Helsinki Sunrise by Marion Ueckermann Page B

Seven-fifteen. Three hours had passed since Adam’s fall.
    “Who is he?”
    “He’s the neurologist attending to your fiancé.”
    “Then I’d better hurry. I wouldn’t want to miss him.” Eveliina turned to go, and then stopped. “I almost forgot.” She dug in her handbag and pulled out a passport with a long white paper inserted inside. “I thought you might need these—Adam’s passport and proof of his travel insurance.” Eveliina had breathed a prayer of relief when she’d found those at the bottom of Adam’s backpack.
    “Wonderful. Give me a minute to photocopy them.”
    Eveliina nodded.
    True to her word, Mary took less than sixty seconds to make the copies and return the documents to Eveliina.
    “Thank you.” She placed them inside her bag before hurrying across the tiled floor. The heels of her sandals clicked as they made contact with the smooth surface beneath them. Too impatient to wait for the elevator, Eveliina climbed the stairs to the second floor. She pressed the button outside ICU and waited. Seconds later, a nurse opened the door.
    “Can I help you?”
    Eveliina glanced inside as she nodded.
    The medical staff looked like clones in their identical light-blue pants and shirts, heads and feet covered in disposable protective fabric.
    “Adam Carter. I’d like to see him, please.”
    “You are?”
    Eveliina wavered before answering, her earlier conviction to clean up on the inside compromised. She ignored the nagging to tell the truth. She needed to see Adam. “His future wife.” It could be true. She hadn’t said she was his fiancée—that would be a lie.
    “Let me take you to him.”
    Inside ICU, the nurse handed Eveliina a blue gown, plus hair and feet coverings much like her own.
    “You’ll need to put these on first.”
    “OK.” As she dressed, Eveliina scanned the room, searching for Adam.
    Beds and machines lined the right hand wall, like neatly arranged dominoes. Some of the beds were empty; others had no more than two visitors seated beside the occupant. The nurses’ station was on the left and on the far side were three glassed rooms. Inside the one straight ahead, she could see Adam’s still form. A tall man in a white coat stood beside his bed. She hoped this was Dr. Karjanlahti.
    “I’m sure you’d like to talk with the doctor—he’s with your fiancé at the moment.”
    Eveliina nodded as she slid a light blue cover over her left foot.
    “Follow me.”
    The nurse led her to Adam’s room.
    Eveliina swallowed hard as she stepped inside.
    Monitors blipped around his bed. The one that mattered most to her was the one that showed his heart still beating. Tubes and lines twisted and turned like highways emanating from one central hub—Adam. His head was swathed in a turban-like bandage and his neck mimicked the look with a sponge brace. The transparent oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth clung to his face by means of a green elastic band strapped around his head. More tubing connected white leggings to a machine hanging at the edge of his bed which ticked as it pumped the leggings tighter around Adam’s calves, then exhaled like an old man dying as it released the pressure. His left arm lay bent across his body, the white of a splint stuck out on either side of the sling immobilizing his arm.
    Red paint still covered him. Saving Adam’s life was obviously far more important to the medical staff than Adam saving face. But he wouldn’t care what he looked like.
    She hadn’t. Adam’s welfare was all that mattered when she flew into the ER looking like something out of a horror movie, or when she’d crossed the busy reception area under the curious stares of those coming and going.
    “Dr. Karjanlahti, this is Adam Carter’s fiancée—”
    “Eveliina Mikkola.” Eveliina extended her hand in greeting.
    Dr. Karjanlahti reciprocated.
    She moved beside Adam and took his hand in hers. “How is Adam doing?”
    “Let’s step away where we can talk more