Guarding Colton's Child Read online

  “Okay, thanks,” he said. “I’ll head there now. Can you check room three? See if the pain meds have kicked in yet?”

  “Sure thing, Doctor.”

  Stavros got to his feet and started down the hall toward his new patient. He moved calmly but quickly, anxiety pricking the edges of his thoughts and making his skin feel a little tight. Kids were always tough calls, and after losing his daughter... He shied away from the thought as soon as it popped into his head.

  He’d spent the last five years learning how to cope with the loss of his baby girl. One thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two days of living with a shattered heart. He reflexively glanced at his watch; in ten minutes, it would be one thousand, nine hundred and eighty-three days since he’d last held her.

  Stavros didn’t know why he kept a mental tally of the days. It wasn’t like he was going to hit a magical milestone and suddenly be relieved of his grief. If anything, he’d learned that he would always mourn his little girl. Not only for who she had been, but also for the person she never got to become. The future she’d never have.

  He paused at the door to room five and took a deep breath, clearing his mind so he could fully focus on the child inside. This boy was his patient, and he owed it to the kid to provide the best medical care he was capable of giving.

  Stavros tapped his knuckles lightly on the door in announcement and entered the room. He was greeted by the sight of a woman sitting on the gurney, rocking back and forth as she held a boy in her arms. She looked up as he entered the room, and when their eyes met, Stavros felt a little shock jolt through his body.

  He knew this woman. But how?

  Feeling flustered, he frowned slightly as he studied her face, wishing he’d taken a look at the chart first. “Hi, I’m Dr. Makris. What’s going on tonight?” Even though the nurse had given him a report of the pertinent information, he always liked to have his patients, or their parents, tell their story again, so he could hear the tone of their voice and see their expressions. Sometimes, the way someone moved or what they didn’t say was just as important as their symptoms.

  “Danny woke up about an hour ago with a high fever,” the mother said. “I tried to get him to drink water, but he refused. The night nurse at his doctor’s office said to bring him straight here.”

  Stavros heard the fear in the woman’s voice; it was clear she was scared for her baby. Empathy swelled in his chest. He remembered all too well what it had felt like to hold a feverish child, to fret and worry over every little cough or sniffle. He’d thought his medical training would give him some much-needed perspective when it came to his daughter’s health, but if anything, the opposite had happened. He’d been so aware of the worst-case scenario, of all the things that could go wrong. He’d been the one to call the pediatrician for every little thing, his wife standing in the background trying to calm him down.

  “Tell me about Danny,” Stavros said. He kept his voice level and calm, and walked Danny’s mother through the questions that would help him make his diagnosis.

  She didn’t hesitate to answer him, and based on her detailed responses, Stavros could tell she was an attentive mother.

  “All right,” he said. “Let’s see if your little guy will let me examine him.” Stavros already had a presumptive diagnosis in mind, but he always performed a physical exam to confirm his suspicions.

  The toddler’s mother gently turned her son, and Stavros got his first good look at the boy’s face. “I know you!” The words flew from his mouth before he realized he was speaking.

  Her expression turned guarded. “Oh?”

  Stavros realized he’d put his foot in it, but there was nothing to be done for that now. He nodded. “I...uh...I helped look for your son a few months ago, after he was taken from the hotel.”

  “You did?” Stavros heard the relief in her voice, noticed the way her body relaxed now that he’d explained his reaction.

  “Yeah. I joined a search party after my shift that night.”

  “Oh, wow,” she replied. “That was very kind of you. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I didn’t get a chance to thank all the people who helped look for Danny.”

  Stavros waved away her gratitude. He didn’t want to tell her that he’d had to do it—he’d been driven by the memories of his own daughter’s kidnapping. As soon as he’d heard another child was in the same kind of jeopardy, he hadn’t hesitated. He’d jumped in his car at the end of his shift and headed to the hotel, needing to help in some way. Logically, he knew he’d been trying to save this boy the way he hadn’t been able to save his daughter. But at the time, he’d been ruled by emotions and the desperate desire to make a difference. Finding Danny wouldn’t bring Sammy back—he’d known that. But he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he hadn’t at least tried.

