Angelica glanced at her husband before she looked at Dex. “What is it?”
Dex continued to stare at the paperwork before he finally set it down. His hands came together between his knees, and he stared down at the floor for a while. “We have even less time than we thought.”
The meeting lasted for nearly an hour, and Dex discussed the full picture of Mr. Torres’s heart condition, how everything was affecting his bodily function as a whole, and exactly how he intended to fix it.
Dex never interrupted his patients, never got annoyed with all the questions, and when they didn’t understand something, he was happy to repeat what he said, and if they still didn’t get it, he would explain it in a different way.
He had more empathy and kindness than anyone I’d ever met.
This guy was like the Pope or something.
“So, what are his chances?” Angelica asked, a wet tissue balled into her hand.
Dex rubbed his palms together slowly as he considered his response. “Less than 50%. There’s a lot that can go wrong when I get in there. I’ll be assisted by a pulmonary specialist as well, and I already have someone in mind for the position. I haven’t asked him yet, but he’ll say yes.”
Angelica nodded slowly.
Marc was eerily calm, even though he was the one with his life on the line. “And how much is all this going to cost?”
Dex gave a slight shrug. “I can’t say with complete accuracy because the insurance companies have a lot of input when it comes to coverage, and even if your insurance says they’ll cover it, there’s a good chance they’ll find a good reason to only cover half or whatever bullshit. To be frank, your insurance isn’t that great, so you’re looking to pay for most of this out of pocket, which will come out to…at least five hundred thousand.”
Angelica immediately inhaled a sharp breath at the number.
Marc dropped his gaze in defeat.
“If I donate my time, I can drop that number down significantly, but all the other costs are unavoidable. The nurses, the procedure center, drugs, et cetera. They’re unavoidable. But we can get the rest covered by my charity organization, so don’t worry about the cost.”
Angelica stilled at Dex’s announcement, looking at him like she’d never really seen him before. “What?”
“I don’t understand,” Marc whispered. “You would…do that?”
Dex nodded. “Absolutely. No one should be denied the care they need because they can’t afford it.”
Angelica turned to look at her husband and grabbed his hand on her thigh.
He squeezed it before he looked at her.
Dex dropped his gaze, as if to give them privacy.
I sat there…on the verge of tears.
Dex continued to look at the ground. “Don’t stress about the money. Focus on getting through this.” He lifted his chin and looked at them again.
Angelica stared at him, her wet eyes heavy with tears. “You came out of retirement for us…and now you’re not even going to charge us? I just…I just don’t understand how that makes sense.”
“I don’t either,” Marc said.
Dex shrugged. “It’ll work out. I have a lot of sponsors that donate to my organization so I can provide care to those who can’t afford it. And most of my other clients are well-off, so they pay my full rate. It evens out.”
He’d just restarted his business from the ground up, and while he had his parents for financial support at the moment, the money wasn’t important to him at all. Just getting Marc the care he needed was the only thing on Dex’s mind.
Angelica and Marc looked at each other again, still in disbelief.
“Well…thank you.” Angelica looked at Dex with watery eyes. “I don’t know what else to say.”
Marc nodded.
Dex massaged his fingertips as he absorbed their words. “I’m going to do my very best to take care of you, but you should know that just because I’m labeled as the best doesn’t guarantee success. Sometimes, there are things that occur beyond medicine…things I can’t control.” He lifted his gaze and looked at them again. “The reason I left medicine in the first place is because I lost a patient who meant a lot to me. It was a routine procedure, and his family asked me to do it because I’m the best. But I lost him on the table, and I still don’t know why. It still haunts me, still keeps me up at night. I’m a transparent person, so I want you to know the truth, and after a year-long hiatus, I’m not the same doctor I used to be. I’m not as confident. This procedure is a great weight on my shoulders because it’ll make or break me.”
Angelica gave a slight nod. “Your father mentioned that when I came to him. But I have complete faith in you, Dex. Even if your confidence is compromised, if your skills are rusty after taking a year off, your heart is the same as it’s always been. You care about my husband deeply, care about your patients, and that’s something no one else has. That assuages my fears, because for better or worse, I’ll know that you did everything you possibly could to bring my husband back to me.”