The woman behind the desk blinks up at him. I swear I can read her thoughts. She’s saying, “Duh. This is the emergency room. That’s why you’re here.”
Looking around the waiting area, I’m surprised to see only a few others waiting. At a hospital this size, in a city like Chicago, I expected to see it overflowing with people but not today.
“Gus.” I reach out and touch his arm. “I’m sure it won’t be long.”
“She’s right,” the woman says quickly. “It won’t be long.”
“Fine.” Gus grumbles.
We only have to wait about thirty minutes. After I’m wheeled into a small room in the emergency ward, I’m asked to stand and lie down on a gurney. The transport person covers me in a warm blanket. When he asks if we need anything else, Gus is the one to speak. He still sounds angry, “Call Doc Martin.”
“Dr. Martin?” The young man blinks. “TheDr. Martin who runs the hospital?”
“That’s the one.” Gus glares. “Call. Now. Say Gus is here.”
“Gus,” he repeats as he pulls a phone out of the back pocket of his hospital uniform. We watch as he speaks softly into the phone. “Can you call up to Dr. Martin’s office?” I swear his voice is shaking. “Uh, huh.”
There’s several seconds of silence on our end. Then, he adds, “Tell them to tell Dr. Martin that Gus is here? In emergency.” He nods, then his face turns a shade of white I’ve only ever seen on clean sheets. “Right.” Hanging up, the young man attempts a smile. Turning to face Gus, he adds, “Someone is taking care of that.” When he reaches the door, he looks at me, “Someone will be with you soon.”
“Thank you.” I give him my best smile because no doubt, big ol’ Gus just scared the crap out of him.
I turn to look at my friends. Robin’s face looks pale and worried, but Gus? He looks like the cat who ate that poor canary. “Who is Dr. Ma—”
I don’t get the chance to finish because the glass door slides back open, and an older woman steps in. She reaches to her left and pumps hand sanitizer into her palms and rubs them together. Once that’s done, she steps up to my bed and with a smile, holds out her hand for me. “Maggy, is it?”
I nod.
“I’m Dr. Martin.”
Oh,thisis Dr. Martin. The one who runs the entire hospital.
She then turns to Gus and beams at him. “Gus’s mom.”
Gus’ mom?I don’t know why, but that gives me the giggles.
“Knock it off, Magpie,” Gus says grumpily.
“Can’t be helped.” Because who the heck is Gus Kowalski?
And the giggles continue until Gus’s mom asks, “So, you’re spotting?” The giggles stop immediately at that question.
“She fell, Bea,” Robin interjects. “On the ice.”
Bea?I guess Robin must know her. Makes sense. They’ve been seeing each other for months.
“When was this?” Bea-Dr. Martin asks.
“This afternoon.”
“Are you cramping?”
I shake my head.
“Good.” She smiles. “We’re going to do some blood work, and I’ll order up an ultrasound.”
“I just had one…” Oh, well, that was a stupid thing to say. “Okay.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Gus says, smiling at her.
