The Italian Surgeon's Christmas Miracle Read Online Free PDF Page B

Summer, her eyes wide and anxious.
    ‘How many children do you have living here?’
    Amy blinked. She looked nervous, Luke decided. Was she thinking he was about to criticise her ability to care for a sick child because there were too many other demands on her attention?
    He could see no reason to do so, so far. Summer was warm and comfortable and looked happy. She was receiving oxygen. Presumably being given all her medications or she would be a lot worse than she was. What more could anyone be doing?
    ‘Right now?’ Amy was responding. ‘Seven.’
    ‘And you’re trying to care for them all? By yourself?’
    Her chin lifted a fraction. She had taken his incredulous question as criticism rather than concern.
    ‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘My mother is the official foster-parent. My sister also lives here. Marco and Angelo are her children. My nephews.’
    ‘So where is your mother? And your sister?’ He would have to speak to them all. Three Italian women who were not going to like what he had to say, God help him!
    ‘Um…’ Amy’s gaze slid sideways. ‘They’re in Italy just at the moment.’
    ‘ Bisnonna ’s sick,’ Angelo piped up helpfully. ‘She is a sick…’ He looked at Amy questioningly. ‘Cuore?’
    ‘Heart,’ Amy supplied. ‘She has a sick heart. It’s my grandmother,’ she explained to Luke. ‘She’s had an MI. My mother had to go to her and she needed my sister to travel with her. I couldn’t leave because I have to work.’
    Luke’s eyebrows rose involuntarily.
    ‘It’s only for a day or so. They’re going to bring Nonna back.’
    Luke sucked in a breath. ‘Here?’
    ‘Yes,’ Amy said firmly. ‘Here. We’re going to give her Uncle Vanni’s room.’
    Luke let his breath out slowly. So he was not only going to have to find suitable accommodation for a collection of children, including one who was terminally ill, he now had to throw an elderly, recuperating cardiac patient into the mix.
    With a bemused shake of his head, he turned back to something much easier to deal with. Summer.
    ‘Can I listen to you heart, chicken?’ he asked. ‘With my ear?’
    Amy looked startled but Summer didn’t seem to mind the unusual request and the twins were fascinated to see Luke bend his head to place his ear directly on Summer’s bare, frail chest.
    ‘What you doing?’ Marco asked.
    ‘I’m listening to Summer’s heart. And her lungs.’
    ‘Can I listen, too?’
    ‘No.’ It was Amy who spoke. ‘I want you boys to go and get into the bath before it gets cold. Go now. Shoo!’ she added as the twins shuffled reluctantly. ‘I’ll be up in a minute to make sure you’ve washed behind your ears.’
    ‘Can we make it hot again?’
    ‘Just a little bit. The big boys still haven’t had their bath.’
    The information that the hot-water supply in the house was less than ideal barely filtered into the back of Luke’s mind thanks to his concentration. Even without the magnification a stethoscope would have provided, he could hear all he needed to reassure himself there was nothing major happening on top of the expected murmurs of abnormal blood flow through Summer’s heart.
    He lifted the blankets a moment later to check her ankles. There was no swelling to suggest that her heart failure was not under control but he still wasn’t entirely happy and he knew he was frowning as he looked at Amy.
    Her face was so…alive. She could talk without saying a word. Luke could see she understood his disquiet perfectly. That she also sensed something was brewing but, as yet, there was nothing to point out the direction any deterioration was taking. It was impressive that this nurse could share what was an instinctive warning bell. It was somewhat disturbing that they could communicate almost telepathically.
    Amy probably found it equally disturbing. ‘We’re looking after her,’ she said aloud. ‘We all love Summer.’ She stooped to kiss the child. ‘I’m going get your medicine now,