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“Oh, honey. He’s a strong one. Let’s focus on that, okay?”
I nodded, trying to keep my composure. Inside, I could feel myself unraveling with fear that I’d missed my chance with Seth. Our chance. The last chance. “He’s got to be okay, Daddy. I love him.” A single tear slid down my cheek.
Daddy smiled. “Of course you do, Baby. You always have.”
* * *
Seth’s head hurt.What happened?A beeping sound made him flinch every time it sounded. He tried to open his eyes against the bright light. “Are you with us, Seth?” A strange man’s voice spoke from directly in front of him. “C’mon, open your eye.”
Seth made a Herculean effort and managed to open his right eye. The other one wouldn’t budge.
“Here you are. Welcome back. I’m Doctor Kingston.” The man speaking wore a white coat over green scrubs. He looked to be fifty-ish with salt-and-pepper hair.
“What happened?” Seth said it aloud this time.
“You got the business end of a falling tree.”
He remembered then. They’d been leaving Old Jack’s place, and he’d heard a crack overhead. “It hurts.”
“Totally expected. We’ll get some pain meds in you as soon as we determine your condition. Right now, we need you wide awake so you can show us how you’re doing.”
“Where’s Mr. Doyle? Is he okay? Did someone call Kayla?”Kayla.“I need to see Kayla.”
“Kayla’s in the waiting room. I’m going to sit you up a little so we can have a look, okay? Then, we’ll call her in.”
The movement of the electric bed sent pain radiating throughout his skull and left eye. “Agh. It hurts.”
“Okay, let’s have a look. Open your right eye.” Seth opened his right eye, wondering why he couldn’t open the left one.
“Good. Your pupil looks great. Tell me your name and birthday if you can.”
Seth did. Dr. Kingston asked him to move his fingers and make a fist, along with a few other basic requests.
“Good. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Seth told him about driving around to check on people and then about Old Jack. “I heard a loud noise but can’t remember anything after that.”
“That would be about the time the tree almost flattened the cab of your pickup.”
“My truck?”
“Your truck is replaceable, Seth, but your brain isn’t. You seem to be in command of your faculties, which is a relief. The pain will be your companion for a few days or even weeks. I’ll need you to return if you notice blurred vision, pressure in your head or eye, or dizziness.”
“What’s wrong with my left eye?” He put up a hand to feel a bandage over it.
The doctor sighed, and Seth tightened.Now for the bad news.“Your eye was damaged. You’ll have a nasty pirate-like scar across it, I’m sorry to say, but we won’t know about your vision until you heal from the surgery. We had to call over an ophthalmologist to help during surgery. He did what he could to mitigate damage to your retina. I wish I had more and better news, but only time will tell. Don’t remove the bandage until you come back to see us in a week. Until then, you’ll need to take it slow and easy to avoid detaching your retina.”
Seth couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I’m going to be blind?”
“There’s a chance you’ll recover some of your vision in that eye. You’re lucky to be alive, talking, and eating with a fork at this point, considering the head trauma. An eye patch isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”
The doctor’s words sank in. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Now, shall we get Kayla in here?” The doctor inclined his head toward an attendant signaling that it was okay.
Kayla burst in, barely waiting for the doctor to move out of the way. “Are you alright? Oh, Seth, I was so afraid.” She grabbed his hand and held it up to her cheek.
Seth smiled at hearing her voice as he turned to face her. “You were the first thing I thought about when I woke up. How’s your daddy?”
