CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“You wanted to see me, Dr. Keating?” She was an older white woman who didn’t bother to knock first.
Edmund knew he was aroused, but it couldn’t be helped. He had to address the nurse.
And as soon as he turned toward her, she saw his midsection too. She couldn’t help but see it. His pants had tented.
Maude could see the displeasure all over that old lady’s face.
She seemed shocked as she looked at him.
She’d heard he had a preference for a certain type of woman, but she always thought they would be of a high class like him.
But this girl was his preference too? It was as if she was offended, as if he had to be kidding her.
But Edmund didn’t “kid” with anybody. “Miss Drayton didn’t have breakfast this morning. Why is that?”
“Apparently her doctor wants her to fast so they can run additional tests.”
“That’s not in her chart at all. And I spoke with her doctor. He said he already ran tests.”
Maude looked at him. “Tests? What tests?”
Edmund looked at her. “You haven’t gone to testing yet?”
Maude shook her head. “No sir.”
“But you’ve been here all night!”
“And they ignored me all night. Except when they wanted to ask me some of their stupid questions.”
Edmund looked at the nurse. “Is this true? She haven’t been to testing yet?”
The supervisor nodded. “It’s true. Doctor Mills forgot to order any tests. I assumed he would when he made his rounds later this morning.”
Maude could tell Edmund was angry now. “Mills is officially removed as her physician of record,” he said to the supervisor. “From now on, I’m her doctor.”
The nurse was floored. “You, sir? The chief of surgery?”
“I’ll chart what tests I want run on her, and I want them completely presently. I’m holding you personally responsible to see that my orders are carried out.”
“Yes sir.”
“And when Mills arrive this morning, tell him to come see me. If I’m still in surgery, tell him to wait.”
“Yes sir.”
Edmund glanced at his watch. It was almost six a.m. He looked at Maude. “You’ve been here since nine-thirty last night, am I correct?”
“Around that time, yes sir.”
Then he looked at the supervisor. “You were on duty an hour-and-a-half later?”
“Yes sir.”
“Why did you allow Dr. Mills to leave this hospital before he ordered any tests on an assault victim?”
Maude wanted to know that too.
The supervisor was embarrassed. “There must have been some miscommunication,” she said.
“It was nastiness and arrogance,” Maude said to the nurse. “Including from you. That wasn’t miscommunicated at all.”
The supervisor wanted to fight back, Maude could tell, but she was afraid of Edmund.
“Furthermore,” Edmund said to the supervisor, “I want you to send an aide to get Miss Drayton exactly what she wants. Eating will not affect any tests I’m ordering for her.
If they don’t serve what she wants downstairs, then I want you to phone a service to go to a restaurant nearby and get exactly what she wants. ”
“Yes sir.”
Then Edmund looked at their patient. “What would you like to have for breakfast this morning, Maude?”
“I would love some pancakes and bacon. I haven’t eaten in two days.”
Edmund frowned. “Two days? Why?”
“The trip to Dillon took nineteen hours and I wasn’t trying to eat on no stank bus. I figured I’d . . .”
Edmund knew what she was going to say. She figured Natasha’s brother would have had the decency to feed her before she turned right back around to make that nineteen hour bus ride back home. But he didn’t even have the decency to call her a ride. Or give her one. His guilt was mounting.
He looked at the supervisor. “Send an aide to get her pancakes and bacon.”
“And a Pepsi please.”
“And a Pepsi,” said Edmund. And the supervisor, giving Maude a harsh look, did as she was told.
“Oh and Nurse Camp?”
The supervisor stopped and turned to him. “Sir?”
“I want Miss Drayton moved to the presidential suite forthwith.”
Now he was going too far. Maude could see it all over that pinch-faced nurse. “The presidential suite? But sir, that suite is reserved for the most exclusive of dignitaries that visit this hospital.”
But Edmund would not be deterred. “You heard my order. If she’s not moved in thirty minutes, I’ll have you fired for insubordination.”
“Yes sir.”
