9781631052347OnCallKenyan (19 page)

Chapter
Eighteen

One
and a half years later…

“Are
you sure you don’t want to go to dinner with me?” Lyle asked once more, hope
filling his eyes.

Hope is a crippling emotion,
she wanted to say. But instead
Katherine said. “I just want to get out of these scrubs, go home and crawl into
bed.”
With AJ’s T-shirt on.

“If you
are sure…”

“I’m
sure.”

Lyle
started walking away then turned back. “I hope you didn’t leave my service
because of that Ross guy. You were good at Cardiology and he’s gone.”

How was
she supposed to say that losing her baby and her mother made her yearn for
motherhood? That, to her, translated into caring for pregnant women and women
who wanted to get pregnant. And as for her baby, she found hanging around a
nursery, staring at almost exploding bellies and watching life grow in someone
else’s body filled the gaping hole her miscarriage had left. AJ? Well, she was
still waiting for him to call the apartment.

“No, I
like what I’m doing. And I still do some cardio on the side.”

“So
ObGyn
is your wife and Cardio is your mistress.”

She chuckled, only Lyle would put it that way. “I guess so—”

“Katherine!”

“Katherine!”

The
bellow of a man yelling her name followed by a combination of two terrified
female shrieks made her jump nearly out of her skin. She whipped her head
around toward the emergency room doors and there Reno stood, Lisette and an
inconsolable Rosalinda at his side. So who was in Reno’s arms? She took a step
closer and saw Catalella’s paling skin. AJ would definitely never forgive her
if she let his little sister die.

“Who
are those people?” Lyle demanded.

“AJ’s
mother, sisters and best friend.” She ran toward Reno and could hear Lyle’s
thudding feet behind her. “I need a gurney. Now!” She pulled away the blankets
they had wrapped around Catalella and felt the pulse point of her neck. She couldn’t
get anything there. Her own heart beat frantically against her chest. Katherine
schooled her facial expression to be professional. But it was difficult with
Rosalinda mumbling in Spanish and Lisette intently studying her. She fished
around for her hand and felt the pulse point there. She sighed when she found a
faint beat, at least it was something.

Katherine
had never felt so relieved when a gurney arrived and Reno lay Catalella’s still
body on it. “What happened?”

“I
found this in the bathroom.” Lisette held out an empty pill bottle.

“Sleeping
pills?” Katherine grabbed it and handed it to the nurse beside her. “Why did
you do it, sweetheart?”

“Katherine,
start chest compressions.” Lyle barked out an order. “Climb on, we need to get
moving. Get me a stomach pump and an IV. Is she taking any other medications?”

“She
had four weeks of Radiology and is now on her last week of her six week
chemotherapy.” Katherine had been keeping tabs on the Ross family. Her heart
had sunk when she discovered Catalella’s leukemia was back. She made it her
business to know everything that was going on with her. “Page Doctor Caplain,
he’s her oncologist.”

“Katherine?”

She
looked up and met Lisette’s beseeching gaze. That was when she made what could
have been the worst mistake of her career. With a look she promised to save
Catalella’s life. Katherine pumped Catalella’s chest with all the strength she
had. Bruised ribs would be a small price to pay for life. She straddled her as
the gurney sped down the halls. She wasn’t going to give up. She was going to
do at least one thing right by AJ.

* * *
*

“I
should throttle you,” Katherine said as Catalella slowly came out of her
unconscious state. “You’d better be fully awake before I go brief your family.”

“You’re…”
Catalella choked. “You’re mean.”

“If I
were mean, I wouldn’t get you a glass full of iced chips, would I?” Katherine
helped Catalella into a sitting position and slowly gave her ice chips to suck
on. Katherine knew Catalella’s throat would feel raw, her chest too. But then
again, she was alive and the pain would fade.

“He
left me.”

“Who,
Michael?”

“Yes.
Apparently I’m not a ‘real woman’.” Catalella sobbed. “I can’t have children,
Katherine!”

Katherine
understood the pain of losing a child. But whereas she could still have babies,
Catalella couldn’t. The odds had been against her. Her last round of chemo and
radiation therapy had removed any chances.

Katherine
understood wallowing in the loss of a child, but Michael wasn’t worth the dirt
he walked on. But then again, he was Catalella’s first love. She couldn’t blame
the young girl for crying. Hell, she still balled up in a fetal position crying
for AJ. But she had never thought of killing herself.

“I get
that you loved him, but that was a shitty thing to do to your family. I’m going
to let them in now. I wish your brother was here to throttle you, Catalella,”
Katherine chastised. It hurt, seeing
Catelella
defeated.
She wouldn’t want to see any of her brothers in this hopeless state. “But I
guess it’s better he’s not here to see it. He’d be disappointed in you, you
know.”

“He’ll
get his chance when he arrives tomorrow.”

“
Wh
…what?” she stammered.

Katherine
tried not to notice the confused look Catalella gave her. Was she supposed to
be in the loop about AJ’s comings and goings? She had thought his family would
know they’d broken up.

“He
didn’t tell you he was arriving tomorrow? He’s going to be my donor.”

“Of…of
course.” Katherine stood frozen, confused how to react to AJ’s homecoming, Part
of her was happy, excited even. She had missed the sound of his voice, the way
he strongly carried his body when he walked into a room. But she was angry that
he hadn’t done a better job of insisting on seeing her. The memory of her
mother’s interfering made her blood boil. “I’ll just let your family in.”

“Are
you going to come back?”

Katherine
smiled. “Sure, in a while. I’ll just let you have some time with your family.”

