The Doctor's Damsel in Distress

Sighing, Mrs. Cline asked, “Sort of like what the ventilator did?”

“Exactly.” Levi placed his hand over hers, patting her in a comforting gesture. “Nurse Swanson will get you set up for BiPAP use for the remainder of your hospital stay and at discharge a durable medical equipment company will be contacted about providing one for home use. I’m going to want you to continue using the machine every night to help keep you from ending up back in the hospital.”

The woman nodded her assent. “Just so long as it helps me breathe and keeps me off that ventilator, I’m willing to do whatever is necessary.”

“Helping you breathe is the idea.” Levi gently squeezed the woman’s hand.

Just to keep herself busy, Madison scribbled a note on the small pad of paper she kept in her scrub top pocket. Checking to make sure Mrs. Cline was comfortable first, she followed Levi out of the room.

“Why did you want me to stay?” She hadn’t really done anything except scribble notes on a small pad she kept in her scrub top pocket and watch Levi with his patient.

“So you could get her BiPAP order set up for me.” He stopped walking, standing just inside the inset door leading into Mrs. Cline’s room, giving them a minute amount of privacy.

“You could have just told me you were ordering BiPAP and at what pressures and I could have entered it into the computer.”

“I could have,” he agreed, grinning, staring straight into her eyes and making her belly do somersaults. “But then I wouldn’t have gotten to spend time with you.”

Forget somersaults. Now her stomach had taken up skydiving. Whee! She arched a brow and barely contained the happiness threatening to ooze out of every pore of her. “That counts as time spent with me?”

He laughed. “It counts, but I agree that it isn’t enough. You want to have dinner tonight?”

Oh, yeah. But she just arched her brow a notch higher. “Are you going to cancel on me?”

“Not by text message if I do,” he assured her, looking appropriately sheepish. “I really am sorry I had to cancel on you that night.”

Should she tell him about how Simon had canceled on her time and again via text message? That she’d gotten to the point she’d hated to hear the buzzing sound of her phone signaling a new text message?

“You never did tell me why you had to cancel.” In Simon’s case, she’d later learned he’d canceled when a “better offer” had come along. Why hadn’t she caught onto the fact he’d been cheating on her? Then again, one only saw what one wanted to see and she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge that Simon was a no-good, lying, cheating son of a gun.

“You never asked.”

Right. She hadn’t. Because she hadn’t been sure if she’d had the right to ask or not. But that was the old Madison coming through, the doormat one. The new Madison would demand to know. She opened her mouth to make demands, but before she could speak, he continued.

“But for the record,” Levi continued, leaning closer, she was sure he was closer than he had been only moments before, “my father showed up in town unexpectedly and had made plans that included me. I spent most of my time off last week jumping through his hoops.” He sighed, glanced at his watch. “Actually, dinner tonight will have to be a late dinner, thanks to him.” His gaze lifted, met hers, and regarded her curiously. “Unless you’d be willing to help me jump.”

“What kind of jumping?” she asked cautiously, while relief flooded her. He’d been helping his dad. Not canceling because he’d had a better offer. Not canceling because she hadn’t been good enough to want to spend time with. Still, he should have called.

“That’s why I like you, Madison. You’re smart like that.” He grinned. “Actually, this time my father’s hoops aren’t too bad.” He winced as if reconsidering his comment. “Well, at least they’re for a good cause. He partnered with the hospital to open a new facility for domestic violence.”

“I heard something about that the other day, but didn’t know your father was involved. The Margaret House, right?”

“Margaret was my mother.”

“Oh.” Madison let the implications of those four little words sink in. A domestic violence center was being named after his mother. Had she been the victim? Madison stared at Levi, wondering at what his past held. “Is the house for women who’ve been abused?”

“Actually, it’s a treatment facility providing counseling for victims, the abuser, and any children involved, in both individual and group settings. There are plans to set up a safe house for abuse victims, but that’s still in the pipeline.”

“What exactly do you need me to do?”

“My father has put me in charge of the grand opening gala. It’s to be a big to-do, lots of press and bigwigs to raise awareness within the community. The biggest challenge is that, like everything else in his life, my father expects everything to happen pronto. The grand opening is in four weeks.”

“Four weeks?”

“Yep.” Levi laughed with a hint of irony. “The man has an idea and thinks if he throws enough money around it’ll come to fruition.”

“And he expects you to make this grand opening happen?”

“Yes, he does.”