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“Let’s eat,” Houghton said gruffly. “That’s a conversation best had alone between the two of you and not with spectators. Daphne, if you are jealous of people getting married, you can be next.”
Her head whipped around in shock.
“What?” Daphne hissed, paling. “Wait a second. I was just commenting on…”
“Pass the whipped cream, please,” Chris said, looking at her simply with this gloating look on her face that Gideon seemed to pick up on.
“Can I have the bacon?” Gideon hopped on, almost in silent support of his new bride.
“Who has the salt?” Houghton said evasively, not meeting Daphne’s eyes and neither did Jill, for that matter.
Something was going on and if she thought she wasn’t on the radar before, she had a distinct feeling that she was actually standing on the bullseye and the arrow was already on the way.
On Friday, the proverbial ‘arrow’ struck home.
5
COLLINS
‘Sir, you’ll need to sign here if you are waiving all medical treatment…’
Max swallowed painfully, trying to silence the scream in his head as that sentence replayed over and over again in his mind. He wasn’t refusing medical treatment – he was refusing the amputation. He begged for antibiotics and asked them to bleed his foot to relieve some of the swelling and pressure, and the hospital staff had looked at each other with that same pitying look that everyone gave him.
He wasn’t dying, dang it!
Even his commanding officer had called the hospital.
“Collins…” Captain Logan had begun, and Max cut him off, feeling himself almost at the breaking point of terror and desperation.
“Don’t start,” he snapped, fighting tears. “If you are c-calling to tell them to take my leg off too, I’m not going to do it. Do you hear me? I’m not going to be in a chair the rest of my life!”
“No, this call is to tell you that I’ve filed for you to take FMLA, and you are on leave – effective immediately, Collins,” Logan said bluntly in a very matter-of-fact terms. “You are flying to Texas and from there being taken to a ranch in Wyoming where you can get some fresh air, some healthy food, and a second opinion from someone in the medical field that I trust implicitly.”
Max broke, wiping his face and trying not to cry audibly as he held the phone to his head at the nurse’s desk.
“Thank you, sir,” he whispered. “I really appreciate that.”
“Hey,” Logan began quietly. “You know, there comes a time when everyone needs to step back and take a second to think. No one wants to alter your life or harm you – just remember that. It’s okay to be scared, but being scared means that you live long enough to sort through those feelings. If it were me, I would want a second opinion, too. Just do me a favor and grab at a second chance if it’s handed to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, there is a car that is going to take you to the airport, and you’ll have someone pick you up wearing a Flyboys T-shirt. A friend of mine has arranged for you to be flown to Wyoming. There will be a medic on standby there when you land.”
“Okay. Do I need to get my things or…”
“No,” Logan said quietly. “I’m not going to lie, Collins… but you need helpnowif it’s as bad as what they are saying. Just get that second opinion, and let’s get cracking, soldier, so we can talk about the next steps in a few weeks…please.”
The flight from Germany to Texas was telling.
People were avoiding him, and Max kept slumping in his seat in sheer exhaustion. One of the flight attendants brought him cool, wet rags to put on his face, and they cleared the aisle for him to be able to put his leg up. Several people were gawking at him like he was diseased, and even one child said he was ‘stinky’… making him feel that much worse.
His ankle and leg looked bad – and he knew it.
The skin on his leg was peeling back in spots, discolored badly, and had red streaks traveling up his leg. The skin on his toes, bottom of his foot, and part of his ankle was blackish in places with deep purple bruising. The pain of walking on it was almost unbearable, and they gave him a crutch at the hospital. There was pus coming from his toes, and the stench when he took off his boot was staggering – so he stopped removing it.
He was terrified.
Every day that crippling fear grew worse and worse, all from a broken limb that didn’t heal right. Sometimes, he wished that the bomb blast had just killed him, and other days, he wished that they would give him stronger medication that would wipe out everything.
