AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She wasn’t awake. When I got back to her, they were preparing to take her up for a head scan, and as soon as the scan was over, they literally ran her to the operating room. She was having seizures, Judith. I stood there and watched it happen, and I felt so helpless.”
“Of course, you did, Charlotte. Every mother feels helpless when their child is in pain or sick. That is natural.”
“I’m a terrible mother, Judith.” I sniffed loudly, “I should have brought her to the doctor right after she fell. I thought she had just banged her head; I had no clue that her brain was bleeding. I wouldn’t be surprised if child protective services wanted to take her away from me.”
“Now, you cut that out, Charlotte. You are a wonderful mother. Marisol is lucky to have you. You work so hard to keep her safe and make sure she feels loved. Marisol hit her head because she was playing, and being a daredevil, you were not negligent. Kids play, kids get hurt.”
“I know, but what if she doesn’t make it Judith? What if she does and she is a vegetable the rest of her life? How am I supposed to handle that?”
“Just like you handle everything else, Charlotte; with grace and strength. You are the strongest woman I know, and you and Marisol are going to get through this. I will help you with anything you need.”
I wiped at my face, “Thank you, Judith.” I replied to her, and she handed me a tissue. It was almost ninety minutes later when a new time popped up on the screen in the recovery column.
“She’s in recovery.” I sat up on the edge of my seat and looked at the door. Did that mean that someone would be in here soon and let me know what was going on?
“Recovery is good, Charlotte,” Judith said from beside me. For the last hour and a half, we’d been sitting here quietly, every once in awhile, talking about something that Marisol and done or said. The other two people who had occupied the seats near the door were now gone; another three people joined the tense room shortly after them. Names changed on the board, times filling the screen in columns as more patients were helped.
It was another thirty minutes before Doctor Young finally entered the waiting room. He looked slightly frazzled, and I tried not to panic as he came me. I stood but wasn’t sure how because I couldn’t feel my legs.
“How is she?”
He stopped a foot away, “She is doing well, Charlotte. She had a couple of seizures early on that paused the surgery, but then once Doctor Michaels got the pressure down in her head, they stopped. We were able to fix the bleed.”
I shuffled forward, “She is going to be okay?”
His eyes said more than his words did. “She’s alive, Charlotte. The next twenty-four hours are going to tell us a lot.”
“Twenty-four hours?” I repeated.
“Yes, we have to wait to see how long it takes her to wake up, and she will need to go through some tests once she is awake for a little while. Those tests will give us a better idea if she is going to have any lasting effects.”
“Do you think she will?” Judith asked from beside me.
“I can’t answer that. The brain is a curious place. The good thing is that she is young and healthy.”
My hands floated to my face, and I covered it for a moment, she was alive, and it didn’t matter if there were any other problems after that. She was alive.
He touched my shoulder, “I wish I could stay longer and talk to you, but I have two patients down in the emergency department that need my attention. She will be moved to a room soon, and another doctor will be assigned to her.”
“Another doctor? Why can’t you be her doctor?”
“Charlotte, I work in the ED and deal with traumas. I promise I’ll check in with the doctors and make sure she is doing alright.”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor Young.”
“You’re welcome.” He squeezed my arm and then for a moment longer the two of us stared at one another before he smiled tenderly and left the room.
If Marisol wasn’t in recovery, and my life wasn’t such a mess, I might have found myself rather attracted to that doctor. Okay, so despite first impressions of him wearing baggy sweats and looking like a homeless addict, I did realize that he actually was quite attractive. The dark blue scrubs made his eyes brighter, and his blue eyes were expressive and kind. His chest was wide, and his long hair was shiny and pulled tightly back from his face.
“Well, he seems like a very nice man,” Judith said. “I wonder what happened to his face.”
“I happened to his face,” I told her as I took my seat again.
She frowned, “What are you talking about, Charlotte?”
I went on to explain what had happened at the park, and how I had thought he was attacking my daughter, or about to kidnap her, and I had attacked him.
She looked rather shocked at what I had done, then she began to chuckle, “And you thought you weren’t a very good mom. Lord, Charlotte, I fear for the boys your daughter wants to date.”
