Saved by the Doctor

by Ivy Wonders

  “Yeah,” I said quietly as my strength was dwindling. “Get Harris up here. I can’t move my fingers on the right hand.” Things began to fade as they moved me to the gurney. “Pressure… on back of… head.”

  “We’ve got you, Doc,” Dale told me as they put me into the back of the ambulance. “Take it easy. I’ll make sure Dr. Dawson is ready for you.”

  Being moved had really taken a toll on me, and I must’ve gone out for a while. When I woke back up, there were lights in my eyes. Harris’s eyes and other sets of eyes were on mine. “Hi, Alex,” he said. “You cracked your skull.”

  “So you shaved my head. I’ll look dimwitted in my wedding photos now.”

  “You’ll look great. Only the back was shaved.” He looked at the nurse who assisted him. “Watch his toes and tell me if the left big toe moves.”

  Being under the knife during brain surgery wasn’t done under anesthesia. Well, not the kind that knocks you out anyway. Lucky for me, I didn’t freak out when someone was doing surgery on me.

  “It did, Doctor,” the nurse said.

  “I felt it move, but I didn’t think about moving it,” I told them. “And I’d like to add that my body feels nice and warm. Cozy. I believe I am thinking rationally. There’s slight pressure in the area of my cerebellum. But I’m not exhibiting signs of damage.”

  Harris asked, “What colors can you see, Alex?”

  “Mostly white. It’s so bright in here. The colors are dim in comparison to the lights.” I stopped as I knew instinctively what area of my brain had been damaged. “Ah. The occipital lobe is where the problem is.”

  “Precisely,” Harris confirmed. “That is where the fracture is. And your right fingers aren’t moving because of pressure on the cerebellum caused by the dent on your skull. I’m fixing that.”

  “That explains the white light and me thinking I was looming over my body back there.” But that didn’t explain the sound of Rachelle’s voice. “You sure there’s no other damage, Harris? The temporal lobe might have some, too. I heard my lifeless wife talking to me. If there’s damage there, too, then I can explain all that’s happened to me.”

  “Sorry, Alex. There’s no other injury.” He chuckled. “Maybe you’ve turned into a psychic. Did she tell you the future?”

  “No.” He was kidding. “It was most likely my subconscious telling me things I wanted to hear. It seemed so real, though. I get it now when people have told me what they’ve seen and heard. It does seem like it’s really happening.”

  “The brain is a tricky thing.” Harris directed the nurse, “Pick up his right hand and let’s see if his fingers move, then if he can move them himself.”

  She looked at me with her brows raised. “They’re moving. Dr. Arlen?”

  It took a lot of focus but they move. “I did it!”

  “Yes, you did,” she said.

  Harris sounded pleased. “Great. It would be best if I kept you in a medically induced coma for three days to let this heal. Do you concur, Dr. Arlen?”

  “I would do the same thing.” But I wanted to talk to Ky. “Hey. This is unorthodox, but do you know if Ky is here?”

  Someone in the gallery spoke up, and my eyes went to where the voice came from. “I’ll get her,” it was Reagan. “She’s just outside.”

  Harris gave the order, “Drape him back here, so we don’t terrify her.”

  “She doesn’t need to see me looking like a bloody science experiment.” She’d already been pretty shaken up. “I just want her to know I love her, and I’m not going anywhere.” I just wish I could really see her.

  Her pretty hazel eyes, her ash-blonde hair, her pink lips, and cheeks. Instead, all I’d see would be blurry white. But I’d get to see her, and that was better than nothing.

  “Alex?” Ky asked. “You’re awake?”

  My eyes traveled to where her voice come from. The distance proved too great to see anything more than a wavy white shadow. “Ky! Yeah, I’m awake. For now, anyway. My occipital lobe was damaged. That means I can’t see well. It typically takes three to five days for that to be nursed back to health. And the first three days should be spent with uninterrupted rest to speed the healing process. So, I’m going to be asleep for a few days. But I’m not about to expire on you, baby.”

  “Thank God,” I heard her say with tear-laced words. “Alex, I love you.”

