AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chad was sitting, hunched over, head in his hands in the hospital waiting room an hour later when the room began to fill. Jennie and Kyle’s parents arrived first, followed closely by Chad’s mom.
Chad had never been so happy to see his mother in his life. He felt like he was ten years old again as she wrapped her arms around him and held him while he told her about Jennie and the baby.
Kelly, Jack, Andrew, and Jill arrived next with Mrs. Poole and Roark Walker in tow. She had packed a large thermos with hot chocolate and a plate of homemade cookies for Chad, but he couldn’t even think about eating until he knew what was going on with Jennie.
Kelly sat on one side of him, her fingers laced in his, clinging tightly to him while his mother sat on the other side of him murmuring to him over and over that Jennie and the baby would be all right.
Roark sat across from Chad. He was the head of the legal department at Sutton but he was also a longtime family friend. He leaned over and put a warm hand on Chad’s forearm and squeezed.
Roark had lost his wife years before. He didn’t say anything to Chad. Probably knew better than anyone that there was nothing he could say at this point to make things better. But he was there for Chad, just as all of them were.
Mrs. Poole put the plate of cookies in Roark’s hands and leaned in to hug Chad. She was soft and warm and he let himself lean into her for a minute.
When he pulled back, she patted his cheek and then went to sit with Jack and Kelly across from him. Jack gave Chad a nod and Chad knew Jack would do anything he could to help. All Chad would have to do is ask.
But there wasn’t a damned thing any of them could do but wait, and that was killing him.
He looked up to see Jennie’s obstetrician walked into the waiting room and scanned for him. He hadn’t met her but he’d seen her picture online when he had researched for the best doctor money could buy in New Haven.
“Dr. Kash?” he said as he stood and approached her.
“Are you Chad?” she asked and he liked her right away. She had a no-nonsense tone to her and even though she stood about five feet tall to his nearly six and a half feet, she didn’t shrink from him at all when he approached.
“Yeah, that’s me. Any news on Jennie and the baby?”
He could practically feel the whole room holding its collective breath behind him and he knew he wouldn’t be able to breathe right until he knew she and the baby were okay.
It suddenly struck him that if she lost the baby, he would have to tell her and that would crush her. He said another prayer for his child and the woman he loved as he waited for the doctor to give him an update.
“They’ve got her in surgery right now, but it looks like she was very lucky. She lost a lot of blood, but the EMTs got her here quickly and we took her straight into surgery. Right now, the baby looks good. I came out to tell you they’re monitoring the fetal heart rate and looking for any signs of stress while they work on Jennie. I’ll go back in there with her until they finish up.
“The bullet nicked her brachial artery but missed the bone, so she should regain the use of her arm after some physical therapy. I’ll have the surgeon come out and update you after they repair the artery. They’ll have to monitor the repair for a bit while she’s still on the table to be sure it holds and to be sure blood is flowing well through the artery after the stitches are in place,” the doctor explained.
Chad nodded, feeling somewhat numb, but at least now he had some idea of what was going on. He felt his mom’s hands on his arm again and let her lead him back to the chairs, where he sat and began to breathe again. A world without Jennie would have been too difficult to bear.
Jennie opened her eyes and tried to swallow, but her throat was dry and scratchy. Chad was right there, putting a straw to her lips and whispering to her to drink.
She took a sip of the cold liquid and licked her lips, before testing her voice. The room was unfamiliar, but it quickly registered that she was in a hospital room.
“What happened?”
“Well, Jennie,” Chad said, and she could see the small tick in his jaw that meant he was clenching it and grinding his teeth. “Let’s review what happened, shall we?”
She was startled to hear the tone in his voice but she could see the love in his eyes.
She opened her mouth to speak but Chad continued before she could argue.
“When faced with a desperate, panicked woman holding a deadly weapon, you apparently looked at the situation, and in all your infinite wisdom chose to tackle her. You, the pregnant woman with no training in disarming crazed gun-toting people, thought you could handle the situation better than a trained FBI agent and a former Army Ranger with years’ worth of bad-guy-tackling experience.”
“The baby! Oh, God, Chad, please. Is the baby—”
“The baby’s okay,” he said, his voice as soft as his eyes now. “Dr. Kash has been by to check several times. No problems.” He pushed Jennie’s hair back from her face as he spoke and she breathed easier, knowing Dr. Kash had checked the baby.
“Bad-guy-tackling experience, huh?” Jennie asked.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jen?” Chad’s voice cracked as he spoke and she knew he was fighting to stay calm.
“That I love you,” she said.
