One of the medics stayed to look after Gabe and the other one walked over to check my head. “Looks good, it’s not as bad as we thought, but you’ve had quite a blow to the head. You may have a concussion. Do you have any idea how long you were out?”
“No, it all happened so fast. I’m sorry.” My eyes stayed glued to Gabe. I wasn’t going to lose him.
“That’s okay. We’ll get the two of you to the hospital and they’ll take a scan and put you under observation.”
“I’m not really worried about me. It’s him.” I nodded my head towards Gabe. “Is he…is he going to be okay? Will he die?”
“I think he’ll be just fine, Ma’am. He’s going to need blood and surgery to repair the wound. Shark bites leave a mess but he looks strong. I’m glad he has you to watch over him. Now, lay back and rest, but no sleeping.”
“No sleeping got it.” He patted my shoulder and pulled O’Neill to the side to chat about transferring Gabe and me off the ship. I felt sleepy but I remembered his warning. No sleeping, girl.
I thought back to my brief conversation with Gabe. Had he been serious about all that marriage talk? Or was that some sort of pain hallucination or delusion? He’d been distant and distracted for a lot of the day, but I’d assumed it was because of everything going on with my family, or the conversation he’d shared in regards to Sea Lab and Bobbie Jo’s threats. I had no idea that in the midst of all the rest of the chaos, he was thinking about asking me to be his wife.
What would have happened if I hadn't been washed overboard? If we’d simply enjoyed the rest of the evening in our own little bubble, out on the boat—just him and me—would he have proposed?
“Gabe,” I whispered to him as I watched his shallow breathing. “I love you, Gabe, I promise. It will be good. We’ll be good. Gabe…” He didn’t stir but somehow, I knew that he’d heard me.
Chapter Seven — Gabe
I struggled to open my eyes. My stomach turned and I was cold, and very aware of the pain in my upper leg. My eyes flickered open and I squinted against the bright light above me.
“He’s coming out of it, Dr. Carter,” a foreign voice said somewhere nearby. I felt a surge of cloudiness cover my brain and I was so very drowsy. I tried to fight sleep, but I couldn’t, because when I woke up again—the bright light I’d seen above me was no longer there—in fact, I was in a darkened room I lay there in silence and after a few minutes, my eyes had adjusted and when I turned my head to look around, I was able to make out Pepper’s form draped over the chair next to my bed. I smiled and thanked God she was there and that she was safe.
Fragments of the tumultuous night we’d been through came back to me as I stared at her and wished I could reach out far enough to run my hands over her hair. I tried to stretch and a shooting pain jolted through me, stemming from my leg. I pulled back the thin sheet and gasped at the amount of bandages wrapped around my thigh.
“Gabe, you’re awake.” She smiled and leaned forward to hold my hand. “I’m here. You’re here.” She wiped at her blue eyes. “We made it, Gabe. We’re alive.”
I smiled up at her, thinking again how beautiful she was and how lucky I was to be with her. “We are definitely alive. My leg is telling me that.”
She gave me a sad smile and her long, blonde hair fell over her shoulder as she bent over and pressed a long kiss on my forehead and then on my lips.
The door opened slowly, letting a shaft of light from the corridor streak into my hospital room and my parents walked in. My mother’s eyes clamped onto mine presumably searching for signs that I was okay. We’d had our differences at times but I always knew she loved me. Pepper got up, stepped towards them and hugged my mom first. “He saved my life,” I heard her say. Dad stood next to me with his hands nervously jammed into his pockets. Here was the guy who walked into plague-infested villages to save people around the world, but now it was his own son who needed the help, and he didn’t seem to know what to do. I figured it must be tough being a parent and I suddenly felt sorry for him.
“I’m fine, Dad. It looks worse than it really is, I swear.”
“Can I look?”
“I guess. I’m sure I’ll get a wicked scar out of the whole deal. I can’t believe I got bit by a shark. Me, of all people.”
