In This Small Spot (38 page)

Lauren propped herself up on an elbow and
tenderly ran her fingertips over Mickey’s lips. “That was
unexpected,” Mickey gasped, still catching her breath. “This part
of you is unexpected.”

Lauren smiled uncertainly. “Is that good?”
she asked.

“It’s very good,” Mickey laughed.

“I think I’d better get you some breakfast
or you’ll never have enough stamina for our first day
together.”

“If it’s going to be more of this, it had
better be a really big breakfast.”

Chapter 46

“Thank you, everyone,” Mickey said, looking
around at the nurses and anesthesiologist as they continued
counting instruments and cleaning up the surgical debris after the
patient was wheeled into the recovery room.

Mickey stepped off the draped apparatus
she’d been standing on to perform a hernia repair, a relatively
simple forty-five minute procedure, but one she couldn’t have done
two weeks ago.

“I can stand upright without my crutches if
I can brace my hips against something,” she had told Greg as they
had a late lunch at the hospital one day. The small cafeteria was
nearly empty except for a few visitors and a maintenance man who
was replacing an overhead light fixture. “But in the OR, I’ve got
to be able to lean over the table and stay there at least a half
hour, up to who knows how long? My muscles just won’t hold me in
that position, and I can’t take the risk of endangering a patient
by starting a procedure and having to stop in the middle of it to
rest.” She rested her forehead on her other hand as she poked at
her chicken with her fork. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do this,”
she said quietly.

As she had expected, Mickey’s first few
weeks in Greg’s practice were slow – two or three patients a day
during her two days a week in the office. “It’ll get busier once
they get to know you,” he assured her. She had been talking to the
hospital administrators about operating there one day per week, but
those talks had stalled when her physical limitations were brought
up. She was surprised at how many of the hospital staff remembered
her from Mother Theodora’s accident. Several people asked about
Mother, and she assured them Mother was doing well. If they were
also curious about why she was no longer a nun, they didn’t
ask.

A few days after her conversation with Greg,
Mickey was at the hospital, visiting a patient who had been
admitted for a knee replacement, when she heard her name. She
turned to see one of the hospital’s maintenance men. He ran his
hand nervously through his blond crew cut as he approached her.

“You were working in the cafeteria the other
day,” she recalled.

He grinned and nodded. “I’m Hank Matthews.”
He was caught off-guard when Mickey let go of her crutch and
extended her hand to him. Hesitantly, he reached out and shook it.
She could feel the calluses on his large hand.

“What can I do for you, Hank?”

“Well, I hope you won’t think I was
listening on purpose, but I heard you talking to Dr. Allenby that
day in the cafeteria, and…” He gestured down the corridor in the
direction from which he had come. “I’ve got something to show you,
if you have a few minutes.”

Puzzled, Mickey accompanied him to a
maintenance workshop she’d never noticed.

“I may need to change some things,” Hank
said as he led Mickey to a tilted wooden platform, fitted with pads
covered with vinyl upholstery. “Get on,” he prompted when Mickey
looked at him. She saw there was a foot plate to support her feet
as she leaned her knees and hips against the pads. The pads
supported her perfectly. “My wife is about your height, so I asked
her to keep trying it out to get the pads right,” he said modestly.
“I didn’t know how high to build it,” he said, getting more
excited, “so I made the upper part removable.” He showed Mickey how
the chest piece could be slid out of the main body of the platform.
“But in case you do need this part, I cut the edges in so you can
move your arms.” He indicated the curved sides of the chest piece.
“Is the angle all right? To hold you over an operating table? I
could adjust it…”

His voice faltered as Mickey got off the
platform and turned away. She swiped her hand across her cheeks and
coughed to clear her throat. “Hank, why in the world would you go
to all this trouble?” she asked, her back still to him.

“My wife remembers you when the Mother
Superior was in the hospital,” he answered, almost reverently. “She
said you wouldn’t leave her bedside, and you hardly ate anything
–”

“Tammy?” Mickey recalled, turning to face
him. “Tammy Matthews is your wife – from dietary?” He nodded.
Mickey laughed a little. “I remember – she kept bringing me
different things, trying to get me to eat.”

