Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“What happens now?” She stared at Doctor Lee, impatience burning through her.
It’d been eight days, seven hours, and nineteen minutes since he’d been placed into a medically induced coma. And she’d been on edge during every single second of that time.
“We wait for him to wake up.” His smile was forced, which made her wonder if he was having doubts.
Liam was already healing. A week had reduced the cuts on his face and neck to faint marks. The bandage around his skull from the gash was gone, too. But it was the damage she couldn’t see that scared her.
She’d spent too much time on Google. At this point, she basically felt qualified to operate.
“Listen,” the doctor began while placing a hand on her shoulder, probably about to give her the same speech he’d delivered to Liam’s mom earlier, “his brain activity looks great. And he’s scored well on the Glasgow Coma Scale. It’s time we see what he can do on his own.”
No breathing tube.
No more meds to keep him in the coma.
And no more reduced temperature.
But more waiting.
“How long until he wakes up?”
“I wish I could answer that.” He gently gripped her shoulder. “He’s only been off the medicine for a few hours. But what I can tell you is I’m optimistic that when he wakes up, the road to recovery won’t be all that bad.”
She mentally went through the medical checklist of possible problems she’d read about. “Will he remember me? Be able to walk? Speak?” Tears started to once again build. “He’s smart. Like really, really smart.” Like Elaina. God, she missed her, too. “And I just—”
“We wait and see.”
“Yeah,” she murmured, understanding why Liam’s mom left the room with such a somber face.
After almost a week of getting to know Liam’s parents, they were starting to come around to her. His brothers, too.
Liam’s grandfather had been the most comfortable with her. He reminded her of her grandfather. Same lively spirit.
Liam’s brothers had been the toughest to crack, though.
Jesse, Grayson, and Brandon were a bit more suit-and-tie, no-nonsense guys, unlike Liam. She did manage to get them to put down their phones long enough to talk for a solid five minutes yesterday. She’d take that as a small victory.
Work for distraction—she didn’t blame them. She’d phoned her boss a few times for updates in the last week. A lot had happened while Liam had been asleep.
“Can I have some time alone with him, please?”
“Of course.” He left her side and pulled the curtain closed, and she positioned her phone by his bed and turned on the playlist she’d made for him.
“Remember this song?” She thought back to the rooftop bar in Chile. “Sam Smith.” She gathered his hand between her palms and settled in the chair by the bed.
She drew her eyes closed, allowing the memories of their time together to move through her. Comfort her.
She’d been playing the playlist every day since she’d discovered the possible benefits of music for patients in a coma.
An hour later, the playlist stopped, and she stood and leaned over the bed and brushed the back of her hand over his bearded cheek.
“I know you’ve heard this before, but all of the people connected to Elliott are behind bars, and to everyone’s surprise—Jared came through. He sent the intel he promised.”
No luck finding Jared, but they had to take the wins where they could.
“The president sent an on-the-books team to Carballo’s home near the beach in Argentina—he resisted, and so Carballo didn’t make it out alive.”
And she wouldn’t be shedding tears over his loss, either. She reached for her necklace with her free hand and smoothed the charm between her fingers. Years of waiting for the chase to ultimately end with Carballo behind bars, and now he was dead. Justice served. It was almost hard to believe.
“No American operator was hurt. I know you were worried about that.” She let go of her necklace. “Jessica and Harper promise they’ll find Jared, and I believe them.”
She sat back down, trying to keep her voice steady. “And you’ll never believe it, but you actually met my parents. They’re still here. Our moms are friends. Kind of weird, right?”
She smiled even though tears started to hit her tee as they slipped from her cheeks.
“Your grandfather is awesome. But your brothers are a bit intense. Workaholics like you. I almost managed to pull a smile out of Jesse.” She licked her salty tears from her lips.
“I haven’t been in here as much as I want because you’ve had a lot of friends visiting.
” She pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to stop the wobble in her lip so she could talk.
“Lots and lots of people who love you. Pretty much everyone you know has shown up. The nurses said they’ve never seen anything like it. ”
Loved by so many. And me.
“I realized something while I was waiting to see you today. You don’t know my middle name, and since you told me yours, you should know mine, right?
” Deep breaths. “Emily Velma Summers. Velma was my dad’s mom.
She was the best grandmother. I used to shoot the hunting rifle with her, too.
A strong woman. A role model.” Someone I wish my kids could’ve met.
She retrieved Elaina’s letter from her pocket at the reminder of kids and nervously patted the paper on her thigh.
