Page 56 of Sinful Seduction
“Shush.” She moves over the old man and presses a long, quiet kiss to the very middle of his wrinkled forehead. “Archer’s been picking on me since yesterday. So maybe you could wake up, get strong, and kick his butt for me? My dad isn’t around to take care of business, so I was kind of hoping you’d step in and do that.”
“Oh, good, you’re here.”
I turn and use my body to shield Minka and her vulnerability, but then I lock eyes with a doctor. Not Nicki, the one I know. And not Doctor Gale, the former—now incarcerated—cardiothoracic surgeon.
This one is different.
“Doctor Fielder.” The woman steps in with two others on her wings. Interns, maybe. But they’re not important enough to warrant an introduction. “I operated on Mr. Morris last night. You’re Chief Mayet. We spoke on the phone earlier.”
“Yeah.” Minka straightens out, sliding her free hand into mine. “He spoke a moment ago. Just a couple of words.”
Fielder nods, clutching a folder to her chest, and though she stares through a pair of dark eyes, hard the way only some people have mastered, she still manages to soften and peek down at Minka’s other hand wrapped around Steve’s. “As discussed, we brought him out of his medically induced coma this afternoon, and since then, we’ve noted a couple of moments of lucidity. Mr. Morris’ neural tests have come back positive. His blood count is up, and his heart is ticking along nicely. We expect a reasonably uneventful recovery from this point forward. We’d like to get him up and walking by tomorrow, if possible. And if all that goes well, we’ll be looking at discharge early next week.” She lowers the folder, but studies the pages on top. “Mr. Morris’ health directives indicate decisions are yours to make, which means?—”
“Why?”
“You are…” Fielder stumbles on her words and brings her eyes up again, squinting as she processes Minka’s question. “What?”
“Why was I named POA? How were these directives finalized, when he’d never uttered a word to me about them?”
“Well…”
“Why wouldn’t he allocate someone else? Or at the very least, tell me, so I could be prepared?”
“I’m not sure, Chief Mayet.” She looks back down at her papers. “I did not meet with Mr. Morris prior to his arrival at our emergency room, so I can’t say?—”
“But he made these new directives in the last year and a half.” Minka tugs on my hand. “We didn’t know each other before that. And chances are, he didn’t change his directives the day we met. So that leads me to believe he changed themrecently. That implies he might’ve known this was coming. It asserts that he has a primary care physician, and possibly alawyer, who helped draft these directives. Why me?” She swings her gaze back to the man in the bed. “Why me?”
“‘Cos you’re smart,” Steve rasps thickly.
“You’re awake, Mr. Morris?” Startled, Fielder stalks closer, setting her folder on the bed by his feet and moving to the machine that tracks his heart rate. “Are you in pain? Do you know where you are?”
“You’re a doctor.” Steve pushes each word past dry lips, his lashes kissing the tops of his cheeks and his pulse skipping just a little faster for everyone to hear. “And you’re smart. I knew you’d make good choices.”
“You should have discussed this with me before!” Minka lowers again, resting her elbows on the bed and staring, staring, staring at the side of his face. “You knew something was wrong, didn’t you? But you screwed around and neglected yourself, anyway.”
His lips curl on one side, a saucy smile breaking through the exhaustion weighing him down. “Women usually live longer than men, and men who know smart women usually live longer than the idiots who don’t.” He gently squeezes her hand. “I’m okay, kiddo. You did good.”
“You traumatized Cato, just so you know.” Her words come out in a biting tone, like she’s scolding a naughty child. “I suspected you were unwell, but I didn’tknow, so I left Cato in charge of looking after you. You selfishly chose to drop dead while he was right there, when you could have waited just two more minutes and we could have avoided a memory that’ll haunt his dreams.”
“He’s a good kid.” He sinks deeper into his pillow, his face softening and his grin falling to neutral lines. “He’s a really good boy.”
“Goodtraumatizedboy. You selfish jerk.”
“The nurses will be by in just a few minutes to administer Mr. Morris’ pain medication.” Fielder turns from the machines and looks down at her patient. “I don’t expect he’ll be awake much longer, and if all goes well, I’d like him to have a big, long, restful night. If you wish to go home, you could do that. He won’t know any different.”
“Go,” Steve rumbles. “Sleep.”
“I’m staying until you’re unconscious again.” Minka blindly reaches back and snags a visitor chair, dragging it forward and sitting on the very edge. Her knee hurts, but she’s not going anywhere. “You don’t have to talk, because it’s a lot and it hurts your throat. But I can talk.”
“You?” He tries to laugh, but it turns to a grimace. “You hardly talk.”
“I can carry the load for us tonight.” She sandwiches his hand between hers, bowing her head over them. “Aubree’s still working, even though she’s supposed to be on leave. She went home just before me, but onlybecause Tim came to the office and kidnapped her. She promised to come visit you tonight, though. And Cato isn’t actually mad at you, just so you know.”
“He’s not?”
She chokes out a hitching breath. “No, he’s not. He’s worried. He was scared as hell, because underneath all that big talk and obnoxious charisma is just a kid begging for direction. When you dropped, he freaked out a little bit.”
“We’ll go.” Doctor Fielder grabs her folder and tips her chin in my peripherals. “If you have questions or would like to discuss Mr. Morris further, I’m available. Otherwise, I’ll be back in the morning to check in.” Fixing her coat, she takes the lead and walks out of the room ahead of her silent entourage.
