Chapter 8
—Reed—
I practically mowed through Simone as I charged into the ICU, gunning for the nurse in my urgency for updates.
“Can we see her?” I demanded.
Louise solemnly shook her head and spoke calmly. “Not yet, but it should be soon. They’re getting her settled in recovery and monitoring her closely. I’m sorry, it’s not much of an update, but I’m keeping you informed each step of the way.”
“It’s okay, thank you,” I murmured, keeping my frustration inside.
“How’s the baby?” she quietly asked.
My lips pressed into a firm, upside down arch as memories resurfaced of hell breaking loose before I was forced from the room.
“I honestly don’t know,” I croaked after swallowing down the harrowing image.
Confusion creased between Simone’s eyebrows. “Did you see him? Or her? We don’t even know what it is.”
“A girl,” I whispered thickly. God how this hurt to talk about. “I saw her. She’s so small and fragile. I... She... Something changed while I was there, and they rushed me from the room without telling me what was happening.”
The ghosts of beeping alarms and frantic movements created a wash of cold goosebumps down my arms.
“Christ, Gats.” Eric pulled me into a tight embrace and anchored me there with a firm hold. “If she’s anything like her mom and dad, she’s a born fighter. She’ll get through this—I have faith that she will.”
“Thanks, man.”
He delivered a few hard back slaps before releasing me. Without a word, Simone wrapped her arm around my waist. My arm automatically wove around her shoulders, knowing that she needed the comfort as much as I did.
Eric cleared his throat. “Uh, by the way, you left your phone behind.” He held up said phone—smashed and mangled beyond repair. “You’re going to need another.”
“No shit.” I plucked it from his fingers and frowned at the broken screen. Regret over my actions barely penetrated my worries. I shoved it into my pocket and twisted at the sound of sneakers squeaking on the polished blue-gray linoleum.
With the straight-faced doctor’s appearance, I hungered for updates.
“Kasey Quinn’s support crew?” he asked, eyes cutting between the three of us.
I stepped forward. “Yes. I’m her partner.”
He nodded and indicated for us to follow him back to the support room. “Let’s have a discussion in private.”
As soon as we’d all filed into the room with information posters dotted around the wall, a water cooler in one corner, and chairs lining the walls, I opened with, “Can we see her now?”
The doctor motioned for us to sit, then pulled a chair into our huddle.
“We’ll get to that in a moment. I’m Doctor Atherton, Kasey’s surgeon. First and foremost, Kasey has made it through surgery and is stabilized in ICU recovery. We had a couple of scares in the OR, but I’m happy with the way she’s come through. Her vital signs are holding strong, and she’s stable.”
“How bad is it?” Simone asked with a small, shaky voice.
Doctor Atherton splayed his hands. “In terms of her injuries, she’ll remain in ICU in an induced coma for the next while. The head trauma she sustained when the passenger on the motorcycle came through her windshield has caused significant cerebral swelling and a fracture on the front left-hand side of her skull. Due to the way the trauma has presented, we believe the passenger’s helmet collided with Kasey’s head.”
He paused for a second and used his hands to help demonstrate his next explanation.
“Now, because the impact was to the temporal and frontal lobe areas of Kasey’s brain, we can expect some form of memory loss. The severity and duration are impossible to predict; however, in patients with similar injuries, most cognitive function is eventually restored. There are also two types of potential amnesia related to a head injury of this description: the first is post-traumatic amnesia. This is memory loss of the traumatic event itself and can last from a few minutes to several weeks or months. The second affects short-term memory. Typically, long-term memory remains intact, whereas ‘holes’ can occur in the short-term memory. This can present as amnesia, or the inability to learn and/or retain new knowledge.”
The weight from the overwhelming information had me holding up a hand just to get a second to process.
“Wait, so, Kasey is likely to have memory loss, but we don’t know how much or for how long?”
“Correct.”
“Is she going to remember us?”
Dr. Atherton looked around me, Eric, and Simone. “If she met you a while ago, the odds are favorable. If she met you last week, we can expect there to be no recollection.”
“Christ,” I hissed, running a hand through my hair. His explanation both settled and deeply unsettled my concerns, and I clutched at desperate straws. “I’ve known Kase for over a year; surely that’s in her long-term memory, right?”
The doctor briefly pursed his lips. “Unfortunately, at this early stage, we don’t know exactly how her brain has been impacted until she’s awake and lucid. But as I said, some memory loss is expected.”
Eric’s hand clamped onto my shoulder when I hung my head to pray.
“She’s one tough bird, Gats. You know she’ll be fighting her hardest in there.”
I nodded. My partner was right; Kase would come back to us. It might take some time, but she’ll come through.
Doctor Atherton cleared his throat. “She also sustained the typical lacerations we expect after a car accident: significant bruising to her torso, bruised ribs, and then of course, there was the added complication of her pregnancy.”
Bile re-rose in my throat as my head snapped up. “We actually had no idea she was pregnant.
“Yeah, we video-called yesterday while she packed, and I swear she had no baby bump,” Simone added. “Literally none. And she had no morning sickness, no sore boobs, still getting her period…”
The doctor’s brows kept lifting in surprise. “She was obviously heavily pregnant when she was brought in; we performed an emergency cesarean section and the baby was taken directly to the neonatal ICU.”
