“Grandma?”
Kellie’s heart stuttered painfully and she pitched forward, landing on her knees. Everything she’d learned and practiced for how to handle emergencies evaporated. She knelt next to the frail, tiny form of her grandmother, nervously patting her back as the first sob racked her body, shaking her. The tile amplified the incoherent words spilling from her.
This was it, the moment she’d been dreading. When her grandmother needed her most, she hadn’t been there. She cupped a hand over her mouth and sat down.
She needed to do things. There were steps she should take to check for a pulse, breath or blood, but she couldn’t convince her limbs to move. She sat there rocking back and forth, tears dripping off her chin and onto her chest.
Her phone vibrating between her and the tile barely broke through to her. She dug it out and put it on speaker.
“Hey, doll—”
“Quin—” Her voice broke and shattered into a million pieces.
“What’s wrong?” The cheer was gone, replaced with a man of action.
“It’s Grandma.” She put a hand to her mouth. She couldn’t say it.
“Doll, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is it right now?”
“Twenty.”
“Have you called 9-1-1?”
It was the simplest action, the most basic thing to do in an emergency and it hadn’t yet occurred to her. Her voice was small when she answered with a simple “No.”
“Do you want me to? I’ll have to hang up though.”
“No, don’t hang up.” She needed a lifeline, someone she could cling to. She wasn’t nearly as strong as she’d thought. “I’ll-I’ll get the house line.”
As much as it killed her, she pushed to her feet and ran into the living room. Quin kept a running commentary, his soothing voice telling her it would be all right and he was almost there. She punched the three crucial numbers and held the phone to her ear.
“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”
She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “My grandmother. I came home and she’s fallen or something. She’s not responding.”
“What is your name?”
“K-Kellie.” She returned to the bedroom and stared at the unmoving form of her grandmother.
The operator asked her several questions about where she lived and what her phone number was. She spat it all out without thinking, thankful she’d had the same address and home phone number her entire life.
“What is your grandmother’s condition? How badly is she hurt?”
“I don’t know. She’s not moving, she’s not responding but there’s no blood.”
“Okay, Kellie. We’ll send an ambulance right away. Have you checked for a pulse? Is she breathing?”
“I don’t know.” She recoiled at the thought of touching her body.
“Doll, you need to check,” Quin said.
“Is there someone else there with you, Kellie?”
“No, my boyfriend is on speakerphone.”
“Kellie, an ambulance is on the way, they’re going to take care of everything.”
“Doll, check to see if she’s breathing.”
Kellie licked her lips and stepped over her grandmother and into the bathroom. She knelt on the opposite side she’d sat down on. Grandma’s face was turned sideways and her skin pushed up awkwardly with her mouth gaped open. Kellie reached out a hand and held it in front of her mouth. The faintest stirring of air caressed her skin. She yelped and jerked her hand back.
“She’s breathing!”
* * * * *
Quin shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the ambulance where Kellie stood with one of the EMTs. He wanted to be at her side, and he had been until he’d been asked to give them a moment. It shook him to see Kellie so shattered. She’d broken into tears three times since he’d arrived. He wanted to fix things, help her, make everything okay, but it was beyond him.
The EMT left Kellie standing at the back of the ambulance and jumped in the driver’s seat. She wrapped her arms around her waist and seemed to shrink in on herself.
He strode across the yard, ignoring the stares and clusters of people who had come out of the neighboring houses to gawk. Kellie turned toward him, her eyes so large and lost. He hugged her, clutching her close.
“Why didn’t you go with them?” he asked.
“They said it wasn’t a good idea.” Even her voice sounded small, as if she were a lost child.
The grass rustled behind him, announcing the approach of at least one neighbor.
“Cho Hee? What’s wrong?”
“Grandma Gang.” Kellie hiccupped and pulled out of his arms. He reluctantly let her go and watched her gingerly hug the elderly woman. “They took her to the hospital. They don’t know what happened.”
The woman kept one hand wrapped around the handle of her cane and the other went around Kellie’s shoulders. Her age-worn face creased in a pained expression. When she spoke again, it wasn’t English. Kellie replied in kind, and all he could do was listen to their back-and-forth conversation. Finally Kellie released her and wiped at her face.
“No, Quin will take me.” She turned toward him.
“Where am I taking you?” He fished his keys out of his pocket, ready to go to the moon and back.
“Shin can take you,” the elderly woman replied. She hadn’t yet looked at him and he was beginning to wonder what she’d said.
“No thanks, Grandma Gang. I just need to grab my purse and we can go.”
He stepped to her side and placed his hand against the small of her back. If she wanted him to take her he would, but the last thing she needed was people trying to force her into doing what she didn’t want to. “Whatever you want, doll.”
“Shit, I should have asked you.” She put a hand to her forehead.
“Don’t worry about it. Go get your purse and we’ll go. Do you want me to get it for you?”
“I’ll get it.”
She started for the house and he followed. Once inside, she stopped in the foyer and stared at nothing. He cupped her shoulders and pulled her back against his chest.