Dad pulled back the cover and looked gingerly at my leg. “Damn, son. That’s got to hurt. How many stitches?”
“I don’t know. I just woke up a few minutes ago. I haven’t even seen a doctor yet.”
Pepper filled in the blanks. “He has over a hundred stitches, inside and out. Dr. Carter said he’d talk to you when you got here. I’ll go let the nurse know you’ve arrived.” Pepper ducked out of the room before I could say a word, leaving me alone with my parents.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Pepper called the house, of course. Her dad is on the way here, too.”
“I haven’t even had time to ask. Where am I?”
“No, you’re at Greenleaf in Pensacola. It was closer than University and from what I hear, time was of the essence. How are you feeling?”
I thought about that question for a minute. “Tired, sick, beat up, thirsty. Is there any water?”
Mom poured a cup of water and handed it to me. I struggled to sit up so Dad helped me out by pressing the button that tilted my bed. “Thanks, Dad.” I closed my eyes for a few seconds as I swallowed to steady my stomach. Just that small adjustment of the bed made me feel sick, like I’d just stepped off a roller coaster.
“Easy, son, don’t feel like you have to talk. You just had surgery. Anesthesia can make you sick—well, it does me anyway.”
Pepper returned with the nurse who’d come to take my vitals. “Well hello, Mr. Gregory. So good to see you awake. This one here didn’t leave your side the whole time. The doctor will be in to see you soon, I promise. He’s downstairs seeing one of his other patients, but he hasn’t forgotten about you. How do you feel?”
“Tired, hungry. Is it okay to eat something?”
“Oh, sure. Let me order you a light snack. Go easy, though. Eat a little at a time, just to give your insides a chance to catch up. As far as feeling tired goes, that probably has a lot to do with the amount of blood you lost, but you’ll build it back up soon.”
“Thanks, nurse.”
“Please, call me Kathy. I’ll go order your meal. It will be up soon and I’ll come back and take your vitals in a little while.”
“Thanks again, Kathy.” She stepped out of the room and Pepper walked towards the window, presumably to allow us some privacy, but it wasn’t necessary. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t say in front of her.
Mom said, “What on earth happened to you two?”
I wanted to answer, but my eyes felt so heavy and I could hardly keep them open anymore. Luckily, Pepper saw me fading and stepped in to explain everything in a very matter of fact way—leaving out the parts about the crazy hot sex or marriage talk, of course.
“I’m just so glad you’re both okay.” My mother grabbed Pepper’s hand, pulled her close and hugged her. When they broke apart, I saw Pepper was crying.
“Hey, stop that,” I said to her softly. “Come here, Dolphin Girl,” then she was next to me, wiping tears off her tired face. “No more tears. We’re fine. We made it. We survived.” She didn’t speak, just nodded with her hand still over her mouth. “I mean it. No more tears, babe.”
“All right,” she smiled then she leaned forward and kissed me.
The room phone rang and my father picked it up. I was drifting and could feel sleep pulling me under, but before I could let myself go, I whispered in her ear, “I love you, Pepper Anderson.”
Next thing, the door swung open and I lifted my eyelids to see a doctor walking into the room. I had to stay awake a little longer. I knew Pepper and my parents would relay anything important to me, but I wanted to hear it for myself.
“Hello, all. I’m Doctor Carter.” He shook hands with my parents then offered his hand to m
e. “My, you look much better than you did a few hours ago. Quite a few stitches in your leg, Mr. Gregory. Do you remember the shark attack?”
“It wasn’t an attack, per se, just a bite. Probably a blacktip.”
Dr. Carter pushed his eyeglasses up and pulled the covers back to look at my leg. “I think the team of surgeons that worked on your leg might disagree with you, sir. Just one inch to the left and the shark would have severed your femoral artery. If that had been the case, you would have bled out in less than two minutes… if the shark didn’t eat you first.”
Pepper’s face went ashen and my mother’s mouth dropped. Seems I’d really come close to dying. Just another inch would have killed me. My dad stepped forward as if to shield the women from the gory spectacle that was my thigh. “What’s the prognosis, Dr. Carter? I’m James, Gabe’s father.”
