Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2) (15 page)

Jolene took her through to the quiet room where Phyllis was sitting with one of the day center staff.

“Rachel.” Phyllis tried to smile – and Rachel’s heart sank a little as she noticed Phyllis’s mouth didn’t turn up properly on the left hand side. Jolene’s initial assessment looked as if it was going to be spot on. If it wasn’t a full-blown stroke, it could be a mini-stroke – a warning that a worse episode could follow.

“Hello, Phyllis.” Rachel kissed her cheek and sat down next to her. “Jolene tells me you had a bit of a fall and you’re not feeling so good.”

“Not…” Phyllis stopped and grimaced, clearly frustrated that she couldn’t get the words out.

“It’s OK.” Rachel squeezed her hand. “I’m here to see you with my doctor’s hat on, and I’m just going to have a look at you and do a couple of tests, if that’s OK?”

Phyllis nodded.

“Lovely. If you need me to stop at any point, just tell me, OK?”

Rachel assessed the elderly woman swiftly. Her blood pressure was a bit high for Rachel’s liking, and there was definitely weakness on her left side. Added to Phyllis’s age and the trouble she was having with her speech, it wasn’t looking great. Although the episode had lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and thankfully Phyllis wasn’t showing signs of worsening, Rachel still wanted to admit her to the hospital for tests.

“Phyllis, I think you’ve had a small stroke,” she said gently. “It could be that it was caused by a little blood clot, but the hospital will need to run a couple of tests to confirm it.”

“Hosp…?” Phyllis looked anxious.

“The good news is that you’re in the right place – we’re right next to the hospital.”

“Here?” Phyllis asked.

“We can treat you here,” Rachel confirmed. “We won’t have to send you to Livingston or Bozeman.”

Phyllis looked relieved.

“Ryan’s on his way. I’ll stay with you until he gets to us.”

Phyllis tried to smile. “You’re…” But the rest of the words wouldn’t come out.

“Hey, I’m your friend as well as Ryan’s. I want to be sure you’re looked after,” Rachel said.

She called her office so Shannon knew not to expect her back for at least another hour, transferred Phyllis to a wheelchair with Jolene’s help, then travelled the very short journey in the ambulance with Phyllis to the hospital.

Once they were on the ward, Rachel filled the attending physician in on the assessment she’d done.

“We’ll do an EKG and an MRI scan to check the cause and whether the blood clot’s cleared, put her on medication to stop another blood clot forming, and then see how she’s doing tomorrow,” the physician said.

“And you’ll arrange physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy?” Rachel asked.

“Yes. We’ll make sure she gets whatever she needs.”

Rachel was about to help him explain to Phyllis what would happen next when Ryan walked in. His face had lost all its color and he looked absolutely terrified.

“Gram?” he said.

“Ry,” Phyllis whispered.

Then it seemed to register with him that Rachel was there. He looked at her in surprise. “Since when have you been Gram’s doctor?”

“Dr. Majors normally works with the day care center, but he’s off sick so they asked me to come in,” Rachel explained. “And I asked to have your grandmother admitted here because she’s had a stroke.”

He turned his back so his grandmother couldn’t see what he was saying, and mouthed, “Is she going to die?”

“She’s going to be fine,” Rachel reassured him, “but the hospital needs to run some tests to check the cause of the stroke so they can give her the right treatment.” She introduced him swiftly to the doctor. “Ryan is Mrs. Henderson’s grandson and he looks after her,” she explained. She looked at Ryan. He looked worried sick. “Do you want me to stay?” she asked.

He frowned. “Don’t you have patients waiting?”

“Yes, but some of them can reschedule,” she said.

“Meaning that some of them can’t,” he said.

“Then they’ll wait.”

He shook his head. “Go back to work, Rach. We’ll be OK.”

“Are you sure? Because I can call Shannon and tell her I won’t be back.”

“But your patients need you,” he said.

Meaning that he didn’t? Or was he trying to be brave? She wasn’t sure and she didn’t want to push things. “OK. I’ll go back to my clinic. As long as you come and see me before you go home.”

“Yeah, I will.”

“I’ll be in my office until half-past four, maybe five, and then I’ll be at my apartment,” she said.

“OK.”

