New Beginnings (20 page)

After retirement, Anabelle might just make a point of building their relationship outside the hallowed halls of Hope Haven Hospital.

When James arrived home that afternoon, he found Fern painting at her easel in the kitchen.

He kissed her on her cheek. “That looks like our old house.”

“Hurrah! You recognized it.” She cocked her head, studying the partially completed painting. “I was beginning to think it was one of those crooked houses that had been through a massive earthquake.”

“No, it looks fine. Are you missing our old place?” He knew Fern could get sentimental about the oddest things, but he hadn’t expected her to feel that way about their old house.

“I certainly don’t miss those stairs I had to climb.” She dabbed a bit of paint on a window frame.

“I wouldn’t think so.” When her MS was at its worst, James had had to carry her upstairs to their bedroom.

“I’ve been doing so many landscapes lately, Elyse wanted me to try a building.” She held up an old photograph of the house that she’d been using as a guide. “The perspective is hard. I think that’s why it looks tipped over to me.”

“You know I’m not going to be of much help. I can barely draw a stick figure.” He rested his hand on her shoulder, giving her an encouraging squeeze. “I’ve got to work on my résumé. Anabelle decided not to take the administrator’s job. She’s going to retire instead.”

Fern snapped her head up. “Really?”

“That’s what she says. I want to get my application in right away to replace her. I’d get an increase in salary, which we could sure use.”

She patted his hand. “I think you’d make a great nurse supervisor. Mr. Varner couldn’t pick anyone better suited to the job.”

“From your lips to Varner’s ears.” He kissed her again and then walked down the hall to use Nelson’s computer. With his varied nursing experience, James did feel he was well qualified and ready for a promotion.

That didn’t, of course, mean he’d land the job. People were hired and promoted based on a whole lot of factors. But he was sure going to give it his best shot.

The following morning, James delivered his résumé and formal application to Penny Risser. Despite her complaint that the job opening had not been officially posted, she agreed to make sure Human Resources received a copy of his forms.

“Although I’m confident Mr. Varner will make the final decision about Anabelle’s replacement.” She took his application, slapped it onto the corner of her desk, and returned to whatever it was that she’d been doing.

It was Friday afternoon when Eddie Blaine approached James in the hallway.

“You got a couple of minutes?” Eddie had been replacing lightbulbs on the second floor and was carrying his ladder.

“Sure.”

“I don’t guess it’s any of my business.” He looked up and down the hallway and then lowered his voice. “I heard somethin’ downstairs that I thought you ought to know about.”

James didn’t think of Eddie as a gossip. He was usually pretty focused on whatever task he had at hand and didn’t do much talking at all. The fact that he was being so secretive piqued James’s interest.

“What did you hear?”

“Well, see…” Eddie glanced around again. “I was changing the overhead lights on the first floor like I’m doing here. Varner wanted them all replaced with these newfangled lights that don’t use so much electricity.”

James had noticed that they were also dimmer than the old lights, but he didn’t want to interrupt Eddie.

“People don’t always notice me when I’m working. It’s like I’m invisible. So I heard Mr. Varner talking to that board member, the gray-haired guy, Frederick Innisk. They were right there in the hallway. Innisk was saying he has a niece who lives down south a ways, near St. Louis.”

James didn’t know where Eddie’s story was going, but he hoped the man would get on with it. James had some meds to deliver.

At that moment, Diana Zimmer, the coordinator of Hope Haven Hounds, came striding down the hallway with her dog Ace. Diana wore the kelly-green jacket of a hospital volunteer; Ace had a matching scarf around his neck.

“Hello, James. I heard you were a hero during the blizzard.” She stopped to talk. Without waiting for a command, Ace sat and looked up expectantly.

James flushed slightly and gave the golden retriever a scratch between the ears. “I just did what had to be done.”

Hefting his ladder, Eddie said, “I’ll talk to you later.” He headed down the hallway to the service elevator.

James wished Eddie had stuck around. He would have liked to know what Varner and Innisk were talking about that Eddie felt was so important.

“You have any patients who’d like a visit from Ace?” Diana asked.

