“Couldn’t agree with you more about hospitals.” He pushed a strand of hair away from Megan’s face then stood. “Don’t like them myself if they’re not necessary. Look, I really do need to go say goodnight to my girls, then I’ll be back to put an IV in her and give her some fluids to keep her hydrated. I think that will be easier than trying to get her to drink anything right now. It’ll only take me a couple of minutes...”
“I’m really sorry about this,” Keera said, feeling the need to apologize over and over because of what she was doing to Reid and his camp. It was an inconvenience at very best and a danger at worst.
“She’s sick. Bringing her all the way out here might not have been my first choice, but it’s a difficult situation. Can’t say I understand your decisions, but I’m not going to argue about them. So why the worried look?”
“I’m still concerned about exposing the other kids. I didn’t think about that before I came here, and I feel terrible.”
“See, the thing about being a pediatrician is you’re always in contact with something that’s highly contagious. In my office, I actually have separate waiting areas for kids with something catchy, as I like to call it. They never go to the general waiting room, never come near one of the other kids. Bottom line, I’m cautious and it works. So does the fact that we’re surrounded by the great outdoors so there aren’t any environmental factors that would help promote exposure.”
“You sure?”
He nodded, smiled. “Sure.”
“Do you have a solution for my fear of children as well?”
“Afraid of children, yet you’re a good doctor.”
“Definitely afraid of children. Don’t know what to do for them, or with them. I was a nervous wreck every time I had to rotate through Pediatrics when I was a resident.”
“Somehow I don’t picture you being a nervous wreck about anything.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I’m serious about children. They’re not my strength. Speaking of which, there’s something you should know about Megan. And it’s not really her so much as the whole situation. But only because you’re her doctor.”
He motioned Keera to the door. “Tell me as you walk me out.”
She did, then stopped at the door as he stepped out into the night. “Without dragging out all the dirty laundry, what you need to know is that Keera is the child my husband conceived with another woman while he and I were still married, still going through the motions that made it look like a good marriage. We had our share of problems, like all couples do, but I didn’t know he was cheating on me. Didn’t even know his affair produced a child until she was a year old, and he was wanting out of our marriage so he could invest himself fully in his other family. That was a year ago. Haven’t seen him since except across the table at the lawyer’s office. And I’d never seen the child until...”
“Yet here you are with her, going above and beyond the call of duty to get her what you think is the care she needs.” Reid whistled quietly. “I’d say that’s pretty admirable in an uncomfortable situation.”
“It is uncomfortable. The authorities brought her to me...well, I’m not really sure how that worked out because once I realized they intended to leave her with me the rest of it turned into a blur. But there were some papers in the car—it was a car crash that killed them—and my name was on the papers. Papers from before we were divorced, I think.
“Anyway, the child was fine, so they brought her to me because they believed she was mine. Then they more or less coerced me into keeping her because they didn’t have a place to put her for various reasons, she got sick, here I am...”
Reid laid a steadying hand on her arm. “And here you are, frantic.”
“I’m sorry. In surgery I’m in control. But with Megan?” She shrugged. “It’s hard, Reid. And I really don’t have the right to be burdening you with all this. I wouldn’t have, except she got sick and...”
“And you fixated on me as your solution.”
“Not my solution. Megan’s solution. You’re her doctor. Which is a lame reason for me showing up here the way I did, but I panicked because my alternative was to take her to the hospital, and as a place to work it’s fine, but for a child...” She stopped explaining. “So, how are we going to deal with all these problems I’ve created for you?”
He chuckled. “Minor glitches.”
“I wouldn’t call them minor as it involves more than I ever expected. I mean, tying up your infirmary, keeping you away from your daughters. And your...wife?”
“No wife. Never married. Adopted daughters. Long story.”
“Well, whatever the case, I haven’t made things easy for you here, so...”
“So, that donation you mentioned?”
She nodded. “Happy to do it.”
“Money’s always great, but I’m thinking about some clinic time while you’re here. That way I can sneak off and see my girls.”
“I’m all for you getting to spend time with your daughters, and I’ll do anything I can to help make that happen. But seriously? You want me working with your kids after what I just told you?” It was probably the most uninspired thing he could have suggested.
“Think of them as future adults and you’ll be just fine.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I simply hired a temp to come help you? Two temps, three. However many you need?”
“But you’re going to have to stay here with Megan anyway. Or were you thinking about leaving her here with me and vanishing into thin air?”
She smiled an especially guilty smile, because that thought had crossed her mind a time or two. “Not thin air. I’m too easy to track down.”
“But she’s a ward of the state, and you, apparently, have been given some sort of temporary custody. Which means you can’t just walk away from her. At least, I wouldn’t think so. And I don’t think you’d do that anyway, otherwise you’d have taken her to the hospital in the first place and just left her there.” He grinned. “Or left her on my doorstep when you had the chance.”
“OK, I’ll admit it. Leaving her here might have crossed my mind...”
He chuckled. “You’re too transparent, Keera.”
“And you’re too perceptive, Reid. But I meant what I said about children. So if you still want me to work with your kids here, knowing what you know about me, I’ll give you a couple of days as I’m the one who messed you up. You’ll have the right to terminate my services, with no notice, though. Just thought I’d throw that in there for your protection.”
“What happens if you discover you don’t mind working with children? Or, better yet, even like it?”
“I’ll return to my blessedly all-adult practice with the memories. But you’re not converting me, Doctor. If that happens, I’ll concede a slight change of heart after the ordeal is over, if I have to—which I don’t expect I will have to do. But that’s all you’ll get from me.”
“OK, then. Now that the ground rules are established...”
“What ground rules?”
“The ones where I’m going to work super-hard to change your mind and you’re going to fight me off every step of the way.” He smiled, mimicking a gauntlet sliding over his right arm. “You threw down the darned gauntlet, so don’t blame me for picking it up and seeing what I