“And do not clock out until every order I was given is carried out. Mills is ultimately responsible. I’m not laying his neglect at your feet. But my orders had better be carried out.”
“They will, sir,” the supervisor said. She couldn’t help but look at Maude again with that disgusted look on her face.
But Maude smiled at her. She was tired of being treated as if she was a piece of trash that had blown into that hospital.
Now that the shoe was on the other foot, and that highfalutin’ nurse supervisor was being treated like trash too, it felt satisfying to Maude.
A little like justice. Although she knew it was only temporary.
“What are you waiting for?” Edmund asked her. “Go!”
Yes sir,” the nurse said and glanced a final time at the woman they all thought was just another poor, powerless black patient. And then she left the room.
“Can you release me after I eat?” Maude asked Edmund. “I called Greyhound. They have a bus pulling out just before noon today that’ll take me home to Dillon. I don’t like it here.”
“I’m taking you home to Dillon,” Edmund blurted out before he had even considered such a thing.
Maude was shocked. “You?”
“You heard me accurately.”
“But are you sure? It’s nineteen hours on a bus alright, with all the stops we have to make, but it’s something like fifteen hours by car. It’s still a very long drive.”
She had no clue about Edmund’s lifestyle. Or the fact that he owned his own plane. The idea of him driving fifteen hours or even having his driver drive that long was ludicrous.
But going all the way to Dillon, Georgia, by whatever means, was ludicrous too. Especially since he knew it wasn’t to rush to the aid of his sister the way he used to do time and time again, but because something deep inside of him wasn’t ready to let Maude go.
But she’d never know that. “I need to go to Dillon myself and find out what’s going on with Natasha,” he decided to say, although he’d given up on that sister of his years ago.
He was going to take Maude back to Georgia because of Maude.
Why? He couldn’t begin to know. But he knew she was the reason.
But hearing his response was music to Maude’s ears. “That would be wonderful, sir. She’ll be so happy to see you.”
“You needn’t call me sir,” he said.
She waited for him to tell her what she should call him then, but he didn’t bother to say. So she took it upon herself. “Thank you, Edmund,” she said.
Edmund was a name he despised, mainly because it was his overbearing father’s name, but it sounded nice on Maude’s lips. “But neither one of us will be going back there today, I’m afraid.”
Maude was disappointed. “Why not?”
“I want you to have a battery of tests to make certain all is well internally. Some will not be quick turnarounds. You will have to stay another night.”
The anguish on Maude’s face was notable. But it couldn’t be helped.
Edmund looked at her with that contemplative look again. “You don’t like it here.”
“I hate it here.”
“That’s why I’m moving you to the presidential suite. You’ll be far more comfortable there. And treated far better, I assure you.”
She looked at him. And for some reason, she believed him. She nodded her head. “Okay.”
He squeezed her small, upper arm. He knew his touches were unnecessary and something he would never do to an ordinary patient. But he’d already decided, as far as he was concerned, there was nothing ordinary about Maude. “I’ll be back later,” he said. “I’m due in the O.R.”
“Thanks so much for coming by,” she said heartfelt.
“No ma’am. Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it. I am entirely responsible for what happened to you.”
Maude looked at him with suspicion in her eyes. What did he mean by that? Did he hire her attacker? Was he that angry that she showed up at his front door that he hired a guy to take her out?
When Edmund saw her sudden anxiousness, he explained.
“I sent you away, at night, when I knew you had no ready transportation. Had I not been so . . . so callous, you would not have had occasion to be attacked.” He squeezed her shoulder.
“For that I am sorry. It won’t happen again.
” And then he removed his hand from her and left.
Maude felt so many different ways that she could not count them all. Relief, joy, worry, alarm. And all at once. But the one thing she knew to be clear was that he was helping her out of guilt. He was loaded down with guilt. Which wasn’t how she would have preferred his help.
But she learned long ago how to put things in perspective. Because she knew that unlike anybody else on the face of this earth, at least Edmund was helping her. Guilt or no guilt.