20. Tracey
Chapter 20
Tracey
Hospitals sucked the life out of me on a good day, but today I was beyond done. Carter refused to leave Stella after she got sick for the second time in a twenty-minute span. This sent the doctors and nurses into a tizzy, but after a few words with Wayne and Gabe, they seemed to settle down.
The nurse we liked, Amaya, came in to administer meds to help settle Stel’s stomach and to calm both her and Carter down. They were finally settled into the bed, Carter lying beside Stella, almost asleep. They both looked lost in their own world of pain and worry. Helpless, almost.
I leaned onto the bed, rested my forehead on her hand, and closed my eyes. I hadn’t let her go since she settled down. I was afraid if I did, she’d run off again. It triggered something deep inside of me, and I did something I hadn’t done in years. I prayed as a chorus of beeps and alarms went off throughout the emergency department. I needed them both to be okay and have no lasting effects from today’s disaster.
When the rest of the families got to the hospital, they were rotated out a couple of people at a time until the head nurse—who had her ass on her shoulders—put a stop to it. I was trying to not judge her. Really, I was. It just wasn’t working well at the moment.
“Wayne? Are you okay?” I looked up at the sound of the soft voice. A woman stood just outside of the curtain where Wayne sat on a chair, keeping guard over his kids. The woman looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her at first.
Then it clicked. Her name was Myra. She had a boy who came to the gym sometimes. He’d been in a few gang-related fights over the last year or so, and one was bad enough that he’d almost been arrested. Wayne had worked his charm on the officers, and the boy, Jason, got off with a strong warning.
If I was remembering correctly, the kid had come a long way over the last year. He was a lot stronger and more confident. I also didn’t miss the looks these two were sharing.
“I’m fine, Myra, thank you. My son and daughter are here. They got a little banged up this morning. Just waiting on a few test results to come in before we can take them home.”
“Oh no, let me check the charts and see where we are with them. We’re switching shifts, so it might be a few minutes. If you need anything before I come back, I’ll be at the nurses’ station.” I watched him for a moment. His eyes followed her then looked away.
Maybe there was hope for him after all.
“This is shit!” Stella growled, gripping the bed rails. There was no doubt by the look of murder written plainly on her face that the doctor should be very afraid.
The orthopedist, after hearing what Stel had done—to herself, mind you—had taken it upon himself to call for a psych eval. He believed she could be a danger to herself.
We were all on edge ‘cause we knew she wasn’t always stable. She reacted irrationally sometimes—most of the time. But today, she did what she did to save her and her brother’s lives.
They were trying to clear the room so she could be talked to by the petite doctor in a white coat and pencil skirt. Yeah, not happening. Neither Carter, Wayne, nor I were leaving her in here by herself. I wasn’t gonna lie, if we did, there was no doubt they’d try to say she was batty and put her up on the third floor. Her anger alone would get her in trouble. Plus, she’s hormonal, in serious pain, and scared—she was a ticking time bomb.
“I’ve explained to you what happened earlier to both of my children. My daughter has explained, multiple times, to multiple white coats, what happened earlier. She shot herself, yes, we are not denying that, but she did so as a way to stop a man from killing her. What part of that tale do you have trouble understanding?” Wayne’s voice was low, menacing.
He was vibrating with his own anger.
“We understand?—”
“Apparently, you don’t. Look, I’m a patient man, normally. I almost lost both of my children earlier today to a knife-wielding psychopath. You should be in there giving him an exam, not my fucking daughter.”
I glanced up at Wayne. He wasn’t one to curse a lot. When he did—well, it said a lot.
“Fix her leg, give her and my son meds, care instructions, and whatever else they need to help them care for the injuries they have so we can go home. We will follow up with Doctor Grant and Doctor McKenna when we get back to Burke.”
“Did someone call my name?” Shelby walked in, a forced smile on her face. I guess she’d been told what was going on and came to help. She was still an employee of the hospital, after all.
“Shelby, these shi—people are tryin’ to say I’m certifiable.”
Shelby did grin then. She glanced at the doctors then back to Stel. “Well, doll, you kind of are, but not in a bad way.” She turned her attention fully to the doctors in the room. “Doctors, I assure you this woman is not a threat to herself. Quite the opposite. She’s had a bad day. Can we just get a move on with X-rays, tests, and whatever you have ordered? I’d like to get them home and settled. I, along with my grandfather, will be caring for them once they are back home.”
“I was called down to see her,” the woman in the pencil skirt said.
Shelby sighed. “Doctor Avinger, I appreciate you wanting to look in on my friend, but as I just said, your services aren’t needed. The eval wasn’t warranted to begin with. I have three deputies, the sheriff, and a number of PD officers in the waiting room, along with Ms. Malone’s fellow bond enforcement partner who can attest to what happened today and why. Again, we appreciate your worry and concern, but she is in capable hands. There is no need to put her through a chat she doesn’t need.”
“How can you say she isn’t in need of an evaluation? She has done nothing but berate the staff and behave combatively since she arrived.”