“The most difficult challenge will be keeping the wound clean. It’s deep, long and ugly. Once some of the deeper cuts heal, we’re talking about physical rehabilitation. There’s been some minor muscle damage and I’m afraid you might find mobility an issue for a while, but it looks like you have a good support system here.”
“How soon can I go home?” It was the one question burning in my mind. After everything that had happened lately, I wanted nothing more than some much-needed downtime to recover.
“I’m afraid it won’t be right away. You were resuscitated on the boat and I generally like to keep resuscitated patients for observation for at least forty-eight hours. On top of that, we really have to watch your leg. Sharks don’t clean their teeth so although you’re on antibiotics, any sign of infection and we’ll need to take immediate action. You’ll recover, but I don’t know how long it will be and I can’t predict how much this will impact your lifestyle.”
I tried to process everything I was hearing but my mind was starting to scramble.
The doctor smiled at me. “I know it sounds bad, but you’re one lucky, lucky man. Do you have any questions for me?”
“No, thanks. I’m just tired.”
“I’ll let you rest. Please contact the nurse for anything you need and I’ll be back in the morning to take another look at your wound. Is someone staying with you tonight, Mr. Gregory?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“I’m staying,” Pepper spoke up. “Unless Adrian wants to.”
Adrian smiled and shook her head. “No, I think Gabe has everything he needs with you. I know you’ll take good care of him, Pepper.”
Pepper gave another tearful smile and hugged my mother. It really made me happy to see the two of them together, then I closed my eyes again.
“Very good. I’ll ask the nurse to bring a recliner in here for you, young lady. We’ll try to make you as comfortable as possible”
“Thank you, Doctor” I said as he walked towards the door.
“And if the pain becomes unbearable, you tell the nurse and we’ll raise your medication levels—no problem at all.”
We all chatted for a few more minutes before I got really tired again, but before I could drift back to sleep, the door opened again and a different nurse came in.
“Ms. Anderson, your doctor wants to see you. Could you come back to your room, please?”
“Oh, I’m actually changing rooms. I’m staying here with Gabe from now on. Please ask the doctor to come see me here when he can.”
The older nurse seemed put out by the unauthorized changes in Pepper’s care, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with. I felt sorry for her and slightly amused since I knew Pepper would get her way. She wouldn’t be rude or hateful, but she’d definitely get her way. I liked that strong personality about her. It was one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place.
“That’s not hospital procedure, Miss Anderson.”
“Well, Dr. Carter just ordered me a recliner and I’m sure Nurse Kathy wouldn’t mind if you came to see me in here.” She smiled sweetly at her then looked in the cabinet for blankets and a pillow.
Just then, a orderly arrived with a recliner and the nurse stood aside to let him pass in disbelief. Pepper helped him get it in position next to my bed, completely ignoring the nurse and it was obvious that the older woman didn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Do I have to remind you that you have a concussion, ma’am?”
“No, trust me, I feel it. But, this is where I belong.” she said, turning to look at the nurse.
The nurse still looked pissed, but she gave a curt nod and left the room.
As soon as she’d disappeared, Pepper arranged the recliner so that she was within arm’s reach of my bed and I went to sleep smiling, thinking that it was the sweetest thing a girl had ever done for me.
Chapter Eight — Pepper
“Pepper!” My heart skipped when Mills and Aven rushed into the hospital room several hours later. They were all smiles when they saw me, and I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt more overjoyed to see their faces. They immediately began fussing over Gabe and me, like two overly-concerned mothers and Mills started the line of questions.
“Come on, tell us what happened! I mean, the story is all over the news but you know how that goes. They never get all the details right. So, tell us! Did someone really sabotage the boat so it would break down? Did you really punch a shark in the face to keep it away from Pepper?”
