The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,58

the theory.

“Don’t you think it would be safer to take her appendix out now anyway, in case you’re wrong? If it bursts, it would be dangerous. I’d rather play it safe here,” she said firmly and Austin looked shocked.

“With surgery?”

“Her appendix shows no sign of inflammation,” the surgeon said sternly, “there is no valid reason to take it out. And what would you rather have? Surgery or an antibiotic? I don’t know about you, but I’d go for the pill every time.”

“Jaime’s mom just wants to be cautious,” Cathy translated for her. Zoe was coming across as hysterical and unreasonable, but Cathy knew her well. She was an ultra-caring mother who would go to any lengths to protect her child. “We’ll keep her here for a few hours, and start her on the antibiotic. I think she’ll respond to it very quickly. She did well on it before,” Cathy said calmly.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” the surgeon said. “You don’t need me, then,” he said and left the room, and Cathy stayed with them for an hour, and then left them, and Austin walked her out.

“Thank you for coming. Christ, Zoe would have had her in surgery if you hadn’t come in.”

“The surgeon wouldn’t have gone along with it. People with a little medical training react like Zoe. They think they know all the obvious answers. But the real diagnosis is usually something more subtle than that, like in this case. I’m sure the strep has gotten into Jaime’s stomach lining, which hurts like hell.”

“Well, all’s well that ends well. I’m glad she didn’t have her appendix out for nothing,” Austin said, relieved.

“Me too.” Cathy smiled at him. “You can always call me, at any hour. Glad I could help.” As always, he appreciated her calm demeanor and cool head. She was great in a crisis. And they had a lot of them.

“You came up with the right answer.” The conservative one, as usual, which was why he liked her as a doctor. Zoe was willing to go along with more extreme measures, but he wasn’t, not where his daughter was concerned, or even for himself.

He went back to Zoe and Jaime then. She had just been given the antibiotic. They let her leave the hospital at noon. She was feeling a little better.

“I hope Cathy is right,” Zoe said in the cab on the way home.

“I do too, and I’m glad Jaime didn’t have surgery for nothing. The surgeon was smart too.”

They put Jaime to bed, and she fell asleep immediately, and Zoe went to lie down until Fiona came in. Austin had to leave, he had a court appearance that afternoon on a case for the shelter. He kissed Zoe before he left and smiled at her.

“We came out winners on this one,” he said with relief.

“I hope you’re right. It would be terrible if they made a mistake and should have operated.” He nodded, but didn’t argue with her. Jaime was home safe and sound in bed. That was all that mattered. He was sure that Cathy was right, and Jaime would get better quickly. Zoe always favored more extreme measures, but he knew what was behind it. She didn’t want to lose another little girl she loved, whatever it took to save her.

* * *

—

And as it turned out, Cathy was right. A week later, Jaime was fine, for real this time, and back in school. She told everyone about the boy who had swallowed a turtle.

Chapter 12

They limped through the rest of the winter with fewer illnesses than they had had before Christmas. Another cold for each of them and not much else. And once again, Zoe was unscathed. But Austin was tired and had lost weight, and Jaime had had more than her fair share of winter miseries in her first months of school. Austin suggested that they go to Florida for Jaime’s spring break, and it sounded like a great idea to all of them.

Austin found a resort just outside Miami that had a beautiful pool, a spectacular beach, and lots of activities for children, and he reserved a two-bedroom suite for them for Jaime’s vacation. They could hardly wait and were in high spirits when they flew to Miami, and were picked up by the van from the hotel.

Jaime got all excited when she saw the pool and the people having fun around it, and she wanted to play on the beach too. There was a high-end shopping mall