  “I’m just glad he was found so quickly,” Stavros said, swallowing down the memories of his own tragedy.

  “Me, too.” The woman extended her hand. “I’m Desiree. And in a strange way, I’m glad to meet you tonight so I can thank you now.”

  Stavros reflexively reached for her hand. Her skin was soft, her palm smooth against his own. A tingle danced up his arm at the contact, and his body’s unexpected reaction nearly made him jump back. He was used to touching people—as a doctor, he touched his patients all the time while conducting an exam. But something about this brush of skin was different. It felt personal, almost intimate, in a way he couldn’t articulate and didn’t want to think about.

  He cleared his throat and dropped her hand. “Stavros,” he replied, then immediately started second-guessing himself. I’m at work, not a party. He wasn’t one of those jerks who insisted on being called “Doctor” all the time, but while he was on shift in the hospital, he preferred to maintain some degree of emotional separation from his patients. It was a little thing, but absolutely vital to his mental health. If he didn’t draw that line, he’d burn out in a heartbeat in the face of the things he dealt with on a daily basis.

  Stavros mentally shook himself. Time to focus on Danny and the reason he was here. “Hey, buddy,” he said softly.

  Danny eyed him suspiciously, his eyes glassy with fever and fatigue. Stavros pulled a chair over to the gurney and sat so he was closer to the toddler’s level. He grabbed one end of the stethoscope he had looped around his neck and presented the flat disc to Danny. “Have you seen one of these before?”

  The boy extended a cautious finger and touched the stethoscope. Stavros smiled encouragingly. “It’s a little cold, right?” He put the earpieces in place and gently moved the bell to Danny’s chest. A reassuring thump-thump-thump met his ears, the beat steady and strong.

  “What a good heart you have!” He moved the disc to the side of the boy’s chest to listen to the toddler’s breathing. “Sounds good, big guy. I’m just going to check your back now.” He slid his hand around the boy, acutely aware of how close he was to brushing against Desiree’s stomach as she held her son in her lap.

  After a few seconds, he leaned back and looped the stethoscope around his neck once more. “Heart and lungs are good, Mom,” he said, glancing at Desiree before moving to the next part of his exam. “Think he’ll lie down for us?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “We can try.” She shifted Danny, easing him onto his back. The boy began to cry and grabbed his mother’s arm.

  “It’s okay, Danny,” Stavros said. “I’m just going to check your tummy.” He moved quickly, pressing here and there to make sure everything was as it should be. When he was finished, he nodded at Desiree and she helped Danny sit up again.

  “You’re doing a great job, kiddo,” he told the boy. Danny sniffed, but didn’t reply. Stavros reached into his pocket and withdrew his otoscope and a disposable speculum. After screwing the black plastic funnel in place, he extended his left index finger and shone the light on the tip.

  “Did you see tha
t?” he asked. He did it again, clicking the light on and off. Danny leaned forward a bit, his curiosity growing. “Can you show me your finger?”

  Danny slowly reached out. Stavros flashed the light onto the boy’s skin and clicked it off again. “Wow!” he exclaimed. “You’re glowing, too!”

  The corners of Danny’s mouth lifted in a small smile. Stavros smiled back, his heart warming. Making a child grin was something that never got old.

  “What’s your favorite animal, Danny?”

  The boy didn’t answer, which wasn’t unusual. He didn’t feel good, he was in a strange place and a stranger was touching him. It was a miracle that Stavros had gotten a smile out of him to begin with.

  “He likes dogs,” Desiree said.

  “Me, too!” Stavros leaned forward. “I’m going to shine this light in your ear and see if I can find any puppies in there.”