“Where’s your purse, doll?”
She glanced to the left into the kitchen, her brow furrowed. “In my bedroom.”
“Okay, why don’t you grab a jacket and some shoes? Where’s your bedroom?”
She moved mechanically through the house to a door that sported a padlock hanging from the hardware bolted to the door. The door swung open, revealing a life packed into boxes and little left on display.
Her purse sat atop two boxes stacked next to the door, serving as a table. He picked it up and nudged her elbow.
“Where’s your jacket? Let’s get you some socks and shoes.”
Kellie turned in a half circle, tears threatening to spill over again. “What if she dies, Quin?”
“Oh doll, shh, don’t say that.” He hugged her again, rubbing her back and letting her cling to him until the tremors shaking her body subsided. “Come on, where’s your socks?”
“On the bed.” She pulled away from him and dug around in a pile of laundry. Socks in hand, she crossed to a box and pulled out a pair of sneakers. She sat down on the floor and pulled both on.
“What about a jacket?”
“In the coat closet on the way out.”
He offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
She allowed him to steer her through the house, select her jacket and hold the door open for her. For a woman as independent and ballsy as she was, her state of glazed shock was concerning. He made sure the door was locked and he knew where they were going before he put her in the truck. People stood in the yard next door, but no one approached them to offer condolences or support, which pissed him off. Kellie would help them, he was sure of it, and all they could do was whisper and gossip.
He offered his hand to Kellie as he pulled out on the main road and headed for the highway. She latched on to him, twining their fingers together.
“Not right now.”
“Doll, we’ll get there.”
“But what if she doesn’t wake up?”
He opened his mouth but there was no answer he could give. Kellie would be inconsolable if her grandmother passed away. But her grandmother had lived a long time and who was to say the kindest thing that could happen was for her to go on to the next life? If he couldn’t remember who he was, he wouldn’t want Josie to be burdened with taking care of him. But Kellie came from a different culture that placed a higher value on family than the way he’d been raised. His father had been a cold bastard who wanted order and regimen. Quin was beginning to learn the hard way that the old toad had rubbed off on him a little too much and he didn’t like it. He wanted Josie to remember him better.
He’d support Kellie in any decision she made, no matter what he thought about it.
* * * * *
Quin rubbed Kellie’s hands between his own. His ass was sore from the hard plastic chairs and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for a day or two. He glanced at his watch and groaned. Almost five a.m.
“Do you want some coffee?”
Kellie stared straight ahead, her gaze as vacant as it had been since the doctor had pulled them aside to inform her that her grandmother was stable. He nudged her side where she was ticklish and her head whipped around.
“What?”
“I asked you if you wanted some coffee? What about something else to eat?”
She blinked slowly, as if muddling through his words. “I don’t know.”
He patted her knee. “I’ll bring you a cup. How do you like yours?”
“Cream, sugar and a little coffee.”
The unexpected quip made him smile.
He got to his feet and went to a small room off the main waiting area where a few tables, chairs and vending machines reigned. He hadn’t spent any of his beer cash from the night before. He was putting it to better use now, buying a few prepackaged breakfast items and shoving them into the pouch on his hoody. Someone had put on a new pot of coffee and it was just waiting to fill a few cups. He went hard on the cream and sugar in both and took the steaming sludge back to Kellie.
“Nahm? Kellie Nahm?” the desk attendant called, surveying her domain of nighttime emergencies.
Kellie popped up from her chair, almost running him over. “Here.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked. It was uncomfortable being privy to the sensitive information being passed back and forth, as opposed to when he brought one of the guys in for a simple line of stitches or an x-ray.
Kellie pivoted and took one of the cups from him. “Yes, please. Do you mind?”
The lost look was a punch to his gut, and not in a nice way. He cupped the back of her neck, pulled her to him and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Of course not. Let’s go.”
They were admitted once again into a private room with a rectangular table cutting it in half. They sat in the two available seats and waited.
“I hate this room,” Kellie mumbled.
“Yeah.” He offered his hand, which she took without hesitation and squeezed.
“We’ve been here for hours. They have to know something.”
“Let them do their job, doll.” Silently he had to agree. What weren’t they telling her?
The door opposite them opened and a doctor entered, his white coat over scrubs setting him apart and lending him an air of credibility. He was young, maybe Quin’s age, but his presence put even Quin’s skepticism at ease.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Dr. Charlie.” He extended his hand to Quin and then Kellie.
“That’s not what your name tag says,” Kellie pointed out.
Dr. Charlie smiled. “You are correct, but most of my patients cannot say Chatterjee, so Charlie works. Please have a seat. I take it you are a relation of Mrs. Nahm?”
“I’m her granddaughter and this is my boyfriend.”
“Right, I’m very sorry for having kept you so long in the waiting room. We’ve performed a full examination and MRI. There appears to be some trauma to her head, but whether that was the cause of her fall or she fell because of something else, we don’t know. We’re hoping the results of the MRI will tell us something. Do you have any questions?”