  “I love you, too, baby. It’ll be alright. You’ll see.” I tried to see her so bad it made the back of my head hurt. “Okay, take me out, Harris.” I held my hand up and moved my fingers in with a small wave. “See you in three days, my love. Kiss Tabby for me and tell her Daddy loves her.”

  Sobbing was all I heard before Reagan walked Ky out of the gallery. Harris offered me a few words of encouragement, “She’ll be okay. Reagan and I will look after them, Alex. You just rest and get better. I’m looking forward to that wedding next month.”

  And then I heard nothing else.

  The blips of a cardiac monitor were the first thing I heard when I started to wake back up. I liked the steady pulse my heart was making. Nothing hurt, so that was a plus. The meds hadn’t worn off enough to open my eyes or even speak. But I could hear and that was the start of my waking up. When feminine voices came into the room. One of them was Ky’s as she said quietly, “I just miss her so much, Susan. I wish they hadn’t insisted on taking Tabby back to Spokane with them.”

  My mother was with her. “Rachelle’s parents have always intimidated me. If David hadn’t had to go right back to Denver to the business, then he wouldn’t have let them take her. But I just don’t have that backbone with them that he and Alex do. Once Alex is better, our girl will be back where she belongs.”

  “He will. The house feels so empty without her or Alex. I hate it,” Ky said. “I’ve been staying with my friends at my old apartment. I can’t sleep alone in that big bed without him in it. And I can’t be in the house without them in it, either.”

  She’s left our home? And Tabby’s been taken away?

  The heart monitor sped up and then something in my chest cramped. Bright light filled my eyes again as everyone’s voice became whispers. I heard Rachelle’s voice again, “Alex, what are you doing?”

  “They took Tabby! Why’d you let them take her? Ky’s her mother now. You’ve got to make them stop. Make them stop!”

  “He’s having a cardiac episode,” a woman said. “We have to keep him sedated. He’s not ready to come out yet.”

  Slowly, the light faded and I heard Harris say, “Two more days.”

  My mother and Ky weeping were the last thing I heard.

  Don’t cry, please don’t cry.

  Chapter 28

  Ky

  Carla stared at me as I sat on the sofa, trying to stop crying. “Come on, Ky. He’s going to be alright. They said there was no damage to his heart. They just tried to pull him out of the medically induced coma too soon.”

  “Yeah, but this scares me, Carla.” She didn’t understand what Alex’s accident did to me. “I can see it all very clearly now. Alex could die. If not today, then one day. I will lose him one day, and that pain is unbearable.”

  “What the hell are you saying, Ky?” Carla asked me as she handed me more tissues.

  I’d been doing little else than thinking about what losing Alex and Tabby would be like. I found an emptiness there I couldn’t stand. “Loving them is leaving me with too much to lose. If I lose Alex, I lose Tabby, too. Not that I wouldn’t be able to care for her the way she deserved, but I’d want to keep her with me if anything happened to him. And now that this has happened, her grandparents will do everything in their power, which is vast, to keep her away from me. Even adopting Tabby won’t help. Claus mentioned that when I told him what Alex asked me to do, once we’re legally married.”

  “Who cares what old moneybags says?” she asked, blissfully unaware of reality.

  “The courts, for one.” I blew my nose and tried to stop myself from crying. “My head hurts, my ches
t hurts, and my nose hurts from blowing it so much. All this and I have a lot of faith that Alex will wake up and be okay again. What will happen if he actually dies, Carla?”

  I might die right along with him. There was this idea in my head that I’d lie down on his grave and just not get up until I was with him again.

  What kind of life would that be?

  “You will go on if he dies,” Carla said. “Haven’t you learned anything from Alex? He lost his wife and the mother of their young daughter. He had to raise the baby all alone, Ky. He stayed strong for her. And you will have her, too, if anything should happen. You’ll have her and any other kids you two have. Don’t spazz out now. Not when you’ve had this great influence all this time. Learn from Alex’s example. You can go on after the person you love dies.”

  How did Alex do it? For Tabby was all I could suppose. I couldn’t have Tabby anymore if Alex didn’t make it. The Vanderhavens would pull Tabby away from me if I had her half-brothers and sisters, too.

