She took a deep breath and walked into the treatment room.
‘Mommy!’
Reuben was sitting on the edge of the examination couch, his arms extended towards her. She walked over and enveloped him in a bear hug. His eyes were watery. ‘I need the big needle again, Mommy,’ he whispered in her ear.
She knelt down before him. ‘I know, honey. But Mommy will stay with you and Dr Jonas will have it all over in a flash. Just think about those lovely wrestlers you want to pick later today.’
Toni came in with a brightly coloured robe in her hands. ‘I brought you your favourite one, Reuben—with the monkeys on it.’ She turned to face Abby. ‘Do you want to get him changed or shall I?’
Abby lifted the robe from her hands. ‘I’ll do it. Do you know if they will be long?’
Toni shook her head. ‘Less than ten minutes. Jonas is away to scrub and the anaesthetist will be through in a couple of minutes. I’ve brought some scrubs for you and your … friend,’ her eyes ran up and down the length of Luke. ‘Do you both want to be here?’
She turned and gave Luke a smile. ‘We try to make this as informal as possible. Parents are encouraged to stay with their children throughout, so they can better understand the procedure. And the anaesthetic is very light, just knocks them out for fifteen minutes or so.’
Luke smiled and took the scrubs from her hands. Toni hadn’t been in the consulting room. She’d no idea he knew this stuff like the back of his hand. And she still hadn’t asked about his relationship to Reuben. Was she making an assumption because of their looks?
‘We’re both staying,’ he said decidedly.
Toni gave a nod and left them both to change. Abby ducked into the nearby washroom and came out with her hair tied back from her face and the pale blue scrubs on.
‘Go and get ready,’ she said quietly as she bent over Reuben and started dispensing with his jeans.
Luke came out in time to meet the anaesthetist and listen to her laugh and joke with Reuben as she explained about the little mask she’d use to make him sleepy. Luke wondered how it must feel to have to do this every day. To have to look after sick children and their parents.
Jonas Bridges appeared back in the room, scrubbed and ready to start. He gave a little nod to the anaesthetist, who lifted the mask above Reuben’s face. Seconds later, his hand still ensconced in Abby’s, Reuben was fast asleep.
The staff moved seamlessly and like clockwork. Reuben was turned on his side, positioned so the posterior iliac spine of the pelvic bone was revealed. A few sweeps with antiseptic and they were ready.
Abby swallowed the enormous lump that had appeared in her throat. Reuben was sleeping and she watched as Jonas injected some lidocaine into the area around the site to help with Reuben’s pain control later.
His gloved hands removed the needle from its protective covering and prodded Reuben’s skin to determine where to insert it.
She felt something wash over her. The same feeling that had swept over her in that room in Pelican Cove when the First Lady had had her baby. Like a warm summer heat enveloping her skin. But it wasn’t comforting. It was restricting. It was clawing at her throat and her lungs. She gave a little cough as she tried to pull in some air.
But it wasn’t working. The nausea from earlier returned with a vengeance. Gripping at her stomach muscles, making her retch. She lifted her hand to her mouth. Luke’s eyes turned to her, narrowing instantly.
The room was closing in on her. How could anyone breathe in here? There was no air. It was suffocating. Tingling sensations started in the palms of her hands and crept up her arms towards her chest. Her heart was racing, liked a trapped butterfly beating frantically inside her chest.
Her eyes darted around the room. Why was everyone else okay? Didn’t they feel it too? Were the anaesthetic gases leaking?
The voices inside her head started playing automatically. Calm down. Calm down.
But she couldn’t. She was going to die in here. Her skin was covered in sweat, she could feel rivulets running down her spine and catching in the waistband of her scrubs.
Her eyes fixed on Reuben lying on the examination couch. His short white-blond hair and pale skin. Such an angel. Reuben looked like an angel.
Angel. Death.
She had to get out of here. She couldn’t be in here. Whatever it was, it was going to kill her. She dropped Reuben’s hand from hers and pulled back from the side of the couch. Try as she might, she couldn’t get a breath. She couldn’t fill her lungs with air. Her head swam. She was dizzy. She was going to be sick.
Luke placed his strong arm on hers. His voice full of concern. ‘Abby?’
It didn’t sound right. His voice sounded distorted, as if it belonged to someone else. She tried to take a step backwards and staggered, reaching out behind her to grab hold of the wall.
‘I have to go,’ she muttered as she stumbled towards the door.
‘Wait a minute, Abby. What’s wrong?’ Luke’s arms gripped her shoulders, his face directly in front of hers. But it was swimming. It wasn’t staying in one place. And he was right in front of her, stealing the air that she so desperately needed to breathe. She pushed him with all her might, sending him backwards towards Reuben.
She grasped at her throat as she pulled at the doorhandle. What was happening to her?
The last thing she saw was Luke’s eyes, looking at her with pure venom as she wrenched open the door and headed for the clean, fresh air.
CHAPTER TWELVE
LUKE couldn’t believe what he’d just witnessed. Abby—the person who loved her child more than anything—had just run out on him.
She was just his mother all over again. Running out on her child when he needed her most. What kind of parent did that?
His reaction was instantaneous. He moved over towards the examination couch and put his hand in Reuben’s. He was still anesthetised, still sleeping. He would have no idea what had just happened. The little boy’s skin was cool, so he brought his other hand over and gently rubbed some heat into him.
He was aware of the guarded looks around him. The unspoken messages passing between the various members of staff.
Toni, the nurse, touched his shoulder. ‘Do you want to go after her?’
‘No.’ His voice was brusque. He wasn’t going anywhere. His job was here, with Reuben.
Jonas looked up from where he was extracting the bone-marrow aspirate. ‘I’ll be finished in a few minutes. Then we can wake Reuben up again.’
Luke captured the look in his eyes. The knowledge, the expertise.
/> Jonas was still looking at him, his voice quiet. ‘It happens quite a lot, you know.’
‘People run out on their kids?’
Jonas arched an eyebrow at him, before he looked downwards again, slowly removed the needle from Reuben’s hip and pressed down firmly on the site.
‘No. Parents panic. This might seem like a relatively simple procedure. But the results mean a whole lot more. Sometimes the magnitude of the situation doesn’t hit a parent until they’re in here. And they realise that the result of this test could be the difference between life and death for their child. You said you’ve been through this before. You should understand.’
Lord, the man was brutal. He didn’t mince his words. Should he really be working in a place like this?
Luke bit his lip. He lifted his hand and stroked Reuben’s fine blond hair and ran a finger gently down his cheek. This little boy needed someone. This little boy needed him.
Jonas covered the area with a dressing, snapped off his gloves and walked around the bed towards Luke. He pressed a firm hand on his shoulder. ‘Once she’s calmed down, Abby will be distraught about what just happened. If you know her at all, you know that about her.’
Something twisted inside him. He was a doctor. He knew the signs. He should have recognised them quicker. Abby had had a panic attack. She hadn’t run out on her child. She would never run out on her child. So why was he so furious?
Luke ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I can’t leave Reuben. I need to be here for Reuben.’
The anaesthetist gave him a nod. ‘We’re done here. I’m just waking him up. Why don’t you wait until he comes to, then go and find his mom?’
He nodded as she removed the anaesthetic mask. ‘He’s had some local anaesthetic in the site and he’s been given some pain relief so hopefully he’ll be quite comfortable when he wakes up. You can let us know if he needs anything else.’