25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Mazie
M emorial Hospital. The second I burst through the doors, everything in my body turns to ice. This place has never brought me anything but misfortune. It’s where my parents were officially pronounced deceased. It’s where my sister was taken after her accident. Thankfully, she walked away mostly unscathed, save for a few breaks and bruises.
The only thing that could have given this place some saving grace is if my precious niece had been born here. Instead, she was born at a smaller hospital that mostly handles births, heart attacks, and breaks. Not like the level one trauma center they have here.
But now, the love of my life is here with a gunshot wound. That’s all I know. Not where, not his condition, nothing except that he’s here.
After Zach called, I talked to my sisters, and we huddled together by the phone, waiting on bated breath for a call of any kind.
When my phone finally lit up, my heart raced and sank at the same time. It was my brother’s perfect face on the screen. But I didn’t know until I answered that it was him.
“Mazie. I’m fine. Zach got shot. We’re on our way to Memorial.” Sirens whirred in the background and a loud hum filled my ears as my phone dropped to the floor.
Never, in the history of owning Three Sticks, have we closed shop in the middle of the day. Not until today.
Liv took full control of the situation, gathering my things, quickly closing everything down, and ushering us out. It’s just another way she’s grown and matured that I haven’t noticed. The ability to be calm in a crisis is important, especially as a mother.
We piled into her SUV, Alina sitting in back with me as Liv called Jameson and told him what was going on.
And now we’re here, standing in the midst of the emergency waiting room. Everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion.
Just as I’m about to walk up to the desk, there’s a clearing as the doors to the emergency room swing open. There stands Eli, noticeably shaken, and wiping something from his hands with a towel.
Blood. He’s wiping blood from his hands.
I make a beeline for him, ignoring the nurse yelling at me that I can’t go through the doors and letting my sisters run interference.
The second I reach him, I throw my arms around his neck. He’s here. He’s alive.
Putting my hands on his shoulders, I give him a thorough once-over. He’s pale, shaking, and there’s gauze wrapped around his right bicep.
My gaze lands on it and my pupils widen.
“Just a graze. Needed a few stitches. But I’m okay.”
I stare at him intently, not blinking. The one word I want to say I can’t get to leave my lips.
“He’s alive. He got shot in the shoulder. They said something about through and through and that that’s good. Which is how it grazed me. But they took him to surgery to make sure there’s no fragments and that everything is reconnected and intact or something. I don’t know, lots of doctor jargon and I’m not in the best headspace.”
At that very moment, Alina and Liv get to us and they both throw their arms around Eli.
Immediately, his demeanor changes. “I’m okay. I’m fine. Just a few stitches and I’ll have an awesome scar to tell people about.” Gone is the scared brother who could have died today, and back is the protector and father figure who needs to keep the evilness of the world from his youngest sisters.
My lips purse together as he looks at me over their heads and shakes his slightly. As far as he’s concerned, it’s not worth it to let them see how shaken he is, to let them see how close of a call it clearly was.
“Mr. Baker?” We all whirl around at somebody else’s voice. A woman in a white lab coat stands before us with a tablet in her hand.
“Yes?”
“You came in with Officer Benning, correct?” She looks down at her tablet and swipes the screen.
“I did.”
“He’s almost out of surgery. I’ve been asked to inform you that he’ll be in recovery for a little while before being moved to a room. Floor seven, D wing. You can wait in the waiting room there and they’ll let you know when he’s ready for visitors.”
“Thank you.”
With a curt nod, she walks away.
“Wait, you came in the ambulance with him?” I turn back to Eli with a narrowed gaze. “How?”
He raises a shoulder and looks at the ground. “I told them he’s my brother.”
All I can do is nod in response. In so many ways, he’s not wrong. And with everything Zach’s said, it’s likely to be a reality someday, despite the ‘in-law’ tag it will come with.
My hands cover my face just before I burst into tears. Three bodies and sets of arms wrap around me.
An alarm starts going off not far from us and there’s a commotion of people running.
“Come on. Let’s get upstairs before he’s out.” Eli leads the way to the elevator, reaching forward with his right hand and wincing.
Liv steps forward, linking her fingers with his. “You’re staying with me for a few days.”
“No, Liv, I can’t impose.”
“It’s not a discussion, it’s not a choice. You need to rest, somebody to make sure you’re taking the medication I’m sure you’ve been prescribed, and some baby snuggles to bring your light back.” So observant, my sister. Though he tried to hide it and act like the same old Eli, she could see he’s different. That he’s been affected.
To them, he’s always seemed larger than life. Like nothing can touch him. Being the next oldest and in the trenches with him, I knew differently. But they’re not kids anymore, and they see the reality that life has to offer.
Looking down at our youngest sister, who sometimes seems the most mature of us all, he nods in agreement. “Okay.”
