Hearts in motion, p.26
Hearts in Motion, page 26
Hadley gave Tyne a look that soothed her worry more than
anything the social worker could have said. “He’s the glue in
our little family.”
Innocent as it was, it blew Tyne away to realize this was
the closest Hadley had ever come to saying I love you .
Coupled with that look, it pierced Tyne’s heart with joy.
Blinking so that she wouldn’t start bawling, Tyne reached
out and brushed Hadley’s hand with her fingers.
“Aww, look at you two,” Zelda said. “I’m pretty sure this
paperwork is going to soar through the courts.”
“Is that all you need?” Hadley asked.
“Yes, except for the interview with Owen, but I hate to
wake him up. I can come back another day.”
There wasn’t a hint of humor in Zelda’s statement, and
Tyne was utterly perplexed. “How are you going to interview
Owen?”
“Just a standard set of age-appropriate questions,” Zelda
said as though the answer wasn’t ludicrous. “Completely
routine.”
“Age-appropriate?”
Tyne
looked
from
Hadley’s
dumbfounded face to Zelda, who looked increasingly uneasy.
“Our nephew doesn’t even turn one until next week,”
Hadley added.
“No wonder he seemed so small.” Zelda’s hand flew to
her mouth. “Did you say nephew?”
“Yes.” Tyne exchanged another look with Hadley. “My
brother was Owen’s father, and Hadley’s sister was his
mom.”
Zelda nodded slowly, like she was absorbing the details
for the first time but unable to add everything up. “And
you’re trying to adopt him?”
Tyne furrowed her brows. “Is that what this home study
is for? I thought we were still working on the co-
guardianship thing.”
“Why would you need that when you’re already his foster
parents?” Zelda seemed ba ed.
“I don’t think we are.” Tyne’s eyes darted to Hadley. “Are
we?”
“Uh…” The twist in conversation appeared to have
rendered Hadley speechless. “Not that I—”
“Wait, wait.” Zelda sat on the couch and pulled out her
stack of files again. “Owen Brisby, right?”
“No,” Tyne corrected. “Owen Briggs.”
It was a good thing Zelda was sitting down already
because it looked like she might pass out. “You two aren’t
the married couple adopting your three-year-old foster
son?”
“Us?” Tyne tittered nervously. “We’re not married. We’re
barely dating.” Did she say dating? That was the last thing
they needed to reveal to an o cer of the court.
Hadley rushed to jump in. “What she’s trying to say is,
we’re supposed to be talking about Owen Briggs, age eleven
months. Are you, or are you not, assigned to his case?”
“Hold on.” Zelda shu ed a few files. “Okay, now I have
the right folder. Sorry about that.”
“Owen Briggs .” Tyne emphasized the last name.
“Yes.” Zelda’s jaw tensed as she held up her mammoth
stack of folders. “Do you have any idea how many visits I
handle every week? We’re so understa ed; my workload has
doubled since the beginning of the year. Twelve of my cases
are in same-sex households, and I have four kids named
Owen to evaluate this week alone. It’s a very popular name.”
For a brief second, Hadley looked as if she wanted to
strangle the social worker, but then she regained control in
that way Tyne admired so much. “I suppose it’s an honest
mistake. Sounds like there isn’t much about us that’s
unique.”
The social worker shook her head as she skimmed
through the file she held open, definitely the correct one this
time. “Actually, there is, and if I’m totally honest, that’s part
of what caused my confusion. Parents dying without a will,
Boston attorneys, relatives from two di erent sides of the
family locked in a custody battle and completely unable to
reach a compromise.”
As Zelda read through the exhaustive list of their
shortcomings, Tyne felt like she’d shrunk to about an inch in
height. “It sounds bad when you say it all together like that.”
“When I read this file, I expected to walk into a war zone.
Then I met you two. Is it any wonder I got confused?” Zelda
waved her hand, encompassing them both, which was the
first time Tyne fully realized she and Hadley had chosen to
sit side by side on the loveseat, arms looped and fingers
clasped. “Forgive me if I’m out of line here, but are you sure
you two don’t want to adopt?”
“Eventually,” Tyne said, her voice small. “After a judge
decides which one of us gets to.”
“I meant together.” Zelda pressed her lips together,
looking like she was trying to decide whether to continue. “I
know you’re not the married couple I assumed you were, but
I think it’s fair to say you’re also not the bitter old
backstabbing aunts I expected you to be either. No o ense.”
“None taken,” Hadley sounded as disconcerted as Tyne
felt to discover the social worker had expected them to be a
pair of acrimonious, double-crossing shrews.
“Everything I’ve seen today tells me you two are doing a
fantastic job raising Owen together. You make a great team,
better than many families I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot.”
