Page 4 of Dr. Scandal Claus

"Alright, ma'am, I'll dispatch an ambulance to your location." She rattled off my address, probably gathered by their caller ID services, and asked me to confirm, and I was already at Ethan's side, brushing his mop of curls off his forehead.

By the time the ambulance got here, I could've driven him myself, but my hands were shaking so badly I had a hard time locking the house up. They let me ride in back beside him as I gave them our health insurance information, but they didn't drive superfast despite the blaring sirens. The paramedics gave Ethan oxygen right away, but they didn't look overly concerned, which helped my anxiety a little, but my palms were still sweatyand my heart still racing when they settled us into a hospital exam room in the emergency department.

Ethan was already starting to perk up a little and feel better as they ran tests. He nodded off to sleep for a while and another nurse came in to ask me more questions. She sat on the stool across the room reserved for doctors while I hovered at the side of Ethan's bed, unable to make myself sit down.

"Ms. Moore, I have a few more questions to ask you about Ethan. Do you mind?" She was a polite woman with long black hair and a pretty smile. She appeared so young I didn't know how she even got to work here, but she didn't appear to be issuing orders or anything, just filling out paperwork.

"Uh, sure," I said, turning to face her. But I stayed right beside him to keep watch.

"Tell me about your family history. Are there any conditions or chronic issues that you know of?" She had her fingers over her keyboard, poised to type in my response but I shook my head.

"Honestly, my family is pretty healthy. My mother had primary hypertension, but it was induced by alcoholism. My father had two heart attacks but those were later in life and brought on by thick blood, not heart disease." I glanced at Ethan. Did they think it was his heart?

She typed away for a second then smiled at me. I hated that smile. Why were people in hospitals always so happy? Didn't they know patients weren't happy to be here and some sympathetic expression would be much more well received?

"And what about Ethan's dad? What's his family history?" She waited while my blood ran cold and I sucked in a breath and held it for a second.

Not only did I not know Ethan's father's history, but if I brought that up here—even so much as uttered his name—the fragile house of cards I'd been sustaining for years would crumble. But not knowing what Nick might have suffered from,or his parents or grandparents, might be killing my boy. This was a knife to my chest.

"Uh," I muttered, swallowing a lump forming in my throat. "I had a one-night stand," I told her. It was the truth, and it was my only choice right now. All I could do was pray their testing would reveal something. Ethan was already looking better. I didn't believe it was something that was life-threatening. If there was even a hint of it, though, I'd tell anyone my secret just to save my boy.

"That's alright…It's an incomplete history but we'll have the best doctor in the state here shortly to look at test results." She turned back to her typing and I got curious.

"What sort of doctor? What sort of tests?" I knew they'd done blood work, chest X-rays—because he complained of the funny feeling—and they were looking at the possibility of an EKG. I didn't think the problem was his heart though. I figured it was his lungs since his lips were blue.

"Dr. Edwards is a cardiologist and he can help radiology interpret the X-rays. We're also going to do an EKG and…"

Her voice faded into the background becoming white noise when I heard Nick's last name and specialty. There was only one Dr. Edwards who was a cardiologist around here. Or maybe there was more than one, but it wasn't likely. My stomach wound up in knots and I thought I'd throw up. I walked to the chair in the corner of the room feeling suddenly lightheaded and sat down. The nurse stood and walked toward me looking concerned.

"Are you alright?" she asked, and I took a few deep breaths.

"It's … uh …"

"Is it Dr. Edwards?" She winced as she spoke. "The nickname people gave him is really awful. He's actually a fantastic guy and an amazing cardiologist. Don't let that bad rumor scare you."

While she was trying to be helpful, it wasn't the scandal he'd been through that worried me. It was the one that we could both go through if my secret got out. And if he was in the same room with my son, he was sure to discover that Ethan was his.

Then what?

4

NICK

My commute to the hospital from Evergreen was average. Snowfall had made the roads a bit slippery, but this far north, people knew how to drive on the stuff. It barely slowed me down. And though I was itching to stop by that little bakery with the cute brunette cashier, I opted not to. I made my coffee at home like normal and suffered with a gas station muffin instead of the large moist blueberry muffin I knew I'd love.

My interest in her was more than just the muffins she served. She was very attractive, and ever since seeing her last week, I couldn't shake the feeling I knew her from somewhere. It nagged me constantly, but only because she was so strikingly gorgeous, I couldn't get that smile out of my head. I should. I knew I should push it away and stop letting my heart hope anything could ever happen with her. She lived in Evergreen; there was no way she'd date me. Everyone in town knew about what had happened.

I sulked toward my office like normal, already skimming my schedule for the day on the hospital-issued tablet that held all my patient records. I had a new patient on the list today, an Ethan Moore. The name sounded trendy, so I doubted he wasfrom the older generation, which meant it wasn't a routine heart condition. It didn't matter much anyway. He'd take one look at me and connect me to the scandal, then he'd ask for a referral to a different doctor like everyone else. I was surprised to have my current patient load, and I always felt like I was one step away from losing everything again.

Turning the corner, I almost bumped into a nurse who smiled apologetically and walked around me. I was staring at the patient's test results and blood work when I happened to see his age. Seven years old, what a shame. This poor kid was having a miserable Christmas by the looks of it, and that broke my heart. Just the thought of someone else's child being sad this time of year was enough to get me choked up.

I'd always wanted children, a big family even, but Fiona ruined that for me too. She ruined everything by lying and going behind my back. Her idea of family loyalty was only to her father, never to me. I wondered if she ever really loved me or if she was one of those really broken people who used someone until they got what they wanted.

Now because of her disloyalty and everything I went through following that malpractice suit, I couldn't even get a woman to look my way. They might find me attractive—I'd been told I was—but the fear of being associated with the stigma and the lingering rumors just kept everyone at arm's length. They wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole.

I ducked into my office and my secretary looked up at me with a deadpan. She never smiled, though I didn't know if that was because she had reduced herself to working for me or if it was because she was just a serious person. The nurses I worked with were professional, though, never bringing up the past and focusing only on our current patients. I was grateful for them, but it didn't make living in this nightmare any easier.

"New patient in exam one, Doc. Poor kid," she sighed, and her eyes dropped back to her computer screen. Having an office space in the hospital in addition to my practice across town allowed me to have privacy with my patients. I preferred for them to come here to visit me rather than having to hike through the massive hospital. It also allowed me to see more patients this way too, and I didn't have to walk the hallways as much, seeing the stares of patients, family members, and staff who still mistrusted me.

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