“There’s a teenage boy in 219 who broke his leg skiing and had surgery. He’s feeling pretty down. Ace might be able to perk up his spirits.”

“Great. We’re on it.” With only a hand motion, Ace was on his feet walking beside Diana.

Idly, James wondered if Anabelle, after her retirement, would want to train Sarge to be a therapy dog like Ace. He’d have to suggest the idea to her.

As he went back to the nurses’ station to call up the meds he needed for a couple of patients, Eddie’s comments niggled at the back of his mind.

Was the hospital in financial trouble? Again?

Was the board of directors thinking about selling Hope Haven? That wouldn’t do James’s ambition to be a nurse supervisor any good.

Finally he decided worry wouldn’t get him any answers. He’d have to make it a point to find Eddie and ask him about the punch line of the overheard conversation.

M
ONDAY, JAMES WAS IN THE CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE
running off copies of the flyer he’d created to announce Anabelle’s retirement party when Anabelle rushed in.

“You applied for my position, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Absolutely. I gave Penny my application last week.”

“Well, you won’t believe what Eddie Blaine overheard on Friday.” Beneath her tidy bangs, her forehead furrowed.

“He was telling me about something, but then Diana and Ace interrupted. He didn’t finish his story, and I haven’t caught up with him yet today.”

“Mr. Varner and Frederick Innisk were talking about who should replace me as nurse supervisor. It seems Innisk has a niece who’s a nurse supervisor at a small, community hospital near St. Louis. She’s recently divorced—”

Remembering what Eddie had told him, James nodded.

“—and has a couple of children. She’s interested in moving up here to Deerford and plans to apply for the job.”

James froze. His mouth went dry and his sense of optimism tumbled.

“Innisk was apparently lobbying Varner to hire his niece,” Anabelle continued. “Since Innisk is one of the biggest financial contributors to Hope Haven—”

“Varner will do what Innisk asks him to do,” James finished for her. Disappointment seeping through his veins like cold water, he gathered up the bright yellow flyers from the copier. “It sounds like she has experience too. With hospital politics on her side and a solid background, looks like my goose is stuck in the same ol’ pen.”

“She’s been working in a much smaller hospital than Hope Haven. That gives you a leg up.”

“That and my giving a huge donation might do the trick.” Unfortunately, the Bell family lacked the resources to match Innisk dollar for dollar. James’s charitable donations were peanuts compared to his, most of it going to MS research.

“I’m sorry, James. I know you’d make a terrific nurse supervisor. All of the nurses like and respect you.”

“It’s okay. Better to know I’m not likely to get the job than set my hopes up too high.”

Anabelle wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug, a special kind of hug that validated their longtime friendship and mutual respect. “Don’t give up on yourself. Varner may have more steel in his spine than we think he does. He’s always advocated promoting from within.”

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.” Trying for a smile he didn’t feel, he handed her a flyer. “Now you’ve been officially invited to your retirement party. Don’t forget to RSVP.”

“As if Elena would let me miss my own party.”

Anabelle left, and James went up to the third floor where he posted a flyer on the announcement board and tucked flyers in the employees’ cubbies.

Returning to the second floor, he handed a flyer to Lorraine Wilder, his unit supervisor.

Almost as tall as James, she glanced over the flyer. “Somehow I never thought of Anabelle as retiring. She’s a virtual institution here. Her shoes will be hard to fill.”

“It’s Varner’s decision who he picks.”

“You’re going to apply, aren’t you?”

“I already have.” He slipped a hand into his trouser pocket, bunching up the hem of his scrubs. “Word is Varner may have someone else in mind.”

Her dark brows rose above her prominent nose. “Oh? I can’t think of anyone more qualified than you are.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. In this case, I may not have the necessary connections to get the job.”

His comment clearly disturbed Lorraine. But the patient in 207 pushed his call button, so there was no time to pursue the topic.

Which from James’s perspective was just as well. He didn’t want to come off as a whiner. He was perfectly happy with his current position. Plenty of variety to keep him interested, including an occasional surgery assignment.

As for the extra money, they’d gotten along fine until now. Somehow he and Fern would work it out when the boys were both in college.