“What do you think happened? Why did she fall? Why won’t she wake up?”
Quin squeezed Kellie’s hand and reached for a box of tissues.
“I cannot say what happened, but judging from what I can see and what you told us, I would guess she had an internal mishap. A stroke, minor heart attack, aneurism, something that does not give external indicators. We will know more when we get the MRI results back, okay?”
Kellie’s hand went slack in his, so he gripped her tighter. She bit her lip and stared at the wall unseeing.
Quin cleared his throat. “What’s the next step? Where do we go from here?”
“We are moving her to a room in ICU as soon as a bed is made available. If you would like to go back to see her, you may. Do you have any more questions?”
The beat of silence stretched out for several seconds. Kellie shifted in her chair and glanced at him. “I don’t think so. This is all so much.”
“I understand. It is difficult dealing with this kind of trauma. If you have any questions, the staff is available to answer them. A nurse will be in shortly to take you to your grandmother.” Dr. Charlie pushed to his feet, tucked his clipboard under his arm and exited the room.
The silence was deafening. Beyond the walls, the morning rush of activity signaled a new day. They’d survived the night at least. But in their bubble, nothing changed, and maybe that was the best for now.
Quin sipped his coffee and watched Kellie. He’d never developed close relationships with his grandparents. His father’s military career had kept them moving every few years and by the time they reached a moment of stability, his grandparents were gone. There were pictures of him sitting on knees and holding the hands of age worn men and women who had the same last name or blue eyes as he did, but the closeness was foreign.
In hindsight, he did wish he had a better relationship with his immediate family at least. Not for the pain that Kellie was so obviously feeling, but the relationship with her grandmother had made her a better person. Maybe it wasn’t too late for him.
The door across from them opened and a blonde nurse stepped inside. “Are you Mrs. Nahm’s family?”
“Yes,” Kellie replied.
“If you’ll follow me I can take you back to see her while we wait for a room.” She held the door while they stood and scooted around the table. “Right this way.”
“You okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low as they fell in behind the nurse.
“No, but thanks for being here with me. It’s not exactly what you signed up for.”
He knew a thing or two about obligation. He’d spent eight years in the Marines doing exactly as he’d been told, or near enough at least. He tugged on her arm until she stopped. “Hey, I’m here because I care about you, remember?”
Her gaze slowly slid to his face and she nodded.
“Come on.” He looped his arm around her waist and took a long drink of his lukewarm coffee.
Kellie hooked her thumb through his belt loop and allowed him to steer her after their nurse, down one uniformly beige hall then another. The nurse stopped at a thin curtain drawn around a hospital bed. He could glimpse the still figure of her grandmother lying in bed. There were machines beeping and whirring around her. Kellie stopped in the middle of the hall, her eyes opening wide. He couldn’t imagine how difficult this must be for her.
“Where’s the bathroom?” she asked, a tremor racking her body.
“It’s across the hall,” the nurse replied, gesturing to the clearly marked door behind them.
“Be right back.” Kellie rushed into the bathroom, leaving him to stare at the nurse.
<
br /> The nurse stared after her, lines of concern bracketing her mouth. “Is she all right?”
He glanced over his shoulder. Was she? Did he even know? He was so beyond in over his head he might as well have already drowned.
Dr. Charlie appeared at his side, looking over his papers. “Sorry, I forgot to leave this with you.” He offered the nurse an apologetic smile and a clipboard.
“Don’t make me chase you down again, Dr. Charlie,” the nurse scolded.
“Everything okay?” the doctor asked him.
He shrugged. How did he answer this? “I think she just needs time. It’s hard for her to handle this.”
“I understand. Patients like these are hard on their families.”
He shook his head. “And she does it on her own. It’s too much for one person to handle, if you ask me.”
The doctor and nurse shared a look.
“What do you mean, too much to handle?” The doctor clasped his hands in front of him and rocked up on his toes.
“Just that Kellie’s a young woman on her own and taking care of her grandmother is rough. Sometimes I wonder if it’s too much for her to handle on her own. But it’s not my place to tell her what to do, you know?”
The doctor’s expression grew serious. “Expressing concern for the well-being of another human being isn’t wrong.”
“Well no, but Kellie has a lot on her plate and her grandmother adds a lot of stress to what’s going on.” Quin did not like the guarded way the doctor was examining him now.
The bathroom door opened and Kellie stepped through. Droplets clung to her hair and her face looked damp, as if she’d splashed water on herself. She glanced between the three of them and rubbed her hands on her thighs.
“Okay, can I see her now?”
The nurse glanced at the doctor who merely nodded. “Right this way.” She drew back the curtain a bit and Kellie’s face crumpled.
Chapter Sixteen
Foo Dogs—These are more closely related to lions, and have been called the “Lion of Buddha” or “Lion Dogs”. They symbolize strength, protection and courage. Typically they are depicted crawling up an arm or a leg with a menacing expression on their face.
The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Page 25