The Doctor's Guardian

“Keep the card anyway,” he told her. “Just in case. It’ll make both of us feel better.”

“Us?” she questioned uncertainly.

“My grandmother and me.”

“Oh. Of course.” What was she thinking? Why in heaven’s name would the man be making a reference to the two of them as “us”? Of course he was referring to himself and his grandmother.

That stretch in the elevator addled you more than you’re willing to admit, Nika, she upbraided herself. Get a grip.

Nika rallied, pushing on, as the detective, satisfied that he’d made himself clear, started to leave. “And don’t forget to give me your bill,” she called after him.

He didn’t bother turning around or answering her. He just kept walking.

“Um, Nika, I don’t know if anyone’s explained this to you, but eventually, we’re supposed to be charging them for our services, not the other way around,” an amused female voice said behind her.

Turning around, Nika saw that she’d guessed right. Her older sister—older only by eleven months—stood behind her. It was amazing, though, how much Alyx sounded like Sasha, her oldest cousin and the very first Dr. Pulaski to come to this hospital.

“Alyx, what are you doing here?” Nika asked. And even as she formed the words, the answer came to her and her whole countenance lit up. “Did they send you here to help me?” She tried to recall if Alyx had mentioned anything about having the flu. She couldn’t remember.

“No, I snuck up here as soon as I heard. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Alyx’s eyes washed over her quickly, taking inventory of every limb.

“Heard? Heard what?”

“Someone in the E.R. told me that there was a resident stuck in an elevator in between floors,” Alyx told her.

Nika looked at her, a little surprised. “And you immediately thought of me?” she questioned, then pointed out the obvious before her sister could answer. “Alyx, I’m not the only resident that this hospital has.”

Alyx raised her slender shoulders. “What can I tell you? Some of Mama’s paranoia rubbed off on me.” She looked down at a particularly dark streak of dirt on her sister’s lab coat. It was all the evidence that was needed. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Busted.” Nika laughed. She was already moving away. “But I don’t have time to talk about it right now. I have a patient to get back to.” One of many, she added silently. Nika nodded toward Ericka’s door. “I’ll tell you all about it tonight, I promise. Call me when you’re free. If you’re free,” she qualified, thinking of the very handsome policeman her sister had introduced her to when she’d arrived. The policeman who had arrested Alyx’s heart and placed it behind bars for all eternity. Alyx was going to be the first of them to get married, Nikka thought, with a little mistiness tugging at her soul.

“And you’ll start by explaining what you’re offering that somber-looking hunk money for?” Alyx asked, still standing where she was.

“A clean breast of everything,” Nika promised, crossing her heart with her forefinger.

Not knowing the whole story immediately, she could see, was all but killing her older sister. Alyx had always been insatiable when it came to her curiosity. She always had to know everything about everything.

“It’s not nearly as exciting as you think,” was the only crumb she had time to toss her sister before she hurried back into Ericka Baker’s room.

“About time you came back,” Ericka said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her doctor. “I thought maybe you decided to run off with my grandson.”

Nika flashed a smile at the woman as she took her stethoscope out of her pocket. “Sorry to disappoint you, no running off.”

“I’m not the one who’s disappointed,” Ericka informed her with conviction.

“Oh? And just who would be the one who’s disappointed?” Nika asked, humoring the woman.

Ericka didn’t answer her. Instead, the elderly woman merely watched her intently, her message silently conveyed.

And then, sitting up straighter, Ericka announced, “Let’s get this show on the road already,” and began to unbutton the top of her nightgown—she’d brought her own, no doubt refusing to be caught dead in the one that the hospital issued.

“Not so fast, Mrs. Baker,” Nika cautioned, placing her hand over her patient’s to stop the older woman from disrobing. “There’s a little matter of a history and physical to get out of the way first.”

Ericka seemed somewhat annoyed and very impatient. “Nothing’s changed since I saw my doctor two days ago,” the woman told her.

“That might be true,” Nika agreed, humoring her, “but I need to acquaint myself with you and I’ve never taken down your history before.”

Very slowly, a smile of approval slipped over the older woman’s lips. “Believe in crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s, do you?”

“Every time,” Nika told her.

“Not a bad quality, I guess.” She didn’t quite succeed in sounding indifferent. Ericka eyed the physician’s left hand. “You married?”

She thought of her mother, who had been crusading for each of her daughters to get married since Alyx turned twenty. She was desperate to be a grandmother—and have more grandchildren than Uncle Josef and Aunt Magda. “No, I’m not.”

“Planning to be?” Mrs. Baker prodded, watching her carefully as she answered.

“Someday, yes.” But that someday was a long way in the future, Nika added silently. She wanted to get a practice going, wanted to do things that really mattered first. If marriage was in the cards for her, it would happen. But there was enough time to worry about that later.

Ericka cocked her head, still looking at her closely, her expression saying that she was confident she could detect a lie if she heard one. “So there’s no one important in your life right now?”

“You, Mrs. Baker,” Nika told her warmly as she prepared to take the woman’s blood pressure. “You’re important in my life.”

Ericka frowned. “Is that your hokey way of telling me that you’re dedicated?”

“You might say that,” Nika allowed with a laugh. “It’s also a ‘hokey’ way of saying that I care about my patients. Every one of them. And since you’re one of my patients…”

Ericka nodded her head, holding up her hand to keep her doctor from continuing. “I get it. You care about me. Well, if you do, it’s nice to know. Now,” the old woman instructed as she braced herself and raised her chin, “do your worst.”

“What I plan to do, Mrs. Baker,” Nika told her gently, “is my very best.”

Ericka’s head bobbed curtly. “I’ll let you know if you succeed.”

Nika pressed her lips together. She’d come to learn that patients didn’t like it when you laughed at what they said, unless they were intentionally trying to be funny. “I’m counting on it,” she told the woman.

Chapter 4

Nika frowned as she appraised the upper and lower numbers on the blood pressure gauge in her hand. They weren’t what she wanted them to be, especially since the woman in the bed was on blood pressure medication.

“It’s a little high,” she told Ericka as she deflated the cuff. Pausing to make a quick notation of the reading on the woman’s chart, Nika swiftly unwrapped the cuff from the thin arm.

Ericka waved away the note of concern. “Of course it’s high. My new doctor kept me waiting. I got aggravated.”

Nika looked at her. She knew the woman knew better than that. “That wouldn’t have caused your blood pressure to elevate like that unless you were waiting for me in a yard full of pit bulls.” She tucked the cuff away. “I’d like to see that come down a little bit before we finally whisk you off for surgery.”

Ericka made a noise that sounded very much like a snort. “You forfeited the ‘whisking’ part by making me take all these tests you’re talking about first.”

Nika placed a placating hand on top of one of the woman’s blue-veined hands and said gently, “Mrs. Baker, the object here is to make you well, not to see how fast we can get you in and out of the hospital. We don’t take chances with our patients’ lives here.”