I cut in. “I’ve just been down there—Mom’s one of the nurses—will she have any injuries we don’t know about?”
He nodded again and shifted a little in his seat. “As far as we could see given our quick assessment of the baby, it seemed outwardly unaffected from the impact. If Kasey really didn’t have any pregnancy symptoms and wasn’t showing, she may have had what we call a cryptic pregnancy. This is where there are no obvious symptoms, so the mother doesn’t realize she’s pregnant. The placenta was also at the front, which can make the baby’s movements hard to feel. The impact of the crash and how the seatbelt was sitting across Kasey’s abdomen very well could have both caused the baby to move into a more outward position instead of being tucked in against her spine and saved the baby’s life.”
A thought struck me. “She’s been thinking she’s lactose intolerant, and complaining of bloating and constipation…”
Simone’s eyes grew round. “Oh shit. You’re right! Maybe those were pregnancy symptoms!”
The urge to see my girl increased to immeasurable levels. “Can we see her now?”
The doctor shook his head. “Unfortunately, not at the moment. We’ve placed her in an induced coma until the cerebral swelling subsides. This will give her body a chance to recover as best it can before she wakes.”
“So, when can we see her?” I all but yelled.
He lifted a hand. “Soon.”
‘Soon’ wasn’t soon enough, and after the doctor patiently answered the rest of our questions, then excused himself from the room, me, Eric, and Simone looked at each other in dismay.
Eric summed up our collective thoughts in two perfect words: “Fuckin’ hell.”
~
Time passed slowly. Each minute grinding into long, lengthy hours that threatened to drive me crazy. With Eric having left an hour ago and Simone all but climbing the walls while trying to keep her anxiety at bay, I was about ready to combust. I’d made the dreaded phone call to Kasey’s parents with Simone close by my side for support, and I’d passed on their details to Dad so he could organize for our pilot, Peter, to fly down to Denver to get them.
The planning took my mind off the tender matters for a short while, and now all the sitting around waiting was killing me.
Simone stopped pacing and checked her phone when it chirped. I saw her shoulders sag in relief.
Her exhausted eyes met mine. “Banks is on his way. Do you need anything?”
I shook my head and resisted the urge to sniff my armpits. A shower would be nice, but there was no way I was leaving.
“Not that I can think of.”
“He said he tried to call but…” Simone cleared her throat and focused on typing a message to my brother. “A new phone for Reed. His…” Her eyes flicked up to me and held a hint of humor as she added, “…broke.”
Despite the smarting truth, I saw the amusing side of it. “Thanks, darlin’.”
We fell silent again, our thoughts returning to our girl. And the baby upstairs.
Fuck. My baby.
A quick knock landed on the door before a new nurse entered, bringing a wash of renewed hope. I shot to my feet and Simone arrived at my side, both of us desperate for updates.
“Thank you for waiting. I have some good news for you,” the nurse started. “Now that we’ve ensured Kasey is stable, we can allow small visitations. But—” she added when I started to shift past her, “—you must be quiet. She’s been through a huge ordeal. Don’t go asking all those questions burning a hole in your head just yet, okay?”
Nodding like a schoolboy, I accepted her advice. Fuck, I’d agree to anything she laid out if it meant I’d get to Kasey quicker.
As the nurse led us to the private room where Kasey lay, Simone and I shot each other a terrified glance. We paused at the threshold, then tentatively inched into the room while gripping our hands together.
My heart froze at the sight of my girl lying on her back, head wrapped in bulky bandages, hooked up to countless cords, and with a tube protruding from her mouth. Simone gasped and backed up a pace.
“It’s okay darlin,” I whispered, trying to ground her again. From what Banks had told me, she’d lost her previous partner tragically, and no doubt in a room very similar to this.
She nodded while pressing her hand to her mouth. The pause allowed me to inhale before completely turning my attention to Kase.
The air expelled from my lungs as the jagged words, “Oh, babe,” fell from my mouth.
I rounded the bed without thinking and started to reach out but recoiled out of fear of touching her. Deep bruising had already settled in on her face, leaving the area around her left eye swollen and black. The purple marks were stark against her otherwise pale complexion, and my heart ached to see her so banged up. Bruising had bloomed across her collarbone where the hospital gown had slipped a little—a telltale sign of whiplash from the car seatbelt.
Simone was the first to pick up Kasey’s hand. She bit back quiet sobs and palmed away her tears while I tenderly swept my fingers across Kase’s forehead, smoothing blood-crusted hair aside. Trying to fix her broken crown.
My gaze traveled down the length of her body, aching to touch her but scared to hurt her further.
“Kasey,” came Simone’s whisper. “Can you hear us? Squeeze my hand if you can.”
We both froze on bated breath, hoping and praying she would open her heavy eyelids and ask why we were being dramatic over nothing. A hint of a smile tugged at the thought, only to drop when she didn’t rouse.
“C’mon, babe,” I whispered in despair, ghosting my lips across her cheek. “Time to come back to us.”
When nothing happened, I pressed my lips gently to her cheekbone and let a tear fall.
“I’ll wait for you,” I murmured. “All night if I need to.”
Helplessness tore through me. I hung my head, trying to find a way through when everything seemed so bleak.