The Perfect Treatment by Rebecca Lang

Author:Rebecca Lang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

AFTER buying a cup of coffee from the little coffee-shop off the front lobby of the hospital, Abby went to sit on a bench on a patch of grass in front of the building, shaded by a tree from the early summer sun. The face of Kaitlin Contini stayed in her mind as she sipped the coffee. Imagine being in a coma for over a year, she thought consideringly. Totally out of it. The thought was sobering to an unbearable degree. At least you wouldn’t know about the deterioration of your body…

Stewart Hadley was walking over the grass towards her when she looked up. He was tall and gangly, with an awkwardness about him that was almost adolescent. His white lab coat was flapping open, his pockets stuffed with the paraphernalia of his job.

‘The nurse said I would find you here.’ He sat down carefully beside her, balancing the Styrofoam cup of coffee that he had brought with him. ‘I want to apologize for my brusqueness earlier. Megan—that’s the nurse up there—bawled me out about it.’ He took a slug of the coffee, swilling it around in his mouth before swallowing. ‘Ah, that’s good…for a guy who’s been up most of the night and didn’t get any breakfast.’

Abby grinned. ‘Apology accepted,’ she said.

‘You probably didn’t get time to read the case history,’ he said.

‘No. I was going to. Then I saw that she’s the wife of Blake Contini. It was a shock. You see, I work with him…don’t know him very well…’ Abby explained how she felt about not wanting to invade their privacy.

‘Yeah,’ Stewart said, ‘I see what you mean. Abby…I saw her when she first came in here. I don’t mind admitting that I think it’s time for her to let go. It sounds awful—my heart bleeds for her—but she’s deteriorated so much. There’s no hope. We have to be realistic. The family decided on a no-code about two weeks ago. It was hard for them. She has two kids.’

‘What happened, Stewart?’ Abby asked quietly.

‘To cut a long story short, she had a long-standing affair with another man, who was probably the one who gave her AIDS. They went to Jamaica together for a holiday and had a boating accident. He is—or was, more like it—some sort of rich playboy, apparently. He escaped with minor injuries while she was thrown from the boat and hit her head, the result being the coma which she never came out of.’

‘Oh, God,’ Abby murmured, feeling physically sick. ‘How awful. Were they…were she and Dr Contini separated then?’

‘No, they were still married, as far as I know. I told you it was messy, didn’t I? And I mean in more ways than one. It gets worse. She also broke both legs and injured her spine. She’s paralyzed from the waist down.’

‘I had no idea. Of course, Dr Contini’s only been at University Hospital a short time. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before it will be common knowledge.’

‘You bet,’ Stewart said grimly.

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