Revel (Second Chance Romance #1)(36)

Charlotte shrugged, “I really don’t. I’m happy with this life. I can definitely make more time for you and dad, but this is my dream I’m living. I don’t have to depend on anyone for anything.”

“Why is it so terrible to depend on people?” Vanessa asked. “Your patients depend on you. I depend on you. We all get a lot out of that. Why can’t you let someone in, Charlotte? What are you so afraid of?”

Charlotte didn’t say anything for a moment. There was so much she could say to that question. They didn’t have enough time for the list of the things she was afraid of. But it all boiled down to one word. One name.

Declan. She was afraid of that happening again.

But she wouldn’t burden Vanessa with that, and besides, her phone was buzzing.

“Hang on,” Charlotte said. “I have to answer this. It’s the office.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

Charlotte had never been so grateful for an interruption. She thumbed over the green answer button on her iPhone and held it to her ear.

“This is Dr. Sanders,” she said into the phone.

The voice on the other end had very bad news. Charlotte’s face turned pale.

“I’ll be right there,” she said. “I’m on my way now.”

********

Melanie Hopp had been in a car accident.

She was on her way home from her appointment with Charlotte when it happened. She’d started to move her car forward at a green light when another car came barreling down the street, running the red light. They’d t-boned Melanie’s car and then kept going. Hit and run.

It was a story all too familiar to Charlotte.

But she couldn’t think about her mother now. What mattered was making sure Melanie and the baby were okay. Melanie had been airlifted to the hospital where Charlotte worked, and she was being prepped for emergency surgery.

As Charlotte ran through the halls of Nashville Memorial Hospital, she was met by one of her colleagues from medical school, Dr. Erin Whitmer. They’d graduated together and had remained close. They’d yet to be in this kind of situation together.

“Is she stable?” Charlotte asked as she scrubbed in. “The baby?”

“Baby’s heart is still beating but we don’t know what damage has been done,” Dr. Whitmer said, as she scrubbed next to Charlotte. “She has extensive abdominal trauma. We won’t know the full extent until we get in.” Dr. Whitmer looked down at her hands. “It’s not looking good.”

Charlotte tried not to convey any emotion at this news. She was a doctor and this was part of the deal. Life and death were always on the line. She’d been trained to deal with these things. She’d lost patients, she’d had to tell mothers their babies had died, she’d had to ruin people’s lives with the news she gave them. It wasn’t her favorite part of the job, but it was a necessary part.

But Melanie Hopp was different. And this situation was too similar to her past. Charlotte looked at this as a way to make things right.

She would not let Melanie and her baby die.

When she and Dr. Whitmer got to the OR, it was already a hectic scene. Melanie’s heart had stopped beating. One of the paramedics was still on top of her with the defibrillator, trying his best to get her heart pumping again.

“She’s coding!” he said, stopping defibrillation. He was doing chest compressions now. “We need to get her prepped.”

Charlotte knew what that meant. It was time for her to deliver the baby. In case Melanie wasn’t going to make it.

Everything was moving in slow motion. She was trying her best to keep her head clear, to remember what needed to be done and not think about who she was cutting into. They were fortunate-the baby was 33-34 weeks gestated, so if they could deliver him, chances were good he would make it. But they had no idea how much oxygen he’d lost or for how long.

It was a scary time. Charlotte had to keep it together.

She went through the motions, concentrating on the task as chaos happened around her. It was becoming much clearer that Melanie was probably not going to make it. Charlotte had to be quick to save her baby. If there was anything she could do to make this have some sort of silver lining, it was really up to her to make it happen.

Fortunately, the trauma to Melanie had not impacted her uterus, and when Charlotte pulled the tiny baby boy out of Melanie’s dying body, the OR was suddenly filled with the sound of his high-pitched screams as cold oxygen hit his body for the first time. It was the best of signs, it meant he had probably not been without oxygen long enough for any damage to have been done, but being that he was still premature, he needed to get to the NICU, stat.

As much as Charlotte wanted to stay and be with Melanie, it was her job to take care of the one thing Melanie loved more than anything in the world.

It was time to save the only one that could be saved.

********

Melanie Hopp had lived long enough for her child to be rescued, but she passed away soon after the emergency C-section. She never got to hold her baby, or kiss him goodbye. Her tiny child would never have a single memory of the mother who had been so excited to be his.

Charlotte stayed overnight with him. His lungs were still underdeveloped and he was on a ventilator for now, but all signs pointed to him being okay. It was a miracle, and the staff at the hospital were giving Charlotte a lot of accolades for saving him.