She squeezed his hand. “Phyllis is going to be fine.”

“Yeah.” Though he didn’t look as if he believed her.

Rachel worried about Phyllis and Ryan for the rest of the afternoon. And when Ryan finally turned up at her apartment at just after half-past nine, he looked ashen.

“Gram’s asleep,” he said.

“Sleep’s good. It gives the body time to heal,” she said softly.

He didn’t look convinced.

“Ry, sit down before you fall down,” she said, gesturing to the chairs by her kitchen table.

He sat down, and she made him a mug of coffee.

He sipped it without flinching, so clearly he couldn’t think straight enough for his taste buds to be working properly, she thought.

“And I bet you haven’t eaten all day. Stay put and I’ll make you a cheese omelet,” she said.

Though the omelet turned out a bit on the leathery side and Ryan just picked at it.

“Sorry. I should know better than to try to cook for a chef, given my lack of catering skills,” she said with a wry smile.

“No, it’s fine,” he said, and she knew he was fibbing to stop her feeling bad. “I’m just not hungry.”

“Ry, you need to eat to keep your strength up. I know my omelets aren’t brilliant –” that was putting it mildly “–but even I can’t wreck a ham sandwich.” Which was probably what she should’ve made him in the first place, instead of trying to give him her favorite comfort food. “You have to eat.”

He tried to smile. “So you have a bossy side, do you, Doc?”

“Just ask my sister and my brother,” she said lightly. “It doesn’t matter that I’m the baby of the family. I can still boss them around.”

“I guess.” He stood up and wrapped his arms round her. “Thank you, Rach. I appreciate it.”

“Hey, you’d do the same for me.” Honesty compelled her to add, “Except your omelet would’ve been edible.”

“I still appreciate the effort.”

She busied herself making him a sandwich. He ate half of it before pushing the plate away. “Sorry, Rach. I can’t eat any more. It
is
edible, just…”

“Just right now everything tastes like ashes and you can’t face swallowing?”

He looked at her. “I guess you see this sort of thing a lot.”

“In this kind of situation, yes.”

“Gram’s so frail, Rach. I mean, I know she’s eighty, but I guess in my head I think of her as a lot younger than that. And it’s made me realize she could…” He choked off the words, but she knew what he meant. It had just hit him that Phyllis could die – and sooner than he’d been prepared for.

His last living relative.

Leaving him alone in the world.

“Right now it’s early days and it’s the scary stage. Give it to the end of the week and you’ll be looking at a very different picture,” she said. “Did anyone explain to you what’s actually happened?”

“The other doctor said it was a…” He frowned. “A TI-something?”

“TIA – it’s a mini-stroke, caused by a blood clot blocking an artery and stopping the blood supply to the veins. In this case, the blockage clears very quickly, so your grandmother will recover much more quickly than she would have done if it had been a full stroke,” she explained. But she also knew she had to be honest with him and tell him the full story. She took his hand and squeezed it. “Though it’s also a warning that she might have another stroke in future, and the next one could be more serious. That’s why I wanted to admit her, so the hospital could do some tests and a brain scan to see what caused the TIA in the first place. They’ll be able to give her some medication to help treat whatever caused it and hopefully avoid a second one.”

He bit his lip. “They said she can’t swallow. She’s not allowed to have any food or drink until tomorrow.”

“It’s really common to have problems swallowing after a stroke, so often patients are kept nil by mouth for a little while to make sure their food and drink don’t go down the wrong way and cause a chest infection,” she reassured him. “Try not to worry. They’ll give her fluids in a drip so she won’t get dehydrated, and when she can drink again they might put a special thickener in her drink at first to make it easier for her to swallow. But she will get better, Ry. At the moment her words aren’t coming out right and her left side’s a bit wonky, but as I said it’s early days. She will get back to how she was before the TIA.”

“Yeah.”

She could see the worry in his eyes. She squeezed his hand again. “I know right now you’re really scared for her, and that’s natural, but she’s in the best place, Ry. She’s getting the care she needs, and I can pop in to see her every day.”

He shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“I work in the building next door to the hospital,” she pointed out. “It’s not as if you’re asking me to climb Copper Mountain in the middle of the night wearing a super-tight pencil skirt and four-inch stilettos, now is it?”

