by T. L. Haddix
“Thank God.” His words and tone were so close to what Stella’s had been earlier, Beth realized Stella hadn’t been exaggerating about Ethan’s mood.
“Is that her?” one of the nurses called from the station in the middle of the large, open room.
“Yes,” Wyatt responded as Beth approached the room. She could hear Ethan inside. He was muttering under his breath, with a loud curse escaping every few seconds. Wyatt turned and leaned into the room. “Doc, he’s got a visitor.”
Within seconds, a frustrated-looking, middle-aged woman came out of the room. She drew surgical gloves off her hands with a snap, and when she saw Beth, she put her hands on her hips and spoke.
“If you can’t get him calmed down, I’m knocking him out. You’ve got five minutes.” With that, she turned and stalked down the hall. She disappeared inside a room with a swinging door, which she pushed so hard that it bounced against the wall. Beth stared after her in amazement. She glanced back at Wyatt and Jason as a shout came from inside the room, and she heard Stella give an embarrassed groan from beside her.
“I raised that boy to behave better than this.”
“Damn it, you can’t leave me laying here with my ass hanging out of this gown!” Ethan yelled as a nurse’s aide came scurrying around the curtain. Her cheeks were as red as her hair, and she hurried past them.
Appalled at what she was hearing, Beth rushed into the room. She jumped as Wyatt closed the door behind her. Almost afraid to move around the curtain, she took a deep breath and did it anyway. When he heard her footsteps, Ethan snarled. “Who’d they send in this time, Nurse Ratchet?”
He was lying on the gurney on his stomach, with his arms wrapped around a pillow. Because of his awkward position, he couldn’t turn his head to see who had come into the room. They had dressed him in a gown that opened in the back, and several dampened gauze squares were dotted across his left side. The squares ran down his back from below his shoulder blade to end just above his knee.
“Not this time, but I swear I think I saw the doctor heading for the room where they keep the needles that are as big as your arm.” Beth moved around the bed so that he could see her. She saw his body go still as she spoke, and realized Stella had been right about him not believing her brothers. As he turned his head and saw her, she winced. The bruises on his face didn’t look much better than Chase’s, and the glare he was sending her would have made a hardened criminal shake in their boots.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he growled as he turned his face away from her.
Tossing her purse onto the floor next to the wall, she moved closer to him. She lowered the bedrail so she could reach him. “Trying to keep the medical staff from strangling you.” She placed her hand on his uninjured shoulder. Ethan tensed, but didn’t shrug her hand off, and Beth took that as a positive sign. After a few moments, he sighed, and his muscles relaxed. He stayed silent, however, and she knew she was going to have to tread carefully.
“What happened? Chase said something about a dog?”
He growled, clearly reluctant to tell her. “Come on, big guy.” She leaned over and spoke softly as she placed her other hand on his right arm. Wrapping her hand around his hand where it lay on the pillow, she placed a soft kiss on his shoulder, letting her head rest there for a moment. “Tell me about this dog. I don’t see any bite marks.”
He finally spoke. “That’s because it didn’t try to bite me. It tried to lick me to death.”
She gave a startled laugh, and he turned his head to look at her. He was still scowling, but not as fiercely as before. “It was a bull mastiff. Probably weighed close to what I do, and he pushed me down on a pile of broken windows. End of story. Why are you here?”
Beth studied his face and saw the tired circles under his eyes and the weary look in his eyes. Reaching out, she pushed his hair back, running her fingers through the silky strands.
“I’m here because you’re here. I love you. Where else would I be?” She felt his hand tighten underneath hers, and his eyes closed.
He swallowed a couple of times. “It sure doesn’t feel like you love me.”
Her heart broke. “I know. And I promise, I’ll explain everything soon. But right now, we need to get you taken care of. Will you let them work on you?”
He nodded, and she gently disengaged her hand from his so she could go tell Wyatt to let the nurses know Ethan was ready. Ethan’s eyes flew open as she pulled back, and his gaze hardened, but not before Beth saw a flash of fear.
