Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (48 page)

He
rolled his eyes.
 
“Lay off it, Em,
ok?”

She
shook her head and folded her arms in front of her chest.
 
“No.
 
I care about you.
 
You’re one of the best residents here,
and I will not let you screw up your career.
 
You can’t be doing weird shit like this
with patients.”

He
shook his head.
 
“I’m not.
 
Relax.”

She
glared.
 
“I don’t believe you.”

He growled.
 
“Then that’s your problem, not
mine.”
 
He started walking
away.
 

She
chased after and caught up with him.
 
“Ok then, how do you know her?”

He
sighed and patted her on the shoulder.
 
“Em, I’m gonna need a whole lot of alcohol to tell that story, and I’m
not in the mood.
 
I’m more concerned
with her full recovery right now.”
 
He turned on his heel and made his way down the hallway.

She
rolled her eyes and called after him.
 
“Fine.
 
You’ll tell me in
time.”

He
turned around and grinned as he walked backward.
 
“Indeed, I will.
 
I’ll see you in a bit.
 
I have to go talk to Dr. Perry.”

Kyle
paced in the physicians’ lounge ten minutes after he had finished a debriefing
with his superior.
 
He had received
massive kudos and even more hints at the chief resident position being his very
soon.

Seeing
Kit, though, had thrown him into a tailspin evaluating his life trajectory, and
he had asked for some time off.
 
Dr.
Perry easily approved it, encouraging Kyle to take an extended period since he
had not taken a vacation or even a planned day off since he started his
residency four years prior.
 

There
was only one matter of business that Kyle had to attend to before he could sign
himself out on vacation.
 
That sole
task left him in a state of complete anxiety.
 
Dr. Perry was off his shift for the
night and asked Kyle to speak to Kit’s husband about the surgery and her
improving condition.
 

He
struggled with his moral conscience.
 
Part of him wanted more than ever to have another chance with Kit, yet a
nagging reminder remained telling him he had given up his option years
ago.
 
She had moved on, married, and
he had to deal with it.
 
Seeing her
again, reinstated all of those old wounds and just the thought of talking with
a man he knew Kit would be spending the rest of her life with, made his heart
sink.
 

Always
the professional, he threw on his white lab coat and headed out, grabbing her
chart on the way.
 
He scanned a
nurse’s note listing family member names.
 
He closed the chart and approached the waiting room, expecting to see
Moira and Tabitha, but they weren’t there.
 
Only the rock star, Sully Foxx and an attractive, petite brunette
remained.
 
Sully paced like a caged
tiger.

Kyle
swallowed hard and approached.
 
Giselle noticed him coming and tugged on Sully’s arm.
 
He shifted his focus to Kyle and met his
lucid, sage green eyes.
 
Kyle nodded
and extended his hand.
 
“I’m Dr.
Nicholls.
 
I was one of the
attending surgeons working on Kit McKenna this evening.
 
I’d like to take a moment to brief you
on her condition.”

Sully
shook his hand vigorously and bobbed his head with approval.
 
“Sully Foxx, Kit’s husband.
 
It’s great to meet you, Dr. Nicholls.
 
How is she doing?
 
Is she going to be ok?”

He
paused for a moment, stuck on the word ‘husband’ that Sully uttered.
 
He felt like someone had stabbed him in
the heart.
 
He forced his personal
feelings aside to do his job.
 

He met
Sully’s eyes and grinned.
 
“Yes.
 
She did great in
surgery.”
 
He continued, providing
details of the surgical procedures he performed with the team, her anticipated
recovery process and the next steps needed to return her to normal day-to-day
life.
 
Once he was finished, he
forced a friendly grin.
 
“She should
be alert in the morning and I’m sure she’ll want to see you.”

Giselle
couldn’t hold back. She was so relieved to hear the good news that she leaped
forward and hugged Kyle tightly.
 
He
chuckled as she pulled back and looked up at him.
 
“Thank you.
 
You saved my boss’s life.
 
She means the world to me.”

He
nodded and grinned.
 
“You’re very welcome.”

Sully
met his eyes and reached out to shake his hand again.
 
“Really, thank you.”

He
nodded again.
 
“Certainly.
 
Have a good night.
 
Get some rest.
 
She’ll need your support tomorrow.”

Sully
grinned.
 
“Will do, Doc.
 
Thanks again.”

Despite
the doctor’s urgings that they should head home and get some rest, Sully and
Giselle remained, lightly snoozing in the waiting room.
 
Sully knew Alexa was due to arrive soon,
and he didn’t want to cause confusion by leaving.
 
