LITMIR.BIZ

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He was only trying to be a good friend.

      She took a deep breath and forced herself to move away from his embrace.

      “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you by talking about Scott,” Doug apologized.

      “It wasn’t that.” She wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath. She felt him watching her, waiting for her to speak.

      Finally, she said, “It’s just that I have this problem….” She paused again and staring straight ahead, she admitted, “I’m pregnant.”

      She wasn’t sure why she’d told him. The words spoken aloud sounded so final. So overwhelming. Doug looked shocked for an instant. Then he quickly hid his reaction, she noticed. He was silent for a long moment, and she watched as his pensive expression grew harsher. Angrier.

      “With Scott’s child,” he said.

      Though it wasn’t a question, she nodded and looked away again.

      He leaned forward and pushed his hand through his thick hair. “Does he know?”

      “I told him a few minutes ago. In his office. That’s why I looked upset in the hall,” she admitted.

      “He didn’t take the news very well, I guess,” Doug replied sternly.

      “No. He didn’t.”

      The ugly scene replayed in her mind, and suddenly she couldn’t bear talking about it anymore.

      “Listen, thanks for talking to me,” she said as she stood to go. “But I’d better get back to work. I’ve already been gone way too long.”

      “I understand.” He nodded and came to his feet. “Maybe I’ll see you later, when I do rounds.”

      “Sure. And I’m sorry for crying all over you.” He must see her as some kind of flailing, helpless female, she thought, when in fact, she was just the opposite.

      “Don’t even think about it, Maura.” His tone was soft and sincere. Maura met his gaze briefly, then turned on her way.

      She hurried across the courtyard, then entered the hospital. To avoid the long wait for the elevator, she walked up three flights to the pediatrics department. Her supervisor, Gloria Jones, greeted her with a questioning look but didn’t ask why she was so late returning from her break. There was plenty of work waiting, and Maura dug in, eager to focus on her patients instead of her problems.

      As the afternoon passed, her thoughts returned to her disturbing confrontation with Scott—and her conversation with Dr. Connelly. She’d never had such a personal conversation with Doug before. But now she was thankful that, purely by chance, he’d been there for her at such an awful moment. Crying on his shoulder hadn’t solved anything, but it had made her feel worlds better, lending her the boost she needed to carry on.

      Some of the staff disliked the handsome pediatrician. They found him aloof and distant. But Maura had never felt that way. He was sometimes distracted by his work, and even brooding. But a more dedicated doctor would be hard to find.

      She had never imagined he would also be such a dedicated friend, the kind you could really count on when things went haywire. But whether you liked Doug Connelly or not, he was clearly a man of strong character, and Maura knew without question that her secret was safe.

      Her workday wore on, thankfully free of pressing emergencies, as she had a pounding headache that wasn’t assuaged by the pills she’d taken earlier. Luckily, a night-shift nurse came in early, allowing Maura to go home.

      She lived in a comfortable family neighborhood a short distance from the hospital. She’d been lucky to find a reasonably priced two-bedroom apartment in a renovated brownstone. Her living room even had a working fireplace, which she really appreciated during the long Chicago winters.

      The apartment was the first she’d lived in without a roommate, and Maura had loved decorating it to her own taste. She liked antiques, but since she could only afford a few small pieces, she used her knack for finding interesting items that weren’t genuine antiques but still quaint and unique. The honey-tone wood floors were covered by area rugs, and the walls were warm shades of apricot and creamy white. Her home was her haven, her retreat from her hectic, demanding job. It was a private place where she could rest and recharge. Where she could hide away and sort out her thoughts when life tossed her some seemingly impossible crisis. Which was just the way she felt tonight as she slipped her key into the front door and went inside.

      She dropped her mail on a table in the foyer without even glancing at it, then went straight to the bedroom and took a long, hot shower. Even though it was still early, she put on her nightgown and robe, then lay down on her bed, hoping to sleep. But worries immediately crowded her mind.

      For some reason, instead of thinking about Scott, she thought about Doug, recalling the first time they’d met, months ago. She had recently started at the hospital and had been working the night shift. She was assigned to one of his patients, a four-year-old girl brought in with advanced pneumonia and serious heart complications. Purely by chance in the small hours of the night she’d discovered that the child was in serious trouble, in danger of heart failure.

      When Doug found her with the patient minutes later, she was giving CPR as she waited for the crash cart and respiratory equipment to be hooked up. As Doug took charge, he barely said a personal word to her, but the respectful, grateful look in his eyes said it all.

      That night she’d hardly been aware of his compelling good looks, or the smothering shyness that typically fell over her. Working through the crisis with him, she felt totally in synch, and the event somehow forged a mysterious but deep bond between them. She had never felt quite that way about anyone—not a coworker or even a romantic partner. But she had felt it that night with Doug, and forever after.

      They had worked together for several hours to pull the little girl through. Even after Maura’s regular shift was done, she stayed on, unwilling to leave until she was sure the child was going to survive. She knew that some people thought it unwise to get so involved with each patient’s recovery. They advised compassion tempered by a cooler, more distant attitude to avoid the burnout that was so common among overworked nurses.

      But Maura wasn’t made that way. She hadn’t become a pediatric nurse in order to be distant and detached from the children who needed her. She knew from the first that Doug was the same. Perhaps even more intensely involved with his young patients than she.

      She later learned that the little girl’s family didn’t have much insurance and Doug had not even sent them a bill. While it was highly uncommon for a specialist of Doug’s caliber to forego payment, she soon learned that it wasn’t uncommon at all for him to work that way.

      When morning came and the crisis had passed, she and Doug sat together outside on a bench in the same courtyard where they had talked today. They celebrated their victory, joking and laughing over cups of steaming coffee and sticky donuts. It was late January and the weather was frigid, yet she could still recall feeling elated by the cold air and early-morning light and the shared success in saving a child’s life.

      It was then Doug learned she was dating Scott Walker, and Maura learned Doug was Scott’s old pal from college. There was something in Doug’s reaction to the news that made Maura think he was disappointed to hear she was seeing someone. But the moment passed and later she decided she’d imagined the brief flicker of interest.

      On her side Maura would never deny that she found Doug very attractive. But at that time she had felt so committed to Scott, she’d never once thought of Doug in a romantic way.

      Besides, Maura reflected, even if she had been free, Doug was not her type at all. For one thing, she was looking for a man who would have time in his life for a wife and family. Doug was far too focused on his work to make family life, or even a romantic relationship, a priority.

      And he could be temperamental at times. She had to acknowledge that his smiles and bright moods were rare. He seemed most often to be shadowed by some deep, mysterious unhappiness, and too often she found a dark,

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