  Danny’s eyes grew wide, but he didn’t protest when Stavros checked his ears. A quick look up his nose revealed no surprises. Stavros set down the scope and moved his hands to the little boy’s neck, gently feeling along the sides. He felt the bumps of enlarged lymph nodes on both sides, just as he’d known he would.

  “All right, now I just need to look at your throat.” He’d saved this part for last because experience had taught him it nearly always ended in tears.

  “Can you open your mouth for me, nice and wide?” Stavros demonstrated, but Danny merely regarded him with a level stare.

  “Come on, baby. Open up,” Desiree coaxed.

  “It’s okay,” Stavros told her. “This is about the time kids decide they’ve had enough of me and they’re done playing nice.” He grabbed two tongue depressors from his pocket and unwrapped them both. He passed one to Danny and held on to the other.

  “I’m gonna need you to hold him,” Stavros told Desiree. “Put your hand on his forehead and keep the back of his head pressed against your chest. He won’t like this part, but I promise I’ll be fast.”

  “All right,” she said. As soon as she pulled Danny’s head back, the toddler started to squirm and opened his mouth to yell. Stavros took full advantage of the opportunity. He put the tongue depressor in the boy’s mouth and leaned in to look at his throat.

  “Thought so,” he muttered to himself. As promised, he removed the tongue depressor quickly. Danny started to cough, and in the next instant, Stavros felt a gush of warmth on his chest.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Desiree cried. “I’m so sorry.”

  Stavros leaned back and surveyed the damage while Danny wailed in his mother’s arms. “It’s okay. Really,” he told her, seeing the doubt on her face. “This is not the first time I’ve been puked on, and I know it won’t be the last.”

  As he spoke, he got to his feet and walked to the small sink in the room. He ran water over some paper towels and passed them to her so she could wipe her son’s face.

  “It’s strep throat,” he said, raising his voice a little so she could hear him over the sound of Danny’s crying. “We’ll have to run a rapid test to confirm it, but I’m sure that’s what he has. I’ll send the nurse in with some Tylenol to bring his fever down, and we’ll get that test done right away so we can get his antibiotics and send you home.”

  “Thank you.” Desiree’s eyes dropped to his chest, and her cheeks went pink. “I’m so sorry about your shirt. Can I pay to have it cleaned?”

  Stavros laughed. “No need. It’s just a scrub top. I’m going to change now and I’ll check on you guys in a bit.”

  “Okay.” She turned back to her son and began gently wiping his face. It was a mundane gesture, the kind of thing parents did a million times every single day. So why were his eyes suddenly stinging?

  Stavros slipped out of the room before he made a fool of himself. He leaned against the wall and ran a hand down his face, trying to regain his equilibrium.

  What was it about this kid that rocked him? He was no stranger to treating children; it was an unfortunately regular part of his job. Why, then, had this particular boy thrown him for a loop?

  Because Sammy was kidnapped, too.

  Her face flashed in his mind and his breath stalled in his throat. He knew all too well the terror Desiree must have felt when her son had been taken from her. He’d lived through that nightmare himself, after his ex-wife had taken their daughter and disappeared into the night in the middle of a snowstorm.

  At least Desiree had gotten her child back.

  He hadn’t been so lucky.

  The stench of bile and stomach acid burned his nose and pulled him out of his thoughts. Stavros pushed away from the wall. Time to get his head back in the game; he had to change clothes, and there were other patients who needed him.

  He stopped by the nurses’ station on the way to the break room. “Room five needs Tylenol and a rapid strep test,” he said.

  “Roger that,” the charge nurse said, her eyes still on the chart in front of her.

  He started to walk away, then stopped and turned around. “Watch out,” he cautioned. “The kid’s got a hell of a gag reflex.”

  The woman glanced up and caught a glimpse of his top. She bit her bottom lip, clearly trying to hide a smile. “Looks like you need to work on your own reflexes.”

  “Can’t win ’em all,” he replied. She snickered as he turned back and headed for the break room and the scrubs vending machine it contained.

