Blue Bayou by Joann Ross

Author:Joann Ross [Ross, JoAnn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 1416503781
Amazon: B000FBJGEA
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2002-04-02T05:00:00+00:00

Having expected World War III, Dani had been amazed when her father had actually agreed, without being held at gunpoint, to undergo a series of medical tests. She would have been happier if he'd been willing to go to a doctor in the city, but hadn't wanted to push her luck by insisting.

The dates on the medical degrees tastefully framed on Dr. Eve Ancelet's office wall revealed her to be in her early thirties. She was a slender woman with warm eyes and a bit brisk, but friendly attitude. After shaking hands, she folded hers atop a thick manila folder. Dani was grateful when she didn't waste time with small talk but got right to the point.

“I've already discussed all this with the judge after we'd gotten the results back yesterday,” she said. “He gave me permission to share the details with you.”

“Which is handy, since he refuses to discuss anything about his condition with me.”

“It's hard for a man accustomed to control to surrender it.”

“You'd think he would have grown used to that in prison,” Dani said dryly.

“He undoubtedly learned to deal with it. In his own way. But I doubt he liked it.” The doctor opened the folder. “First of all, the diagnosis by the prison doctor was correct: your father does have congestive heart failure.”

The word failure carried with it a frightening finality. Dani's heart sank.

She tried to listen carefully, but the dreadful idea of her father dying before she found a way into his heart splintered Dani's concentration and many of the words became merely a buzz in her head.

“We're not sure how he contracted it, but my educated guess is that he suffered a virus which settled in his heart muscle,” Dr. Ancelet was saying when Dani dragged her mind back from wondering how emotionally harmed Matt would be if his grandfather happened to die days after he'd finally met him. “Going back through the records, and what he told me about a time shortly before his arrest, it appears he'd suffered a case of flu. It's particularly memorable since apparently it kept him off the bench for nearly two weeks and all his cases had to be reassigned.”

“I remember. He was furious.” At himself, Dani recalled. “In fact, it was the first time in my life I could remember him being ill, so I was going to come take care of him, but I'd just discovered I was pregnant with Matt, and he insisted I stay home rather than risk catching something that might hurt my baby.”

Dani rubbed a hand against her chest, where her own heart had begun to ache. If she had insisted on returning to Blue Bayou, would her father have recovered sooner? Could she have prevented his potentially fatal heart disease?

“He was right to be cautious. The fetus is far more vulnerable in the first trimester. However,” the doctor said briskly, “there's no point in wasting time on what-ifs. Right now we need to concentrate on managing your father's illness so he can regain a better quality of life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.