“I have a note from Elaina.” She lifted the letter between them as if he could see it. “She wishes she could be here. Hans has her with him in Colorado, but he’s let me talk to her. She talked to you last night, too. I held my phone up so she could see you.”
Yeah, her heart had shattered watching Elaina’s tears spill at the sight of Liam in the bed.
She swallowed, trying to get rid of the cottony sensation in her mouth.
“To my Liam, I’m so sorry you got hurt.” She struggled to get the words out while crying, but she had to do it for Elaina.
“I haven’t known you very long, but I like you.
A lot. I’d really like you and Emily to stay in my life, too.
I know my mom would want that. She’d like you both. I just know she would.”
Tears streamed down Emily’s cheeks, and her voice cracked as she spoke.
“And so, I was wondering, if maybe you’d think about being my parents when you wake up after you get better.
I know you have a dangerous job—you save people—so you’d be worried about me being with you, but if you give me the chance to be yours .
. . I’d be safe. I promise. And I wouldn’t let you down. Love, Elaina.”
She folded the letter, a few of her tears hitting the paper in the process.
“Hans is her dad, so I know it can’t happen, but how can I tell her no?
” She set the letter on the bed next to him.
“I care about her, and I know you’ve come to care for her, too, even in such a short time.
And I can’t lose either of you.” She clutched his hand and bowed her head, dropping her eyes closed.
“I need you,” she cried. “And I hope you remember me. I hope you remember her.”
“You think . . .” She jerked her head up at the sound of Liam’s voice. At the movement of his thumb atop her hand. “I’d ever . . .” His head rolled to the side a little, but his eyes didn’t open. “Forget you.” His chest rattled from a deep, raspy cough.
She was on her feet and standing over him, hand still locked with his, as she fought back a sob.
His lids lifted then closed. “This is-is . . . me . . . we’re talking about,” he whispered between coughs.
“Doctor!” She couldn’t take her eyes off Liam, even though he went still again. Eyes closed and no more movement from him. “He talked,” she shrieked. “He said he didn’t forget me.”
The doctor held a flashlight to Liam’s eyes and separated his lids. “He’s starting to come out of it.” He looked back at her and smiled. “He’s waking up.”
Her shoulders trembled as she pressed her palms to her face and cried. Relief swelling in her chest.
Another hour passed until his eyelids fluttered open again. It’d been brief, but she’d take it. Any signs of life, of movement, she’d take in a heartbeat.
“Sweetheart.” His mom stood on the other side of him now, gently smoothing a hand over his forehead.
“Emily.” Liam’s voice was low and raspy. He didn’t open his eyes, but his fingers twitched like he was attempting to reach for her. “Emily.”
His mom peered her way as Emily reached for his hand. “I’m here.”
“What happened between you and Liam doesn’t make much sense, but I can’t question it,” his mom said.
“When I met his father, he swept me off my feet, and before I knew it, I was floating.” A single tear slid down her cheek.
“You love him,” she said as if finally coming to terms with it, and Emily’s body trembled.
Hope climbing inside of her. “And he loves you, doesn’t he? ”
“I do,” Liam answered, surprising them both. His eyes opened as if he found the fight inside of him to do it. “Emily . . .”
He winced, and his mom hurried from the room to grab the doctor at the sight.
“Emily Velma Evans,” he corrected, his eyes falling shut again.
You heard me? She gently squeezed his hand, and a nurse hollered for security from outside the room a moment later.
“You can’t all come up here! He needs space,” one of the nurses cried out. “Way too many of you!”
“We’re family.” Jessica led the group into the room. There were too many friends and family members to fit in the confined space, but that didn’t seem to stop them from trying.
“They’re all here for you,” she half cried and half laughed, and Liam slowly opened his eyes and blinked.
“We brought beer to celebrate.” A.J. held up a case. “Good to have you back, brother.”
“Now get your arse better and quick, mate,” Wyatt said with a nod, and even though he was kidding—well, maybe partially joking—she could see the relief on his face as he closed in on the bed. “We expect you back soon.”
“Five to six months.” Doctor Lee shoved through the group of SEALs blocking access to Liam. “Don’t rush him. He needs to recover. Injuries to the head can sneak back up on you down the road, and so you need to regularly monitor—”
“Four months tops, and he’ll be back to himself.” Knox winked at Emily and flashed her a smile. And she mouthed a thank you back to him.
Thank you for keeping Liam alive after the explosion. Thank you for his support and strength. For his faith everything would be okay.
“Now, can I get some space to do my job?” The doctor looked toward the crowd.
“Sorry, Doc,” Knox said. “You’re stuck with us.” He kept his eyes on Emily when he added, “You are, too.”