His Promise (Married in Montana Book 1) by Lorhainne Eckhart Page A

was wearing a blue tooth device attached behind her ear and looking at a computer screen in front of her.
    “Can I help you?” She said as Kim heard phones buzzing in the background.
    “Yes, can you tell me if Dr. Bruce Siegel is still here e was called in for an emergency.”
    “Let me check.” She tapped some keys on her computer and then was talking to someone on her earpiece. “Is Dr. Siegel still on the grounds?” She asked, then nodded. “Okay, thank you.” She glanced back up at Kim. “He just came out of surgery. Go on up to the third floor nurses’ station. There’s a waiting area off there. Let the nurses know you’re there to see the doctor, and he’ll find you when he’s finished.”
    She wondered whether she should tell this woman she wasn’t a patient—or rather, she didn’t have a child who was a patient. She started to when the woman began answering another call, so instead she tapped the counter and said, “Thank you.”
    She started to the elevators, her insides shaking. The tiny nerves of steel that had made her think this was a good idea were suddenly wavering. Maybe he wouldn’t appreciate her showing up here, and as she stood in front of the elevator, she wondered whether maybe she should go back to the receptionist and ask to leave a message instead. Or she could go home alone.
    She didn’t want to be alone, though. It’s now or never, Kim. Haven’t you lost enough time? She jabbed the button and waited for the elevator when the doors opened several people stepped out. There was a couple who followed Kim in, she pressed three. And they seemed to be going to the same floor. They were young and looked so sad. The woman had short dark hair and was holding her husband’s hand. Kim smiled over at them.
    “You have a child here?” the woman asked her.
    “No, I don’t. Just visiting a friend. You?” she asked, wishing very much that she did have a child—Bruce’s child, but not a child in the hospital. That had to be so difficult for a parent.
    “Our daughter. She’s five.”
    The man said nothing but offered a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
    “I hope it’s not too serious,” she said. From the expression on the man’s face, it didn’t seem as if it was anything simple.
    “She needs a heart transplant, has been on the waiting list since she was a baby. It’s hard not knowing, waiting every day.”
    Kim didn’t know what to say as the doors opened. The couple stepped out first and went down the hall, and Kim went to the nurses’ station. It was bustling with three nurses, a couple of doctors in scrubs, and someone behind the desk on the phone.
    “Can I help you?” a man in scrubs with a white coat pulled over top looked up to her from the stool he was sitting on.
    “Yes, is Dr. Bruce Siegel still here? Reception downstairs said he was just getting out of surgery—”
    “Kim?”
    She jumped when she heard his voice, turning to see him in faded blue scrubs, wearing a scrub cap with cartoon characters on it. He looked so tired, and he looked so good.
    “Hi,” she said. “I, uh…” What the hell did she want to say? I was worried, feeling needy because you didn’t call, probably because you were saving some child’s life, and I couldn’t be patient and wait. “I made you muffins because I thought you might be hungry. Is everything all right with the child?”
    He smiled at her. “Fine, come on.” He held up his hand, slipping it around her shoulder, and said to a nurse behind the counter, “Baby Whiteside is in the ICU. Can you let me know as soon as the mom is awake, and I’ll go talk to her?”
    Kim didn’t miss the glances her way, the interest noted by a few of the nurses to Bruce’s hand on her shoulder.
    “Come on, let’s go in the lounge,” he said.
    She started walking with him down the hall. “I feel bad for just showing up here.”
    Bruce pushed opened the door to a nice room with a sofa, a kitchen table with six chairs, a