They succeeded in not talking about work for the next week. Then one of the nurses came up to her while she was discussing a case with Dax.
“Patty, I’m sorry to interrupt, but your aunt is here.”
“Here?”
She nodded. “She evidently took a taxi. But she fell getting out of it and has a pretty nasty gash on her head. She’s in one of the exam rooms, but…”
But she wasn’t letting anyone near her.
Dax glanced at nurse. “Is she okay?”
So much for not talking about anything other than work. She could hide her aunt’s condition, but doing so felt wrong. And she’d gone that route once before and lived to regret it.
“My aunt has Alzheimer’s.” She swallowed. “She must have gotten away from her caretaker.”
“Ah, this is what you meant—”
“Meant?”
“Nothing. Do you want some help?”
Patty hesitated. Her aunt could be combative at times, if not handled carefully. And it sounded like that was what was going on down in the ER. “Do you mind? Some people are able to get through to her and others can’t.”
Dax had never met her aunt. They’d been together such a short time, they’d just never had a chance. Although her aunt evidently knew she’d hidden her pregnancy.
“Of course not.”
The other nurse glanced between them. “They recognized her when she came through the doors, thank goodness.”
Her aunt had ventured to the hospital a couple of other times, and once she’d wound up in the room of another patient, convinced that it was her long-dead husband and that he’d been hiding from her. It had created a sticky situation for the hospital and for Patty.
Ha! Imagine the sticky situation if someone found out Patty had slept with the hospital’s newest doctor. Ugh. If she could leave St. Victoria, she would, but with her aunt like she was, she was going nowhere. Grace had no children, and there was no way Patty was going to drag her to St. Lucia with her, removing her from the things she still remembered. Like her home. Besides, Patty’s mom was getting up in years, too, and it wouldn’t be fair to ask her to take on her sister at this point in her life.
“Thanks, Holly, I’ll go help with her and then take her home, if you can cover for me for about an hour.”
“Of course.”
Dax’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I don’t have any other cases scheduled for today, so if she’s released, I can go sit with her.”
“No need. She has a nurse. I’m actually surprised that…” She took her phone out of her pocket and saw seven missed calls. All from the nurse. “Damn. My phone was still on silent from the surgery.”
They’d had a tough case. A male who’d had a one hundred percent blockage of his aorta. Fortunately they’d been able to get in there in time to bypass the section. But it had been touch and go for a while.
She glanced at Dax. “If they release her, though, and you can help me get her into the car, I would appreciate it.”
“Absolutely. Let’s go.”
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