Chapter 20 #2
Dr. Havelock entered the room and approached the examination table.
“The nurse arrived and is washing up,” he murmured to Dr. Gibson, and turned to Gabriel.
“My lord, there is a seating area beside the operating room. While you wait there with the Winterbornes, we’ll have a look at this young lady’s shoulder. ”
After pressing a kiss to Pandora’s chilled fingers and giving her a reassuring smile, Gabriel left the examination room.
Finding the waiting area, he strode to where Winterborne was seated. Lady Helen was nowhere in sight.
“A female physician?” Gabriel demanded with a scowl.
Winterborne looked faintly apologetic. “I didn’t think to warn you about that. But I can vouch for her—she oversaw Helen’s childbirth and lying-in.”
“That’s a far different matter than surgery,” Gabriel said curtly.
“There have been female physicians in America for over twenty years,” Winterborne pointed out.
“I don’t give a damn what they do in America. I want Pandora to have the best possible medical treatment.”
“Lister has said publicly that Dr. Gibson is one of the best surgeons he’s ever trained. ”
Gabriel shook his head. “If I’m to put Pandora’s life into strangers’ hands, it has to be someone with experience. Not a woman who barely looks old enough to be out of the schoolroom. I don’t want her assisting in the surgery.”
Winterborne parted his lips to argue, then appeared to think better of it. “I would probably have similar thoughts, were I in your place,” he admitted. “The idea of a female physician takes some getting used to.”
Gabriel sat heavily in a nearby chair. He became aware of a fine vibration running through his limbs, a constant hum of nervous tension.
Lady Helen entered the waiting room with a small, folded white towel.
The cloth was damp and steaming. Wordlessly she approached Gabriel and wiped his cheek and lower jaw.
When the cloth came away he saw that it was smudged with blood.
Lifting his hands by turn, she began to clean the bloodstains from the creases of his knuckles and between his fingers.
He hadn’t even noticed that. He began to take the cloth from her to do it himself, but her grip tightened on it.
“Please,” Helen said quietly. “I need to do something for someone.”
He relaxed and let her continue. By the time she’d finished, Dr. Havelock had entered the waiting area. Gabriel stood, his heart pounding with anxiety.
The physician looked grave. “My lord, upon examining Lady St. Vincent with a stethoscope, we detected a rushing noise at the site of the injury, which indicates the forcible ejection of arterial blood. The subclavian artery has been nicked or partially severed. If we try to repair the laceration, there’s a risk of life-threatening complications.
Therefore, the safest solution is to tie it off with a double ligature.
I will assist Dr. Gibson in the process, which could possibly take as long as two hours. In the meantime—”
“Wait,” Gabriel said warily. “You mean Dr. Gibson will assist you.”
“No, my lord. Dr. Gibson will be performing the surgery. She is versed in the newest and most advanced techniques.”
“I want you to do it.”
“My lord, there are very few surgeons in England who would attempt this operation. I am not one of them. Lady St. Vincent’s damaged artery is deeply placed and partially covered by the clavicle bone.
The entire area of operation is perhaps an inch and a half wide.
Saving your wife will be a matter of millimeters.
Dr. Gibson is a meticulous surgeon. Cool-headed.
Her hands are steady, thin, and sensitive—perfect for delicate procedures such as this.
Furthermore, she has been trained in modern antiseptic surgery, which makes the ligature of major arteries far less dangerous than in the past.”
“I want a second opinion.”
The physician nodded calmly, but his gaze was piercing.
“We’ll make the facilities available to anyone you choose, and assist in any way we can.
But you had better fetch him quickly. I know of only a half-dozen cases in the past thirty years with an injury similar to Lady St. Vincent’s that have ever made it to the operating table. She’s minutes away from heart failure.”
Every muscle coiled. Gabriel’s throat closed on a cry of anguish. He couldn’t accept what was happening.
But there was no choice. In a life that had been filled with infinite opportunities, possibilities, and alternatives than most human beings had ever been blessed with... there was no choice, now when it mattered most .
“Of the cases that made it to the operating table,” he asked hoarsely, “how many survived?”
Havelock averted his gaze as he replied. “The prognosis for such an injury is unfavorable. But Dr. Gibson will give your wife the best chance of pulling through.”
Which meant none.
Gabriel’s legs weren’t quite steady beneath him. For a moment he thought he might drop to his knees.
“Tell her to go ahead,” he managed to say.
“You consent to have Dr. Gibson perform the surgery?”
“Yes.”