Though Matt usually would have been only thinking about his patient, as he walked down the hall, he could only seem to think about Officer Lucky. He’d barely met her, but she’d left a huge impression. She could be described as about five-six, a hundred fifteen pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. But those characteristics did little to accurately describe the way Traci was. No, she was an athletic fireball with a good dose of vulnerability thrown in for good measure.
And, it seemed, tenacity. Or, maybe it was loyalty. He wasn’t sure yet.
Whatever her reasons, even three days later, Traci was still sticking to her promise. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was. In his experience, most cops were overworked and underpaid. They didn’t have time to continually visit a woman in the hospital. Especially a woman who was never happy to see them.
But Traci Lucky was proving that she wasn’t like anyone else.
He wasn’t the only person who thought that, either. The woman would probably be shocked to hear it, but she had quite a following around the hospital.
Matt wasn’t surprised. Traci had an aura about her that caused everyone in her path to do a double take. She was assertive, athletic, and attractive, with her long brown hair poorly contained in a ponytail. But beyond all of those attributes, there was a whole other part about her that reeked of vulnerability. It made a guy want to step in front of her and shield her from the world—at least until she pushed him aside with a tersely uttered, “I’ve got this.”
He walked down to Gwen’s room, tapped on the door lightly, and then entered. Traci was sitting in a chair next to her. She looked as uncomfortable as he would feel sitting in a cell at the county jail.
Looking grateful for the interruption, Traci jumped to her feet. “Dr. Rossi, hi. We were just talking about you.”
“Yeah?” He winked at Gwen. “Let me guess. You were wondering what time I was going to be making my rounds this morning?”
“Yep,” Gwen answered, sounding and looking better than she had just the day before. “It’s almost eleven. That’s late for you.”
“I had surgery first thing,” he said as he approached Gwen’s bed. He knew either Marissa or Dee would be joining them to go over Gwen’s vitals, but he wanted to get a sense of how she was doing before diving into the specifics of her health. “How are you feeling today, Gwen?”
She shrugged. “Okay.” After giving Traci a sideways glance, she said, “Better, I guess.”
“Better is good. Marissa told me a bit about your bloodwork when I passed by the station. You’re improving, Miss. I’m glad about that.”
Gwen shifted, used the remote on the bed to help her get into a sitting position. “Officer Lucky says that I should be grateful to be stuck here.”
“What do you think?”
She paused. “I don’t know.” As if she could tell that Traci wasn’t happy with her honesty, Gwen added, “I mean, I’m grateful for the shower and the three meals and all, but I kind of feel like I just got a lucky break.” She winced. “No pun intended, Officer.”
“None taken,” Traci murmured.
Fighting off a smile, Matt said, “But . . .?”
“But, I don’t know what to do about it.” She shifted uncomfortably. “This isn’t my home, you know? Not that I really have a home or anything.”
“Of course the hospital isn’t your home, but no one has expected it to be. Just take things one step at a time,” Traci said in a brisk tone. “I’ve told you that.”
Gwen looked at the police officer for the first time. “But I’m still gonna have to leave, right?”
Sensing that their conversation wasn’t anything new, or anything productive, Matt said, “Let’s start with the easy stuff then. What’s been going on with the baby? Have you felt him move?” They’d done a sonogram the previous night and discovered that she was twenty-three weeks along and, though too small, the baby was otherwise surprisingly healthy. They had also learned that she was having a boy.
She placed a hand on her stomach. “I did. I mean, I do.” Looking almost happy, Gwen said, “He seems like he’s doing okay.”
“You’re having a boy?” Traci’s look of wonder was adorable.
“Yeah. Go figure, huh?”
Dee popped in with Gwen’s chart. “You ready, Dr. Rossi?”
Feeling a little bit like Traci had looked when he’d first stepped in, Matt said, “I’m ready. Will you excuse us, Traci?”
She was already on her feet. “Sure.” After darting another look at Gwen, the corners of her mouth turned down. “You know what? I might just go—”
“Stay if you don’t mind, okay?” Matt interrupted. “I’ll be out in ten.”
“All right.” Pausing at the door, she said, “Gwen, you keep getting better. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Okay, bye.”
After Traci left, Gwen relaxed a bit. “She kind of scares me sometimes.”
It was all Matt could do not to burst out laughing. He knew what Gwen met. Traci was a pint-sized fireball, for sure. “I don’t think she means to be scary.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged like she wasn’t sure what to think about that.
Matt studied the charts and watched as Dee took Gwen’s pulse and blood pressure. “It looks like your body needed some rest, young lady. It’s responding really well to the hydration and meals.”
Gwen looked away. “I’ve had the shakes but it hasn’t been that bad.”
“That should get better as you get healthier.”
“I hope so.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better. I haven’t slept so much in months.”
He skimmed the nurses’ notes. Noticed that Gwen had eaten every bit of all of her meals and had indeed, been spending most of her time sleeping. Not only was that good for her and the baby, but he took it as a positive sign that she hadn’t been as hooked on drugs as he’d first thought. If her addiction had gotten really bad, she would have been going through withdrawal instead of being able to eat, drink, and sleep.
He needed to get a social worker involved, but in the meantime, he intended to keep her safe and healing.
“Gwen, I’m going to recommend that we keep you here until at least Wednesday.”
“Two more days.” Her voice was flat.
“I don’t know if we’ll have much luck keeping you longer than that. Do you have anywhere to go when you’re released?”