The Heart Surgeon's Secret Son

Even though the man’s heart started beating after the paramedics had administered the electrical shocks, Mr. Reynolds wasn’t out of the woods. If he made it through surgery, who knew what kind of damage had occurred to his brain and body during the time he’d technically been dead?

Brain damage could occur with even a small amount of oxygen deprivation.

And now, when the man was in surgery and there was nothing to keep Daniel from going out to the waiting room, he couldn’t go.

Couldn’t face the boy.

His mother.

Kimberly.

Especially Kimberly.

Because he’d seen the look in her eyes.

She’d known exactly what he’d thought.

That scared the hell out of him.

How could she have been pregnant, had his baby, and not told him?

Just because she’d dumped him, it didn’t mean he’d have turned his back on her when she’d discovered she was pregnant. Had she really thought he’d not care? That he wouldn’t have chosen to stay by her side and raise their child in lieu of coming to Boston? Or, better yet, he would have figured out a way to bring her with him. It might have meant giving up his scholarship, but he’d have found a way.

He had a son. A child. A baby.

Not a baby.

A fourteen-year-old.

A son he’d never seen. Never held. Never touched.

A son who wouldn’t recognize his own father.

Damn her.

Damn her for what she’d stolen from him.

All the memories he’d never have of things like first words, first steps, first days of school, first baseball games. All gone. All beyond his ability of ever knowing, ever experiencing.

How could she have done that to him?

He’d not thought it possible, but in that moment he hated Kimberly.

Hated her for what she’d taken and selfishly kept for herself.

“Dr. Travis?” A cardiac nurse tapped him on the shoulder. “Dr. Jessup asked me to check on you. He said you were feeling poorly. Do you need me to get you anything?”

Her smile was friendly, concerned.

Feeling poorly? Greg had no idea.

Daniel shook his head. “Tell him I’m fine and that I’ll be in my office. When he’s finished with Ken Reynolds, have him let me know.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

KIMBERLY’s heart went out to Beverly Reynolds and how lost she must be, not knowing if her husband would live or not. The pale woman paced back and forth across the waiting room.

A nurse had come out not long after they’d arrived at the hospital to tell them Ken had been taken into the operating room. That’s the last they’d heard and it seemed like a long time ago.