Chapter 7 - The Word in Red.
Rachel felt the room narrow around the word.
Abnormal.
One word was all it took to erase every explanation she had just heard.
Emma could not see the phone from where she sat.
“What does it say?”
Rachel locked the screen.
“Just another update.”
Emma studied her face.
“You're doing the pretending thing again.”
Rachel closed her eyes briefly.
Dr. Mercer held out his hand.
“Rachel, let me look.”
This time she gave him the phone.
He opened the result and read it slowly.
Then he exhaled.
“This one is Emma's.”
Rachel's stomach dropped.
Reed immediately moved beside him.
“What test?”
Dr. Mercer turned the screen.
“The urine culture preliminary.”
Rachel looked from one man to the other.
“And it says abnormal.”
“Yes.”
“You just told me there was nothing concerning.”
“There still isn't.”
Rachel stared at him.
“How can abnormal be not concerning?”
“Because abnormal does not automatically mean dangerous.”
She said nothing.
Dr. Mercer continued.
“This is the result that supports the minor bacterial infection I have been telling you about.”
Rachel blinked.
“This is the infection?”
“Yes.”
“The red word is the small problem?”
“Exactly.”
For several seconds, Rachel could only stare at the phone.
She felt foolish for reacting.
Then she felt angry for feeling foolish.
The portal had given her a bright warning with none of the explanation that made it manageable.
Emma slid off the examination table.
“Can someone tell me what is happening?”
Dr. Mercer turned toward her.
“Your test found the small infection we expected.”
Emma looked at Rachel.
“So the phone didn't find a new thing?”
“No,” Rachel said.
“It found the same thing.”
Emma nodded slowly.
“Then why does Mom look like she wants to throw the phone away?”
Tessa covered a smile.
Rachel let out a breath that was almost a laugh.
“Because the phone is not very good at explaining things.”
Reed closed his folder.
“I'll make sure the incorrect alert is removed from the audit trail visible to the family.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Please do.”
Dr. Mercer returned the phone.
“Now I can explain the whole picture.”
Rachel sat down again.
“Please.”
He pointed to the verified results on the monitor.
“Emma's blood work is reassuring.”
“The culture supports a minor bacterial infection.”
“Her examination is also reassuring.”
“Nothing here points to the serious condition you were afraid of.”
Rachel's eyes burned with tired relief.
She had wanted that sentence since 7:12.
Emma had a simpler concern.
“What happens now?”
“I send a prescription to your pharmacy.”
Emma's hands rose toward her chin again.
“And a shot?”
Dr. Mercer smiled faintly.
“We'll get to that.”
Emma frowned.
Rachel gave him a look.
“Why not answer her now?”
“Because I want to check one thing first.”
Rachel's relief stalled.
“What thing?”
“Her allergy list.”
Rachel's pulse sped up again.
“She doesn't have medication allergies.”
“That is what I remember.”
“Then why are you checking?”
“Because after the morning we've had, I am not relying on memory for anything.”
Rachel could not argue with that.
Dr. Mercer clicked into the medication section.
His eyes moved across the screen.
Then they stopped.
Tessa noticed.
“What?”
Dr. Mercer leaned closer.
“There is an allergy entered here that I have never documented.”
Rachel stood again.
“To what?”
He read the name.
Rachel shook her head immediately.
“Emma has never taken that medication.”
Reed turned back toward the monitor.
May you like
The lab mix-up had been explained.
Now something else in Emma's chart was wrong.