“Well then,” he stammered, getting red in
the face, “we all heard about the fire, and how you got hurt
pulling one of the other nuns out. Kenny, the guy who did the
electrical work out there, used to work here with us.” He looked
down at his dusty workboots. “He was fired because he did such
sloppy work.” He scuffed one boot against a small pile of sawdust
on the concrete floor. “Anyway, when I heard you saying how you
couldn’t lean over the operating table now, I got to thinking,
and…” he waved a hand at the platform. “If it’s not gonna work, you
don’t have to –”

“Are you kidding?” Mickey laughed. “Can we
go try it out?”

Now, after her first successful surgery on
Hank’s tilted platform, Mickey checked on the hernia patient one
last time, then she changed and was walking toward the staff exit
to the parking lot. The metallic click of her crutches echoed a
little in the tiled corridor.

“Dr. Stewart?”

She turned to see Tammy and Hank Matthews
coming toward her. Hank was holding an envelope in his hands. “Dr.
Stewart, we can’t accept this,” he said as they got near.

“Why not?” Mickey asked, afraid she had
offended them somehow.

“It’s too much,” said Tammy.

Mickey smiled. “It’s one weekend away, just
the two of you, at an inn at the Finger Lakes. You probably haven’t
done anything for yourselves in ages.” She laid a hand on Hank’s
shoulder. “You literally saved my career. Please let me do this one
small thing for you.”

They looked at each other and eventually
nodded.

“Good!” Mickey said. “I want to hear all
about it when you get back… well, maybe not everything,” she added
impishly as they both blushed.

╬ ╬ ╬

“Is that everyone?” Mickey asked Sister Mary
David as she began packing up her stethoscope and unused
gloves.

Her visits to the abbey had been
well-received by the community. Over the past few weeks, she had
treated several of the sisters for a variety of conditions. Some
were as benign as hay allergies in one of the new postulants, but
some situations were more serious. Sister Cecilia had finally
admitted to having chest pain with the exertion of carrying some of
the heavier pots in the kitchen. Mickey was ordering a cardiac
catheterization for her as soon as it could be scheduled.

“I believe so,” Sister Mary David replied,
pulling aside the curtain they used to give Mickey a private exam
space within the infirmary. “Sister Scholastica,” she said in
surprise. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

Mickey wheeled around on the stool she used
to maneuver within the infirmary.

“I don’t… I shouldn’t…” Sister Scholastica
stuttered. She started to turn around, but Sister Mary David deftly
blocked her exit.

“You’re here now,” she said calmingly,
taking her elbow and steering her toward the exam cubicle. “I’ll
leave you to talk to Dr. Stewart privately,” she said as she pulled
the curtain closed.

Mickey looked up at Sister Scholastica who
still stood, her hands tucked into her sleeves. “Please, sit down,”
she gestured to the chair opposite.

Sister Scholastica sat on the edge of the
seat, stiff and tense, staring at the floor. Her face was pale,
except for a red blotch on each cheek.

“What is it, Sister?” Mickey asked
gently.

When Sister Scholastica raised her gaze,
Mickey was startled to see the fear there – “I’ve seen many
emotions in those eyes, but I never thought I’d see fear,” was
Mickey’s immediate reaction.

“Sister?” Mickey prompted again.

“I… I have a lump in my breast that probably
should be examined.”

Mickey opened and closed her mouth a couple
of times. “How long ago did you find it?” she asked at last.

“I don’t remember exactly,” Sister
Scholastica responded. “Probably three or four months ago.”

Mickey quickly decided against lecturing her
about the folly of waiting so long. “Has it gotten bigger?”

Sister Scholastica nodded and said in a
matter-of-fact voice, “My mother and grandmother both died of
breast cancer.”

Mickey felt the goosebumps as a chill
settled over her – the same chill she always got when she knew a
bad diagnosis ahead of time. “Are you sure you’re comfortable with
me examining you?” she asked even more gently. “I could arrange
–”

“No,” Sister Scholastica interrupted. “No,
Sister – I mean Doctor.” She raised her gaze to Mickey’s again. “I
trust you.”

Mickey bowed her head. “All right. I’ll have
you change into a gown,” she said as she gathered her crutches and
struggled to her feet. “I’ll return when you’re ready.”

