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“No!”
River’s scream as they wheeled her away for surgery echoed in my head. It was full of grief and anger. But if there was a choice between her life and anyone else’s—anyone’s— I would pick hers every fucking time.
When she was gone, another nurse came up to me, telling me I needed to register River. Feeling like I was in a daze, I followed the woman. I gave them all of her information, but when they asked for her date of birth, I lied and told them she was born a year earlier than she actually was. The woman behind the desk asked about insurance, and again, I lied. Instead, I handed her my credit card and told her to charge everything to it.
I had some money saved, and there was plenty of it in my trust fund. I would dip into that if we needed to.
Once I’d signed all the paperwork, the woman gave me an sympathetic smile. “Hope your wife gets well soon.”
Nodding in thanks, I took my copies of the papers and then walked back out to the waiting room.
Lyric pushed away from the wall near the entrance as soon as he spotted me. “Well?”
I rubbed my free hand over my face. “The baby was in her fallopian tube. When it grew too big, the tube ruptured. She’s in surgery now.”
“Fuck, man. I’m so sorry.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Do you need anything?”
“All I need is for her to be okay,” I muttered.
“Yeah, man. I understand. If it were Mila—” He broke off, but he didn’t need to say anything else. I knew. Fuck, I was feeling it.
The nurse who had put the IV in River’s arm came over to us. “The doctor asked me to tell you to wait upstairs in the OR waiting room, and she will come speak to you once your wife is out of surgery.”
Upstairs, the waiting room was already pretty crowded with family members of patients also having surgery. Most of them had been scheduled, unlike River’s, which was an emergency. Lyric and I found two empty seats near a window and sat, neither of us speaking as we waited.
“Dude, you need me to get you a change of clothes?” Lyric asked after a while. “You’ve got blood…” He waved his hand at my legs.
Glancing down, I realized he was right. River’s blood was all over me. A lump filled my throat, and I fought against the sting of tears. “She has to be okay, Lyric,” I whispered, unable to get my voice to go any louder. “If I lose her, I’ll lose everything that means anything to me.”
One of his heavy hands fell on my shoulder, squeezing hard. “I know, brother. It will be okay. Just have faith in the doctors. Your girl is strong.”
All I could do was nod, knowing he was right. River was a strong woman; she wouldn’t let anything keep us apart. Not her dad, and sure as hell not this. But that didn’t stop me from being scared out of my mind that something might still take her away from me.
It felt like days passed before the same doctor from the emergency room walked into the waiting room. My eyes were glued to the door, so as soon as I saw her, I was on my feet. Spotting me in the still-crowded room, she walked my way. She had on surgical scrubs, whereas in the ER, she’d only had on regular clothes and the typical white jacket. Her scrubs were damp with sweat, as was the surgical cap she pulled off her head when she reached us.
“Everything went as expected,” she said without preamble. “We didn’t run into any complications. She’s in recovery for now, but she will be put on the labor and delivery floor once she starts to wake up. That should be in about an hour or so.”
“But she’s going to be okay, right?”
She gave me a sad smile. “Physically, she will be back to normal in no time. Given her reaction to having to have this procedure…” She shrugged. “The recovery time for that isn’t something I can give you a time frame for, Mr. Masterson. Just be prepared for her to be…fragile.”
Fragile? River?
Those two words didn’t go together.
The doctor patted me on the arm. “Someone will be in to show you to your wife’s room as soon as she’s settled.” Her gaze went to my jeans. “Maybe you should clean yourself up before then. Her emotions are going to be scattered, and seeing her blood on you might be a bad idea.”
“I’m not leaving.” I wasn’t stepping foot outside the building until River was able to go with me.
“I got you covered, bro,” Lyric assured me. “I think we passed a mall as soon as we got off the interstate. I’ll grab you a change of clothes and pick us up some food.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I muttered, not caring one way or another. I didn’t want to upset River if she saw the blood all over me, but all I could think about was just getting to her. Nothing else mattered but seeing with my own eyes that she was okay, that she hadn’t been taken from me.
“Do you have any questions for me?” the doctor asked, looking at me as if she expected me to.
“Will she be able to—” I broke off, not even sure I wanted an answer to the question that was lingering in my head now that the woman had told me my girl was going to be all right.
“Have more babies?” I swallowed hard and nodded. “Her chances have been cut in half, but she’s young and healthy. There shouldn’t be any reason why she couldn’t have another baby—when she’s ready.”