He notified a nurse to send Alexa in
when she arrived.

An hour
had passed since Kyle had notified Sully, and he was restless.
 
He finished his rounds and decided to go
downstairs to get some fresh air.
 
He listlessly headed toward the elevators.
 

His
eyes widened when the doors opened, and he saw Alexa rushing out toward the
nurses’ station.
 
He froze for a
moment, stunned by how quickly his past flooded his mind and clouded his
judgment.

Before
he could move, she glanced over and caught a glimpse of him.
 
He immediately felt that anxiety jolt
through his body as he hastily turned on his heel and quickened his pace in the
opposite direction of her.
 
He was
alarmed when she turned her full attention to him and approached in hot
pursuit.
 
He glanced over his
shoulder, hoping she had given up when their eyes met.
 
He promptly turned back around, cursing
under his breath and opening up into a full jog down the hallway.

Alexa
loudly called after him, startled and confused.
 
“Kirby?
 
Kirby Nelson is that you? Kirby!”
 

He
immediately turned the corner and ducked into one of the rooms that contained
cots and bunk beds for the physicians to catch a wink between rounds.
 
He leaned against the door, closed his
eyes and let out a long breath.

Moments
later, Alexa stared at the sign on the door that read, “Authorized personnel
only.”
 
She frowned and shook her
head, bursting into tears, wondering what was going on.

She
headed toward the windows to take a moment and compose herself, feeling like
she was in the midst of a meltdown.
 
She chalked it up to the stress of learning of Kit’s shooting and the
exhaustion from a long six-hour flight to Los Angeles.
 
Something in her spirit wouldn’t let go,
though.
 

The
doctor she chased down the hall was a dead ringer for Kirby Nelson and she
couldn’t shake it.
 
His sage green
eyes were unmistakable and triggered years of treasured memories.
 
Tears started rolling down her cheeks
again recalling Kit’s frantic rants shortly after Kirby’s death, trying to
convince Alexa that he wasn’t dead, that it was all some kind of setup.
 
Alexa’s thoughts spun like a top, and
she felt like she was losing her mind.

Desperate
to regain normalcy, she headed back to find Sully, who was rousing from
sleep.
 
He forced a grin and then
frowned, noticing the anguished look on her face.
 
“Lex, are you ok?”

She
shook her head, not wanting to explain.
 
“I’m just tired, Sull.
 
How’s
Kit doing?”

He
donned a content grin.
 
“Just
fine.
 
In fact, the doctor suggested
we go home and grab a wink.
 
We can
visit with her in the morning.”
 
He
stood up and threw his arm around her, helping Giselle up as well.
 
“Let’s go get some rest.
 
Like the good doctor said, we’ll need it
tomorrow.
 
I hope you didn’t waste
your money on a room.”

She
shook her head.
 
“No.
 
I planned to stay with you.
 
I went on the assumption that Kit would
be fine and figured you may need the extra help.
 
I cleared my schedule.
 
Wes and the kids will be on the first
flight out tomorrow.”

Sully
took her hand in his and squeezed it.
 
“Thank you.”
 
He grabbed
Giselle’s hand with his other and exchanged looks between both of them.
 
“Let’s go catch a few hours of sleep,
ladies.”

As
Alexa walked out with them, she glanced over her shoulder once again in hopes
of catching a glimpse of that doctor but he was nowhere in sight.

CHAPTER 26

It was
half past five when Kyle roused from his catnap on the cot.
 
He yawned and stretched as he got up,
headed to the washroom to freshen up.
 
By six he started his rounds.
 
Since he had no intention of leaving the hospital for his vacation until
he was assured Kit was fully conscious, lucid and in optimum health, he picked
up a rotation for a friend to pass the time.

By
seven, he grabbed her chart and made his way to her room, slowly poking his
head in first.
 
Hooked up to every
monitor imaginable, she slept peacefully, and he grinned, relieved his timing
was perfect.
 

As he
quietly approached and examined each monitor closely, he prayed she wouldn’t
wake up in his presence.
 
He sighed
for a moment before opening her chart and couldn’t resist taking her hand in
his.

He
closed his eyes and felt the sting of tears that he willed himself to
halt.
 
He gently stroked her hand
with his thumb and opened his eyes, watching her.
 
He grinned, wanting so badly to wake her
up and tell her everything, but he didn’t.
 
He gently removed his hand and shifted his focus to her chart.
 

As he
wrote down notes, he glanced up at some earlier annotations and made a stark
realization—she was pregnant.
 
He let out a long, defeated sigh, quietly shut the chart and leaned down.
 