Once again, the young woman’s expression betrayed exactly
how much she must have experienced in the course of doing
her tough job. “Have you thought about adopting your
nephew together?”
“How?” Tyne leaned in, confused but intrigued. “We
already told you we’re not married.”
“You don’t have to be,” Zelda said. “The state allows
unmarried couples to adopt.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” said Hadley, her face
mirroring Tyne’s own conflicting emotions.
“I assure you, it is. I’ve seen it before, and frankly, from
what I’ve seen of you two, it’s something you might want to
give more thought.” Zelda checked her watch and hopped to
her feet. “I’ve gotta run. I’m going to be late for my next
appointment. Mind if I take one for the road?” Zelda pointed
to the tray of cookies.
“Sure,” Tyne responded with a shrug. She had too much
else on her mind now to give any thought to snacks.
“Thanks. They’re delish.” Zelda grabbed one from the
tray and added a second for good measure.
Owen’s cry came over the baby monitor.
Zelda laughed. “Look who’s up. I guess I don’t have to
worry about that interview, though.”
“I’ll go get him,” Hadley said, heading quickly to the
stairs. “Thank you, Zelda.”
“My pleasure. See you next time.” The social worker
lifted her hand in a wave and followed Tyne to the door. “As
for my report from today, there’s no cause for concern. It’s
all positive, no matter which way you two decide to
proceed.”
“Thank you for that.” Tyne shook her hand.
Zelda held on for an extra second, giving Tyne’s hand a
pat. “Good luck. And I’m serious about the co-adoption idea.
I have a feeling it would work out for you two really well.”
“I’ll think about it.” Tyne watched the woman return to
her car before shutting the door. Her insides were shaky, and
she couldn’t decide if it was bad or good.
She had a lot to think about all right.
C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N
Hadley drove past the park in the center of the square
where preparations for the upcoming Fourth of July
festivities were already under way. American flags flapped in
the wind and a stage for a live band was being set up. She did
a quick memory check to ensure she knew what day it was.
The holiday wasn’t this weekend, right? The Briggs were
hosting a big party on the fifth, and Tyne would kill her if
she missed it. No, she was pretty sure she still had another
week to go.
She parked in the sta lot at Pioneer Valley Hospital,
enjoying the bright sunshine on her face as she walked
across the hot asphalt toward the entrance to the emergency
department. It still felt weird sometimes to work the day
shift after so many years of vampire hours, but she had to
admit there were benefits to it when you had a family
waiting for you at home.
Family.
Her reaction to the word used to be one of ambivalence.
Now the thought of Tyne greeting her at the door, Owen in
her arms, after a long shift made Hadley break into a grin
from ear to ear. And knowing how very temporary it all was
kept her up many nights.
An ambulance pulled into the bay, and Hadley quickened
her steps, putting all thoughts out of her head except what
she needed to do her job. Most of the patients she had
treated since her arrival at Pioneer Valley were exactly what
one would expect at a small hospital. Lots of sprained ankles,
broken bones, headaches, cuts, and stomach pains. The
arrival of an ambulance by definition meant a more serious
emergency, and Hadley wanted in on the action.
Almost as soon as she walked into the building and
through the ER doors, Hadley could feel the frenetic energy.
A nurse she recognized whizzed past her down the hall, and
Hadley called after her. “Darla, what’s going on? How can I
help?”
“GSW on his way into trauma room two,” the nurse said
without breaking stride.
A gunshot wound? Hadley doubled her pace. “They
brought him here?”
“This was the closest facility that could stabilize him. I
heard they’ve sent for the helicopter.”
“Jesus.” That was some next-level excitement for this
sleepy little place.
A cacophony at the end of the hall told Hadley they’d
arrived at the right place. An EMT was performing chest
compressions while Dr. Cassidy, two nurses, and several
technicians surrounded the patient on the gurney.
A harried Dr. Cassidy waved her over as soon as Hadley
entered the room. “Dr. Moore, I need you over here. Working
in the city, I’m thinking you may have seen more bullet
wounds than I have.”
“Sadly so.” Hadley shrugged on protective gear as she
made a beeline for the patient. “What do we know?”
“Patient is a male, mid-twenties, with a gunshot wound
to his chest. He coded as they were getting him out of the
ambulance. We’re getting the IVs going and preparing to
intubate.”
“Good start.” Hadley flagged down one of the nurses.
“Quick, let’s cut these clothes o him. I need to see the
extent of the damage.”
As soon as the patient was naked, Hadley scanned his
body for wounds. There was just the one, right near his
heart. She made a quick calculation of the bullet’s trajectory.
