Chapter 12
Cope
Thankfully, a night in his own bed had done Cope a world of good.
He’d stuck one of Jude’s shirts on his pillow and had cuddled up alongside it.
Although it wasn’t the same as having Jude in bed with him, it was close enough to put Cope to sleep.
He’d slept for six straight hours, gotten up to go to the bathroom and then slept for three more hours, when a call from Tennyson had woken him up.
After filling up on pancakes and bacon at Ronan’s house, Cope was off to the hospital.
Today, it would be just Wolf, Ronan and himself.
Fitz would be spending the night with Jude.
Kaye had left earlier to spend some time with Jude and would be bringing Running Eagle home after Cope arrived.
Jude’s friends and family staying all night to make sure he was protected was a gift Cope would never be able to repay.
Ronan loaded Cope into his SUV and headed for Fitzgibbon’s house to pick up Wolf.
“How is Everly this morning?” Cope asked Ronan. She and the older kids had spent the night at Fitz’s house while Ezra and Lizbet slept at Ronan’s.
Ronan smiled. “She’s back to her usual plucky self.
Reaching Jude inside his coma really knocked the stuffing out of her yesterday.
She spent the rest of the day watching movies with Aurora while Fitz and Jace pampered her.
Everly jokingly asked if she could move in with Fitz since Aurora doesn’t have to make her bed, clean her room, set the table or help take out the trash. ”
“Staying with Uncle Fitz rocks!” Wolf echoed Everly’s sentiment. “I wish you and Daddy would pamper me like they do with Aurora.” Wolf folded his arms over his chest.
“Your father and I catered to your every need when you were a baby. We fed you, bathed you, changed your stinky diapers.”
Wolf wrinkled his nose. “I know, Dad, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone do everything for you.”
Cope couldn’t agree more. He’d love to have someone pamper him and make suppers, do laundry, and clean the house for the week, but that was neither here nor there. “I’m going to need your help with Daddy when he comes home. He’s gonna need even more help with his broken left arm.”
“I’ll scratch his butt for him!” Wolf snickered, but quickly sobered. “Is Daddy really coming home?”
That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? “Everly says yes. When I spoke to his doctor this morning, she said Daddy had improved overnight. We have to keep believing, right?”
“Right,” Wolf agreed. “I had a talk with Everly yesterday about what a jerk I was the other day.”
Remembering what happened in the hospital that first day with Wolf yelling at Everly because she couldn’t reach Jude hurt Cope’s heart.
He knew it had upset Wolf too, but with Jude’s condition still up in the air, he hadn’t come down too hard on his son.
He knew Wolf would straighten things out with Everly when the time was right. “How did that go?”
Wolf sniffled. “Everly understood why I was mad. She hugged me and told me she forgave me and would always be my bestest friend even when I was a dumbass.” The little boy burst into tears.
Cope snorted. He tried to stop himself from laughing, but couldn’t. “Everly called you a dumbass?”
“Uh-huh!” Wolf wailed, half laughing, half crying. “Don’t be mad at her Uncle Ronan, I was a dumbass.”
“I’m not mad at Everly. How could I be? I’m the one who taught her that word in the first place. At least now she’s only saying it when adults can’t hear her. If you can’t be good, don’t get caught!”
Wolf giggled. “Thanks, Uncle Ronan.”
“You’re welcome, buddy. Like your Dad said, we’re all gonna have to pitch in to help when Jude comes home. We’ve got the Christmas block party coming up and Jude was supposed to man the s’mores station.”
“I can do that,” Cope said. “It was so much fun last year watching the kids toast their own marshmallows.”
“We’re having Christmas dinner at my house this year and Jude was gonna come over and help me cook the prime rib.”
“I’ll do that!” Wolf volunteered excitedly. “I love cooking with Dad. What do you need help with?”
Ronan eyed Wolf in the rearview mirror. “Can you peel potatoes and carrots?”
“Yup! I do that when we make beef stew.” Wolf’s dark eyes lit with excitement.
“You’re hired!” Ronan elbowed Cope, who had been thinking about all the other things Wolf could help with while Jude was recovering.
“I can also help Daddy cut his meat. He did it for me when I was little, now I can do it for him!”
Ten minutes later, Ronan pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a space. As they walked toward the entrance, it started to snow.
“At least Daddy won’t have to worry about shoveling the steps.” Wolf stuck his tongue out and appeared to be trying to catch snowflakes.
“Why, because he’s in the hospital?” Cope asked. He added shoveling to his ever-growing list of things to do.
“Nope! I’ll do it for him. I’ve watched him enough times and I know all the cool swear words he uses when he slips on the ice!”
“Wolf has a point. Jude’s language is pretty colorful.”
Walking into the hospital, Cope was hit with a blast of positive energy.
He wondered if that was his gift finally starting to give him information about his husband, or if it meant Bertha Craig was in the building.
