stomped in. His face was pale and his eyes troubled. “Tell her.”
“No.”
“If you don’t, I will. So help me God, this has gone on long enough.” Liam threw himself down into a chair and scrubbed his hand over his face. It seemed as though he’d aged years in the last hour. “I’m sick to death of us torturing ourselves over something that happened so long ago.”
“This isn’t the time or the place.” Drew glared at his friend, willing him to shut up.
“Tell me what the heck is going on here, both of you. This is ridiculous. You’ve just saved a mother and child and you’re both acting like children.” April pulled off her blood-soaked gown and threw it in the laundry bin. “I know this has something to do with your aversion to mothers giving birth on the island, and I want you to share before I lose my temper.”
“It’s not your business, April.”
“Drew, I swear I’m going to hit you if you don’t tell me.” She pointed her finger at him. “Remember what Leo said, mothers are always right? Well this one is telling you to get whatever it is off of your chest before she walks out and you need to find another nurse. I will not sit by and see you two keep secrets from me that affect this business and prevents me from doing my job.”
“It was when we were doing our internship.” Liam scratched his throat, sighing long and hard. “There was this woman.”
“Liam, don’t.”
“I told you if you won’t tell her, I will.” He paused for a moment. “This woman came in. She was pregnant, bleeding severely, showed all the classic signs of pre-eclampsia. We were on duty that night. The surgeon couldn’t be contacted, but we were sure we knew what we were doing. We’d attended a couple of C-sections already and she honestly didn’t have many options.”
Drew opened his mouth and took over. “We were stupid and overconfident. We overruled the nurse on duty and took the woman to surgery. She would’ve died if we hadn’t tried.” He coughed, cleared his throat. His words along with the memory choked him. “We almost lost her. The blood was everywhere. We couldn’t stop it.”
April moved over to him, placed a hand on his shoulder. Thankfully he didn’t say anything.
“In the end we had to do a total hysterectomy, no choice, and the nurse backed us up in the end. Sadly, the woman’s husband tried to sue. He couldn’t deal with the thought of not having more children.”
“What about the baby; did it live?”
“Yeah, it did thanks to Drew. It was touch and go for the longest time, but he managed to save the day.” Liam gave him a quick smile. It didn’t help the churning in his gut.
“I don’t understand then. If you did the right thing, why are you so scared of doing what you’re obviously good at?” She pulled her chair up and sat next to him and it was all Drew could do to stop himself launching into her arms. He needed the comfort and was too scared to take it.
“I’ll leave you two alone. I strongly suggest you talk this through, Drew, because it’s high time you laid your fears to rest.” He tossed his dirty gown into the basket and with a last intense look, backed out.
April reached for his hand and pulled it onto her knee. She ran her fingertips over his palm, sending jolts of electricity up his arm. He tried to pull away but she held him firm. “Stop. Relax and maybe you can find the words to tell me what’s really bothering you.”
“Isn’t that enough?” Distaste for his irrational behavior crawled up his throat.
“No. You saved her life and her baby. Did the hospital board fire you?”
“No.”
“Did you end up in court?”
“No. They withdrew the charges once they’d calmed down and realized how lucky she was we were on duty that night.”
April smiled and wound her fingers through his. “So, excuse me for being a little bit pushy here. That doesn’t sound like it would put off the Drew I used to know. That Drew would have dusted off and put it down to experience. The Drew I love would have made sure that he was prepared for that or anything else to happen again because that’s life.