To her relief, the ridiculous picture she’d just painted made him smile. “I guess not. Sorry.”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.” She paused. “As your friend who just happens to know a bit about medicine. Sometimes medics forget they’re talking to someone who’s not medically qualified and they tend to talk in jargon – so if you’ve got any questions, no matter how stupid you think they are, you talk to me and I’ll make sure you get a proper answer if I can’t explain whatever it is myself, OK?”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” She looked at him. How could she let him drive home to an empty house, where everything would be dark and cold and make him worry about his grandmother even more? “Ry, stay here tonight. I can put your clothes through the washing machine and dry them so they’re clean for tomorrow. Plus here you’ll be nearer to the hospital than you are back at your place.”

He looked torn between needing to go home and not having to face the emptiness.

“No strings,” she said softly.

He swallowed hard. “I admit, right now I don’t really want to be on my own.”

“Then stay,” she said. “There’s no pressure. Have my bed, and I can sleep on the sofa. I’m shorter than you are so it won’t make my back ache.”

He frowned. “I can’t ask you to give your bed up for me.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” She paused. “Or we can share my bed.” She hadn’t spent the night with anyone since her marriage had splintered, and it would be odd to share her space; but at the same time she knew that Ryan needed comfort. And she could do that for him, right now. “Hey. If you want a hug, you get a hug; if you want more, you get more; and no offence or anything, whatever you decide.” She stroked his face. “Ry, I so wish I could wave a magic wand for you. I can’t. But what I can do is hold you and make you feel a bit better.”

“Thank you.”

“Go take a hot bath. Help yourself to whatever you need – and I have a spare toothbrush. I’ll dig it out for you.”

She put his clothes through the washer then the dryer. She really felt for him, because she knew Phyllis was practically all the family he had left. He never spoke about his mother’s family, so she assumed that either they’d already passed away or they just weren’t close. Without Phyllis, he’d be alone. And that was a seriously hard prospect to face.

They didn’t make love that night, but Rachel was glad she could just be there for him and hold him.

And she managed to visit Phyllis during her lunch break, the next morning. The old lady looked brighter and her speech was a lot better than it had been the previous day, but her mobility still wasn’t so good.

“You’re definitely on the mend,” Rachel said with a smile. “And I think Ryan will be happier when I tell him you’re able to eat and drink again.”

“I’m so sorry I’ve worried everyone so much,” Phyllis said.

“Hey – not your fault,” Rachel said, squeezing her hand. And she was really pleased that Phyllis was able to squeeze her hand right back. “Can I get you any magazines, or is there anything special you’d like to drink?”

“I’m fine, honey, but thank you for asking.” Phyllis squeezed her hand again. “I’m so glad Ry has you now. I don’t like to speak badly of anyone, but Lucille wasn’t right for him. She always put herself first and I don’t think she was kind to him.”

“He doesn’t talk about her,” Rachel said. “But I think a lot of your grandson. He’s a really good man.” She smiled. “I have to go back to work, but I’ll come in tomorrow. Anything you want, ask the nurses to get in touch with me, OK?”

“Thank you, honey.”

Rachel texted Ryan from her desk.
Have visited your gran. Speaking better and can eat and drink again.

Thank you <3
was the reply.

Pick up some spare clothes from your place after you see her tonight and come stay with me, so you’re not on your own
, she texted back.

He called her. “Rach. It’s not fair of me to lean on you.”

“Hey, if the situation was reversed you’d want me to lean on you, right?” she asked.

“I guess so,” he admitted.

“Then let me be there for you, Ry.” She paused. “Your gran still needs help with her mobility, but that’s nothing to worry about. The physical therapist will help her get up and start to move about. It’s always scary for the first couple of days, and she’ll be really tired, but it will get better.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But she’s a lot brighter today. You’ll see a positive change tonight,” she promised.

Over the next week, Phyllis improved every day. But then she developed a chest infection which set her back badly.

“Rachel, we need to talk about Phyllis Henderson,” Dr. Majors said a couple of days later. “I’ve been discussing her care with the hospital. And we think once she’s fully recovered from the chest infection, it’s time for her to move into residential care full time.”