Chapter 8
Tate was asleep when Briar came out of the bathroom.
While she was in the shower, she washed his T-shirt and her hair and, after scrubbing herself, got out and began drying herself and her hair as best she could.
She hung the T-shirt over the curtain rod to dry, and by the time she came out in her hospital gown, her hair was already beginning to curl.
Moments later, the door opened behind her. Tate’s nurse was coming into the room.
“Oh…bless you,” she said. “You finally got all that blood washed away. It’s pretty much chaos in the kitchen, and we’re not sure if we will be able to get actual meals out to our patients, but I brought some soft drinks, some bottled water, and an apple and an orange apiece, and snack food for both of you. ”
“You are an angel,” Briar said. “I’m so hungry. Tate will be, too, when he wakes.”
“If you need anything else, just buzz,” she said, and set the tray on the window ledge by his bed.
Briar went straight for a can of Pepsi and a package of peanut butter crackers, pulled the chair up by his bed, and began to eat. The urge to gobble it down was huge, but she purposefully ate it slowly just to make it last.
She stared around the room as she ate, then glanced behind her. That’s when she saw the landline phone on the table by his bed. Out of curiosity, she checked to see if it had a dial tone. Hearing the hum was the best sound ever.
When Tate woke up again, they could call Abel and Lilith if he wanted. She didn’t know where they were or how long it would take them to get here, but hearing his voice would go a long way to reassuring them that he was truly okay.
She finished the package of crackers, downed the last of her Pepsi, then peeled the orange for Tate, taking apart the sections for him, then covering it with a piece of plastic wrap from the tray and putting it within his reach.
Her legs were trembling from the adrenaline crash as she sat back down, folded her arms at the foot of his bed, and used them for a pillow to lay her head.
Within seconds, she was asleep.
* * *
About an hour later, Tate woke, saw Briar asleep at the foot of his bed, and sighed.
She was not only a survivor, but she was turning into quite a woman.
He saw the tray of snacks, and then the orange she had peeled and sectioned for him, and began eating it, one section at a time, while thinking about what a fighter she was and how she had kept a cool head in a desperate situation.
From fashioning that tourniquet, to remembering about the landline, calling for help, notifying their parents, and speaking up about not having pressure on his stitches when they moved him to this bed.
He’d known since the first time he saw her that they belonged together, and he’d always had her back when it came to trouble. But today, she returned the favor, and then some.
After finishing the orange, he used a wet wipe to clean his hands, then availed himself of one of the bottles of water and drank until his thirst was quenched before setting it aside. Everything was hurting, and he needed to shift position, but he didn’t want to wake Briar.
Part of her hair was lying across his uninjured leg, and the curls were too enticing to ignore. He reached out just to touch her, but the curls were silky-soft, and the thought of burying his fingers in them one day, and making love with her, was a dream that had yet to come true.
The door to his room opened, and as his nurse entered, he put a finger to his mouth to indicate quiet.
She smiled, nodded, checked his IV, and held up a syringe.
“For pain,” she whispered, and injected it into the IV port, then helped him to the bathroom and back.
Once she had him settled again, she glanced at Briar, and she got a lightweight blanket from the closet, shook it out, and gently draped it over her shoulders.
He nodded a thank-you, and then she was gone.
Finally, Tate shifted slightly to ease his leg and ate some more of the snacks as he watched Briar sleep. Her eyelids were fluttering. She was dreaming, and the pain meds were kicking in again. Weary and aching in every inch of his body, he closed his eyes and let the drugs pull him under.
Night came. A different nurse brought another tray of snacks.
This time more peanut butter crackers, pudding cups, fruit cups, and bottles of water.
She set it on the tray table without waking either of them.
The hospital kitchen was closed, and their patients were having to eat what was on-site.
But Tate and Briar never heard her come in and didn’t know the food was there.
Physical and emotional exhaustion were finally taking a toll.
* * *
Abel and Lilith alternated between shock and sheer panic on the way home.
The drive from the casino felt like the longest trip ever.
Their conversations were brief. Panic was utmost, but knowing Tate wasn’t alone made all the difference.
