12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
Juliet
S now pelts against my windshield as I drive to the estate, my knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
I should not be driving in a snowstorm with my child in the backseat, but I didn’t have time to wait for a babysitter and didn’t want to risk their safety either. I know Frank and the best course of treatment for his symptoms and illness better than anyone else.
I have to be the one there to help him, so this is what I have to do.
“There’s so much snow!” Piper says from the back.
This is an adventure for her, and I’m not going to ruin that fantasy because reality is so much worse .
Frank has these episodes from time to time, but I’ve always been around to treat them immediately. I just need Leo to stay with him and try to calm him down, but that’ll be kind of hard when Leo is probably the person who stresses Frank out the most.
I turn onto the long road that leads away from the heart of town and toward the estate, my heart pounding wildly. It’s easy to panic in situations like these, but I heard the fear in Leo’s voice when he called me.
I have to be calm for both of us, and I especially have to be calm for my patient.
What’s left of his life relies on me and my ability to tackle situations like these.
Frank Galloway will not die today.
I speed up a little, hoping that my snow tires do their job and don’t lose traction to send us flying off the road. The little one in my backseat is my number one priority overall.
Frank is gonna be livid when he finds out that I took Piper out in this, but he can’t be angry if he’s dead .
“When we get to the house, I want you to go to the living room and watch television, okay?” I tell her, not wanting her to see Frank in this condition.
He wouldn’t want that either. It’s probably killing him that Leo is there with him.
“But I want to see Mr. Frank.”
“Later. He’s…resting,” I say, pushing down on the gas a little more when I see a glimpse of the estate up ahead.
“Okay.”
At least she isn’t being too stubborn today.
When I finally pull up to the house, I shut off my car and throw myself out of the driver’s seat, quickly helping Piper out of her seat and adjusting her backpack straps on her shoulders.
“Okay, let’s go,” I tell her before grabbing her hand and leading her up to the front door. “Living room, remember?”
Piper looks confused, but she nods.
Thankfully, she does as I ask and heads straight to the living room once we walk into the foyer .
Snowflakes melt into my gray coat as I hurry up the stairs to the second floor, rubbing my hands together to warm them. They can’t shake. Not from the cold. Not from fear.
When I reach the hallway, I run the rest of the way to Frank’s bedroom, breathing heavily once I reach the doorway.
“Finally,” Leo sighs in relief, worry filling his eyes. “He’s still having trouble breathing. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“Did you find him like this?” I ask as I brush past Leo to reach Frank’s bedside.
Frank peers up at me with wide eyes, his body tensing over and over as he struggles to take a good breath.
“No, I came in here to see if he was warm enough, and we…we started arguing,” Leo admits, taking a few steps to the side to give me room.
Of course.
I check Frank’s heart rate monitor. As expected, the reading is through the roof .
“I’ve got you, Frank. Just hold on,” I promise him as I open up the middle drawer of the medicine cabinet next to his bed.
I stopped toting supplies back and forth months and months ago.
I grab one of the vials that’s neatly stacked in rows inside, reaching for a needle afterward in another drawer.
“What are you doing?” Leo questions me. “What is that?”
“Morphine,” I reply as I stick the needle into the vial, carefully pulling the right dosage into the tube.
“How is that going to help?”
“He has episodes like these. Bouts of extreme anxiety,” I say quietly before putting the vial to the side.
I grab Frank’s IV tube and insert the needle into the Y-site, my thumb pushing down on the plunger of the syringe.
“Morphine helps calm him and reduce the pain and discomfort he feels from not being able to breathe properly.”
“Anxiety?”
I don’t look at Leo, keeping my eyes on Frank as I wait for the morphine to do its job .
Gradually, Frank’s chest stops rising and falling so rapidly. He pulls more air into his lungs, his body slowly starting to relax.
“There we go,” I say before discarding the needle into a nearby medical waste container. I gently take hold of his shoulders and ease him back down against his pillows. “You’re okay. I told you that I’ve got you.”
“Juliet.”
I flash Leo a warning look. We don’t need to talk about that right now in front of Frank. He’s already had a hell of a morning.
“I’m going to listen to your lungs,” I tell Frank before grabbing my stethoscope off the top of the medical cabinet and fitting the ear tips in place. I place the chest piece on the left side of his chest, closing my eyes to focus on the sound of him breathing. “Big breath in. Exhale. Good.”
