Cowboy nodded in agreement. "That woman is going to wake up one day and surprise us all with the size of her heart."
"I’m praying for that more than you could believe. I just hope it happens soon."
"It will. Trust me, it will." The man saw the hope in the nurse’s eye. "Hey, I better get this craft up in the air if you want that pad for a trauma. I’ll talk to you later. Take care, Danni." He turned and walked into the hospital. "I’ll be back in just a minute or two," he chuckled, "got to let that coffee out."
The woman at the end of the driveway had stopped her forward motion and watched the touching display. Looking for a better view of his face, she moved closer to the building once she realized that the small blonde was her daughter. "Okay, Dr. Trivoli, I got you now." She watched with a renewed interest and when the Flight Suited man entered the building, Mother changed her direction and made for the front entrance. There was no way that she wanted Danni to know what she was about to do. "You may have picked him, daughter, but I’ll make sure he accepts his responsibilities to MY family." ‘After all the trouble that you’ve put me through with you not accepting your place in life. You should have been married a long time ago. That’s it! There’s no more time for you to squander away now Danielle.’
Mother was on a rampage now. She’d let her daughter have a say in her life and she could see that it wasn’t a good one. It was time for her to be shown how it was going to be for the rest of her life.
Dr. Rob Kreger stood in the hallway waiting for the trauma to arrive when he caught sight of the Flight Suited figure headed his way. He squinted, not believing what his eyes were telling him. "Dr. Chabot?" The Chief Resident took a step forward. "Is that you? Why do you have Trivoli’s Suit on?"
The tall man squared his shoulders and preened his sleeves. "Don’t you think that I do it more justice than her?" He was obviously in a good mood. He tugged at the chest of the suit to show the room that was unused. "I think maybe I need just a little take in up here though."
"Hmm…I think she fills that out better." He looked around to see if the ominous woman was in earshot but the only person he could see was the matronly dressed woman with the handbag on her shoulder. He smiled at her but she didn’t seem to take note of his greeting and turned her back is if she were searching for someone. "Does she know that you’re getting it?"
Dr. Chabot smiled. "And with her blessing, too!" They both laughed at the thought. "I’m not sure she’ll ever let anyone into her pants any other way."
Dr. Kreger shuddered. "Don’t want to go there."
"Speaking of going, I’ve got to get back to the O.R. to schedule my case for tomorrow morning. I’ll see you then, remember you’re assisting me."
"I won’t forget." Rob Kreger waved good-bye to his colleague and watched him head on down the hall toward the elevators.
"Hey, Rob!" Danni waved in his direction. "Have you seen Garrett around?"
"No, but I think Rene is meeting your surgeon in the O.R." He watched the young woman walk toward him. "Anything special that you need Garrett for that I can’t help you out with?"
"No, just checking up on my surgeon. Making sure that there’s no trouble I need to watch out for."
The matronly visitor edged her way toward the elevator trying not to be seen by her own daughter. She needed to get this Garrett Trivoli by himself if she was ever going to set things right. ‘I couldn’t believe that he could be joking about ‘getting it’ with his friends. Has he no couth?’ Finally the doors to an elevator opened and Mother moved to get on it. ‘And that friend, outright lying to my daughter to cover for that cad.’ Her raging temper was going to get the best of her if she didn’t keep it under control. ‘Why, hearing him talk, he even sounds French-Canadian like her grandfather.’ The woman shuddered at the thought. She’d fought long and hard to have her family thought of as French and not French-Canadian.
The woman took one last glimpse of her daughter and ducked into the loaded car.
"Hey, Danni, did you see that creepy old lady?" Rob motioned with his head toward the elevator doors that were just closing.
"Not a good one, why?"
"Nothing, I guess." The Chief Resident thought to himself for a moment than looked at Danni. "You know, if I were a betting man I’d bet that woman was up to no good."
Danni thought back to the brief glimpse that she had gotten of the woman right before the doors closed. ‘Hmmm…no, it couldn’t be. What would she be doing in Pittsburgh?’ The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "The trauma’s going to be landing in two minutes. We better get back there." She grabbed the sleeve of Rob’s white lab coat and tugged at it until he followed her.
Mrs. Bossard got off the elevator and looked around. There, at the end of the corridor was a sign pointing out her way. "O.R., Hmmm…let’s see if I can’t catch up to you now." She was a woman on a mission and no one had better get in her way. That was until she turned the corner and saw the huge signs hung on the doors. "Authorized Personnel Only! Damn it!"
The staff coming out of the door could hear the mutterings and one nurse quickly came to the woman’s aid. "Is there anything that I can do to help you?"
Mother looked up at the woman with fire in her eyes, "Yes! I need to find Dr. Garrett Trivoli."
The intense look on the woman’s face gave the nurse a fright. She sure wouldn’t want this woman tracking her down. "You’re looking for the Trauma Fellows. Why I just saw both Garrett and Rene Chabot outside of the doctor’s lounge just a moment ago."
"Where?" She was no longer asking but demanding. "Which way to that lounge?"
"Down the hall and to your left." The nurse watched her with a wary eye as the woman turned around and stormed off down the hall, her hands acting like excited robots as they opened and closed around the shoulder strap of her handbag.
"Oh, there you are, I’ve been looking for you all over. I thought we were going to make the rounds together." The Flight Suited surgeon held open the door for the woman on crutches.
Garrett had finally met up with Rene when she came out of the Doctor’s Lounge outside of the O.R. She stood casually leaning on her crutches with her back against the wall as Dr. Chabot stood in front of her. "What…no greeting, you just want to get right down to business?"
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Oh, but you are lovely this fine day."
Garrett shook her head and chuckled. "You’ll never give up will you? What would your wife say if she saw that?"
"But how could she see it, if she is nowhere around." He wiggled his eyes and smiled broadly at her. "Wife? Do I have a wife?"
"Well, whatever you want to call her then."
"Ah, yes! The mistress of my nights," his eyes grew wide, "well, at least when I’m not on call."
"You’re never going to change, are you?"
"And why should I…eh? I’m having way too much fun." He winked at the dark-haired woman and leaned against the wall next to her with one arm. "If you would listen to me, you’d be having some fun, too!" He cast his eyes down to the placement of her heart. "Open you heart and let the love find you."