After seeing to the surgical patient in 207, James returned to the nurses’ station. He had a message. Mr. Varner would like to see James when he got off his shift that afternoon.

Candace ducked out for a late lunch to visit her obstetrician, Frances Carpenter. After the doctor examined her, Candace sat on the edge of the examination table.

“Everything looks normal.” Although short and a bit stout, the doctor was surprisingly soft spoken. “You’re right about being three months along.”

“I’m still having nausea, which I didn’t have with Brooke and Howie.”

“Every pregnancy is different because your body is different. I can give you something for your nausea, if you’d like.”

“No, I’d just as soon avoid any medication if I can.”

“I understand. It’s fine as long as you’re eating well and taking your prenatal vitamins.” The doctor scribbled some notes on Candace’s chart. “I would like you to have an ultrasound in the next week or so.”

A jolt of anxiety pinged Candace’s awareness. “Is there something wrong?” As a nurse in the Birthing Unit, she knew how many things could go amiss when least expected.

“Not that I can see. I like to err on the side of caution with my mature mothers.”

Candace winced at being referred to as a “mature” mother. But the doctor was right. Pregnancies for women forty and over held more risks than those of younger women, and since she would turn forty a few months before the baby came, she fell into that category.

Outside Mr. Varner’s office, James surreptitiously wiped his palms on his pants. He wished he weren’t so nervous about the interview. Maybe he should have gone home, changed into a suit and tie in order to look more professional instead of wearing his scrubs.

But Mr. Varner had seen him in his scrubs. That’s what he wore while working here at Hope Haven. He was a nurse!

He licked his lips, swallowed hard and stepped into Penny Risser’s office.

“He’s expecting you.” With an easy gesture, she waved him into the inner sanctum.

Taking a deep breath, James sent up a quick prayer. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Varner?” With all of the plants growing in every corner of the office, the air smelled slightly humid and had to be filled with extra molecules of oxygen. A regular Amazon jungle.

“Ah, James. Yes, indeed.” Standing, Varner buttoned one button on his suit jacket as if meeting a stranger for the first time, and extended his hand. “Thank you for coming. Have a seat. Relax.”

Somehow knowing he wasn’t likely to get the job no matter how well the interview went did nothing to ease James’s anxiety.

“Now then…” Unbuttoning his jacket again, Varner sat in his swivel chair and opened James’s personnel file. “You’ve been here at Hope Haven a long time.”

James had to clear the tightness from his throat before he spoke. “About twenty-two years.”

“All of your performance reviews are quite satisfactory.” He flipped through several pages in the file. “Excellent, in fact. It seems you’ve done very well with all of your assignments. What you did to save that liver transplant patient certainly went well beyond the call of duty.”

“Thank you, sir. Mrs. Witten was worth the effort.”

Varner looked up. “Are you planning to stay here at Hope Haven for some amount of time?”

“Yes, sir. My wife and I purchased a new house a year ago, and our boys attend the local high school. I’d say we’re pretty well settled in Deerford.”

“Fine. Fine. It’s a good place to live, raise a family. That’s how I’ve always thought of Deerford, at any rate.”

It had been so long since James had been interviewed for a new job, he wasn’t sure if he should toot his own horn by mentioning his credentials or simply answer Varner’s questions.

“So you’ve applied for the CCU nurse supervisor’s position?” Varner asked.

“Since Anabelle is retiring, I assume that position is open.”

“Still can’t believe she’s leaving us. It’s a real shame. We’ll all miss her.” Frowning, Varner twisted a pencil between his fingers and then leaned back in his chair. “How much experience do you have working in a Cardiac Care Unit?”

James should have been prepared for that question. He wasn’t, and he didn’t have a very good answer. “Most of my time has been spent in Med/Surg, but I did work with Dr. Drew—Dr. Hamilton on the Holistic Cardiology Program before it was cut. I am on the code blue team, of course. Cardiac incidents occur in all the units with some frequency. I’ve been involved in a good many resuscitations over the years.” That sounded pretty lame, particularly if Innisk’s niece had more direct experience in cardiac care than he did.

“I shudder whenever I hear that code blue announcement over the loudspeaker system. I hate the thought of losing one of our patients.”