Cope hadn’t seen or sensed her since Jude’s accident, but had a feeling that meant she was with Jude.
That positive feeling grew stronger on the elevator.
More positive still when he walked into the ICU ward.
When Cope reached Jude’s room, he found Kaye sitting in one of the chairs outside his room.
She was sobbing into her hands. “Kaye, what is it? What’s wrong?
” Cope’s heart was in his throat. Was his gift back on the fritz?
Had it given him false hope that good news was on the way, when, in fact, he was about to get the very worst news of his entire life?
Kaye pulled her hands from her face. Her eye makeup ran down her cheeks. Her blue eyes were bloodshot from crying. She shook her head, all the while trying to take a breath. “The tube. The doctor took out the tube.”
It took Cope a minute to figure out what Kaye meant. “They disconnected him from the ventilator?” Why the hell would the doctor take him off the respirator unless it was to die? He turned to Ronan, who held Wolf’s hand. “Does that mean he’s going to…?” Cope couldn’t say the word die.
“They’re waking him up, Cope!” Kaye let loose a half-strangled laugh. “The swelling’s gone down enough to wake him up. Eagle is in with him now. They kicked us out of the room so they could remove the tube. We were allowed to come back in when Jude started breathing on his own.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Cope muttered. “It’s a miracle.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Eagle said from the door. “We’ve got to wait and see if my mule-stubborn grandson wakes up.”
“Not only is Jude stubborn, he’s a drama queen. Knowing my husband, he’ll probably get some more beauty sleep before he decides to wake up.”
“Go kiss him, Dad! Just like Sleeping Beauty. Love’s first kiss will wake him up!” Wolf looked positively giddy.
“Why didn’t anyone call me?” Cope asked. He assumed the doc would call with any changes, good or bad, in Jude’s condition.
“The doctor said she would, so Eagle and I stayed at Jude’s side.”
As Kaye spoke, Cope’s phone began to ring. “It’s the hospital.” Cope rolled his eyes. “This is Cope.”
“Hi, Cope, this is Doctor Victoria Albert. I wanted to let you know we’ve taken Jude off the vent. He’s breathing on his own and we’re hoping he’ll wake up soon.”
Cope chuckled. “I just got to Jude’s room and Kaye filled me in on the details.”
“Wonderful. I’ll be doing my rounds in a few minutes. I’ll speak with you more in depth at that time.”
“Thanks, Doc.” Cope hung up the phone. He was so happy he could dance. Instead, he hugged Kaye. “I can’t thank you enough for being here for Jude. I know how much you love him. That means the world to me.”
Kaye hugged Cope tighter. “Jude is like a son to me. Same for you and Fitz. I couldn’t have asked for a better family than you boys.”
Cope had so much more he wanted to say to Kaye, but those words could wait, he wanted to be in Jude’s room when his husband woke up.
He gave Eagle a quick hug and walked into Jude’s room.
It was such a relief to see Jude breathing on his own, with all the paraphernalia of the respirator gone.
Not to mention the constant woosh of the machine forcing air into Jude’s lungs.
“Hey, babe.” Cope leaned over the side of the bed and pressed a kiss to Jude’s chapped lips.
His bruises were slowly fading, morphing from purple and brown into shades of yellow and green.
Taking a seat on Jude’s bed, Cope felt his heart rate slow, and with it, the rest of his world. He could see with his own eyes that Jude was getting better. They’d always been there for each other, in sickness and in health, long before they’d spoken those words to each other.
“Remember the day we met?” Cope asked. “I took one look at you and collapsed into your arms. And you think you’re the dramatic one!
” Cope had been in hiding in Galveston, Texas after Deacon Boudreaux had nearly killed him.
It seemed to Cope at the time like he was never going to be able to leave the Lone Star State and get back to the life he loved in New Orleans, doing psychic readings and giving clients a glimpse into their future.
He’d been sitting on the beach one day when a spirit appeared beside him. It turned out to be Bertha Craig.
It took Cope a few visits from Bertha for him to begin to trust the Yankee woman, but eventually they’d formed a friendship.
It was around that time that she mentioned Jude’s name.
Told Cope that this mysterious man living in Massachusetts was not only the key to his own salvation, but was the man of his dreams. Still sour on love after his near-death experience, Cope couldn’t have cared less if Jude was Zeus himself, but the idea that this man could save him from the hermit lifestyle he’d had to adapt to keep himself safe from Deacon, who still had not been captured, was music to Cope’s ears.
Bertha had been the one who’d brought Jude and Cope together.
Cope had absolutely no doubt Bertha had been with Jude from the moment he fell.
If anyone could get Jude to wake up, it was Bertha.
She was a formidable woman, filled with love and hope.
It would be those things that would ultimately bring Jude back to his family. Cope was sure of it.