The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,50

Cathy’s alleged endorsement, Austin agreed. He trusted her medically a hundred percent, even more than he trusted Zoe or himself. She had far more experience than they did, and he liked how cautious and conservative she was. She didn’t rush into anything, overprescribe medication, or do anything they didn’t have to do. So if she thought the ear tubes made sense, he wasn’t enthusiastic about it because of the anesthesia, but he reluctantly agreed.

“I don’t think any of my nephews had them,” Austin said pensively as they cleared away the dishes.

“Maybe they don’t get ear infections,” she said lightly.

“That’s true. I never asked.”

“And with the high fevers she’d run with an ear infection, we have the risk of another febrile seizure in her case,” Zoe reminded him.

“She’s never had one again,” he said staunchly.

“I think we’re doing the right thing,” she said seriously.

“When do they want to do it?” He still looked unhappy about it. He believed in natural solutions whenever possible, particularly for such a young child, not surgery.

“Two weeks from today. We’ll be in and out in an hour.” He nodded and left the room, still digesting what they were planning to do.

He asked his brother about it the following week. He said that one of his boys had had them too. “The poor kid had constant ear infections, and he wanted to be on the swim team, which made them worse. The only way he could swim on the team was if he got the tubes inserted, with plugs in his case. They work well for him, he still has them. It’s not a big deal.” After that, Austin was reassured. He had been unnerved by the way Zoe had sprung the plan on him as a fait accompli, and making him feel like a bad father if he wouldn’t agree. But if his nephew had them, they must be okay. He had gotten them at six and was now twelve. But Jaime was only three, still a baby to him, and had had only two ear infections in three years, which didn’t seem like a lot to him.

* * *

—

The night before the surgery, Zoe reminded Austin that Jaime couldn’t have anything to eat or drink after nine o’clock that night. They didn’t want her to vomit and aspirate it while she was under general anesthesia. The surgery was at nine A.M. the next day. It was going to be done at Lenox Hill Hospital uptown. Austin was feeling panicked about it, and didn’t want to admit it to Zoe. She was totally calm, and elated every time she talked about the painful ear infections Jaime was going to avoid.

They told Jaime about it in the morning when she woke up, and Zoe couldn’t give her cereal, fruit, and juice as she always did.

“We have to get ready,” she told her. “We’re going back to see the nice doctor with the toys who looked in your ears. But we’re meeting him somewhere else. He’s going to give us little tubes for your ears.”

“No, Mommy,” Jaime said seriously. “I’m not opposed to put things in my ears.” Cathy had told her that after the peas.

“That’s true. But the doctor can do it. It won’t even hurt.” Jaime put her hands over her ears then and shook her head, and looked at her mother with a question. “Will I get a cast?” She brightened at that. “I want pink.”

“Not this time. No cast. They can’t put a cast on your ears, or you won’t hear me tell you how much I love you,” she said and kissed Jaime’s neck.

“I want a cast.” Jaime pouted. That was something she knew, and it made Austin’s heart ache as she said it. At three, she had broken bones twice.

“Don’t be silly, you don’t need a cast.” Zoe continued the banter as she got Jaime dressed in a pink tracksuit with pink sneakers and a pink coat with toggles on it. She looked adorable and so small as Austin carried her outside, and they hailed a cab to take them to the hospital. It was eight o’clock on a Saturday morning.

When they got there, they went to same-day surgery. Zoe got Jaime undressed, a house pediatrician examined her, and the anesthesiologist came to talk to all three of them. He said that Dr. Parker was already in surgery. He’d had a case before them, but would speak to them after the tubes were in. The anesthesiologist asked if Zoe