“I’m just going to let Wyatt know to send the doctor in now, okay? I’ll be right back. I’m not even leaving the room.” She hurried to the door and cracked it open. “He’s ready, and can you call Marshall for me?”
Wyatt assured her he would, and she went back to Ethan’s side. The look on his face softened a little as she came back within sight, and as she took his hand, his eyes closed with a sigh. He let his body relax again, and she felt a tremor run through him.
“Are you cold?”
“A little.”
She glanced around for a blanket. When she didn’t find one, she cursed under her breath.
“I heard that, and I’m telling your mother,” Ethan said without opening his eyes.
“Hush,” Beth told him, smiling. “I’m looking for a blanket to cover you up with, but I don’t see one.” When she heard the door open, she squeezed his hand. The harried doctor came around the curtain and pulled on a fresh pair of gloves. A different aide accompanied her.
“Could we have a blanket if it isn’t too much trouble? He’s cold.”
The aide moved to the other side of the curtain and quickly came back around with a folded white blanket. Beth released Ethan’s hand and took the blanket with a smile of thanks. She unfolded it, and carefully laid it along his right side, taking pains to avoid his wounds.
The doctor spoke. “Detective Moore, I’m going to start stitching these cuts up now. Are you sure you don’t want me to give you anything to help you relax? Even with the numbing shots, this is still going to be an unpleasant process.”
His eye flew open. “No narcotics, damn it. I told you that before. I haven’t changed my mind.”
Beth eyes widened at the anger in his tone. “Ethan, calm down, they...”
He interrupted her, and a desperate look entered his eyes. “I don’t want the drugs, Beth. Understand? I don’t want the drugs.” He repeated the words slowly and succinctly. With sudden insight, she understood that Ethan was afraid of the addiction potential, and she grasped his hand again.
“Okay, then. No drugs.”
“Promise me,” Ethan begged as he gripped her hand.
“I promise.” She looked straight into his eyes. “No drugs.” After a moment he relaxed, and his eyes closed once again.
Beth looked up to meet the doctor’s speculative gaze. She shook her head. “He’ll be okay without the sedative.”
“Well, this is going to take a while. Why don’t we get you a chair so you can be comfortable while I work?” She turned to the aide, who again moved to the other side of the curtain for a chair. While they were waiting, the doctor studied Beth and her now calm patient, eyes narrowed. As the aide came around the curtain with a regular chair, she shook her head.
“Gertie, if you don’t mind, head out to one of the empty rooms and grab a tall stool like mine. I’ll have you sit down at his head,” she told Beth, “and Detective, you can slide over toward her a little. That way you can reach him easier, not strain your back. You are the reporter who got shot a few months back, aren’t you?”
“Yes, that’s me.” Beth thanked the aide as she came back with the chair.
The doctor prepared several syringes with a local anesthetic. “I thought so. You had quite extensive abdominal trauma. I was working the ER that day. Your muscles are still probably a little tender. Sitting on the stool will be easier on them.”
Amazed at the doctor’s recall, Beth nodded. “Thanks.” Sitting, she slid closer t
o Ethan, who had opened his eyes and was watching her.
“I didn’t know that. That your wounds still bother you.”
She brushed his hair back and shrugged. “They don’t usually. Only if I put undue pressure on the muscles for an extended period of time.”
“Like standing hunched over a hospital bed?” Ethan asked.
Beth smiled. “Yes, like that.”
“I’m ready to start now,” the doctor told them. “I’ll be injecting these wounds with a local anesthetic, no narcotics. I’m going to start at the top and work my way to the bottom, and by the time I get back to the shoulder, it should be numb. Okay, Detective?”
