Book 26 Hurricane After Dark #10
David’s heart sinks at that news. “Shit. We’ve got to get him out of here.”
“We could operate here.”
He shakes his head. “We can’t take the chance.”
“If we don’t, we’ll lose him. He’s bleeding inside. If we don’t stop that—soon—it’s game over. We’ve got to at least try.”
David takes a deep breath and blows it out as he scans the monitors that paint a dire picture. Vic is right. If they don’t do something—right now—Jeff’s chances of survival will be nil. “Let me talk to Owen and the others.”
He walks to the waiting area, where the Lawry siblings are sprawled out in chairs, some of them dozing.
Owen jumps up when he sees David coming. “How is he?”
“Not great.” David massages the tension from the back of his neck. “There’s internal bleeding that needs to be addressed immediately.” He forces himself to make eye contact with Owen. “The thing is… We’re completely unequipped for something like this.”
“Have you done anything like this before?” Owen asks.
“I’ve assisted during residency, but I’ve never done it by myself. I want to be honest with you. It’s a huge gamble to do something like this here, but I’m afraid if we don’t, he won’t make it to the mainland.”
Owen glances at Katie, who’d been going back and forth between tending to Jeff and Kelsey and being with her family. “What do you think?”
“We need to ask Kelsey,” Katie says. “Jeff proposed to her, and she accepted. She’s his fiancée. It should be up to her.”
“Could we see her, David?” Owen asks.
“Just a couple of you.”
“Owen and Katie,” Julia says. “You guys go. We’ll support whatever you decide.”
John and Cindy nod in agreement.
“Before we decide to proceed, do any of you know your blood type or Jeff’s?”
“I’m a universal donor,” Cindy says. “Type O, Rh negative. I’ve been donating blood for years.”
“That’s great news,” David says. “We’re going to need to stock up ahead of the surgery.”
Katie leads the way for her brother, and David follows them.
When they appear at the foot of her bed, Kelsey perks up. “What’s going on?”
“Jeff needs surgery,” Katie says.
“Are the helicopters flying again?”
“Not yet,” Katie says.
Kelsey’s eyes dart among the three of them before landing on David. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I’d have to do it here,” David says, “and soon. We believe he’s bleeding internally, and that must be stopped.
The thing is, Kelsey, we’re not equipped for something like this, and having me operate on him isn’t ideal.
I’ve assisted on surgeries like this during my residency, but I’ve never done it myself before. ”
Kelsey whimpers.
“I’ll do everything I can for him,” David says. “You have my word on that. But we need to decide now.”
Kelsey looks to Katie and Owen. “We have to, right?”
“We do,” Owen says grimly.
“We’ll get him prepped and keep you apprised,” David says. “Katie, I hate to ask this of you, but can you assist?” She has more surgical experience than Victoria does.
“Of course.”
“Please,” Kelsey says softly as tears roll down her cheeks. “Please, save him. I love him so much.”
“I’ll do everything I can,” David says before he leaves the room with Katie. They walk into Jeff’s room, where Victoria is standing watch. “Let’s get him prepped for surgery.”
Hours into the surgery, David is doing everything he can to stay ahead of the game, but every time he takes care of one bleeder, another one appears.
Katie wipes the sweat from his brow and hands him the instruments he needs before he needs them.
Even though they’ve never done anything like this before, they work together like a well-oiled machine.
“Are you okay?” he asks her.
“Trying to be.”
“If you need to step out, Vic can take over.”
“I’ll stay. I’d rather be in here than out there worrying about what’s happening. At least this way, I know.”
“And that’s better?”
“Lesser of two evils. And by the way, you’re doing a great job.”
Victoria asks if any of the family members are blood matches for Jeff.
The only one is Cindy. She has already donated a pint but is able to give more.
Jace is worried it isn’t safe for her, but Victoria assures them she will be tired, but okay.
“That’s fine,” Cindy says. “Whatever it takes to save Jeff.”
She stands to hug Jace and then follows Victoria to the exam room.
When she has Cindy set up to donate more blood, Victoria goes to their tiny clinic kitchen and gets a bottle of water and a protein bar for her.
“Thank you,” Cindy says. “Jeff will be all right, won’t he?”
“We’re doing everything we can for him. Hopefully, we can get him to Providence tomorrow. Do you want me to get Jace to keep you company?”
“That would be great, thanks.”
Jace pulls up a chair next to her, takes her hand and kisses the back of it. “Are you okay?”
She nods. “Just trying to keep it together. It’s all so upsetting.”
“I know, babe. But he’s tough, and he’s been through worse and come out on top. We’ve got to stay hopeful.”
“Trying. Thanks for being here.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. You know that.”