  “Almost done,” he muttered to himself as he carefully removed his soiled shirt and put it in the machine to exchange for a clean one. Just a few more hours until he could go home and be alone with his memories.

  The funny thing was, he didn’t want to be alone. A part of him wanted to march back into room five and talk to Desiree, to spill his guts and tell her every detail of his sad story. Of all the people in this hospital, she was probably the only one who had any sort of idea what he’d gone through five years ago. But more than that, he simply wanted to be in her presence. She seemed to give off a gentle energy that he found immensely appealing. And, yes, she also happened to be a beautiful woman. Her dark brown eyes and curly hair perfectly complemented the warm bronze color of her smooth skin, and her full lips seemed to have their own gravitational field. Under any other circumstances, Stavros would have gladly let himself get pulled into her orbit.

  Too bad it wasn’t an option.

  It had been far too long since Stavros had felt an immediate connection to anyone, much less a woman. After his ex-wife had kidnapped their child, he’d had trouble trusting his own judgment when it came to relationships. He’d never once thought Ellory was capable of doing what she’d done. But something had snapped in her after their divorce, leading her to abduct their daughter in the middle of the night and drive into a raging snowstorm. The accident that had claimed his daughter had killed Ellory, too, so in many ways, Stavros was still searching for closure. At least Desiree had the option to face her son’s kidnapper in court, to see the woman punished for what she’d done. He’d never had that chance, and in some of his darker moments, Stavros felt that death was too kind of an outcome for Ellory.

  The machine whirred and released a new shirt into the bin. Stavros fished it out and slipped it over his head, then half-heartedly ran his palms over the fold lines in an unsuccessful attempt to make the fabric look less wrinkled.

  “Oh, well.” There were worse things than looking like he’d plucked his clothes from a pile off the floor. Hopefully his patients wouldn’t hold his appearance against him.

  The pager at his hip beeped, another reminder that he couldn’t think about the past for too long. He owed it to himself, and to his daughter’s memory, to keep moving forward.

  One step at a time.

  Chapter 2

  Desiree held Danny against her chest, humming lullabies as she gently rubbed small circles on his back. It had taken several minutes to get him to calm down after the strep test
and administration of medication. Not that she blamed him for being upset—he was sick and exhausted, and very likely scared to boot. Her heart ached for him, and she wished for probably the millionth time that night that she could explain what was going on in a way he could understand.

  Too bad the doctor couldn’t have been the one to do the test. He’d been wonderful with Danny, so patient and caring. It was clear he was a man who liked kids. He probably had several of his own running around at home. No way was a guy like him single. He was obviously smart, he seemed friendly and he was very easy on the eyes.

  Part of her felt bad for even noticing something like that when her son was sick, but it was impossible to miss. His tall form and broad shoulders had seemed to fill the room, and the unconscious grace with which he moved had made even his shapeless green scrubs look appealing. She’d watched his hands as he’d examined Danny, and been captivated by his long fingers and the dusting of dark hair that extended partway from his wrists.

  But what had really made her sit up and take notice had nothing to do with his physical features. It was the kindness she’d seen in his brown eyes, and the way he’d done everything he could to make Danny feel more comfortable with him. The exam could have been tear-filled and miserable for her son, but Stavros had connected with Danny and had even managed to make him smile. That was no small feat, considering how tired her baby was and how much his throat had to hurt.

  No, not Stavros, she told herself. Dr. Makris.

  Using his first name, even if only in her head, felt too familiar. Too personal. He was her son’s doctor, not a man she’d met in a social setting.

  Still, it was hard to think of him as just a doctor. Part of her was still reeling from his announcement that he’d joined a search party to look for Danny after her boy had been kidnapped months ago. The fact that this man, a complete stranger, had volunteered to help look for her son after completing what she imagined was a long day at work sounded almost unbelievable. And yet she knew in her bones that Stavros was not the type of person to lie about something like that. He hadn’t told her because he was seeking her gratitude or praise; he’d seemed almost reluctant to reveal what he’d done.