Cedar Bluff's Most Eligible Bachelor

The minute he hung up the phone, his pager went off. He read the text message. McLeod’s BP is dropping, come to CT stat.

Simon didn’t waste any time heading over to the scanner, thankfully located right around the corner in the emergency department. When he arrived, Hailey glanced up at him, her expression grim.

“I told them to keep the IV in place. Do you want me to start a vasopressor to bring his blood pressure back up?” she asked.

“Yes, let’s start norepinephrine titrate to keep his blood pressure above 90 systolic.” He reached for the phone to stat page Leila Torres, the on-call surgeon working today. He quickly punched in the number for the CT scan, followed by a 911 so she’d know to come straight over. “How much of the scan were you able to complete?” he asked as he hung up the phone.

“Maybe half?” Hailey said as she pulled the IV medication out of the crash cart and hung it on the pump.

He crossed over to the reading room to look at the images. They hadn’t quite been able to get half the scan done, but he could still see there was the slightest hint of blood leaking near the guy’s descending aorta.

“What’s happening?” the patient asked Hailey. “Is the test over?”

“Your blood pressure dropped a little too low,” she explained. “We’re starting you on some medication to bring it back up.”

He caught Hailey’s hand. “Tell Myra I love her,” he said.

Simon caught the agonized look in Hailey’s eyes. “I will,” she assured him.

Leila strode into the room, glancing at Simon with an arched brow. “You rang?”

Simon pulled her into the reading room and indicated the worrisome spot on the CT scan. He kept his voice low so the patient couldn’t hear. “The only abnormal lab test he has is a low H/H. He just dropped his blood pressure so we couldn’t finish the scan. I think he has an aneurysm that’s about to rupture.”

“I think you’re right.” Leila was a petite woman with a hint of Asian heritage, and Simon had all the respect in the world for her skill as a surgeon. “I’ll take over from here.”

While Leila explained to Mr. McLeod what was going on, he called the OR to let them know an emergency case was on the way. Then he informed the radiology tech they needed a couple of transporters to run the patient up to surgery.

“We can’t forget his wife,” Hailey murmured, as they prepared to wheel Mr. McLeod down the hall.

“We’ve got it from here,” Leila told them. “Go back to the ED. Tell his wife I’ll talk to her when the surgery is over.”

“All right.” Simon stood next to Hailey as the team whisked the patient to the nearest elevator. This was the most difficult part of his job, giving bad news to families.

He turned and headed back to the arena. He was a little surprised when Hailey followed him into Mr. McLeod’s room. Some of the nurses left the bad news up to the doctor. He appreciated her support as Mrs. McLeod looked up at them questioningly.

“Where’s Hank? Have you finished his scan?” she asked, her gaze bouncing nervously between the two of them.

“Mrs. McLeod, your husband has an abdominal aortic aneurysm. What that means is that the biggest artery going from his heart down through his abdomen has a bulging section, where the artery wall is weakened.”

“A weak artery is causing his pain?” she asked, her brow wrinkled in a puzzled frown.

“It’s actually more than a weak artery, Mrs. McLeod,” Hailey said. “This is a very serious condition that needs immediate treatment.”

Simon nodded. “Your husband’s blood pressure dropped while he was getting his CT scan. We started him on some medication to bring it back up, but we think the weak spot of his artery has started to give way. I’m sorry to tell you this, but he was taken to the operating room for emergency surgery.”

“Emergency surgery?” Mrs. McLeod paled at the news. “But he’ll be all right, won’t he? I mean, you caught it in time, didn’t you?”

“We acted as quickly as we could, and he has an excellent surgeon taking care of him.” No matter how much he wanted to gloss over the risks, he knew she needed to hear the truth. “As Hailey said, this is a very serious condition. A life-threatening condition. He has a good chance of making it through this surgery alive, but there is a twenty-eight percent chance he might not make it.”

“No. Oh no. Hank, poor Hank.” Mrs. McLeod’s stoic expression crumpled. “Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. Thirty-five years! I can’t lose him. Don’t you understand? I can’t lose him!”