His sweetness nearly brings her to tears, but that wouldn’t take much right about now. “Have you checked on the boys?” she asks of his sons, Jackson and Kyle.
“They’re having fun at the McCarthys’ house with PJ and Viv.”
“I’m glad the storm is fun for them.”
“It was fun for us, too, until we heard about Jeff and Kelsey.”
“Yes,” she says with a small smile, “it was.” After he closed the bar, they’d gone home to the house they now shared and spent the night wrapped up in each other. “But every night with you is fun.”
“Same for me. Being with you makes me feel peaceful in a way I never have before.”
“I love to hear that. If anyone deserves some peace, you do.”
“We all do, and I want that for you and your family, too.”
“I keep thinking about my mom and grandparents and how upset they’d be about Jeff. Are we doing the right thing keeping it from them?”
“I think so, sweetheart. There’s nothing they can do but worry.”
Eight hours after he began, David completes the surgery. He feels like he’s done what he could to keep Jeff alive long enough to get him to the mainland. Without the surgery, he surely would’ve died from blood loss.
“He’s still in critical condition and needs to be airlifted as soon as possible,” David tells Jeff’s exhausted siblings. “But we bought him some time.”
“Thank you so much, David,” Owen says for all of them. “We’re so thankful for you and Vic.”
“And Katie,” David says. “She was a rock star in there.”
“And Katie,” Owen says, putting an arm around her.
She leans her head on her older brother’s shoulder.
“You should go home and get some sleep. This’ll be a long haul for Jeff, and he’ll need you guys to be rested. I’ll let you know as soon as we’ve arranged to get him off the island.”
The siblings look to Owen to decide what to do.
“David’s right. This will be a marathon, and we need to keep ourselves healthy so we can help him.”
“That’s right,” David says. “I’ll call you if anything changes.”
“Thank you again, David,” Julia says.
“I wish I could do more.”
“You did what you could,” Cindy says. “And we’ll never forget it.”
David checks on Kelsey and updates her on Jeff’s surgery. She asks to see him, which David agrees to, but it might be upsetting to see him hooked to all the machines after surgery. She will be fine as long as she gets to see him.
Jeff comes to slowly, blinking several times to bring the faces standing above him into focus. He doesn’t recognize them, and why are the lights so freaking bright? His mouth is as dry as toast as he fights to say the only word that comes to mind.
“Kelsey.”
“She’s okay. I’m Dr. David Lawrence, Jeff. Do you remember what happened at Kelsey’s place?”
He searches his memory but can’t come up with anything.
“The roof collapsed on the two of you, and you shielded her. Your pelvis was fractured, and you’ve had surgery to stop internal bleeding. We’re hoping to evacuate you both to the mainland today.”
“See… See her.”
“Let us see if she’s awake. She broke her arm and has been in a lot of pain.”
Jeff winces at hearing that. The low throb of pain from his midsection requires his full attention when he isn’t trying to keep his eyes open. “Hurts.”
“We’ve been giving you Tylenol and Ibuprofen, because Katie said you wouldn’t want anything stronger.” He avoided all opiates as a recovering addict.
“Right,” Jeff says, grimacing.
David gives him a shot in the IV. “That’ll bring some relief shortly.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you feel up to seeing Katie? She assisted me in surgery.”
“Mmm.” Jeff tries to nod, but his head feels like a cement block. “Yes.”
Kelsey is wheeled into the room.
The first thing he notices is the bruises and tears on her face. “Thank God you woke up,” she whispers, covering his hand with hers. “I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m okay,” he says in a whisper that is all he’s capable of. “Are you?”
“My arm hurts, but we’re both alive. That’s all that matters. You saved me. When we heard the roof collapsing, you jumped on top of me without even thinking.”
“Love. You.”
She breaks down into sobs. “I love you, too.”
“Gonna be okay. Promise.”
Owen, Katie and Julia come rushing in and surround them. His eldest siblings look like hell.
Julia and Katie wipe away tears when they hear him talking to Kelsey.
“You can’t ever scare us like this again,” Julia says.
“Sorry. Don’t tell Mom.”
“We didn’t,” Owen says. “But she’s coming home anyway. She texted that they’ve decided to come home because they can’t enjoy the trip with everything happening here.”
“Go home and sleep. I’m okay. You guys look like hell.”
His siblings laugh.
“If only you knew what this has been like for us,” Katie says.
“Safe to go home. I swear.”
Jack spends all day assisting in the search for Billy Weyland, the only island resident known to be missing in the storm. While the rest of Blaine’s team answers other calls from island residents, he and Jack focus on the missing-person search, assisted by the Coast Guard.