Page 2 of My Heart's Doctor

“And Aurora’s parents?” I asked, while slowly approaching the little girl who couldn’t take her eyes off me and continued crying.

“Her father is an important lawyer and was in a business meeting, so I notified his secretary, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to come. And her mother is deceased,” Alba informed me.

The first thought that came to my mind was,poor little thing.I imagined this small child alone all day, trying to get attention so someone would care about her. An absent father most of the time because he cared more about his work than his own daughter, no mother, and raised by employees. No wonder she was crying!

“Tell me why you brought her in,” I asked Alba.

“Because she hasn’t stopped crying. She’s a little girl who cries quite a bit, but today she hasn’t eaten and has been crying all day. I haven’t even been able to take her temperature.”

“Did she have any symptoms or discomfort? Did she complain of any pain?”

Alba proceeded to tell me everything the child had done during the day, and apparently there was nothing that could be alarming.

“Well, very good,” I said, after reading the medical history and turning to face little Aurora. “Hello, Aurora, what a beautiful name you have,” I said, managing to get her attention and lower the volume of her crying a bit. “Did you know you have the name of a Disney princess? More precisely, Sleeping Beauty. Look how pretty she is,” I said, showing her an image of the princess on my phone.

Aurora stopped crying instantly and stretched out her arm to take my phone and look closely at the image I was showing her. I took advantage of her calmness to sit beside her. I noticed that Alba was looking at us in amazement, and nurse Rosi was nodding with a big smile.

“Did you notice that the princess looks like you? She has your hair color, but I think you’re much prettier than Aurora,” I affirmed, while she looked at me and a shy smile appeared on her angelic face and in those beautiful blue eyes that were now shining from tears.

I took advantage of that moment and reached out to caress her cheeks and dry her tears. At first, I thought she would reject me, but she surprised me by allowing me to do it and smiling more broadly.

“You know what we can do? I can put on a video of Princess Aurora for you and, while you watch it, we can continue talking. Do you agree?”

Aurora nodded her head. Without wasting time, I took my phone and searched for a Sleeping Beauty video that had songsand featured the princess and the fairies because I was sure she would like it. When I found it, I gave her back the phone and she became hypnotized by what she was watching.

“Would you like to sit on my lap so we can watch it together?”

With a bit of shyness, she stretched out her little arms, and I picked her up and sat her on my lap. It was time to keep her distracted so I could examine her.

“Rosi, can you bring me the thermometer?” I asked.

“This girl is an angel. I wish all doctors were like you, Dr. Dulcet,” said Rosi, looking at me and nodding her head.

“Mr. Cavaller doesn’t like his daughter using phones or any technology,” Alba said, a bit nervously.

“Mr. Cavaller isn’t here at the moment, and I assume it’s more important to him that his daughter be examined,” I stated, without looking at anyone and with a calm voice so as not to disturb Aurora, although I was indignant thinking about that careless father and that little girl abandoned to be raised by employees.

At that moment, Aurora's little laugh touched my soul. She was watching the images on my phone screen and laughing with joy.

“Look,” said Aurora, laughing and pointing at the phone to show me the scene where the fairies try to bake a cake for Aurora and make a mess of it.

While the little one watched the movie attentively and I distracted her by telling her the names of the fairies and talking about the little animals that appeared there, I was able to examine her without any problems, reaching the conclusion that she was absolutely healthy—this child had nothing physicallywrong with her. In my understanding, all she was asking for was love and attention.

I was surprised when at a certain moment she turned and hugged me. That hug touched my soul. Her little arms wrapped around my neck as she hugged me to ask, once again, to replay the scene with the fairies cooking.

I noticed that Alba was watching us and looking increasingly astonished.

“This child is never this affectionate with anyone, not even with me who has cared for her since she was a baby,” she admitted.

“Ah, but nobody can compare to Dr. Dulcet. This young woman is an angel, an angel,” Rosi insisted.

At that moment Aurora turned again and hugged me, and what left me perplexed was that she kissed me. She gave me one of those wet kisses that children give that manage to squeeze your heart. But the precious and emotional moment was eclipsed by a deep, authoritative voice speaking in a very unpleasant manner. The owner of that voice was in the hallway, but certainly very close to the room we were in because his voice was booming, or perhaps the man was simply shouting. I immediately sensed it was the little girl’s father, and the first thing I did was start talking to distract her, pointing out images and telling her things about the movie while we both laughed and Mrs. Alba turned pale with fright.

“Where is my daughter?!” his voice thundered.

“This way, sir,” I heard a nurse say.

The door opened...