CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Scott
Now
I watched my wife’s chest rise and fall, the rhythm soothing to me.
It had been an awful week. The doctors had brought Blair back from the medically induced coma.
We’d all been at the hospital on the day she was being weaned from the medication.
It had felt as if half the town was in the waiting room.
Only to be severely disappointed. The doctor had come to me, and I’d followed him into the hallway.
I had felt my shoulders slump when he’d said she didn’t come to on her own.
He’d told me she was still in a coma and that we needed to be patient.
He’d told me that he hadn’t wanted to say it in front of the children.
Now, thinking back to the disappointment, I felt exhausted.
I’d been by her side ever since they’d taken her off the medicine.
Dr. Marvel had happily filled in for me at the practice.
All of his patients knew anyway and had been flexible about moving their appointments.
The news had spread; everyone knew Blair hadn’t woken up yet.
I’d allowed the kids to take off a couple of days of school, but after day after frustrating day passed, I’d felt they needed their routine.
That’s where they were now. School. It’s why I was alone with Blair in the hospital room.
My children had been through enough. They didn’t need to stand there waiting for their mom to wake up.
They’d needed one thing in their lives to have stayed the same.
I held her hand. It was bruised from the IVs she’d been on for so long. It felt impossibly small in mine. It always had. It was just more noticeable now. She’d lost a lot of weight, and her hand seemed as fragile as a hummingbird.
I tried to keep up a running conversation as best as I could.
I’d done it throughout the coma, after all.
I wasn’t going to stop now. “It’s still fall outside,” I said looking out the window to see the leaves changing.
“It’s your favorite part. The leaves are changing.
It’s cooler out. I made the kids wear a light jacket a couple of mornings recently.
” I chuckled softly. “I’m sure you can imagine how well that went. ”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. I’d been at the hospital almost non-stop in the hopes I’d be there when she woke up.
I’d only gone home to shower. Sleeping on the uncomfortable bench seat that converts to a bed was…
laughable. But I did my best. I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes for just a moment.
The next thing I knew, Carrie was shaking me awake.
“Scott?”
I frowned in confusion for a moment, not knowing where I was.
“You’re at the hospital. I’m here to relieve you if you need to go to the cafeteria.” Her eyes ran over me. “Or if you want to go home to shower, change your clothes, and shave.”
I almost laughed at how unsubtle that had been. If someone couldn’t read between the lines and take that hint, they were far more socially awkward than I was. “Yeah. Thanks,” I gave her a brief smile. “I’ll take you up on that, I think.”
“Carrie?” a weak, scratchy voice asked.
Carrie and I froze.
“Yes, I’m here,” Carrie practically knocked me over in her haste to get to Blair.
“Good.” Blair’s eyes weren’t open and she wasn’t moving anything but her fingers. But she was here. She was coming back around. I could have sobbed with relief.
“Blair? Baby, I’m here. It’s Scott.”
Her eyes fluttered open, and I sucked in a breath. It took a moment for her to focus on me. When she did, the look on her face wasn’t happy.
At all.
“Why are you here?” Her voice was weak, but there was a fire flashing in her eyes.
I was thrilled to see it, even though she was obviously still mad at me.
She turned to Carrie. “Why is he here?” she whispered and tried to cup a hand to her mouth as if that could keep me from hearing her.
I would’ve smiled if I hadn’t been so wary of what she was about to say.
Blair was trying not to hurt my feelings or be rude.
I shook my head. She really was the kindest woman I knew. I didn’t deserve for her to spare my feelings. “It’s alright, Blair. You’re not going to upset me. I’m just so happy to see you awake.” I couldn’t keep the joy out of my voice, and she turned to me in surprise.
“Okay, then. She looked me directly in the eyes and said, “I want a divorce and I want you to get the hell away from me.”
Wow. Yeah, okay that did upset me. She remembered what happened right before the wreck.
I had hoped she wouldn’t until she was stronger.
Then I could tell her the assumption she had made—that I was cheating on her—was completely off the mark.
But it seemed like we were going to start from there.
Like her memories stopped just after seeing me at the office with Calliope.
I started to open my mouth to tell her just to rest, when she fell completely asleep again. It was a still sleep; like the coma. Had she fallen back under? Was that normal? Was it a bad sign?
Carrie and I were desperate to keep her talking, to wake her back up.
But nothing was working. I finally remembered to press the call button for the nurse.
Why had I waited so long? But I had the sense that time was moving in slow motion for me, that it had only felt like an eternity since she’d fallen back under.
Once the medical staff became aware that Blair had woken up briefly, things moved quickly. The doctor on call had done a thorough checkup and found nothing wrong. He’d also called Blair’s doctor, who was on his way.
There was a ton of activity in her room over the next hour or so. It had bordered on chaotic, but nothing had come of it. The doctor finally informed me that it wasn’t uncommon for a coma patient to wake up gradually. There would be times where she was alert and times she wasn’t.
The next day or so was excruciating for me.
Blair wanted a divorce. She’d woken up just long enough to tell me she was done with me.
And I couldn’t blame her. I stood and stared out the window, thinking about what an uninvolved dad and husband I’d been.
That was on top of the emotional affair with Scarlett and when she’d overheard me saying awful things about her.
Why would she want to stay with me?