Outside the cubicle, she found Sister Mary
David waiting for her. “I’m going to need you,” she said
quietly.

When Sister Scholastica was ready, they
entered the cubicle together. With Sister Scholastica lying on the
bed there, Mickey scooted her stool near and carefully pulled aside
the gown to expose only as much as she needed for her exam. As she
feared, the lump was large, and felt as if it extended deep into
the breast tissue.

“I’m going to order a mammogram and an
ultrasound to be done this week,” Mickey said as she covered Sister
Scholastica again. “I can’t be certain without those results, but
this is most likely going to require a mastectomy. Probably both
sides with your family history.”

Sister Scholastica nodded stoically. “You’ll
do it?”

Mickey searched her face. Sister
Scholastica’s features were still sharp, hawkish, but there was an
expression of trust in her eyes that Mickey had never seen before.
“I will if that’s what you want.”

“I do.” Sister Scholastica sat up. “This
will remain confidential?” she asked, sounding much more like her
usual self.

“Except for Mother,” Mickey replied. “She
should be told.”

Sister Scholastica nodded. “Yes. I’ll go to
her at once.”

After Sister Scholastica had left, Sister
Mary David said, “I’ve been infirmarian for over ten years, and
that is the first time she has ever sought medical care at all that
I know of. She always has some excuse for avoiding check-ups.”

“I can’t believe she came to me, of all
people,” Mickey said wonderingly. “After everything that happened
before… it seems like a miracle.”

Sister Mary David smiled. “Miracles happen
all around us if we just take the time to see them. You should know
that.”

Chapter 47

Jamie looked out the kitchen window at the
sound of tires skidding on the gravel driveway. “We don’t need a
doorbell to know you’ve arrived,” he teased as Mickey and Lauren
came in. Lauren carried a bowl of tomato salad into the kitchen and
put it in the refrigerator.

“Sorry,” Mickey grinned. “I’m still getting
used to the hand controls. Whatever is grilling outside smells
fantastic.”

“Thanks. I’m cooking chicken and steaks.
They’ve been marinating since last night. Hope you like the
taste.”

“Hi,” Jennifer said as she came down the
stairs. “I thought I heard Speed Racer arrive,” she smiled, coming
over to hug both of them.

“Did you just get in?” Lauren asked as she
and Mickey seated themselves on the sofa.

“Yes, about an hour ago,” replied Jennifer.
“The train is working out really well. And my boss has been very
understanding about letting me work from home. Luckily a lot of my
research can be done on the internet. I’ve only had to go in one or
two days a week. I brought home some pieces to show you. Fourteenth
century Italian and we think tenth century Irish.”

“Really?” Lauren’s face lit up.

“After dinner,” Jamie commanded. “Otherwise
you two will disappear for hours.”

“And I’m hungry,” Mickey chimed in.

“You’re always hungry,” Lauren laughed.

“Well, I’ve been working up an appetite,”
Mickey defended herself.

“Oh?” Jennifer responded in an innocent
tone, but with a wicked gleam in her eyes as she looked from Mickey
to Lauren.

Jamie snorted with laughter as Mickey’s face
turned scarlet and Lauren sat back with her arms folded, eyebrows
raised.

“I meant because I’m getting busier at
work,” Mickey tried to extricate herself.

Jennifer came around the sofa and hugged
Mickey from behind on her way to the kitchen. “You don’t have to
explain. We’re happy for you no matter where your appetite is
coming from.”

“I’ll go turn the meat,” Jamie said, still
laughing as he went out to the grill.

“Sorry,” Mickey murmured when they had both
left. “I can’t help that reaction. And I’m a horrible liar.”

“I’ll remember that,” Lauren said, sliding
closer to Mickey on the couch. “Actually, I’m not as uncomfortable
as I thought I’d be. They’re so easy to be around.” She reached
over for Mickey’s hand. “I like not having to hide.”

As if to prove her point, Lauren surprised
Mickey by remaining where she was when Jamie came back inside.

“Everything should be ready soon,” he
announced.

“I’ll set the table,” Lauren
volunteered.

Within a few minutes, they were all seated
at the table.