Alina throws her arm over my shoulder and pulls me into her side. Everything feels very backward right now. For years, Eli and I were comforting and caring for them, and now they’re turning the tables.
The elevator pings open and we silently step in, Alina hitting the button for level seven. I’m thankful the walls of the elevator aren’t mirrors, because I’m sure none of us want to see what we look like right now.
When we come to a halt and the door slides open, we heave a collective sigh and step into the stark hallway. A light buzzes and flickers above my head as we stand in a huddle, unsure of our next move.
While these are the types of situations where I usually take control and flourish, today I’m a fish out of water.
Liv steps forward, looking both ways down the hallway, before darting a few feet to the left. “Come on.” She juts her head further down from where she is.
Once we reach her, I spot the sign that helped her figure out where to go. The second I see “Surgical Waiting Room,” my heart races.
It’s just another reminder of what we’re doing here. Zach’s in surgery. And I have no idea the sort of condition he’s even in. Can you die from a bullet wound to the shoulder? I imagine any sort of injury from being shot can result in death.
Will he have use of his arm? There are so many unknowns rolling through my head.
We find a group of seats together and silently sit. Eli’s knee bounces relentlessly. I reach over Liv who sits between us and put my hand on his leg.
He looks up at me, eyes wide and filled with fear.
“You okay?”
“No. Not really. It was…terrifying. If Zach hadn’t been there…I don’t…” He doesn’t need to finish for us all to know what he’s thinking.
“It’ll take a while to process and work through, but you’ll be okay. We all will be.” Liv looks between the three of us.
It’s not just Eli and I who are upset. The most, of course. But Liv and Alina have known Zach their whole lives. He’s been like a second brother to them most of that time. And he’s been there for lots of the big moments.
I open my mouth to say something, but a nurse comes through the door. “Anybody here for Officer Benning?”
Eli and I jump to our feet. “We are.”
“He’s in a room now, he can have one visitor.”
“You go.” Eli practically pushes me forward.
“Are you sure? You were with him.”
He’s nodding before I’m finished speaking. “You need to go. Besides, he’d want to see you before he sees my ugly face.”
I'm wringing my fingers together before I even reach the nurse, who silently leads me through the double doors and down a maze of hallways.
She extends her hand when we reach a room and nods. With a deep breath, I walk in.
Another nurse is in the room, adjusting some IV tubes. Zach is on the bed, eyes closed. From what I can see, he has a bandage peeking out from under the gown on his right shoulder, and his right arm is in a sling against his body.
I take another step closer, and the nurse looks up at me with a warm smile.
“Is he…is he unconscious?” I’m not sure what’s considered normal for a situation such as this.
“No. He’s still groggy from the anesthesia, so he may be in and out of it for a little while, but he’s awake. Was just talking about his girlfriend in recovery as he came out of it.”
Heat burns in my chest and spreads through my body, settling behind my eyes. Aside from the bandage and sling, he looks okay. He seems okay. There aren’t tubes all over, and nothing’s helping him breathe.
Relief sags my shoulders.
“Can I…can I touch him?”
“Of course, honey. Here, come sit. You can hold his hand. And even though he’s resting, feel free to talk to him.” She sets up a chair on his left side.
Unable to speak around the lump in my throat, I nod and take a seat in the chair, immediately taking Zach’s hand in both of mine.
His eyes pop open, and he looks around for a minute before his gaze settles on me, and a wide smile crawls across his face.
“Hi.”
Just the one word has the dam breaking, and my eyes overflow as I sob, clinging to his hand as I rest my head on the edge of the bed.
His hand pulls from mine and tangles into my mess of curls, his fingertips massaging against my scalp. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
But it just makes me cry harder, because it so easily could have been a very different outcome.
“I’m sorry I scared you, M. But you know I had to be there.”
I lift my face to his, tears free flowing. “Am I supposed to just be okay with the fact that any given day you might be putting your life on the line?”
“That’s been my job for years, Mazie. That’s always been a possibility.”
“But not something I’ve ever been faced with. It’s different now.”
One of his eyebrows arches. “Would you have cared less before we were dating?”
“Of course not. But now I know what it’s like to love you and to be loved by you. I can’t lose that. I can’t lose you too.” I sniffle and wipe the back of my hand under my nose. I’m sure it’s less than attractive, but he’s seen me at my worst.
“How’s Eli?”
“Pretty shaken up, though he’ll barely admit it. I guess he got grazed, needed some stitches. But he’s okay.”
“Good. That’s good. That was the goal, Mazie.”
We stare at each other for a long moment. There’s an intensity, something passing between us. He knows that I’m scared, that I don’t want to sign on to lose one more person important to me. But I also know that he’d do it all again tomorrow.
And it’s the first time that I question the longevity of our relationship. Because as much as I love him and want him to be my future, I don’t know that I can be part of one where the presence of my partner is in question.