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“But that’s not true,” said Anne. “Grandpa lost part of his spleen, and he’s never sick. It hasn’t slowed him down at all.”
“But I lost the whole thing. I guess I should wait and see. Maybe I won’t be what Josh wants anymore. I don’t want him to marry me and regret it later.” She couldn’t stop her tears, born partially out of pain, but mostly from distress.
“Charlie, that’s not what I meant at all. Josh isn’t going to regret marrying you. He’ll be lucky to have you, and he knows it. I just didn’t want you to have regrets.”
“But why would I have regrets?” His image wobbled in her puddling eyes.
Steven groaned, running fingers through his hair until it stood on end. “Okay. Never mind. You have my blessing.”
“Good morning,” said a voice behind them. A tall, kindly man with almost-white hair approached the hospital bed. “I’m Dr. Sommers.” He held out his hand to Steven, “Ted Sommers.”
“Steven Gherring. And this is Charlie’s mother, Anne.”
“Nice to meet you.” He shook Anne’s hand before turning to Charlie. “Why is my patient crying?” His voice was light and teasing. “Charlotte? We haven’t met officially. You were asleep when I arrived, but I had a nice chat with Dr. Branson.”
Charlie struggled to control her tears, but each shuddering breath brought on another sharp pain. “I’m s-sorry. I c-can’t seem to s-stop crying.”
“That’s okay, dear. Are you in pain?”
She gave him a small nod, hoping her Mom wouldn’t notice.
“Your PCA still isn’t cutting it? You don’t need to pretend you’re not hurting. I’m going to add something here...” Charlie watched as he put on gloves and filled a syringe and injected into her IV. Within seconds, she felt the pain ease.
“Oh... That’s better.” Her entire body relaxed. The image of a wet noodle passed through her mind. “I’m sorry I’m so much trouble. I guess I’m kind of a wimp.”
“Not at all,” said Dr. Sommers. “You’ve had some major trauma to your body, and major surgery to repair it. I expect you’re having to deal with a high level of pain.”
“Okay,” she sniffed.
“May I check your incisions?”
“I’ll just wait outside,” Steven said.
While he was examining her surgical sites, she asked, “How long will I be here?”
“It seems your father has arranged for you to travel back to New York as soon as you’re out of CCU. You’ll be out of here in a couple of days, but you’ll need to stay in the hospital in New York for another three to five days.”
“I messed up the ski trip for everybody.”
“What a funny thing to think, after you saved someone’s life. As I understand it, you did a very brave thing.”
“That’s what Josh told me, but I don’t remember it. I’m not so sure.”
“We all saw it,” said Anne. “I have little doubt Jace would’ve been killed or at least very badly injured if you hadn’t blocked him with your own body.”
“Yes,” Dr. Sommers agreed. “I think Dr. Branson feels quite indebted to you.”
“Oh.” Would he have agreed to marry her because he felt obligated?
“So you had a nice chat with Dr. Branson when you woke up?” he asked.
“I guess so.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You guess so?”
“Dr. Sommers? Am I ever going to be normal again? Will I be able to ski and snowboard and hike and run and climb?”
“Charlotte, I don’t think a normal girl does all of those things, so I doubt you’ll ever be normal.” He slanted his head, giving her a playful smile. “But if you want to know if your body will recover so you can do all the things you love to do, the answer is yes, if you work at it.”
