Chapter 14
Fourteen
How are you doing today?
I despise the living, curse them all.
—Conversation between Eddy and Weaver
Eddy
I opened my eyes to pain.
Nothing but pain.
“Hey, hey. You’re okay.”
I looked over at the man at my side and frowned, my eyes blurry with pain.
It took me a solid minute to realize who it was sitting there.
“What’s going on?” I asked Weaver. “Why do I…”
“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t move too much. Are you hurting?”
Was I in pain? There was no level of pain that I’d ever experienced that even touched what I was feeling in that moment.
“Yes.” I didn’t see the point in lying. “Really bad, actually.”
He pressed a button by my head that I hadn’t noticed before then and got up to lean over the bed, taking in my eyes and my face.
The intensity in his gaze might’ve normally done something for me, but not today.
Not when I felt like my entire being was on fire.
“Do you remember what happened?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to say no, but closed it as memories crashed over me.
With the memories came the fear.
“Oh, god,” I rasped. “How bad is it?”
“Not nearly as bad as it could’ve been,” he admitted. “You have several broken bones. Ribs and arm. Your arm’s in a cast. They had to repair that with a couple of nuts and bolts. You’ll be setting off the scanners at the airport for the rest of your life.”
I frowned.
“The real problem was the rabies and the gashes and claw marks.”
I felt my stomach flip. “Rabies?”
“They’ve already treated you for them—the bear did have rabies—but they’re very hopeful.
For the next several weeks they’ll also give you some other things.
I’m not quite sure on those. But they’re not worried any longer about that.
Your response was great, and there’s some more scientific things they can share with you about rates and blood and all kinds. But that’s not really my forte.”
I blew out a relieved breath. “Is it bad?”
He nodded. “You’re cut up really bad, darlin’.
The bear bit you on the head, too. You have some puncture marks here.
” He pressed lightly right above my ear.
“And here.” That time he pressed against the other side of my head, more near the bony part at the base of my skull.
“You were pretty close to getting fucked up worse.”
“A man shouted,” she remembered. “He saved my life. The bear had just put his big ass jaw around my head when the bellow came.”
“I heard the 9-1-1 call,” he informed her. “You fought hard.”
“She’s awake?” A nurse bustled in. “My name is Brenda, and I’m your nurse. How’s your pain?”
“Bad,” I answered quietly. “Really bad.”
She nodded and walked over to the IV on my right arm—the one not in a cast—and held up a vial of medication. “This is the good stuff. Give me a half a second…”
The tingling started almost immediately.
“It shouldn’t take but a second to start working, but it’ll also make you really sleepy,” Nurse Brenda said.
“Before you fall back asleep, let’s get you checked out and in some new sheets.
Your wounds are extensive on your back and side.
We want to get some eyes on them to make sure they’re not infected. ”
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “But please let’s wait until I can…ahhh.”
The instant feeling of relief was palpable.
“Now, do you want your husband inside or outside?”
I looked over at my “husband.” “He’s welcome to stay.”
I mean, it was obvious he’d already seen it all the way he wasn’t looking in the least bit surprised when she lifted my shirt.
Plus, he had seen me naked. Several times, might I add.
He shrugged. “Your sister had to go back for her game.”
I snorted. “You made her, didn’t you?”
“I did.” He shrugged again. “She was talking about getting fined a couple grand. And she can be back here by the next day. I don’t see why she needed to take that hit when she didn’t need to.
” He winked. “Plus, you already woke up a couple of times and ordered her to leave. You said, and I quote, ‘Don’t be a pus-pocket-filled pimple, Nettie. Nobody likes those kind of people. I’ll be fine with my husband. ’”
I snickered. “Me and pain meds are great.”
“I noticed,” he said. “It’s in your chart that you’re also combative under anesthesia.”
I blinked. “What?”
“It happens like that sometimes,” the nurse said as she started to lift up my gown. “Do you want to see?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
The nurse left my breasts covered, but only just.
The whole right side of my body was covered in bandages.
From my hip to my arm.
“You have some more bite marks going on under the bandages on your arm,” she said. “That’s why you don’t have a permanent cast just yet. Once we’re sure those are healed all nice and properly, we’ll get you in a permanent cast that you’ll wear for six to eight weeks.”
Then she started peeling off bandages, leaving me with the grotesque view of my body.
“Whoa,” I said.
“Pretty gruesome,” Nurse Brenda said. “But one hell of a story, right?”
I studied the claw marks and bites all along my right side, shaking my head as I did. “No issues with my legs?”