I pull the earpieces out and place the stethoscope back onto the medical cabinet, my pulse steadily calming down. “You can’t keep giving me these scares, Frank. You’ve aged me a decade.”
Frank lets out a weak laugh, his voice slightly muffled from the oxygen mask. “It doesn’t show. ”
I smile at him and pat his hand. “I mentioned additional medication at one point—”
Frank shakes his head. “No. I don’t want to take anything else.”
And he’s especially not going to talk about taking anti-anxiety medication in front of his son.
I nod. A discussion for another time.
“I’m going to trade that mask for a nasal cannula before I leave today. It’ll be much more comfortable,” I tell him, taking a peek at his heart rate monitor. The reading is much better now.
“Leave? There’s a snowstorm out there,” Leo says, gesturing to the window.
The snow has already picked up since I got here, and I doubt it’ll calm down any time soon.
“I have Piper with me. I can’t just—”
“You drove through a snowstorm with Piper?” Frank questions me, his eyes narrowing.
I hold my finger up, stopping him before he can chastise me. “Because you were having a medical emergency. I couldn’t leave her home alone. She’s safe here with me, okay?”
“You shouldn’t go back out there,” Leo says as he moves closer to me. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You’re not going back out there,” Frank agrees. “At least stay today and tonight. Wait out the storm.”
I cross my arms as I look between them, fighting my new natural instinct to defy Galloway men’s orders because they’re not wrong. It is too dangerous to go back out there, but I didn’t expect to stay here so long.
Trapped in a house with Piper’s father.
“Can we stay?”
I turn around to see Piper in the doorway with a hopeful smile on her face. “Piper, I said to watch TV downstairs.”
Piper bounds past me and Leo to climb onto Frank’s bed. “I want to stay. Please!”
Frank smiles and squeezes her side, making her laugh. “Leo can start a fire in the fireplace. I’m sure there’s still hot chocolate from Christmas in the kitchen. ”
While Piper nods excitedly, I sneak a glance at Leo, a faint ache filling my chest. He looks confused. Like he can’t believe what he’s witnessing.
After how much flack his dad gives him, I’m sure it sucks seeing him being so nice to someone else.
Would it hurt so much if he knew Piper was his daughter, though?
“I’ll start a fire,” Leo says as he turns away from us. “I’ll go see how much wood is in the woodshed.”
“Can I come?” Piper asks as she hops off the bed, bursting with energy. She hasn’t ever spent the night here before.
Leo pauses before he reaches the door. “It’s too cold out there for you to come out with me, but there’s a window that has a perfect view of the shed. You can watch me.”
Piper turns to me. “Can I?”
I lift my eyes to Leo’s, a mixed surge of hope and fear hitting me like a tidal wave. Seeing him with Piper makes my heart feel like it’s about to explode, but the thought of him finding out the truth and ultimately turning his back on us petrifies me.
I’m so terrified of a pain that I haven’t even felt yet .
“I’ll lock the door behind me,” Leo whispers, a glint of amusement lighting up his eyes.
At least I don’t have to worry about her sneaking after him.
“Thank you,” I say before looking at Piper. “Stay at the window.”
Piper smiles and takes Leo’s hand, pulling him out of the room without an ounce of patience in her body.
“She’s a good kid,” Frank tells me.
“She’s stubborn,” I reply as I turn to him.
Frank chuckles, the morphine really kicking in now. “I wonder where she gets that from.”
My stomach flip flops as I force a smile onto my face. He’s thinking about me, but she could very well get that from her father. Frank just doesn’t know that.
“You shouldn’t feel ashamed of your anxiety, Frank,” I tell him as I sit on the edge of his bed. “You’ve been through a lot. You’re going through a lot.”
Frank frowns and shakes his head. “I don’t need anything. Drop it. ”
I purse my lips, wishing he wouldn’t be so stubborn. It obviously runs in the family. “I saved your life today.”
“I believe that’s an overstatement.”
An amused smile tugs at my lips. “Whatever.”
I start getting him set up with a nasal cannula, focusing on the task until I hear Piper’s laughter in the distance. I love hearing that sound, but I know what’s causing it.
Leo probably did something funny outside or made a silly face at her.
She’s really starting to get attached to him, and I just hope it doesn’t hurt her too badly when he inevitably leaves.
I know that pain, and I still haven’t recovered.
Maybe I never will.