She Was Never Just the Wife novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

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At 6:00 PM, the group arrived at Oak Veranda, a private restaurant tucked deep in a narrow alley. The exterior was simple and unassuming, with dark solid wood doors, vintage metal hardware, and a pair of antique wall lanterns flanking the entrance.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door revealed an Eldranorian courtyard inside, complete with a stone path winding around a small water feature and lush greenery arranged in careful layers. All the private dining rooms were named after plants.

“Mr. Lawson’s reservation. The Bluebonnet Suite,” Haley said to the approaching server.

“Right this way.”

They followed the host through a winding corridor to a room next to the water. The space inside wasn’t large, but it was tastefully decorated.

A few simple decorative paintings hung on the walls, potted plants sat by the windows, and a round wooden table had already been set with silverware.

“Nice place,” Xavier said as he pulled out chairs for Celia and Haley. “A college friend of mine highly recommended it. The food here is light and home style. I thought it would suit Ms. Ross’s taste.”

“Thank you for the thought, Mr. Lawson.” Celia sat down, her gaze drifting past the window to the stone and water features outside.

The dishes that came to the table were pan-seared sea bass, seared foie gras with fig compote, roasted butternut squash soup, scallop carpaccio with yuzu vinaigrette, and vanilla bean pudding.

Everything was light and delicately prepared. Xavier ordered a bottle of sparkling water but no alcohol.

“Come on, let’s toast with this,” Haley said, raising her water glass. “To Cece getting a clean break and starting a new life.”

The three glasses clinked softly.

Halfway through the meal, Celia’s phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen. It was a message from Tanner: [Celia, I’m home waiting for you. Be careful on the way.]

She replied: [Okay, Dad. I’ll be there around 7:30.]

“What’s up?” Haley asked.

“I’m meeting Tanner at 7:30,” Celia said, setting her phone down. “I’ll head over after we finish eating.”

Xavier served her a piece of the sea bass. “Ms. Ross, did you bring the divorce agreement?”

“I did.” Celia pulled the simple document out of her bag. “I’m hoping Tanner can talk some sense into Beckham. If he’s willing to sign, this whole thing becomes a lot simpler.”

“Let’s hope so,” Xavier said, pushing up his glasses. “I’ve dealt with Beckham a few times. He’s stubborn. Not easy to convince.”

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“I know.” Celia’s voice was soft. “But this is the last option I can think of. I’d rather not go down any other roads. A peaceful resolution would be best.”

The room fell quiet, broken only by the sound of water trickling outside and the faint background music. Then, suddenly, a commotion erupted from the main dining area.

First came the crash of breaking dishes, followed by a woman’s shrill scream. “Baby! Baby, what’s wrong? Somebody help!”

All three of them froze.

“What happened?” Haley stood up.

Xavier pulled open the door to their room, and the scene in the main dining hall was chaos. A crowd had gathered around a table by the window.

A woman was holding a little boy, maybe three or four years old, and crying hysterically. The child’s face had turned purple, lips blue, eyes rolled back, and limbs jerking uncontrollably.

“He… he was eating a meatball, and then all of a sudden…” The woman could barely get the words out. “Somebody help! Please, somebody save my son.”

The restaurant owner rushed over, took one look at the child, and panicked. “Call 911! Now!”

“I’m a medical student. Let me through.” A young man who looked to be around twenty, wearing a T-shirt with a medical school logo, pushed through the crowd. He crouched down to examine the child. “He’s choking on food. He needs the Heimlich maneuver.”

The student wrapped his arms around the child from behind and thrust upward into his abdomen. Once. Twice. Three times. Nothing. The child’s face turned even more purple.

“It’s not working.” Sweat broke out on the student’s forehead. “This isn’t just food stuck in his throat. Does he have some kind of congenital condition?”

The woman sobbed even harder. “He… he has congenital heart disease. Tetralogy of Fallot. The doctors said he can’t have hypoxic episodes.”

The few medical students in the crowd all paled. Tetralogy of Fallot was a complex congenital heart defect. For a child with this condition, a hypoxic episode could be life threatening at any moment.

“Move. Everyone move.” Another student, older looking, pushed his way in. “I’m a cardiology fellow. Let me try.”

He knelt beside the child and checked his pulse and breathing. His pulse was so weak it was barely detectable, and his breathing had stopped.

“He needs CPR right now.” The fellow started chest compressions, his movements precise and forceful.

One compression. Two. Three. Minutes passed. The child’s color didn’t improve. The blue tint on his lips deepened.

