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I didn’t know if I stood a chance. I honestly didn’t, but I was not letting go without a fight. She was worth the sweat and the blood. She was worth my fucking life.
For one thing I was sure; I'd take care of that woman if it was the last thing I did on this earth, even if she chose to leave me behind. No one. No man or woman, not even God, would get through me to hurt her again.
The animal fear in her eyes when she spoke about that man, her husband for fuck's sake, it was the only fuel I needed. She would never have to feel like that again because what God joined, I would separate.
The wheels started moving in my head, putting things together when I was interrupted by the obnoxious sound of my pager. Fuck! Something was really wrong if the hospital called for me on a day off. I picked my phone back up and called Mary who I knew was on shift as we spoke.
"I got paged; what's going on."
"Doctor Sullivan, you have to come here. It's Thomas Dallas, your last tumor extraction. He's seizing, and CT shows a lot of fluid building around his brain. You need to get here and do it fast." Fucking shit! "The on-call doctor wants to do it, but he's a sloppy, inexperienced..."
Mary took her job very seriously and would never put a patient in jeopardy to let me sit on my ass and tend my broken heart.
"Give me half an hour; book an OR, and make sure he's prepped."
"Already done!" she said, and the line went dead.
Fuck, I needed to call the babysitter and get going. For a few short hours, I had to lock Rita in the back of my mind and get back into the game.
I ran upstairs, picking up what I needed for the road and dialing the sitter at the same time. She picked up on the second call.
"Doctor Sullivan?"
"Hey, dear, sorry to bother you on a weekend, but I have an emergency at the hospital. Chelsea needs someone to look after her."
"Oh, I'm used to your schedule, but Dr. Sullivan, when you said you'd be home all weekend, I planned a getaway out on the other side of the lake. I'm in Michigan, sir, Union Pier."
And what the hell was I doing now?
"Oh, I get it."
"I am so sorry; I can make it home in a few hours and come straight to your house."
"No, no, don't worry. Enjoy your day on the lake. I'll just call some friends."
We said our goodbyes, and I started scratching my head looking for idea. There was no way in hell I could drop my baby on Zach's doorstep on day one of his honeymoon; he'd try and castrate me, and I had no back up sitter. I hadn’t needed one in the past three months because I had Rita here.
Fuck! I thought I’d have no choice but to take Chelsea with me and drop her into day care. The thought didn’t sit well with me because I knew for a fact my daughter hated the Chicago Mercy General Daycare center. I had only left her there for a couple of hours once when I had to clip a quick aneurism.
Gently, I went to her room and woke her up; we got ready together, and I gave her the bottle before heading to the car. That was when the miracle happened, and my phone buzzed, and Wendy's name flashed on the screen.
What?
"Y...yes?" I answered with a lot of hesitation because this phone call could carry hope or a shit ton of bad news. What if something happened with Rita? What if she left?
"Hey, James, are you ok?"
"Wendy is anything wrong?" We spoke at the same time, and then I shut my mouth to let her speak.
"Nothing's happened. I was just checking on you. Do you need anything?"
Yes, Rita.
"I'm not great, Wendy, but I can't focus on that right now. Emergency operation at the hospital. I just got a pager alert."
"Oh, and the babysitter got there?"
"No, I'm taking Chelsea to the daycare."
