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Together, we walked to the resident's on-call room and while Drake brushed his teeth in the staff washroom, I took off my pants and socks, and got into bed wearing only my t-shirt, bra and panties. I slipped as close as I could get to the wall, my back to the room and waited for him to join me.
When he finally turned off the room light, I felt him creep under the covers and slide over closer to me.
He wrapped an arm around me from behind, his mouth pressed against his bite mark on my shoulder in a kiss.
"I hate this," he said, his voice soft. "I hate leaving you. I hate going back to our home without you."
"I can't leave now."
"You could if you wanted," he said, his voice tinged with hurt.
"You could stay."
Drake tossed and turned beside me, his sigh of exasperation mirroring my own. Finally, perhaps an hour later, I heard his slow, deep breathing and knew he'd finally fallen asleep.
In contrast, I laid awake most of the night, fear for my father's life robbing me of sleep.
The alarm on Drake's cell went off, the beep beep beep waking me from a dead sleep. He sat up and stretched, yawning before switching on the bedside lamp. He left me alone in the tiny room while he went to the washroom to freshen up. I sat up in bed and then pulled on my jeans. Part of me felt sad that he was going and I wouldn’t see him for a while, but the other part of me, the frightened daughter of a seriously ill father, could only think that I had to stay no matter how upset it would make me to be separated from Drake.
When he came back, I went to do my own freshening up. When I returned, he had two cups of coffee for us, fixed as I liked it, and together we went up to the ICU to check on my father before Drake took a taxi to the airport. According to the nurse at the desk, my father had a good night, with no further seizures and we would be able to see him after morning rounds.
"Can I pop in before I go?" Drake asked, leaning over the counter, his expression earnest. "I have to leave now to catch a plane and won't be able to speak with Aaron."
The nurse hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded. "Sure, Dr. Morgan. If you were still working here, he might even be one of your patients, so go ahead."
Drake slipped into the darkened room and stood by the bed beside my father. Elaine was slouched on a chair beside the bed, asleep. As I watched through the window, Drake took my father's hand in his, his fingers around my father's wrist. He glanced at his watch. He was checking my father's pulse. I saw my father waken and turn his head slightly.
Drake leaned closer and spoke to my father and I wished so much to hear what they were saying. Then Drake leaned closer and kissed my father on the forehead. He kissed my father… The unaffected side of my father's mouth turn up in a smile. His lips moved a bit and Drake leaned down as if to listen more closely.
Drake loved my father, of that I was sure. That's why I couldn’t understand how he could leave now, leave me and my father when everything was still so uncertain. When he turned and left the room, I couldn't look at him for fear I'd break into tears. He stood in front of me for a few moments, not saying anything, waiting.
Finally, he sighed. "Are you even going to say goodbye?" I shook my head, biting my lip to stop from crying. "Kate, come back with me now. I have two tickets."
"I can't. I have to stay."
"I have to go."
I still wouldn't look at him because I felt the need to sob, and I hoped he would go before I broke down in front of him.
He reached down and lifted me up, kissing me deeply, his arms wrapping around me in a tight embrace, his breathing fast as if he was really upset. Finally, he pulled away and set me back down without looking at me, which was just as well, because my vision was completely obscured by tears.
He grabbed his coat and left. And then, I broke down and cried like a baby.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
My father was sedated for most of the next day, the medication used to control his seizures making him too sleepy to even talk. Other than relieving Elaine when she needed a break, I sat in the waiting room and read books and watched videos on my laptop, but I couldn't concentrate and would read the same page over and over again as I waited for news on how my father was doing. I didn't get to actually speak with my father until the third day. Most of the time, I let Elaine stay with him and didn't ask for any time with him. I'd relieve her when she was tired, for she'd slept on the chair in his room every night and was exhausted.
After morning rounds, while he'd been ferried here and there by orderli
es for various tests, I went in to see him.
The first barely audible words out of his mouth were a scolding.
"Should have gone," he said and gave me his version of the evil eye with the one eye that was still open. "Belong with Drake."
I took his hand and smiled, so glad to hear his voice even if it was feeble.
"I would have been unhappy to leave you here and go back to Nairobi. I had to stay."
