The Nurse He Shouldn't Notice by Susan Carlisle

Author:Susan Carlisle
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-04T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

COURT’S gut clenched. That elated mood he’d felt while making love to Maggie was instantly replaced with the old festering feeling of self-doubt and loathing he’d carried for so long. Once again he’d been too distracted to check up on his little patient.

Maggie was already heading out the hut door by the time he grabbed his medical bag and followed. They climbed into the truck and drove around to where Neetie was staying. Maggie jumped out before he’d parked the truck.

He found Neetie lying in the fetal position on a pallet to one side of the hut. Maggie was on her knees beside him, and she looked at him, her eyes full of expectancy. Court’s chest constricted further. She trusted him to make it better. He sure hoped he deserved her belief in him. He’d disappointed others before but he planned never to let it happen again.

“His fever has spiked.” Panic filled her voice as it rose an octave. “I’ll get some water and start trying to bring the fever down.”

Maggie sprang to her feet, dashing across the floor. Court breathed a sigh of relief. If she was in nursing mode, she would worry less. “Now, Neetie, tell me where it hurts.”

Neetie stretched out his legs and rubbed his side.

Court felt Neetie’s lower right quadrant with the tips of his fingers. It was tender and the ridge of his liver more prominent than it had been earlier.

Neetie rubbed high on his arm. “My shoulder hurts too.”

“I’ll give you something to help you feel better in a minute. I need to check you out first.” Court reached into his bag and took out his stethoscope.

He was listening to Neetie’s heart when Maggie returned. She dropped to her knees again and dipped a cloth into a bucket before placing it on Neetie’s forehead.

He took out a small penlight and said, “Neetie, look at me a minute.”

Neetie rolled his head toward Court.

He shined the light into Neetie’s eyes.

The sharp intake of Maggie’s breath told him she’d seen it too. The churning building in Court’s stomach became more pronounced. He had to get control of the situation, manage the panic growing in him, in her. He didn’t want to scare the boy.

She clasped his arm. “His eyes are yellow.”

“The hepatitis has advanced. Rapidly. I’ll need to do tests to know how bad it is.” He hoped he’d caught it early enough to save the boy’s life. This time Court wasn’t at some gala but he was just as helpless being so far away from adequate medical care. He was going to do all he could for Neetie, unlike what he’d done for his other patient. At least he was here for his patient this time.

“We’re going to need to leave at first light to return to the hospital. I don’t want him moved. He’ll need to stay here tonight.”

“I’m going to sit up with him. I’ll tell Zena.”

“He needs a fever reducer. Go get some bottled water out of the truck.”

When Maggie returned she helped Neetie sit upright to take the medicine and tucked him in again.

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.