The Surgeon's New-Year Wedding Wish by Laura Iding Page B

made the how-are-you sign, followed by the letters of the alphabet spelling Danny.
    How are you, Dr. Leila? Danny asked in response.
    His son was teaching Leila sign language. Quinn stared in stunned surprise, warning bells going off in his mind.
    She looked so natural with his son, the sight of them brought a lump to the back of his throat. But no matter how good they looked together, he didn’t want to go there. He and Danny were doing just fine on their own.
    Danny didn’t need a mother, he had Delores.
    And God knew, the last thing he wanted or needed was a wife.

CHAPTER NINE
    Q UINN had to clear his tight throat before he could speak. “Hey, Danny. Auntie D. needs to have a procedure that’s going to take a few hours so we’ll need to stick around the hospital for a while.”
    Okay. Danny seemed to take the news in his stride.
    “Is everything all right?” Leila asked with concern.
    “Yes. She was dehydrated from flu and now her cardiac enzymes and troponin are slightly elevated. Michael Hendricks wants to do a cardiac cath just to be sure.”
    “I see.” Leila frowned a bit, and glanced at Danny as if realizing Quinn was glossing over things for his son’s sake. “Good thing that test doesn’t take long. She’ll be finished soon enough, I’d think.”
    The way she played along only irritated him more, as he hadn’t asked for her help. Finding Leila and Danny bonding over sign language bothered him. He didn’t want his son to get the wrong idea about Leila. With a strained smile he held out his hand to Danny. “Come on, let’s head down to the cafeteria for a while.”
    Danny scrambled over to his father, but glanced back at Leila. Can Dr. Leila come, too?
    Quinn was glad his question had been asked in sign language, so Leila wouldn’t know what he’d said. “No. Show Dr. Leila how to say goodbye, Danny.”
    Danny did the universal sign of waving goodbye and Leila laughed, following suit. “Even I can understand that one,” she said in a dry tone. “Goodbye, Danny. Hope to see you again some time soon.”
    Not if he could help it, Quinn thought as he drew Danny away, allowing Leila to go back to work. She had said she wasn’t on call, but he knew she had probably stopped in to see her patients.
    As he walked with Danny through the arena, he realized there were more important problems than finding Leila with Danny. He was scheduled to work second shift, so he’d need someone to watch Danny from three o’clock until well past eleven. Chances were, even if Delores’s cardiac cath was negative, she’d need to stay here overnight for observation. And if she were by some miracle discharged home, she wouldn’t be in any condition to watch his son.
    Mulling over his dilemma, he decided against going to the cafeteria just yet. Instead, he took Danny to his office. Leaving Danny there to play games on his computer, he went back to find Seth. Asking for help wasn’t easy, but he swallowed his pride anyway. “Seth, I, uh, need a favor.”
    “Hey, I’m glad you’re here,” Seth said. “Kylie just called to ask if you would mind if Danny stayed overnight with Ben tonight.”
    An unexpected wave of gratitude hit hard. He didn’t for one minute believe Kylie had come up with that idea on her own. Especially considering she and Sethwere getting married in two days. Seth, understanding fatherhood more than most, had already anticipated the problem and had arranged for a viable solution before he had the chance to ask.
    In that moment Quinn was more thankful than ever that he’d chosen Cedar Bluff to move to. The small town was warm, welcoming and friendly. It wasn’t as if he’d had the time to become close to any of the staff here, but Seth and Kylie had come through for him anyway.
    The people here were open and honest, seemingly without hidden agendas. Maybe keeping his distance wasn’t really necessary after all.
    “If you’re worried about the sign language issue, I know Ben’s been