  “There’s so much I hadn’t thought about, Carla.” I wiped my eyes with a fresh tissue. “There is more to lose by marrying Alex than there is to gain.”

  “That’s just insane,” she got up and threw her hands in the air. “That man is smart, sweet, and from what you’ve told me, fantastic in the sack. Let’s add in the fact he adores you, gives you more than you ever asked for, and have you ever seen a man that hot before?” She shook her head to emphasize her point. “No. You. Have. Not.”

  “But the hold he has on my heart is scary.” I blew my nose, then winced with pain since it had become chapped. “And Tabby has the same hold. I’m lost without them, Carla. A few months ago I didn’t even know them, and now they’ve got their claws all up in my heart, and I think even in my soul. If Alex dies, not only will his claws rip my heart to shreds, Tabby’s will, too, when I no longer have her in my life, either. It’s a lose-lose issue. Can’t you see that?”

  “Ky, every time you take a step, do you know the chances of you tripping and falling are like eighty percent?”

  She was trying to help, but now she was just coming up with the most random shit. “You’re making that up. You can’t possibly know the percentage for that. And sure, when you walk, you might fall, okay. Skinned-up knees don’t hurt like this does. This,” I pounded my chest, “this is worse than a knife being plunged into your heart a thousand times. I can’t believe the pain, and I am not even dying. How bad must a heart attack must hurt if this isn’t killing me?”

  She had no idea how much everything hurt me. My stomach ached all the time. My chest hurt more than anything else, but even my arms and legs ached. It didn’t seem possible for my emotions to have this much effect on my body. But it was all very authentic.

  “Maybe, ask one of those doctors at the hospital to help you out, Ky?” Carla cocked one brow at me. “Get something to calm your ass down?”

  “Pills?” I asked her with disgust.

  “Yes, pills, Ky.” Her eyes rolled. “People need help sometimes. It’s not like you’re going to pop Xanax all the time. You just need to calm down right now. You’re saying your chest hurts. What if something is really going on? Get it checked out. Having a heart attack at twenty-two isn’t out of the realm of possibility.”

  Clutching my chest, I wondered if she’s right. “Reagan is a cardiologist. Maybe she could see me.”

  Sitting perfectly still, I tried to listen to my heart. Am I making myself sick on purpose. Would I actually die if Alex did?

  “You should totes ask for her help, Ky.” Carla got up and went to the kitchen, coming back with a glass of wine. “Drink this for now. You need to chill out.”

  I took the glass from her and took a drink. “I’ve got so much to think about. Love might be too much for me. At least right now, it might. Alex and I have moved too fast. I can see that now. What it would do to me for anything to happen to him or Tabby? I’m too young. I can’t deal—you know?”

  Carla’s dark brows furrowed. “You know, Ky, I wouldn’t be a worthy maid of honor if I let you take the coward’s way out of the marriage. I’ve known you almost our whole life. You love this man. You love his little girl. I don’t think you will ever love anyone as much as you love those two.”

  She was right. “And that’s why I’ve got to end it. It’s too much. I can’t take it.”

  “End it?” Alarm filled her face. “What would it do to that man? What would that little girl do if she never saw you again?”

  “Maybe they’re both tougher than I am.” How had they got through losing Rachelle? Because they had each other. I would be alone if I ever lost Alex. How my best friend couldn’t understand that floored me. “And who’s side are you on anyway? I’m the one you should be worrying about, Carla. I am your best friend. You haven’t even gotten to really know Alex or Tabby.”

  “It doesn’t matter I haven’t known them long,” she said as she sat down next to me, draping her arm around my shoulders. “I’ve seen their effect on you, Ky. You’ve blossomed. You’ve grown in ways no one our age could have so quickly. I am on your side, girl. You should know that. What kind of a friend would let you throw this away because of what it will feel like if you lose them?”

  “Chances are pretty high Alex will die before me,” I reminded her. “He is thirteen years older.”