It was over now.
 
There was no chance that they could be
together.
 
She was married and
building a family with her husband.
 
He was too late.
 

He
kissed her on the forehead once again, smoothed her hair gently and struggled
to hold back tears as he squeaked out a whisper.
 
“Goodbye, Kitty.
 
I love you.
 
I’ll always love you.”

He
stood up and walked out.
 
He was
about to continue down the hall when Moira approached.
 
She smiled wide, her eyes dancing with
contentment, as she held her arms open to him.
 
“I was hoping I’d run into you
today.
 
I wanted to thank you
personally for attending to my daughter-in-law so brilliantly.
 
You saved her life.”

He
chuckled, gave her a kiss on the cheek and hugged her tightly.
 
He pulled back and met her eyes.
 
“Moira, I’m glad to see you.
 
Sorry, the gala didn’t work out last
night.
 
I promise I’ll make the next
one.”
 
He gently led her down the
hallway.
 
“Let’s go grab a cup of
coffee and I’ll give you the latest on Kit before I’m off of my shift.”

She
nodded.
 
“I’d like that.
 
Thanks for the personal treatment,
Kyle.”

Alexa
sat in the chair at Kit’s bedside, occasionally glancing over at her while she
tried to do some work.
 
Her mind
wasn’t in it, though.
 
She couldn’t
stop thinking about the run-in with the mystery doctor the night before.
 
She couldn’t believe how much he looked
like Kirby.
 
She sighed and shook
her head.

“Hey,
you’re here,” Kit uttered groggily.

Alexa
sprung to attention and smiled wide.
 
“Kitty!”
 
She jumped up and
grabbed her hand, sitting on the side of the bed and leaning forward to give
her a kiss on the cheek.
 
“How are
you feeling?”

She
chuckled.
 
“I think I’ve had better
days.
 
I saw Sull and Moira earlier,
but they didn’t mention you were in town.”

Alexa
grinned.
 
“I was getting Wes and the
kids settled in at your house.
 
I
think they wanted to leave it as a surprise.”

She
nodded.
 
“Probably so.”
 
Before she could launch into a
conversation with Alexa, one of the nurses arrived to take her vitals.
 
She glanced over.
 
“To be continued, Lex.
 
I think we have lots to catch up
on.
 
I had something weird happen to
me before and after surgery.”

Alexa
swallowed hard, thinking of her strange occurrence the night before.
 
“Oh really? Ok.
 
We’ll talk.
 
I’ll be back.”

The
kind nurse took Kit’s vitals and engaged in chitchat with her, noting rapid
progress.
 
She glanced at her chart
and grinned.

Kit
giggled.
 
“That’s an awfully big
grin.
 
I didn’t know my chart was
that entertaining.”

The
nurse laughed.
 
“You were treated by
one of the best, Ms. McKenna.”
 
She
giggled.
 
“And just between you and
me, one of the hottest!”

Kit
smiled wide.
 
“Oh my!
 
Do tell.
 
Now you’ve got my attention.
 
Is he one of my doctors?”

She
shook her head.
 
“He’s not your
primary here, no, but he was one of your attending surgeons, and he did work on
you in the operating room.
 
Knowing
him, you’ll probably heal beautifully.
 
He’s got a magic touch.
 
Very
talented up and coming surgeon.”

Kit
grinned.
 
“Any chance I’ll meet this
up and coming surgeon so I can thank him personally?” She giggled and
winked.
 
“I always love flirting
with a hottie, especially one that helped save my life.
 
Just don’t tell my husband.”

The
nurse laughed.
 
“Don’t worry, I
won’t.
 
Let me find out when he’ll
be around.”

Kit
nodded, and her face became more serious.
 
“Any idea when I’ll get out of here?”

She
shook her head.
 
“No.
 
But I’m sure Dr. Perry will be able to
answer that question for you later today.”

Kit met
her gaze.
 
“And is everything ok
with my baby?
 
Can you tell from my
chart?”

The
nurse surveyed her carefully and opened the chart.
 
She looked up and met Kit’s eyes
again.
 
“I can’t tell from your
chart.
 
Let me find out for
you.
 
There are some notes in here,
but I need a little more clarification.
 
I’ll be back.”

Kit
sighed and shook her head.
 
If she
had lost the baby because of the altercation with Darren, she would never
forgive herself.
 
She wondered what
was going to happen next with him and was desperate to talk to Giselle, but
Sully had banned that discussion until she was released from the hospital.
 
