NYC Angels: Unmasking Dr. Serious

She couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away from the beautiful, happy couple. Her sister was as dark as she herself was fair, making it even more noticeable that they weren’t bonded by blood. Molly had been adopted by the Shrivers when she’d been four years old, but shortly thereafter her adoptive mother had discovered she was pregnant.

When Sally was born, Molly had been thrilled to have a younger sister to play with, but as they’d grown older, it had become clear that Sally, as the biological daughter, had been the favorite and she herself had too often been simply an afterthought.

Nothing had changed in the years since they’d both grown up. No matter how hard she tried to belong, when it came to her family, she remained the outsider, looking in.

Seeing her sister’s engagement photo soured her appetite, so she shoved the newspaper aside and carried her dishes to the sink. She shouldn’t be so upset at how Sally had gotten engaged without telling her, but she was. She knew her family hadn’t done this to her on purpose, they weren’t mean-spirited, it was more that they often forgot about her.

If she called her mother now to ask about Sally’s engagement, Jenny would profusely apologize and offer some weak excuse to try to cover the fact that Molly hadn’t been included.

For a moment, a deep sense of loneliness weighed down her shoulders like a heavy blanket. All she’d ever wanted was to be a part of a family. She’d thought her prayers had been answered when the Shrivers had adopted her, but over time she’d become less and less a true member of the family.

And since she’d graduated from college her one attempt to have a family of her own had backfired. James had been several years older than she was, a divorced father with two young boys. She’d met him when one of his boys had been injured playing soccer and she’d performed his therapy. They’d dated for five years, and she’d been sure he’d propose marriage, but instead he’d called off their relationship, claiming he’d fallen in love with someone else.

He’d broken her heart, although now, a year later, she could admit she’d loved his two young sons more than she’d loved him.

Not seeing James’s boys anymore had left a huge, aching hole in her life. In her soul.

Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She didn’t belong, not with the Shrivers and certainly not with James. On a professional level she belonged at Angel’s, and working there had been the best decision of her life.

It was too bad that on a personal level it seemed she was destined to live her life alone.

Dan swallowed a curse as he wrestled to get Josh’s wheelchair back into the trunk of his car. Josh didn’t seem to like the stupid chair, despite Molly’s insistence that having it would give him more independence. And Dan hadn’t appreciated the sympathetic stares aimed at his son when they’d ridden down in the elevator together. One of the reasons he had balked at using the chair had been to save Josh from being teased about it.

Although maybe if he’d used the wheelchair with Josh from the very beginning, his son would be that much further along with his therapy.

More to feel guilty about. As if everything Josh had been through, the prolonged hospital stay and multiple surgeries, hadn’t been enough. With an effort he shoved his dark thoughts aside.

“Ready, Josh?” he asked, as he slid behind the wheel.

“Yep.” One good thing was that Josh hadn’t been upset about going to therapy this morning. And he hadn’t clung to Gemma, his nanny, begging her to take him. Dan knew part of the reason was that Josh was looking forward to seeing Molly again. However, he hoped there were also tentative bonds forming between him and his son.

Yesterday, when they’d gotten home, he’d fired the tutor who’d been mean to Josh and had called the school to arrange for a replacement. This time a young college freshman by the name of Mitch came to the house and Josh seemed to flourish under the kid’s fun and somewhat laid-back approach.

As he’d watched them together, he couldn’t help thinking Molly would approve.

After Josh’s lessons they’d played the ball game again and the entire time Molly’s parting words had played over and over in his mind. Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice.

His gut still burned with the memory. He hadn’t felt that inadequate since his internship year.

Despite being seriously annoyed with her, he had to admit to feeling some grudging admiration for Molly. No one had ever dared to stand up to him the way she had. And what was that she’d said? Something about how she wouldn’t stand over his shoulder and tell him how to do heart surgery? Earlier in the session she’d called him Mr. Morris, but she’d obviously known who he was the whole time.

He supposed it was possible that she’d only figured it out after spending more time together. While he often referred patients to her, based on her reputation for being the best, it wasn’t as if they’d worked together side by side. He simply wrote the order and then asked his patients and their parents how things were going when they came in for their routine follow-up visits. They’d always given him rave reviews about her care.

As far as his own opinion of her went, the jury was still out. She might be a pretty woman, with a bright, sunny attitude, but he wasn’t going to be happy until Josh was walking again. And despite what she claimed, he had trouble believing these games of hers would really work.

