Love's Healing Touch

Jane Myers Perrine

In the middle of a busy hospital emergency room, Dr. Ana Ramirez couldn't help but notice orderly Mike Fuller's quick skills and impressive bedside manner.And, yes, his very good looks. So she proposed a simple cup of coffee to talk about his future, never expecting to find herself wishing she were a part of it…But until Fuller could talk about his past– about family secrets, sacrifices and the faith that pulled him through– his future was on hold. As was any relationship with Ana. Or was it?

Love’s Healing Touch

Jane Myers Perrine

Published by Steeple Hill Books™

This book is dedicated to my family:

My parents, “Dr. Bob” and Martha Myers,

who took me to church, to Sunday school,

to youth group, to choir, to camp…

My big brother, Mike Myers, and my sister,

Patricia Myers Norton, who were such wonderful

Christian examples as I was growing up and are

wonderful friends now. Thank you.

And, as always, to my husband, George,

for his love and support—and for forty-one years

of inspirational sermons. I only slept

through a few, honey.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

“Coming through,” a nurse shouted as she pushed a crash cart down the hall of the emergency room.

Mike Fuller leaped away and landed in the path of a gurney being moved at breakneck speed. “Hey, you,” shouted the orderly as he swerved around Mike, “grab the door to the elevator and keep it open.”

Mike dashed toward the closing door and held it open until the orderly and his patient arrived. After the doors shut behind them, Mike again entered the E.R. and navigated through a hallway so crowded with patients on gurneys that there was only a narrow pathway between them. Ahead was the central desk where he’d been told to check in with the nursing staff.

No one was there.

A glance through the window on his right showed a waiting room filled with people. From outside the building, the siren of an approaching ambulance wailed, a sound which warred with the sounds inside the building—shouts of medical personnel and the bellow of the loudspeaker calling doctors and spewing forth codes. Amid the noise, medical staff hurried past, stopping in one cubicle or another.

Mike inhaled the stifling scent of disinfectant and looked around him. Even if he was only an orderly—well, clinical assistant, but everyone knew that meant orderly— he was here, in Austin University Hospital during the late shift. The commotion made him feel alive and want to be part of it. Unfortunately, he had no idea what he should do. Whether he was an orderly or a CA, he could do only what he was told. That had been pounded into him during his training and three-day orientation.

“Orderly.”

He turned to see a beautiful woman watching him. She was short, but beneath her open lab coat—which meant she was a doctor so he shouldn’t be noticing how attractive she was—were curves, delightful curves. Right now, he had too much going on in his life to even look at a woman, but only a dead man wouldn’t check out this one. She was exactly the kind of woman he’d always liked in the past—except for that one mistake with tall, blond Cynthia.

This doctor’s dark hair was pulled back in a round little knot. She had beautiful golden-brown skin and brown eyes, which, he realized, were glaring at him. In addition, her lovely pink lips were forming words. “I need you,” she said as she pointed at him, “to check the vitals of the patients in the hall. Then get gloves and a bucket and start cleaning Exam 6.”

“But—” Mike started.

“I know, that’s housekeeping’s job but with the mess tonight, we’re all going to have to pitch in on everything.” Then she walked away, saying, “Thank you,” over her shoulder as she entered one of the cubicles.

“I see you’ve met Dr. Ram?rez, the head resident in the E.R.,” said a nurse as she returned t