Briar had stepped into the gap for him in every way that counted, but as she had warned, when they were finally only a couple of miles from town, they drove up on highway patrol cars with flashing lights, guarding the eastbound lane that was barricaded off from normal traffic.
Two trucks from their local power company were on-site, repairing downed lines, and only one lane was open in and out of town.
It was hard to see the damage in the dark, and when a flagman finally waved them on through, Abel breathed a sigh of relief.
The relief ended when they drove into town in the dark.
The few lights they could see were from homes that had generators.
Lilith’s voice was trembling. “Oh, Abel, what I can see is so horrifying. I dread what we will see come morning. The blessing is that our kids are okay.”
Abel nodded. In their eyes, Tate and Briar were a matched pair. Where one went, the other was sure to go, and they always thought of them as “our” kids.
“There’s the hospital!” Lilith cried. “It has lights!”
“Generator backups,” Abel said. “They may be running on empty with supplies, but the important things they need to be working will still be functioning.”
“Will they let us come in at this time of night?” she asked.
“We’re going to park near the ER entrance. It’s always open,” he said.
They parked, got out, then Abel stopped and pulled Lilith into an embrace. “This is not the anniversary we planned, but it’s one we’re not likely to forget. I love you, darlin’. Let’s go see our boy.”
* * *
Elevators were shut down, so they followed the makeshift signs and walked up to the second floor. It was obvious by the number of people going in and out of rooms that regular rules for visiting hours were being ignored.
A nurse saw them eyeing room numbers and the names posted above them as they walked.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“We’re looking for Tate Bandy’s room. He’s our son. We were out of town when this happened, and we’ve been driving for hours to get home,” Lilith said.
“Ah, I know he will be glad to see you, but he does have a remarkable bodyguard with him. She is something… Quite the fierce protector. Two doors farther down on your left. Please keep your conversation as quiet as possible.”
“Yes, yes, we will,” Abel said.
Two more doors. It was all they could do not to start running. They started to knock, then remembered the time and slowly opened the door.
A dim light was on above the headboard of Tate’s bed, and another nightlight in the adjoining bathroom.
The sight of Tate sleeping sitting up, with one leg elevated, was startling, until they realized it was to take the pressure off of his wounds.
And seeing Briar wrapped up in a blanket, sleeping on the floor beside his bed with a rolled-up towel for a pillow, brought them to tears.
“Just look at them,” Lilith whispered.
Abel nodded, and together they slipped inside and then closed the door.
The slight click of the latch was all it took to wake Tate. The first thing he noticed was that Briar was gone, and then he saw her asleep on the floor. Before he could be horrified on her behalf, he saw his parents.
“Mom! Dad! Thank God you got here okay. I’m really glad to see you,” he said.
It was the sound of Tate’s voice that woke Briar. She jumped up, ready to check on him before she realized his parents had finally arrived, then she didn’t know what to do.
“Clearly, hugging you is not an option,” Lilith said, and leaned over the guardrail to kiss his cheek.
“Thank God you and Briar are alive,” she said, then turned around and gave Briar a big hug and a kiss.
“Bless the both of you. I don’t know how you two did it, but you went through Mother Nature’s hell and lived to tell it.
We love you both to the ends of the earth.
I’m so sorry we weren’t here when you needed us most,” she said.
Abel had his hand on Tate’s uninjured shoulder and kept patting him, over and over. “Are you okay, son? What all did the doctor have to do?”
Tate didn’t know how to answer and looked at Briar for help.
“Briar will have to fill in the blanks for you. I don’t remember much after getting home and into the shelter.
I know I have thirteen stitches on my shoulder, and ten stitches on the back of my leg.
Doctor Joe said the tourniquet Briar put on my leg probably saved me from bleeding out.
I’m told she sacrificed a good T-shirt on my behalf. ”
Briar sighed. “I confiscated one of Tate’s T-shirts that was hanging on the doorknob. I put it on before the ambulance came. Tate had passed out on the shelter floor with my shirt tied around his leg, and I was hardly dressed for company.”
Then Tate picked up the story. “She ran all the way here, bloody as hell. She’s been the voice I didn’t have. The advocate I surely needed. She’s my forever girl.”
Tears were rolling down Briar’s cheeks, but she was smiling.