“Thank
you for not letting me die.”

After
Katherine had briefed the Ross’s she had to find a place to sit down. Her body
still seemed to be in shock. The millions of emotions rushing through her made
her feel weak and light headed. But she couldn’t ignore the excited thump of
her heart. The love of her life was coming back, and this time she wasn’t going
to let him go without a fight.

Catalella
hadn’t told Katherine where AJ intended to stay. But when she got home she
spent most of the night cleaning. It didn’t bother her when her housekeeping
went into the early morning. She was determined not to let AJ to walk into a
dirty apartment. Katherine felt her heart tug when she replaced his sheets. It
wasn’t totally hygienic but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to wash away
AJ’s scent. But now AJ was coming home, she didn’t need to hold onto them
anymore. Once she was done, she stepped back and admired her work, then fell
into a dreamless sleep.

* * *
*

AJ knew
something was up by Reno’s downcast face. His shoulders drooped as if they had
taken on the weight of the world. He didn’t ask what was going on, he couldn’t
bring himself to. Instead they drove in a blanket of silence all the way to the
hospital. AJ didn’t know how he would feel returning home.

When he
had landed at the airport a sense of nostalgia had taken over him. He had
missed his family, his mother’s cooking, his sister’s nagging, his late nights
with Reno and his father’s wisdom. And even if it was hard for him to admit, he
had missed Katherine—the way her blue-gray eyes changed from sweet to dark with
desire each time she looked at him, her quirky faults, the melodic sound of her
voice and the way her tiny body felt under him as she writhed in pleasure. That
last memory had his erection fighting against the zipper of his pants.

When AJ
caught sight of the hospital he sobered up. Now that he was close to his domain,
to the scientific medical words which made more sense than the layman’s terms,
he could take whatever Reno had to tell him. Obviously Catalella wasn’t
dead—there wouldn’t have been a reason for Reno to take him to the hospital.

“What’s
going on?” he asked cautiously.

Reno
cleared his throat and shot him a quick glance. “Catalella tried to kill
herself.”

AJ felt
his heart freeze in his chest. A sliver of cold ran down his spine. He couldn’t
make up the right combination of letters or words that would express how he
felt at that moment. But once the shock subsided, anger sizzled beneath his
skin, the chill forgotten. An angry hiss left his lips. “What?”

Reno
shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it either. “Your mother went to see
Catalella. She found her in the bath and she wasn’t moving. Lisette and I were
close by so when Rosalinda called we rushed there. Rosalinda thought she had
passed out because of the aggressive chemotherapy. But Lisette caught sight of
the pill bottle. I couldn’t get her to open her eyes so I lifted her out of the
bath and rushed her to the hospital. We were just lucky that Katherine was
around. Her and some doctor guy helped her. She could have died.”

She could have died.
Those words turned his body
into a glacier. But Katherine had been there to help his little sister.

“Why
did she do it?” AJ asked. “Was she tired of all the treatments? I know she’s
going through this a second time, and this round of treatment is more
aggressive than the last. But that doesn’t mean she should give up. I flew all
the way here to give her my bone marrow—”

“Michael
asked for a divorce.”

AJ
drove his fist into the dashboard of Reno’s truck.

“Hey,
watch it!” Reno protested. “I would also like to drive my fist into the S.O.B’s
face but I’ve been at the hospital all night. Your father had gone on a
business trip, but should be on his way back. Once Senior is here, we can
launch a vigilante hunt for the bastard.”

“I
can’t wait,” AJ ground out.

AJ ran
into the hospital, ignoring the myriad of greetings sent in his direction.
Right now the only thing he wanted to see was his sister. He walked into the
room and froze at the door.

There
she was. Even with four other people in the room all he could see was
Katherine. Her long blonde hair was held in a pony tail, with wisps curling
around her face. Her blue scrubs fitted loosely, with a white lab coat over
them. His eyes raked her from head to toe then held her gaze with an intense
look. The words jammed in his throat. What exactly was he to say?

“AJ.”
Catalella’s weak voice brought him out of his frozen state. He looked at her
and immediately had to try and hide his frown at how weak she looked. She had
lost a lot of weight and the bed seemed to be swallowing her. He needed to see
her chart. And as if Katherine was tapped into his brain she walked toward him
and put the chart in his hands.

AJ was
thankful for the ability to switch into doctor mode when he was reading a
chart. Katherine’s proximity and the sound of her voice would otherwise have
driven him into lust-filled frenzy. He listened as she gave him Catalella’s
history. He was surprised at how well informed she was about his sister’s
cancer and the progress of her treatment. Katherine told him things even his
parents wouldn’t know, things that doctor’s didn’t say out loud to their
patients.

“What
happened last night?” he asked as he flipped to the last page of the chart.

“Catalella
was brought in unconscious. Lisette informed me of the overdose. We had to be
careful since she had had her treatments earlier in the week. We pumped her
stomach and put her on fluids.”

“We?”

AJ
sensed Katherine’s hesitation. “Lyle helped.”

“Thank
you. Aah…do you mind giving my family and me a minute?” He caught the hurt in
her eyes before she looked away.

“Call
me if you need me,” Katherine said before she left.

In a
minute AJ was in his family’s arms. He stepped back and looked toward
Catalella. He saw the guilt on her face. He wanted to give her grief, lecture
her or even beat some sense into her. But he thought the guilt for her actions
would be enough punishment for her.

“What
were you thinking?”

“I
wasn’t,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s
okay. Now we just have to focus on getting you better.”

* * *
*