“Look,” Stel started. “You go watch your little brother being beat on by thugs. Attacked when you try to save him. Then get the crap knocked out of you, and see how you react. I did what I needed to do to save my life and that of my unborn baby. I won’t apologize for that. But I tell you what, you can just fuc?—”
I covered her mouth and winked down at her. The more she talked, the louder she was getting. If she kept that up, they’d keep her, and we wouldn’t have a way around it.
The doctors shared looks and stepped outside of the curtain for a moment. Shelby moved to the top of the bed.
“How’s your pain?” she asked Carter. He was trying to be a tough guy and hide the pain, but it was there. We all saw it. “Scale of 1-10 ‘cause we all know you’re hurting.”
“Six—seven maybe. My side is the worst. My shoulder too.”
“Now you get why patient care is so hard?” she asked gently.
“Yeah, I saw that on New Year’s Eve when I did the ride along with Riley.”
“Is that where you got punched for being a dick?” Stel asked him, grinning a little.
“I wasn’t being a dick. I thought my joke was funny,” he muttered.
I chuckled. “Kid, a scared woman is never in a joking mood.”
“I thought he knew better. I obviously failed there.” Wayne chuckled.
“Y’all are funny.” Carter winced as Shelby palpated his side.
“Sorry. I just wanted to see if the swelling was worse.”
The curtain opened, and the orthopedist came back in scowling. He had such a warm bedside manner. The emergency room doctor followed him. Silently he grabbed a pair of gloves and slipped them on. A nurse came in with a smile and greeting. She carried a good many syringes filled with a clear liquid along with a small basin. I watched Stella shift nervously. She knew what was coming next.
“Easy, baby,” I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. She brought her hand up to grip my wrist. If that's what she needed, she could have it.
“Ms. Malone,” the orthopedist started, “I’m going to let Dr. Myers examine your leg and do what he needs to. I don’t believe there is any bone damage. I am, however, having your images looked at a second time to make sure. So I’ll return momentarily.”
Stel, being Stel, gave him the one-finger salute when he disappeared. I shook my head.
“Ms. Malone, I’m going to give you a few shots of a medicine that will numb the injured area. You’ll feel a pinch and brief pain until it kicks in. Once that’s done, I’m going to irrigate the wound again, then stitch up the areas while we wait on radiology to double check your X-rays.”
He waited for her nod before the nurse held up her leg. He laid a blue pad under it and positioned it so he had access to the wound. A blue paper cover with a hole in it was laid over her leg. I shifted my hand from Stella’s shoulder to take her hand in mine. She was already clamping down from just the anxiety of knowing what was coming.
“What about my son?” Wayne asked.
The doctor kept working while he answered. “Never fear, I will assess him again in a moment. He’ll get a wrap for his ribs. There was no bleeding or internal imperfections. He’ll be bruised and sore for a couple of weeks. The bruising along his left side especially will be sore for a while. The broken ribs will heal, but as with any break, it will take some time.”
The first injection went into the wound on the inside of Stella’s calf, and she jerked. Her grip on my hand tightened.
“We’ll be calling in scripts for both. Pain meds and antibiotics, just in case they were in contact with something nasty in that old barn. I’m also calling for something to help with anxiety while healing. You’ll both need a follow up with Doctor McKenna or her grandfather in a day or two.”
“Ow—son of a fucking bitch!”
We all turned to look at Stella. Her free arm was over her eyes, and I could see the tears leaking. I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Hang on, baby. You’ll be numb soon.”
Her grip stayed tight on mine, to the point of my hand going numb, but that didn’t matter. The orthopedist came back in after the ER doctor had her wounds cleaned and stitched. There was no visible damage to her bone. She wouldn’t need anything else done to her leg tonight.
Watching her watch the ER doctor and the nurse give Carter the once-over again and bandage his ribs was hard. Every time he flinched or sucked in a pained breath, she jerked. It was as if each pain he had was being drawn into her body. Wayne and I both shared a few looks. It was hard for me to see her hurting, but for him to stand there and watch two of his kids lying in a hospital bed, broken and scared, I just couldn’t imagine how that was affecting him.
Thankfully, Shelby was here the entire time. She spoke to the doctors and got a real bird’s eye view of the injuries they’d sustained. She was able to decipher and put into layman’s terms what was broken and what it needed to heal. Basically, time would be their best friend.
I didn’t see the road to recovery being easy for either of them. Physically or mentally. I had a feeling, just based on the anxiety I was already seeing from Stella, that this event—let’s call it that, shall we—had done a number on her nerves. Which wasn’t good for her or the baby.
“I’m going home to Daddy’s…”
I looked down at my fiancée and smiled. I’d figured that was coming. She wanted to be with Carter. That mama bear that lived deep inside of her was getting ready to take over.
“Okay, that’s a good idea, baby.”
“That’s a good idea, princess.”
The look of relief on Wayne’s face said more than he would or could express. Today had been especially hard on him, and having his kids under one roof might be the only way to assure him that they were safe once again.
For all involved, and for the ones of us on the outside, having them together, safe and with family, was the number one priority.
“Someone needs to go get Ethan; we need him home too. He’s with Mama Jay.”
“I’ll call Dani Lynn, consider it done,” Shelby called out.
I leaned down and kissed her temple. Right now, I’d give her anything she needed or wanted.