Page 66 of My Heart's Doctor

I gave Aurora a kiss on the forehead, rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes trying to sleep. Aurora snuggled up to my body and hugged me. I stroked her little head feeling my heart exploding with tenderness, but, without realizing it, a great anguish began to grow inside me and didn’t stop until I burst into tears. I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to contain the crying. I couldn’t cry, I shouldn’t cry. I lay staring at the ceiling feeling the warmth of Aurora’s little body and inhaling her scent, a mixture of innocence and baby. I don’t know what time sleep took hold of me.

Chapter 13

“Because, although no one knows what I tell no one, the entire night is too short to dream of you and the whole day is not enough to think of you.”

—José Ángel Buesa

William

Iwon’t deny that I wavered between calling her or continuing to look for another solution, but I ended up pressing Devon’s contact and my heart began to beat rapidly. Although I’m a confident guy and nothing usually rattles me, with her my confidence went out the window. Everything related to Devon made me nervous and, many times, I didn’t know how to handle it. Besides, in this situation I was at a disadvantage because I knew I was taking advantage of her generosity.

“Dr. Dulcet,” she answered, and I’d bet she was sleeping because her voice sounded drowsy.

“Devon, it’s William Cavaller,” I informed her, because from the way she answered, I assumed she hadn’t looked at who was calling.

She didn’t say anything. For several seconds she remained silent and I feared she might hang up on me.

“Devon, are you there?”

“Sorry, I’m just sleepy,” she said, but I was convinced she was actually surprised.

“I’m sorry to bother you at this hour.”

“No problem. Is everything okay?” she asked immediately, and I imagined she must be completely bewildered by my call and the time she was receiving it.

“Actually, I’m calling to ask you for a favor. I’m in New York and Alba called me because her youngest son had an accident and she wants to travel to Canada to be with him,” I began to explain, but she immediately stopped me.

“I’m sorry to hear that. How is he? Is it serious?”

“It doesn’t seem to be, but they need to operate because he had several fractures. The issue is that if Alba travels, I don’t have anyone to leave Aurora with, and I can’t return until two days from now. I know my daughter adores you and that’s why I’m turning to you. I also know I have no right to bother you, but it’s an emergency situation and I only trust you.” There, I had said it, now I just had to wait for her response.

“You trust me?” she asked, and I must confess that question sounded like a reproach, and I knew I deserved it.

“Yes, I trust you, Devon. Alba and you are the only people I would leave Aurora with. I know I’m taking advantage of your generosity and I’m very embarrassed to bother you. If you can’t do it, no problem, I’ll ask Alba to wait until I arrive and I’ll try to travel as soon as possible,” I stated, because now that I was talking to her, I understood that asking for this favor after everything I had said to her was presumptuous.

“Don’t do that, I can stay with Aurora,” she affirmed with conviction, surprising me once again with her generosity.

I didn’t know what to say. This woman was wonderful.

“Thank you, Devon.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer Aurora to stay at my apartment. I can go get her and bring everything necessary. I don’t feel comfortable staying at your house.”

I couldn’t blame her. I had told her I didn’t want her to see my daughter again, but now I needed her and was bothering her to stay with Aurora. On the other hand, this confirmed to me that she wouldn’t use Aurora to get to me, because staying at my house would be a great advantage for that, but she had decided to go to her own place.

“No problem. I’ll talk to Alba so she can start preparing everything for Aurora, and I ask that you call me if you need anything,” I clarified, though I knew she was capable of resolving whatever might come up.

“Alright.”

“Really, thank you so much for your help,” I repeated, because her generosity touched me deeply in my heart.

“You know I care a lot about Aurora, for me it’s a real pleasure to be with her,” she affirmed, and I was sure it was true; my daughter was in the best hands.

“I don’t doubt that, but I imagine it must also complicate things quite a bit with your work, and yet...” I said, knowing it could potentially cause her problems, but she was still willing to do it.

“I have a lot of accumulated leave and the other day they told me I needed to start taking some days off,” she stated, but I wasn’t so sure that was true or if she was just telling me that to keep me from worrying.

“If you happen to have any problem at your work, I assure you that I...”