Hailey put her arm around Myra McLeod’s shoulders and the woman sagged against her, sobbing as if her heart were breaking. Despite his resolve to keep a safe distance from his colleagues, a lump lodged in Simon’s throat when he noticed Hailey’s eyes filling with tears, several fat drops slipping down her cheeks. As she comforted the patient’s wife, his gaze locked with Hailey’s in unspoken, yet shared agony.

Hoping and praying Hank McLeod wouldn’t die.

CHAPTER TWO

ONCE she’d managed to get the poor woman to calm down, Hailey took Mrs. McLeod to the family center waiting area, leaving her in the kind, compassionate care of the elderly volunteer behind the desk.

It was the nature of the emergency department to move quickly from one patient to the next. She loved emergency nursing but sometimes, like now, she regretted not being able to follow patients for longer than a few hours.

As she tried to get caught up with the rest of the patients on her team, she couldn’t prevent her gaze from straying to Dr. Carter. Those moments when they’d stared at each other while Mrs. McLeod had cried in her arms had touched her heart—a heart she’d assumed was long frozen.

Cedar Bluff was so different from the big city trauma center where she’d worked before. Here, it seemed as if everyone took their patient’s welfare more seriously. No, not more seriously, that wasn’t the right word.

Personally. The staff took their patient’s welfare personally. Maybe because the community was so close. Because they ran into each other at the grocery store, at church or even at the park.

“Hailey, I put another admission for you in room seven,” the charge nurse informed her.

“Okay, thanks.” It was just after six o’clock in the evening and she was somewhat surprised she hadn’t had a new admission sooner. Not that she was complaining. The slightly slower pace made it easier to be thorough with every patient.

She enjoyed working with people, mostly because it helped her to remember that everyone had difficult situations to work through. Some worse than others.

She glanced down at her paperwork as she headed toward room two. A seven-year-old boy with a dislocated shoulder and possible broken arm. Her steps slowed as a chill snaked down her spine. One of the things every emergency nurse learned early on was to look out for the various signs of suspected abuse. A dislocated shoulder could be the result of a parent yanking on a child’s arm, and abuse cases often presented with broken limbs.

Quelling her nervousness, she entered the room, mentally prepared for the worst. A young boy was lying on the cart, dried tears on his face. His mother, a pretty and obviously pregnant woman, was sitting beside him, holding his uninjured hand.

“Hello, my name is Hailey and I’ll be your nurse for this evening,” she said, quickly introducing herself. Deliberately focusing her gaze on the child, she crossed over to the other side of his gurney. “Ben, can you tell me what happened? “

The child glanced up at his mother, as if seeking permission, and the pregnant woman offered a strained smile. “Go ahead, Ben. Tell the nurse what happened.”

“I was climbing the tree and I slipped,” he said. “My arm hurts real bad.”

“I know—we’re going to give you something for the pain. But can you tell me what happened after you slipped? How did you hurt your arm?” Hailey sensed the boy’s mother was frowning at her, but she kept her gaze on the boy. His story seemed a bit fishy.

“When I fell, I grabbed a branch, but it broke.” He sent another nervous glance at his mother.

“It’s okay, Ben. I’m not mad at you,” the woman told him softly.

“But I wasn’t supposed to climb the tree,” Ben said in a wobbly voice, sniffling loudly.

“No, you weren’t. But I’m not mad at you. Go ahead and finish your story.”

Hailey glanced at the pretty honey-blonde-haired mother, acknowledging that she sounded sincere. But she wasn’t going to let the woman off the hook yet. “What happened after the branch broke, Ben? Did you fall to the ground?”

“No, I didn’t fall, I jumped. The branch didn’t break all the way. I was hanging in the air when I felt my arm start hurting. When I jumped, I fell backwards on the same arm.” His wide eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Shh, it’s okay, Ben.” The pregnant mother sent Hailey a resigned glance. “It’s not the first time Ben’s had a broken bone. He’s a bit accident prone.”