“Do what you need to do, Doc.” Ethan closed his eyes, releasing Beth’s hand. He reached for the top bedrail, and wound his hand around it carefully. Once he was settled, he gave a nod, and the doctor methodically started the injections. Beth made a face at the sight and turned away, wrapping her hand around his fingers on the rail. She flushed as she saw Ethan watching her. To her surprise, he chuckled.
“What’s funny?”
“You are. Broke your brother’s nose without a by your leave, and you can’t watch me get stitched up.”
Beth rolled her eyes at him. “Why do I feel like I’m never going to live that down?”
“Probably because you’re not, but you won’t be alone. As long as we tease you about it, we get to annoy the hell out of Chase at the same time.” He fell silent after that, and Beth stroked his hair, soothing him as the doctor worked.
After an hour, the woman straightened. She groaned and stretched. “Done. How are you feeling, Detective? Any nausea?” They had managed to convince him to accept an IV for fluids and an antibiotic shortly after the doctor started, especially after she had warned him that the large amount of local anesthetic could make him nauseated.
“Not yet. Can I roll over now?”
“Very carefully, and not onto your left side.”
He slowly turned on the bed, drawing the blanket across his hips as Beth slid pillows behind him for support.
“Don’t try to sit up for a few minutes,” the doctor told him. “Give your body time to adjust first.”
“Then what? Am I allowed to go home?”
She pursed her lips, obviously weighing his medical needs against how difficult he had been to manage thus far. “You have someone to stay with you, I’m guessing?” She looked at Beth, who nodded. “I suppose I can release you, then.” She warned him about getting his wounds wet, the importance of taking his antibiotics until they were gone, and ordered him to stay away work for at least a week. “I’ll get your orders ready, and let you get dressed. Your mother, sainted woman, brought you some clothes in. I suppose you’re going to refuse anything for the pain?”
“You suppose correctly,” Ethan told her.
The doctor shook her head. “I don’t know whether to call you a fool or praise you. If all my patients were so reluctant to take prescription pain meds… but that’s neither here nor there. You can take acetaminophen, just watch your dosage. Extra strength is fine. If you want to mix it with ibuprofen if the pain gets really bad, which it will, that’s fine, too. Just try to keep it under six hundred milligrams every six hours, and if you have any bleeding, stop taking it. You had some pretty deep lacerations, but somehow no major blood vessels were cut, so I don’t think you’re in much danger of a serious bleed if you take the ibuprofen. Oh, and you can ice the wounds. That should help, too. ” She turned and left, and Beth came around to the front of the bed. Strain had etched lines on Ethan’s face.
“Help me up?” He slid carefully across to the edge of the bed. She chastised him as he dropped his legs over the side, but he ignored her. Taking the arm she offered, he eased up into a sitting position. He frowned, and a dull flush spread across his cheeks.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t feel my backside,” he said with an embarrassed flush. “That’s so weird.”
Before he could say another word, Beth put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her to stand between his legs.
“Are you really going to stay with me?” he asked as the kiss ended.
She shrugged and played with the edge of the blanket. “If you want me to, yes.”
“Of course I want you to.” His hands tightened on her waist. “You just don’t have to, that’s all. If you don’t want to.”
She looked up and saw the uncertainty in his gaze. “I love you, Ethan. I want to stay with you.” He drew her back in, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, careful to avoid his wounds. Resting her cheek against his, she explained why she had been so distant after his fight with Chase.
“I’m so sorry. It wasn’t that I was angry at you or anything like that. I just needed to get out of that bathroom, be somewhere where I could pull myself together.”
Cupping her face, he moved her back so that he could see her face. He studied her for a long moment, then nodded. “I understand.” He smoothed the hair back off her face. “If it happens again, I’ll know what’s going on, and I’ll help you through it if you let me. Okay?”
With a nod, she tucked her head into his shoulder where it met his neck. They stood like that for several minutes, enjoying the ability to hold each other without fear of rejection or condemnation. A knock sounded at the door, and she moved back a step when Stella poked her head inside the room, smiling.