She didn’t blame him, she knew her focus
should be on recovery, but her mind was reeling with so many questions, not
only from what transpired with Darren, but her experience with surgery.

The
kind nurse returned, smiling from ear to ear, leaving Kit feeling a rush of
reassurance.
 
She nodded.
 
“Yes, you are still pregnant.
 
I spoke with Dr. Nicholls.”

Kit
frowned.
 
“Who is Dr. Nicholls?”

She
giggled.
 
“Oh, sorry.
 
Forgot to tell you his name
earlier.
 
He’s the hottie I was
telling you about.
 
All us nurses
love him.”

Kit
smiled and nodded.
 
“Yeah,
yeah.
 
Tell me about him!
 
C’mon, I’m laying here, give me
something good to think about.”

The
nurse laughed.
 
“I’ll get to that in
a minute.
 
I wanted to address your
question about your pregnancy.
 
Dr.
Nicholls got in touch with your doctor who should be here any minute.
 
I understand that an ultrasound is
planned.
 
Would you like me to call
your husband so he can be here?
 
You’ll probably be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first
time.”

Kit’s eyes
welled up with tears as a wide smile spread across her face.
 
“Yes.
 
I think he’s already here, just
somewhere in the hospital.
 
If you
could find him, I’d appreciate it.
 
Thank you for that news.
 
And
please tell Dr. Nicholls thank you for consulting with my doctor.”

She
grinned.
 
“I will.
 
Unfortunately, I found out that he has
left to start his vacation, and I’m unclear on how long he’ll be gone.
 
So, you won’t be able to meet our
favorite surgical resident.”

Kit
stuck her bottom lip out pretending to pout.
 
“Bummer.
 
Well, can you at least indulge me a
little?
 
What does this hottie look
like?”

She
giggled.
 
“His eyes are
gorgeous.
 
So expressive.
 
He’s got these dreamy green eyes.
 
The guy looks like a male model, tall,
built, amazing bone structure.
 
My
goodness, what jaw line.
 
Clean cut
look, short light brown hair, nice lips, great smile.
 
He’s absolutely stunning.”

Kit
grinned knowingly.
 
“And arrogant as
hell, I’m sure?”

The
nurse shook her head.
 
“Actually,
no.
 
You’d think he would be, but not
at all.
 
Definitely humble.
 
He’s very kind to us—a rarity,
especially with the surgeons.
 
And
he cares very passionately about his patients.
 
He is dedicated to making a positive
difference in people’s lives.
 
He’s
pretty brilliant too—the top resident here.
 
That guy is going places, for sure.”

Kit
giggled.
 
“It’s too bad I won’t get
to meet him.
 
He sounds like a real
catch for someone.
 
Obviously, I’m
married, so no go on my end, but he probably would have been fun to flirt
with.”

The
nurse smiled.
 
“Oh yes!
 
He is good at flirting for sure.
 
And he’s got these amazing dimples when
he smiles!”

Kit’s
grin started to fade, and suddenly her thoughts went to Kirby.
 
She noticed the nurse’s expression had
changed to one of concern, and she forced her grin. “Sorry, just a little
tired.”

She
nodded.
 
“Understandably.
 
Get some rest.
 
I’ll go find your husband.”

Kit
easily dozed off into sleep and was thoroughly enjoying the rest until her
doctor gently woke her.
 
Her eyes
fluttered open, and she grinned.
 
They engaged in light conversation while a machine was rolled in, and
she was prepped for the ultrasound.
 
Moments later, Sully was by her side holding her hand.

He
gazed into her eyes and grinned as he leaned forward and gave her a gentle
kiss.
 
“Here’s the moment of
truth.
 
The first photo of our
baby.”

She
smiled and couldn’t suppress a giggle of excitement as the doctor started the
process.
 
Kit and Sully struggled to
see the image and noticed the doctor’s expression change.
 
The doctor grinned.
 
“Oh!
 
I wasn’t expecting this.”

Kit
frowned and exchanged a concerned look with Sully.
 
“What’s wrong?”

She
looked at Kit and smiled.
 
“Nothing
is wrong.
 
You’re having twins.
 
There are two babies.
 
See?”
 
She pointed them out on the screen.

Kit and
Sully exchanged a look of awe and chuckled. Sully nodded.
 
“Double the blessing.
 
Is everything ok, doc?”

She
nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
They seem to be perfectly healthy, but
considering Kit’s history and her recent emergency surgery, we’re going to have
to monitor them closely.”
 
She
shifted her focus to Kit.
 
“Please,
take it easy.
 
Your body has been
through a traumatic event.
 
I’d like
to see you in my office next week.”