  “And chances are both of you will be old and gray with grown children by that time.” She ran her hand through my hair, pushing it off my face. “Why don’t you call the grandparents and ask if you can say hello to Tabby? It would make her feel better to hear from you. It will make you feel better to hear her voice, too.”

  Pulling out my cell, I looked at it for a long time. “You might be right.” Getting up, I went outside to make the call. The night air, crisp and clean, cleared my head as I swiped her grandparents’ last name.

  “Hello, Vanderhaven residence. Bartholomew speaking. How can I help you this evening?”

  “Bartholomew, this is Ky. I’d like to speak with Tabitha.” I crossed my fingers he’d let me. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d already written Alex off and thought I didn’t need to interact with their granddaughter.

  Tabby’s voice in the background made my heart spring, and a smile took over. “Is that Ky? Is that Ky?”

  How did she know it was me? I loved that she did. “Please, sir. Please let me speak to her.”

  He didn’t say a word. The next thing I heard was Tabby asking, “Is this Ky?”

  A knot had formed in my throat, and I had to clear it before I could say, “It’s me, my sweet little princess.”

  “I’ve missed you!” she shouted. “How’s Daddy?”

  “Still sleeping.” I didn’t want her to know about the incident when they tried to wake him. “It’ll be a couple more days before he wakes up.”

  “Ky, can you come get me?” she asked innocently. “I want to see when Daddy wakes up. If I’m there, he’ll get better fast. ”

  “Let’s see if we can do that, Tabby. Is one of your grandparents around?” I squared my shoulders, ready for a fight. For Tabby’s sake. She was right; her daddy would get better faster with us both by his side.

  “I’m here with Barthy,” she let me know.

  That pissed me off. The reason they took her was because they were upset I left her with Chloe when I came to the hospital that first day. “I’ll tell you what, Tabby. Steven can drive me up there, and I will pick you up. You’re coming home, sweetie.”

  This being pushed around shit is over. That girl needs me to stand up and fight for what’s right.

  After ending the call, I called Steven to come get me; we were going to Spokane and coming back with Tabby.

  When I came back inside, Carla was looking at me with wide eyes. “You look different. There’s fire in your eyes. What’s up?”

  “You’re right. With great love comes great pain. But that’s okay. It’s the way it’s meant to be.” I walked over and drained the wine glass I’d only taken a sip of. “I’
m done being steamrolled by Tabby’s grandparents. I’ve got this rock on my finger. I am Alex’s fiancée, not just a girlfriend. No judge in the world would say I don’t have the right to make sure his little girl is at his side when he wakes up.”

  “Whoa.” Carla had been rendered speechless. Almost. “I had no idea I could motivate anyone as quickly. You really have chosen the right maid of honor.”

  “I do select well, don’t I?” I tapped my temple. “So why would I make the wrong choice with who I love?”

  “You haven’t made wrong choices there.” Carla got up to walk with me to the door as a knock came to it. It was the driver. “I’ll be here if you need me. Go get your little girl, Ky. Take her to her daddy and get your family in order.”

  And that’s just what I aim to do.

  Chapter 29

  Alex

  Lying in bed, so dark I couldn’t see a thing, the sound of breathing came from beside me. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found myself back in my home in Spokane, Rachelle by my side. Her soft blonde hair splayed out over the white pillowcase her pretty head rested on.

  “Rachelle?” I reached out to touch her then her body disappeared. Emptiness took her place—a vast hole that left me feeling sick and alone.

  “Alex,” came another soft voice. “Come on, Alex, wake up.”

  Ky.

  Looking at the empty spot on the bed, I knew I wasn’t supposed to stay there any longer. My life wasn’t over—not by a long shot.

  “Bye, Alex,” came Rachelle’s voice. “You’re doing all the right things. Go live your life and love like you might never see tomorrow. I wish I would’ve lived my life that way. I did love you, Alex. Even though I rarely said the words.”

  “I know you did,” I whispered. “I loved you, too. I didn’t say the words a lot, either. But I’ve learned from that. I let Tabby know I love her every day. I’ll never stop.”

  “Alex, come on, Babe. It’s me, Ky. I love you. I want to see those beautiful blue eyes of yours. Open them up for us.”