Chapter 56
Fifty-Six
Violet
My flight had arrived late last night, but thankfully, the rental car Enzo had arranged was ready, so I could head straight to the hospital. I knew I would need to check into the hotel at some point, but my biggest priority was getting to my dad and making sure he was okay.
The nurses were nice when I arrived and seemed to take pity on me, given my disheveled appearance.
They let me sit beside his bed without any issues and told me the doctor would update me after their shift change in the morning.
He was in the ICU, but I didn’t know the full extent of his injuries just yet.
The doctor had told me that there were several broken bones, along with internal bleeding that they did surgery to stop, but they were still monitoring a few other things.
I yawned and tried to keep my eyes open when a nurse walked in with a disposable cup of coffee, a few packets of sugar, and some cups of creamer.
“You look like you could use this,” she said softly. “The cafeteria has decent food if you want to go grab some breakfast.”
“Thank you,” I replied, taking the coffee from her. “I don’t want to be gone if he wakes up.”
“I understand. If you need anything, just press the call button.”
I nodded, leaning back in the chair as she left the room.
I opened the lid to the coffee and poured some sugar and creamer in, watching my dad as he slept.
When he first arrived at the hospital, he was rushed into emergency surgery, but hadn’t woken up since then.
The doctors were keeping a close eye on him, but it made my stomach cramp not knowing if he would ever wake up.
My eyes felt heavy, so I took a few sips of coffee, set the cup on the table beside me, and closed them for a few minutes. It was so calm and quiet in the room, with the steady beeping of the machines, that I fell asleep.
When I woke up, a nurse I hadn’t met before was checking my dad’s vitals and smiled at me.
“How’s he doing?” I asked, my voice hoarse from how dry my throat was.
I knew I was dehydrated from how much I had cried last night, but I hadn’t had time to worry about any of that.
“From what I hear, about the same. His vitals are stable, which is good. Now we just wait for him to wake up, and the doctor will go from there.”
“Is it normal for people to take this long to wake up?”
“It can be. Every situation is different, and I know your father had significant internal bleeding. We’ll continue to monitor him and treat things as needed.”
“Thank you,” I said, pushing my cheeks full of air and letting it out.
My stomach growled, loud enough that she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Not to worry, I will head down to the cafeteria and look at the breakfast options.”
She smiled and nodded before returning her attention to the bags of fluid attached to my dad. I got up and grabbed my purse, heading in search of food.
Thankfully, the hospital wasn’t too big, and there were signs for everything. Even if there weren’t a huge sign pointing to the cafeteria, the delicious aroma floating in the air would have guided me straight to it.
It was rather busy, with a mix of people in scrubs and in regular clothes like mine.
I walked around and browsed the different options in the refrigerated area before settling on a breakfast burrito.
The line was long, but moved quickly. Once I had my burrito, I grabbed a few bottles of water and some snacks so I wouldn’t have to leave again for a while.
I paid for my items and took the bag the cashier handed me, thankful that I had somewhere to store everything.
The elevator ride back up to the ICU was quick, and my dad’s room was right next to them, which helped, so I didn’t get lost. I was in a total state of exhaustion, but didn’t want to take the time to rest because I didn’t want to not be there when he woke up.
I opened the door to his room slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, when I stopped in my tracks and stared in disbelief at the man sitting beside my father.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my stomach sinking.