“It’s nicked his heart. I’m almost sure of it. How long until
Dr. Greene arrives?”
“Mid-July,” Dr. Cassidy replied. “He’s on vacation.”
“Shit.” Dr. Greene was the most reliable of the hospital’s
very limited selection of surgeons. “He’s going to need his
chest opened. Is there a trauma or thoracic surgeon on call?”
“Dr. Chen. He’s on his way in, but it could take another
twenty minutes.”
“This guy doesn’t have twenty minutes. He needs a
thoracotomy now.” Hadley knew that after fifteen minutes
without a pulse, the window for performing this potentially
lifesaving technique to access and repair the damage to his
heart would be shut. “Have you done them before?”
“An emergency thoracotomy?” Dr. Cassidy gave a hollow
laugh. “Uh, no. I mean, it was in the curriculum, but I’ve
never done one for real. How about you?”
Hadley cleared her throat. “Once.”
“Well then,” Dr. Cassidy said, “looks like he’s all yours.”
“Just so we’re clear, there’s not a single surgeon in the
hospital right now we can call on to crack this guy open?”
“Afraid that’s right.”
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Shit was getting
real.
This was the adrenaline rush Hadley lived for.
“Get the thoracotomy tray,” Hadley directed, her voice
strong and confident. “We’ve got a penetrating chest trauma
and no pulse. We sure as hell can’t make him any worse.
Hopefully, by the time we get a look inside and find the
damage, Dr. Chen will be here to stitch him up good as new.”
After a quick splash of Betadine across the patient’s chest,
Hadley gripped the scalpel. “Hold compressions.”
If she were back in Boston, no way would she be doing
this. They would never ask an emergency physician to
perform a procedure like this when there were always a
dozen specialists on hand to take the lead. The one time in
her life she’d been volunteering at an emergency field
hospital and had to step in to perform the procedure herself,
there’d been a qualified surgeon on standby to provide
definitive treatment the moment the patient was stabilized.
She would’ve considered it unthinkable to start cutting
otherwise, but she simply didn’t have any other choice this
time.
Michael would hand me my ass for pulling a stunt like this.
But she was still going to do it, because if she didn’t, well,
the patient was dead already.
Trying not to think about how awkward the 10-blade
scalpel felt in her hand, Hadley sliced along the curve of the
ribs, through the skin and subcutaneous tissue, to the
muscles that run between the ribs. These she cut through
with heavy scissors, pushing two fingers into the incision to
move the patient’s lung out of the way. Next came the
sternum, which the trauma shears made short work of.
“Rib spreaders.” Hadley was moving at lightning speed,
not because she was that confident in what she was doing
but because she didn’t have a choice. “I need this lung out of
the way so I can see.”
Dr. Cassidy’s gloved hand quickly appeared with a
retractor, and as soon as she’d moved it, Hadley could see
the man’s heart, purple and still. There was the hole, clear as
day, such a tiny thing to have caused so much trouble.
“Where’s Dr. Chen?” Hadley asked, debating how much
more she should do.
“Still several minutes out,” a voice answered.
Not close enough.
“Right. I can put a suture in there if I can reach it.”
Hadley carried through with this plan, drawing on
techniques she hadn’t practiced in years, but which
mercifully returned to her at the moment she needed them
most. “I’m going to give the heart a gentle squeeze, see if I
can get some blood to his brain.”
As she did this, Hadley examined the membrane
surrounding the heart. “Huh. I see some blood clots in the
pericardium.”
She cleared away a few large clots before giving the heart
another gentle squeeze. Suddenly, the man’s heart leaped to
life in her hand. “Oh, my God. It’s beating.”
“The helicopter has landed,” someone announced, “and
Dr. Chen’s car just pulled up outside the entrance.”
The news was most welcome, though Hadley wasn’t sure
who’d delivered it. She was too busy marveling at the
rhythmic thumping of her patient’s heart and the steady
movement of his lungs as they inflated with air.
“Can I get a blood pressure?” Hadley called out. She felt a
mix of shock and elation as the numbers came back
astonishingly good. “Well, holy shit. Welcome back to the
land of the living.”
“Unbelievable,” Dr. Cassidy said, her voice filled with
awe. “What’s next?”
“He’s stable for the moment, and I’d rather not
jeopardize that doing the wrong thing, so let’s monitor the
bleeding and keep him sedated until Dr. Chen can take over.”
The surgeon dashed into the trauma room moments later.
It surprised him how little he still needed to do, but Hadley
was more than happy to let him take over. As soon as that
heart had started to beat beneath her fingers, every ounce of
fear she probably should’ve been experiencing the whole
time had hit her like a proverbial ton of bricks.
The reason was simple. When her patient was dead, there
