Girls in the City Alison - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,61

and saw that he’d received a text from Barry that the surgery was underway and Alison was fine.

“The surgery started,” he said, embarrassed that he’d fallen asleep. “Does anyone want coffee? I’m going to run down to the cafeteria.”

They were all ready for coffee. Before he left, he took a look at Lisa Sue sleeping with her mouth puckered up, ready to eat the moment she awoke.

“God, is she cute. Who does she look like?”

“I’d say her mother,” Suzette said.

“Definitely Alison,” Lisa Saint said. “But time will tell. Alison looked just like me when she was born, and within a few months she morphed into a mini Saint.”

“Jeez, I hope that doesn’t mean this kid is going to look like a Mortimer,” Fred said, and they laughed, the Mortimers made great men, but the female version was fairly unknown until now.

“She’ll be wonderful whomever she resembles,” Suzette said, backhanding Fred.

Walking the halls of the hospital, Rich had a moment of self-actualization that shocked him. The day certainly wasn’t about him, yet the universe was trying to tell him something. He’d sacrificed a good part of his life to achieve his goals. Becoming a surgeon wasn’t a path for a weakling. He was strong enough to endure anything coming his way.

Again, repeating in his head like a mantra, the facts were that his wife was fighting for her life, and he would remain by her side no matter what she decided to do. Chuckling, the idea that even confronted with major abdominal surgery, she was worried about a day or two off here or there from her residency. Next to the baby, that residency reigned.

Once in the cafeteria, he was relieved that there didn’t appear to be anyone he knew. The familiar coffee machine sputtered out black liquid as he filled the cups, making him smile. One cup after another, five in total, would fuel Alison’s family as they waited for her.

He tried to remember everything that was happening because she was sure to want an itemized accounting, from the moment she left postpartum recovery to return to the OR and he was instructed to contact The Girls, to the way the baby took the bottle, flaring her nostrils when the fluid she drank wasn’t coming from her mother’s warm breast.

Wow, it had really happened. He stood statue still in the middle of the hallway as the knowledge penetrated his brain. Somehow, while he was busy with a fellowship a two-hour drive away, and focusing on himself, finding a job and finessing his new employer, he had become a father to a little girl. Waves of emotion flowed over him. All the changes and life-or-death drama they were about to encounter hit with full force. He’d man up and do what he could for Alison and Lisa Sue. It truly wasn’t about him any longer.

Chapter 12

With the three-hour time difference, it was nearly closing when Joan Greenway received the text message from Alison’s husband, Rich.

Just an FYI, Alison had baby Lisa Suzette Saint-Mortimer at nine fifteen this morning. Baby is doing fine. They discovered the cancer has invaded Alison’s uterus. She’s back in the OR now for a hysterectomy and lymph node dissection. Please let the others know when you can, including Zoe and Ed, per Alison. Xo

She’d talked to Alison the night before, her last night of parental freedom. After this, she’d have another human being to care for. The cancer was not the topic of conversation that time. Joan already knew it had returned; that was why Alison was having the baby a month early. But Joan was sure Alison thought it had just returned to the cervix. Not invaded anything. Not spread. The thought that she might lose her best friend made her physically ill, and her gorge rose.

She leafed through her desk calendar, then opened up her laptop to look at her schedule. It was Thursday. They’d completed a big trial in their client’s favor that previous week, and she was home free until assigned the next case. That meant that ostensibly, she could get on a plane Friday and head west. She’d keep her ticket open-ended. Her boss, Terry, might not appreciate her not being available to do the scut work, but Alison’s life was more important.

She quickly replied to Rich’s text. Will let everyone know. In the meantime, I’m getting on a plane tomorrow. Will stay in a hotel so no worries about me leeching. Here she put a smiley face. Can’t wait to see