CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Cara
When I woke up, I was in the hospital. It took me awhile to realize it, though, since the room was dark.
It must be nighttime or maybe very early morning.
I looked around, and for a moment I thought I was still at the Harts’ estate.
I must have looked terrified, because the nurse in the room hurried to my side.
“Ms. Hargrave, you’re just fine. You’re in the hospital.”
I stared at her. “Why am I in the hospital?”
“Let me get a doctor for you, okay?” She hurried from the room.
Well, that’s not terrifying. Why couldn’t she just tell me?
It wasn’t long before a doctor came in accompanied by my father.
“Hey, Dad.” I leaned towards him, so pleased to see him. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
My dad looked at the doctor. “Why doesn’t she remember?”
The doctor addressed my dad in undertones. “She will. It’s the medicines we’ve had to give her, sir. She’s just groggy.”
My dad nodded. A look passed between the two men, and my dad nodded again. He looked very upset, a fact that did little to reassure me. He hung back while the doctor stepped forward. “Ms. Hargrave,” he said, “are you aware of what happened to your knee?”
I frowned. Then, I closed my eyes and leaned back on the pillows. “Someone hit me,” I said slowly, remembering the horrible pain. “They used something… really hard. I’ve never felt pain like that before,” I said, tears welling in my eyes.
The doctor nodded. “We’ve found out that a baseball bat was used to shatter your kneecap. The man who did this to you is in jail, but I’ll let your family tell you all about that. For now, I’d like to explain to you what’s happened to your knee.”
I didn’t trust myself to talk. Suddenly, some memories came flooding back. “Oh, God,” I sat straight up. I hadn’t seen my director since I’d huddled in the library with her before Nora Hart found us. “Kelisha. Is she okay?”
My eyes locked with Dad’s, and I was relieved to see him nod. “She’s fine. She’s just down the hall. She suffered a concussion, a fractured cheekbone, and some broken ribs. She’s still in a lot of pain, but she’s going to be okay.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. I frowned, though, realizing that her injuries were worse than what she’d let on. “She got me out of there.”
My dad’s eyes filled with tears. I’d only seen him cry a handful of times at funerals, so it took me by surprise.
“I told her…” his voice choked, and he had to start over.
“I told her she and her wife have free farm deliveries for life, and that they’re welcome to come stay with us anytime.
They can be the first guests at the fancy new resort Declan has planned. ”
I teared up as well. “Good. If it weren’t for her, I’d be…” I covered my mouth as tears tracked down my cheeks. Kelisha had saved my life.
Dad held up a hand. “Let’s not even go there, okay, sweetheart? I don’t think I can handle it.”
I understood. He came over to my side and patted my hand. “Okay. So, tell me what’s wrong with my knee.”
A look crossed the doctor’s face like that was the last thing he wanted to do. “As I said, your kneecap was shattered. There’s no way it can be repaired. You’re going to have to undergo complete knee replacement surgery.”
My mouth dropped open. “As in, I’ll have a fake knee? At twenty-five?”
The doctor nodded. “We’ve already coordinated with Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, since it’s much closer to your home.”
“So, we’re still in Charleston?” I was eager to leave.
The city was beautiful, and I refused to let what the Hart family did to me taint my memories.
I knew in the coming years it would go back to being my second favorite place on Earth.
But for now? I wanted to go home. I was beyond ready to go back to Wixby.
“You’ll have the surgery day after tomorrow,” Dad said, sitting down beside me and holding my hand.
This was a lot to take in.
“Can I still dance?”
The doctor and my dad exchanged a look that told me most of what I needed to know.
“With proper rehabilitation and therapy, you’ll regain full regular use of your knee. It helps that you’re in such good physical shape. The strength of your muscles around your knee will help your rehabilitation and therapy go more smoothly.”
“What do you mean by regular use?” I knew. I already knew. But I had to hear him say it.
He didn’t want to tell me. I could tell. “Ms. Hargrave, I’m so very sorry, but your professional dance career is over. There is no way an artificial knee can stand up to the rigors of ballet at the professional level.”
“Will I still be able to teach dance?”
The doctor smiled. “I believe so, but you’re beyond my level of expertise. Your physical therapists will know better about that and help you work to attain your goals.” He saw the look on my face. “But I don’t see why, especially given your physical strength, you wouldn’t be able to teach dance.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed my dad’s hand.
