The Doctor's Christmas Homecoming, page 16
She pressed the badge on a lanyard around her neck to the reader beside the door, then pushed inside when the buzzer sounded. A wave of heat and antiseptic scent rushed over her. Hurrying down the well-lit hall toward the front lobby, the soles of her shoes squeaked on the shiny linoleum. For once, Emma wasn’t working today in the ER. As charge nurse, she’d picked up more than her fair share of overtime lately for the upcoming holiday season. She rounded the corner at the end of the hall into the spacious lobby area, with its atrium on one side and lots of seating beneath it. A large Christmas tree sat in one corner, adorned with homemade stars from one of the local charities. Kids with disabilities or illnesses that made it hard for them to have happy holidays made them, and people or businesses then chose a wish from the tree to fulfill. Every year, Manhattan West picked one special star to go all out on and this year, Emma was in charge of the project to create the magical wish of one child’s dream.
In fact, she was here now—on her day off—to meet with the hospital’s chief of staff and the HR director to fill them in on her plans thus far. And she was late.
After passing through security, Emma broke into a near-jog down the long hall toward the other side of the hospital and made it to the small waiting area in front of HR with thirty seconds to spare. She stopped to catch her breath, but before she got the chance an office door opened and the HR
director, Jane Ayashi, stuck her head out. “Hi, Emma. Come on in.”
Emma tucked her scarf into the pocket of her coat, then smoothed a hand over her long, loose box braids before walking into the office to greet Manhattan West’s chief of staff. “Hello, Dr. Franklin.”
“Emma,” he said. The man was sixty-two if he was a day, but looked at least two decades younger, with a distinct resemblance to Denzel Washington and a deep booming voice like James Earl Jones. “I hope this meeting is worth being late to my granddaughter’s Thanksgiving pageant.”
“I believe it is, sir. I wanted to let you know my choice of partner on the wish project before the press conference tonight.” She took off her coat and draped it over the back of her chair, then sat, her stomach twisting slightly with anxiety. “I think this person will bring a lot to the table.”
“Wonderful!” Jane clasped her hands atop her desk. “Are they coming as well?”
Emma’s smile faltered. The person she’d chosen wasn’t coming to the meeting because Emma hadn’t asked them yet. But she would once she got the okay from Jane and Dr. Franklin. She gripped the folder in her lap tighter to hide her shaking fingers. She wasn’t nervous, really. Stress was her constant companion working in the fast-paced ER. No, this was more an adrenaline rush. This project was a big deal for her. If she pulled it off well, it could move her to the top of the list for the next big promotion in her department. Meaning more money, more benefits, and hopefully better hours. Now all she had to do was convince the man she wanted working beside her on this project to do it. A difficult task to be sure, considering his reputation around the hospital as the biggest Grinch around. But he had the resources and the clout to grant even the most extravagant wish a kid could ask for, and that’s all that was important.
“Uh, no. He won’t be here,” Emma said, swallowing hard. “In fact, I believe he’s upstairs now in surgery.”
Dr. Franklin frowned. “Who is it?”
“Dr. Thad Markson.”
For a long moment, both Jane and Dr. Franklin just blinked at her, their expressions blank. She began to worry they’d not heard her, but then Dr. Franklin laughed.
“You’re joking, right? Dr. Thaddeus Markson? The biggest cardiothoracic surgeon in the city? I’m sorry, Nurse Trudeau, but you better pick someone else. There’s no way he’s doing this project.”
Emma squared her shoulders. “I realize Dr. Markson is a very busy man, but...”
“It’s not that,” Dr. Franklin chuckled. “Though good luck finding a slot in his surgery schedule. But outside of work, the man’s an island. A virtual hermit. Not surprising since he has the charm of an angry polar bear. He’ll eat you up and spit you out.”
“I think what John is trying to say,” Jane said, cutting in, “is that there might be more suitable candidates to work with you on this important project, Emma.”
“No. I want Dr. Markson.” Emma lifted her chin. “I’m aware of his reputation as being disagreeable toward the staff, but I’ve done my research and I truly believe he’s the best partner for me on this project.”
“The Fifth Avenue Grinch? Granting Christmas wishes?” Dr. Franklin managed to get out between guffaws. “He hates the holidays with a passion. I can’t imagine his face when you asked him.”
Emma had never shied away from a challenge, and she wasn’t about to start, not with a possible promotion on the line. She lifted her chin. “He doesn’t know yet.”
Dr. Franklin sobered fast. “What?”
“I plan to go upstairs after this meeting to talk to him after he’s done with his surgery and bring him down to the press conference in the lobby.” Emma squared her shoulders. “I just wanted to let you both know first.”
“Nurse Trudeau, I’ve always liked you. You’re smart, hardworking, willing to take on anything we ask of you and do it with a smile,” Dr. Franklin said, sitting forward, his expression serious. “But please choose someone else for your partner on this. Trust me as someone who’s tried to work with him before. Dr. Markson will only make your life a living hell if you get him involved. He’s a brilliant surgeon, but he’s awful outside the OR. For a project like this one, you need someone with heart and soul, and there are people who’d deny he has either. I only tolerate him because we need his expertise and the privately funded clients he brings into our teaching hospital.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Dr. Franklin. I do. But I’m used to dealing with difficult people. Most patients in the ER come to see us at the worst moment of their lives.” Emma stood firm in her conviction that Dr. Thad Markson was the right man for her project. He just needed a little nudge in the right direction, a dose of sunshine to light his way. And Emma was nothing if not an optimist. “He’ll be my partner. Don’t worry. Just give me time.”
“The wish project must be completed on Christmas Eve,” Jane reminded her. “That’s only a month away.”
“I know. And that’s why I want Dr. Markson working with me on this. We need the wealthy donors and connections he can add to this project to make whatever wish our sick child wants granted a reality in such a short time.”
Several beats stretched out in silence, until finally, Dr. Franklin shook his head. “You are persistent, aren’t you, Nurse Trudeau? I still think it’s risky, if not impossible, but maybe he’ll say yes just to get you out of his hair.”
Now it was Emma’s turn to laugh. “Maybe. Just call me Cindy Lou Who.”
Jane grinned. “Well, if anyone can do it, it’s you, Emma. You worked twice as hard for half the pay as the rest of the nursing student intern friends to earn your first job on the swing shift in the ER. Once you have a goal in mind, Emma, you don’t stop until you achieve it.”
“Never.”
The two women exchanged a glance. Emma was dogged, true. She’d had to be. Raising her younger sister alone since the age of eighteen made her that way. Her strength had come at a price. Profound loss.
Besides, she’d worked far too hard for far too long to get where she was now and no way would one entitled, cranky hermit of a surgeon knock her off her game. “So, does that mean I can head upstairs to wait for Dr. Markson?”
Dr. Franklin and Jane looked at each other, then back to Emma. Dr. Franklin gave a curt nod. “Go. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. We’ll see you at the press conference in half an hour.”
Copyright © 2022 by Traci Douglass
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ISBN-13: 9780369730930
The Doctor’s Christmas Homecoming
Copyright © 2022 by Alison Roberts
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Alison Roberts, The Doctor's Christmas Homecoming