“Is it safe to come in?” She studied their faces as she sat a small overnight bag down at the foot of the bed. “I hear they’re letting you go home. Do you need to come to the house and stay for a few days?”
Ethan shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine at my place.”
Stella turned to look at Beth, who blushed. “About damned time,” Stella said, surprising them. She returned Ethan’s startled gaze with a saucy grin. “What? I like Beth, always have. Jackie and I have been trying to figure for years out how to get the two of you to see what we did.” She gave Ethan a careful hug and made him promise to call if he needed anything, then turned and gave Beth an equally fierce hug and the same instructions. As she left the room, the aide came in, smiling.
“I’m here to take your IV out.”
Beth gulped. “And that’s my cue to wait outside. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.” Ethan smiled, amused by her skittishness. She headed to the waiting room and it occurred to her as she opened the door and went inside that she didn’t have a vehicle. She was glad to see that Chase was still there, and quickly brought him up to date.
“I’ll give you a ride over to the paper. If you’re going to stay at Ethan’s, you’re going to need a bag. Why don’t I take him home and get him settled while you run home and grab what you need?” As he spoke, her stomach growled loudly and her face reddened with embarrassment.
Chase laughed. “I’ll call Lauren and have her get our orders from earlier ready. We can stop on the way and grab them. What does Ethan like?” After Beth told him, she hurried back to Ethan’s room and knocked. When he called for her to enter, she went inside and closed the door behind her. He was standing beside the bed, frowning at the clothes his mother had brought.
“Aren’t they the right size?”
“Yeah, they’re my clothes. I just need a little help getting them on, and I didn’t want to ask for it.”
She tsked him and picked up his underwear. He tried to snatch them out of her hands, causing her smile to widen into a grin. “I can handle those, thank you. I think.”
She refused to let go, and after a minute, he gave in. “This is embarrassing,” he said as she bent down and had him lift one leg and then the other. She tugged the briefs up his legs, going very carefully as she approached the areas where his wounds were. Once she’d reached mid-thigh, he stopped her and took over from there. He settled the underwear in place and let Beth repeat the process with his pants. He shrugged out of the gown as she brought the waistband up, and she stopped just below his briefs, unsure of
how best to continue. Smiling at her blush, he finished pulling his pants on as she shook out the shirt.
“Your mom is so smart. She brought you a shirt that buttons in the front. Makes this much easier.”
He carefully shrugged the shirt on, then let her button it for him. “You know that if you go home with me, rumors are going to fly, right?”
Beth turned to the bed and grabbed his socks, pulling them apart as she answered. “I know. I just don’t much care.” She looked at him, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to without appearing presumptuous. Giving up, she spoke plainly, not moving her gaze away from his.
“Life’s too short to waste worrying about what other people think, and I hope we’ve both learned that lesson by now. If people can’t comprehend that you’re injured and I’m taking care of you, if they decide that’s a shameful thing, that’s their problem. I’m not ashamed of the way I feel, and I want to be with you. I don’t care who knows. We’ve lost so much time already, I’m not willing to lose more if I can avoid it. If you want me with you, then I’ll be there. If you don’t, then you’ll have to tell me to leave.”
With a gentle hand, he reached out and touched her face. “That’s never going to happen.”
~ * * * ~
The next few hours went by quickly as Chase got Ethan home and settled in. Beth had picked up his antibiotics and her overnight bag, and as soon as she’d gotten to his house, they’d eaten. She helped him into a pair of lounge pants and t-shirt, then changed into her own comfortable clothes.
By that time, the anesthesia was wearing off and Ethan’s cuts were starting to hurt like nobody’s business. She convinced him to go upstairs to bed, and gave him a handful of pain medication. Once he was settled in, she kissed him goodnight and started to head out of the bedroom. Snagging her wrist, he stopped her.
“Where are you going?”
She shrugged, a little shy as she faced him. “I thought I’d use one of the guest rooms.”