I needed something to ground me, to remind me that I was safe.
I squeezed my eyes shut, tears tracking down my cheeks.
“Why would they do this to me? I was leaving Charleston anyway.” I wiped the tears away angrily. “What’s going to happen to them?”
Dad stepped closer, still holding my hand. “Cara, we can talk about all of that another time. It’s the middle of the night. Don’t you want to get some sleep?”
“How long have I been asleep already?”
“Several hours,” he admitted.
“Mr. Hargrave, I’m going to see to some of my other patients. Please let me know if you need anything else.” The doctor walked out of the room.
“Where’s Edward?” I asked.
Dad smiled. “He’s been by your side non-stop. We finally made him go home to get some sleep. That was about fifteen minutes ago. I think he’s going to be pretty mad at me for making him leave when he finds out you woke up so soon after he left.”
I smiled. “He was right about the Harts. I should have listened to him from the very beginning.”
“He sure was, but don’t blame yourself for not listening.
I had a hard time wrapping my head around how warped that family was myself.
Edward was helping you get out of there, and I’ll never be able to thank him enough for that.
And Livy,” he shook his head, “my God, she’s something else.
But you know, you and Kelisha saved yourselves there at the end.
And I’m so damn proud of you for fighting back against Nora Hart. We all are.”
“I had to get out of there. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let her push me down the stairs. I was always stronger than her, you know?”
Dad grinned, though his eyes were still watery. “In more ways than one.”
I felt my smile wobble a little bit. “I’m a little tired,” I admitted.
“Okay, that’s enough talking for now,” he said gently. “Let’s get you back to sleep. You need your rest so you have the strength to get that knee working again. I’ll be here when you wake up. And I’m sure Edward will be, too.”
I smiled at him, but I could already feel myself falling back into a deep sleep.
***
A few days later, I was on the other side of the knee replacement surgery and recuperating at Emory University Hospital. Though I was still in an awful lot of pain, it already felt better than it had before the surgery. When it was shattered.
I shuddered, not wanting to think about all of that.
I was so thankful the nurse had come in early this morning, helping me shower and dry my hair. Livy had left me some comfy, cute loungewear that sure beat the hospital gown I’d been in.
I’d finished getting ready, and the nurse helped me back to bed just in time.
Within five minutes, my room was packed.
Apparently, everyone had decided that today was the first day I could handle a lot of visitors.
The first people through the door were my doctor and nurses, who wanted to give me an update on my condition.
Vaguely, I’d noticed family walking by the open doorway peeking in to check on me. I kept trying to look for Edward, but it was too distracting. I could tell the doctor needed me to focus on him.
The more questions the doctor asked, the more tired I felt. A nurse gently intervened, finally, and the doctor left with a smile.
“You’re progressing nicely,” he said as he walked out the door. “You’re a model patient, Ms. Hargrave.”
I smiled and gave him a little wave of my hand.
“Sometimes,” the nurse said, leaning close to me as she worked to change out IV bags, “the doctors forget just how tired patients are after surgery. And,” she grinned at me, “I don’t think he’s used to having such a young, pretty patient.
Most of his knee replacements are in the sixty and up crowd. ”
I nodded, smiling, but not really wanting to be reminded of how young I was to have had this surgery.
“And now,” she said with a wink, “I’ll get out of your hair. There’re a bunch of people out here waiting to see you.”
As soon as she left, Edward, Dad, Declan, Willa, Lufton, and Olivia shoved their way inside.
“Hey,” I said, smiling and tearing up all at the same time as they all rushed me, hugging me while I was still lying in bed. Only Edward hung back. He was staring at me with those bright blue eyes of his, and I could hardly look away.
I could see my mom, Orla, Aidan, and several other family members in the hall waiting for their turn to come in. I smiled at them and gave them a little wave of my hand before focusing on everyone in my room.
“How are you this morning?” My dad asked.
“Better,” I said. “I have so many questions, though.”
“Well, you’ve waited long enough,” Livy said. “What do you want to know?”
“What’s going to happen to all of them?”
“Who? The Harts?” she asked.
I nodded and gave her a look. “Uh, yeah,” I laughed. “Who else would I mean?”