His stomach churned.
He strode toward Josiah Douglas’s room. Sebastian had performed a successful arterial switch operation on him a few weeks ago. Since then, they’d been monitoring him around the clock and administering medicine to improve his blood flow.
When Sebastian entered, Josiah’s mom and dad pushed to their feet to greet him. Josiah, awake and relaxed, still hooked up to his IV, was cradled in his mom’s arms.
“Good news,” Sebastian told them. “After morning rounds, we discussed Josiah’s case, and we all agreed he’s ready to go home. I’m discharging him.”
Instantly, Josiah’s mom’s eyes filled with tears.
“Thank you,” her husband said, looking more grateful than if he’d won the lottery.
It strained families to have their child admitted here for weeks or sometimes months at a time. The opportunity to go home was always celebrated, and Sebastian was always glad for them. This was the outcome he worked toward—hearts with congenital defects, repaired as much as medicine allowed.
However, he understood better than Josiah’s parents did the difficulty of the road before them. The surgeons here could not cure patients. They could only exchange a life-ending condition for a serious chronic condition. Josiah’s needs—medicine, check-ups, vigilance—would demand a lot from his parents. He was at risk for leaky valves, arrhythmias, and more.
“I know the staff here has been teaching you how to take care of him,” Sebastian said. “I just want to remind you to keep an eye on his weight gain, his growth, and his oxygen levels. Call us if he has any feeding or breathing problems. All right?”
They both nodded.
Sebastian stepped forward and swept a few fingers across the top of Josiah’s springy hair.
The baby peered up at him with a trusting expression.
“Good-bye,” Sebastian said. “Stay healthy.”
Leah was about to be granted a peek into the hospital records of Baby Girl Brookside.
Who was her. Or ... had been her for a short time. Before she’d been given to Erica and Todd Montgomery.
Over the past few days, after Jenna had delivered the court order to the hospital, she’d been half expecting a call informing her that Magnolia Avenue did not possess records for an infant girl named Brookside, born on her birthday.
But that call never came.
Leah waited for Sebastian and Jenna at the same table at Magnolia Perk where she’d waited prior to the last meeting with Donna McKelvey. Unlike last time, it was late afternoon. Like last time, she’d arrived early—
And there was Sebastian. Also early. The electronic doorswhooshed open dramatically as he swept in alongside a sleek woman in her forties.
He had on a pale gray dress shirt and navy suit pants. All the vitality in the place seemed to pull toward him like ocean water whizzing back out to sea. Was Leah the only one who noticed? She glanced around. Everyone else seemed to be carrying on as usual.
When the pair reached Leah, Sebastian introduced the woman as Jenna Miles, attorney. Jenna promptly excused herself, making a beeline for the coffee counter.
He didn’t take the chair opposite Leah, so she looped her purse over her shoulder and stood. Together, they moved out of earshot of the other tables.
“Thanks for coming, Dr. Grant.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it, Professor Montgomery.”
“I’m not a professor.”
“You will be. Besides, the title suits. You’re more of a professor than most of the professors I had in school.” He was only thirty-two, but his life, his career, and the pressures he lived under made him look a few years older than that. There was nothing soft or young about Sebastian Grant. “So. We talked about Ben’s interest in you the last time we were here together.”
“We did, yes.”
“And you said you weren’t interested in him in return. I heard you, but—”
She arched a brow at him.
“What?” he asked.