“You had those tucked against you pretty tight. Your torso got the brunt of the damage. Your ribs will hurt for a while, too, but there’s nothing we can do for those. You’ll just have to be super careful.”
Of course I would.
“Oh.” I turned to Weaver, who was glaring hard at my wounds. “Do you happen to have my phone? I want to call the school…”
“Already done.” His eyes flicked up to me. “Your sister called them. They know you’re in the hospital. They have a sub covering your classes.”
“Good.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, my cat!”
“It’s at my place, getting real comfortable with my new recliner.” He chuckled. “You’ll owe me a new one by the time that this is said and done. Fucker has some crazy claws.”
“He’s a polydactyl,” I admitted. “He has seven toes on each paw.”
“I noticed.” He paused and leaned closer. “I’m your husband, remember? I should know these things.”
I wondered if he wasn’t allowed to be in here without that “hubby” title.
“Am I in the ICU?” I asked.
“Sure are,” Brenda confirmed. “Bear attack means automatic ride straight in.”
“Awesome,” I said. “I’ll try not to have any more of those.”
Weaver snorted.
“All the wounds are looking really good,” Brenda said. “You’ll have some gnarly scars by the end of this, though.”
“Will I?” I asked. “I heard chicks dig scars.”
Weaver’s snort was louder this time.
“The doctor hasn’t said that you can be up and about yet, but I imagine that’ll come sooner rather than later.
” She eyed me carefully as she started to retape up the bandages around my side.
“You have a Purewick on, so if you need to go, go. The thing’ll start sucking, though.
It’s not like our old catheters. It feels pretty weird.
But there are a whole lot less downsides to this method.
And we don’t really want you getting a UTI right now on top of everything else you have going on.
Now, if you have to go number two, you’ll have to page us. We’ll have to get a bedpan for that.”
Why my face flamed, I didn’t know.
“I’ll hope I can hold on to that number two until I can get to the potty on my own.”
She winked and checked a few more things. “The doctor approved some easy to eat food. Are you hungry?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “But I’m sure I will be later.”
She pointed to a cup with ice in it. “If you want anything else, let me know.”
After my nod of agreement, she took off.
“Your sister was quite impressed with that sucky thing and your nether region. Full disclosure, she’ll talk all about it when she’s back. She’s fascinated.”
I groaned. “She would be. She’s such a weirdo.”
“Also…” He winced. “You’re on your period. Your sister placed a tampon in for you.”
My mouth dropped open. “Of course, because I can’t think of anything worse than suffering through a bear attack and then getting my period.”
“That’s what she said.” He chuckled. “If we need to figure out how all that goes later, I’ll help.
The nurse and the doctor didn’t think you’d be able to do much bending and turning for a while.
The stitches are in, but they pretty much said it would feel like your insides were falling out for a while. Plus, the ribs.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way that I’ll be asking you to take care of that for me,” I said.
Famous last words.
Hours later, when I was cleared to move around as much as I could, I attempted to change it myself.
Let’s just say, it didn’t go exactly as planned.
The good thing was, I was able to get up.
The bad thing was, I wasn’t able to wipe at all.
To add extra insult to injury, Brenda’s replacement was a six-foot-five man named Butch.
And no way in hell was I asking Butch to place a tampon in for me.
So I called out, “Hey, Weaver?”
Weaver wasn’t six-foot-five, but he was close.
And the lesser of two evils.
“Yeah?” He pushed the door open and peeked inside.
“I lied,” I said. “Not only can I not get to my tampon, but I can’t wipe, and I’m pretty sure I can’t stand up. Do you know any females that…”
He pushed the door open all the way, slipped inside, and closed it behind him.
“I’ve had my tongue inside you,” he pointed out. “I’m fairly sure that I can help with the tampon thing. And the wiping thing. Tell me what to do.”
So I did.
And he handled it like a champ.
I, on the other hand, was thoroughly embarrassed by the time he had me walking back into the room.
“One time, I broke both of my arms in high school just like yours, and I had to have my dad wipe my ass for six weeks every time I went poop.”
“Really?”
“Well, not exactly all six weeks. It was actually more like a week and a half, but then my mom had the bright idea to get a bidet. Then the toilet washed and dried it for me.” He chuckled. “But he did have to put my clothes on me. Got real up close and personal with my junk.”
“I hope that I can handle the wiping of my ass on my own,” I admitted. “I like you a lot, but if we’re to be married, I don’t want the sparkle to leech out of it too fast.”
He laughed and explained how Nettie had left me in the capable hands of my husband.
And I was right.
The only way for him to get back here was to be family.
Hospital rules were a bitch.