The traffic was heavier this morning, and he drummed his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as they waited for yet another red light. This time, when they arrived at Angel’s physical therapy clinic, they only had five minutes to spare.

Five minutes that was taken up by wrestling once again with the stubborn wheelchair. Once he got the thing unfolded and the footrests put back together, he lifted Josh out of the car and placed him in the seat.

This time Molly was waiting for them when they arrived. “Wow, you look awesome in that wheelchair, Josh.”

His son brightened under her admiration. “Really? You think so?”

“Absolutely. And today we’re going to practice getting in and out of it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“This way,” Molly said, gesturing for them to follow her into the large therapy room. Dan pushed Josh’s wheelchair forward. “If you wouldn’t mind stopping right there,” she said, when he reached the center of the room, “I’d like to see what Josh can do on his own.”

Letting go of the chair and backing off to watch his son struggle to move the large wheels forward was difficult. Josh’s small arms seemed far too skinny to be of much use, although he did manage to wheel the chair all the way over to Molly.

“Excellent.” Once again she knelt before Josh so they were at the same eye level. “I need you to practice wheeling yourself around, Josh. I know your arms will get tired, but you still need to practice. It’s the only way to get your arms stronger, all right?”

“All right.”

“Good.” Molly’s smile was bright enough to light up the whole room. For the first time Dan wondered just what her life was like to make her so happy all the time. He’d noticed that she wasn’t wearing a wedding or engagement ring, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t seeing someone. He couldn’t imagine a woman like Molly being without a man, so he had to assume she was involved. Why that thought made him feel depressed, he had no clue. The last thing he needed was a woman to further complicate his life.

After Suzy had upped and left six years ago, he’d vowed to never let a woman get close to him again. Josh needed stability in his life more than he himself needed female companionship. He’d willingly thrown himself into his career. Maybe a little too enthusiastically, now that he thought about it.

“I’m going to help you stand up, okay? First we have to set the brakes.” She put her hands over his smaller ones to show him how to move the levers forward. “Now, I’m going to put my arms underneath yours, but I need you to push up on the arms of your wheelchair at the same time.”

He watched Josh struggle to stand, noticing that Molly took a good portion of his weight in order for him to accomplish the task. Although once he was standing, she made him balance there for a few seconds.

“I’m going to fall,” Josh whined. “Don’t let me go or I’ll fall!”

“I won’t let you go, Josh, I promise,” Molly assured him. “Just try and stand here for a little bit.”

After another ten seconds she let him sit back down in the chair. Dan watched intently so that he could practice this at home with Josh.

“Good job,” she praised his son. “Did you play any games with your dad last night?”

Josh nodded. “Yep, we played the ball game before dinner. It was fun. And I have a new tutor, too. His name is Mitch. I like him way better than Mr. Iverson.” Josh screwed up his face in an apparent attempt to mimic the stern tutor.

Molly’s lips twitched as she fought a smile, but when she lifted her gaze over Josh’s head to meet his, Dan could see frank approval reflected in her gaze. And despite the fact he shouldn’t care what she thought of him, he was secretly glad to have earned her favor.

The session went on, with more games that she dragged him into playing, and he was thrilled to notice that Josh was able to move his legs a little better today when Molly instructed him to kick the ball between his feet.

When she ended Josh’s session with another massage and the ultrasound treatment, he couldn’t help voicing his concern. “What exactly is the purpose of doing the ultrasound on his legs for eight minutes? I don’t see what good it can possibly do for him.”

She arched a brow, as she continued providing the treatment. “These are very intense ultrasound waves that are focused directly on the injured muscles. They help increase blood flow, which in turn helps to reduce pain and swelling,” she said patiently, as if speaking to a first-year medical student.

“Really?” He frowned, trying to work through the pathophysiology of what she described. “And ultrasound waves are safe and harmless?”

“Definitely safe and harmless,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t have helpful properties, as well. I also wanted to mention that you shouldn’t let Josh overdo the games at home. What you did yesterday was perfect. An hour in the evening is enough so that Josh doesn’t overwork his injured muscles. We wouldn’t want him to suffer from muscle spasms.”

He nodded, unwilling to admit how much he’d wanted to push Josh into playing her therapy games for longer than he had. Not because he wanted Josh to overwork his injured muscles but because he desperately wanted to see his son walk again.

Patience was a virtue, he reminded himself. Although having patience while performing heart surgery was far easier than having patience with his son struggling to learn how to stand and walk.