“It’s not working.” The fellow’s voice started to shake. “His heart structure is abnormal. Regular CPR might not be effective.”

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Chapter 24

“What do we do? My son can’t die.” The woman was nearly collapsing on the floor.

The guests gathered around held their breath. The medical students exchanged helpless glances, frustration written on their faces.

Then a cool female voice cut through the noise. “Move.”

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The crowd parted, and Celia walked up quickly. She wore a cream-colored trench coat today with her hair loose around her shoulders, and she looked soft and gentle. But her eyes at that moment were as sharp and steady as a scalpel.

“Who are you?” The cardiology fellow frowned. “This is a medical emergency. It’s not a game.”

Celia ignored him. She dropped to her knees beside the child. Her movements were fast and precise. She lifted the child’s eyelids to check his pupils, felt for the carotid pulse, and leaned in to listen for breath sounds.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.

“It’s not choking. He’s having a hypoxic episode that triggered respiratory arrest.” Her voice was calm but carried absolute authority.

“For a child with Tetralogy of Fallot, systemic vascular resistance drops during a hypoxic episode, which increases the right to left shunt and worsens the hypoxia. Standard emergency treatment won’t work.”

The medical students were all stunned. The medical terminology she was using was at the level of a cardiac surgeon.

“Then… then what do we do?” The woman grabbed onto Celia like a drowning person clutching a lifeline. “Please, doctor, please save my son.”

Celia didn’t answer. She quickly unbuttoned the child’s collar and positioned him on his back with his knees bent, the standard position for a Tetralogy of Fallot hypoxic episode.

Then she did something no one expected.

She placed her hand on the left side of the child’s chest, her fingers pressing down on a very specific spot. Not the standard CPR compression point, but farther out, almost under the arm.

“What are you doing?” The cardiology fellow sounded alarmed. “That’s not where you do chest compressions.”

Celia didn’t even look up. “In Tetralogy of Fallot patients, the right ventricular outflow tract is obstructed, and the heart is positioned abnormally. The standard compression spot won’t work.”

Her fingers moved in a steady, rhythmic pattern. Not at the standard CPR rate, but faster, more targeted.

At the same time, she reached into the small bag, a compact emergency kit she always kept on her as a doctor, and pulled out a small spray bottle.

“What is that?” Haley asked, worried.

“Nitroglycerin lingual spray,” Celia answered briefly, spraying it under the child’s tongue. “To reduce pulmonary vascular resistance.”

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Time seemed to stop. Everyone held their breath, watching this stranger use methods they had never seen before.

One compression. Two. Three.

Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty.

Then, suddenly, the child’s body jerked violently.

The woman screamed.

But Celia’s eyes lit up. “He’s responding.”

She kept compressing while watching the child’s face. Miraculously, the purple color began to fade. His lips shifted from blue to a dark red, then slowly to a lighter pink.

After a minute, the child’s eyelids fluttered. After two minutes, he let out a weak cough.

“My baby.” The woman lunged forward.

But Celia stopped her. “Don’t touch him. Let him rest.”

Half a minute later, the child opened his eyes. He was still weak, but his pupils had returned to normal size, and his breathing was becoming regular.

“He’s alive. He’s actually alive,” someone in the crowd murmured.

The medical students were dumbfounded. They had learned the emergency protocol for Tetralogy of Fallot, but what Celia had just done was nothing like what the textbooks described.

“Who… which hospital are you from?” The cardiology fellow couldn’t help but ask.

Celia didn’t answer. She checked the child’s pulse and breathing one more time, confirmed that he was stable, and only then slowly stood up.

Fine beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, and the cuffs of her trench coat were wrinkled from the effort, but her eyes were still calm.

“The ambulance should be here soon,” she said to the woman.

“Take him to the hospital for a full examination. And remember, try not to let him get too upset in the future. No strenuous exercise. Keep his diet light, with smaller meals more often.”

The woman nodded through her tears, clutching her now conscious son tightly. “Thanks. Thank you, doctor. What’s your name? How can I ever repay you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Celia turned and walked back toward her private room.

Behind her, the murmur of voices swelled.

“Oh my God, that was incredible.”

“Which hospital does she work for?”

Chapter 24

“Did anyone get a picture? Someone take a picture.”

“Don’t. She clearly doesn’t want to be recognized.”

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Haley and Xavier followed Celia back into the Bluebonnet Suite and closed the door, shutting out the noise.

“Cece…” Haley’s voice was slightly trembling. “What you just did…”

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