Gabe and I both laughed at the wild stories she was spouting then he said, “They’ve got some imagination but no, not at all. We got caught in a storm. No sabotage and as for the shark bite, I think I kicked the one that nibbled my leg, but no punching involved. What kind of marine biologist would I be if I went out boxing with a shark?”
I rolled my eyes. I knew he was joking, but it was corny, even by Gabe standards.
Aven gave Mills a knowing look. “See, told you the news people would get it wrong. They always do. So, tell us the whole thing, from the start,” she said.
I told them the entire story and realized that by the time our wounds were healed, we’d have both told the story a hundred times or more. Maybe I should have recorded it…
Both girls sat captivated by the tale and they both ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at how wonderfully brave Gabe had been. Jumping off the safety of the Dolphin Girl into shark-infested waters, just to save me. It was all so romantic to them… and to me.
James and Adrian stayed through this second re-telling and then his mom said they needed to go get some dinner. James spoke with Gabe while the two girls continued to fuss over me. Remarkably, over Aven and Mills’ excited voices, I was surprised to hear Gabe telling his dad about how Bobbie Jo was attempting to undermine his position and James seemed just as shocked and angry as I’d been when Gabe had first told me. Now, with the injury, Gabe would be gone for even longer and there was no telling how Bobbie Jo would take advantage of the situation while he was recovering. No doubt she’d be put in charge in his absence now… and what if Gabe didn’t fully recover? I pushed that dark thought away—I couldn’t even let myself go there.
“Mills, is Dad coming?” I asked, interrupting whatever they’d been saying. My focus was on Gabe and the defeated look on his face as he spoke to his father.
“Yeah. He’s parking the car.”
I gave one last glance back to Gabe and then excused myself. I wanted to catch my dad before he got to the room so we could talk privately and I barely made it down the hall before nearly running into him.
“Hey, Dad!”
“Pepper! So good to see you, sweetheart. Thank God, you’re all right.” He gathered me gently into his arms and held me still. We weren’t usually this affectionate with each other, but it felt nice and I relaxed into his embrace. “I can’t believe this. How are you? And what are you doing out of bed? I heard you had concussion.”
“I’m fine. Gabe saved my life—again. How many times does this make it?”
Dad laughed and let me go. “Well, I think you need to keep him around. Sounds like a good man to have in a crisis.”
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I smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. Listen, Dad, I know I’ve been a total ass to you lately, and I’m really sorry about that, but I need you to do me a favor. Not for me though, it’s for Gabe.”
“I know you’ve been hurting, I’m sorry I put you through that and of course! Anything for the guy who saved my daughter’s life.”
“Thanks, Dad. All right, this needs to stay between us, okay?. He would totally freak if he found out I was even asking you for help, but here goes. Bobbie Jo, his assistant, actually told him on the day all this happened, that she’s planning to take his job and with this serious injury he has, no fault of his own, he’ll be off work for weeks, maybe months.”
“Oh, God. Is he hurt that bad? I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah, a shark tore his leg up pretty good. He’s in bad shape, but, in the meantime, I know Bobbie Jo, and she’s gonna do whatever she can to take his place. Hell, she’s already been scheming with some of the members on the board. She said he isn’t focused anymore, and to be honest, I think she’s trying to blame it on me. She practically told him that I was distracting him.”
“Pepper, you have to admit he does spend a lot of his time rescuing you in one way or another,” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes, but I knew he was right. “Anyways, I know your buddies with most of the board members, so I was hoping you could help them see that he is definitely the right man for the job.”
He nodded then looked down slightly, putting his thumb on his chin, hopefully already making a mental plan. “Of course, Pepper. I know how hard he works and what he’s done for Sea Lab. That place wouldn’t be what it is today without his drive and enthusiasm. I’ll take care of it… for you, and Gabe. This Bobbie Jo won’t be a problem anymore.”
“Oh, thanks, Daddy! I knew you would!” I swung my arms around his neck and he hugged me and kissed the top of my head.
“And don’t worry, I won’t say anything to Gabe. He won’t know anything about our little chat.”
Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set Page 40