Chapter 24 #2
“Careful, Luch.” My father held up the arm with the IV. “You’ll rip this out.”
Bloody hell, but I couldn’t do that either. I needed every drop of this blood.
“She needs my help. If she took the pain in, she could die.”
“It happens, son. We see it all the time.”
My teeth bared at his careless cruelty. This wasn’t some random patient that we’d lost due to an accident. This was someone who had given herself to save my life. Did he not see what she had done to help me? His own son he professed to love so much?
“Without her, I’d be dead. At the very least, you owe her the respect of understanding what she’s sacrificed.”
“Is it a sacrifice? I don’t know. All I saw was her hands on you.”
“Look at me!” This time it came out as a shout.
The blood was working fast, and my energy was returning.
I drew myself to a sitting position and ripped the sheet off my leg.
A jagged red scar, a slash of red paint on a white canvas, marred my inner thigh.
But that was all it was—a scar. I pointed to it.
“This. This is what she’s done for me. You saw it.
You were there. He’d ripped my leg almost completely from my body.
Tore my artery. I shouldn’t be sitting here right now.
And it’s not you I have to thank, it’s her. ”
“Luch—”
The door opened and my mum wheeled in, a stern expression on her face.
“Boys, I can hear you yelling all the way down the hallway.”
“Mum.” Tears threatened. I didn’t want her to see me like this. Leslie Carmichael was made of strong stuff, but she always hated when one of her boys was in pain.
“My sweet boy.” Mum wheeled herself closer, easing the door closed behind her. “Och, it hurts my heart to see you in the hospital bed like this.”
“He’ll be just fine, soon enough.” My father sniffed, and gave me a look, warning me against bringing up anything that he’d said.
My mum was pint-sized, pretty as a picture, and knew a bullshitter when she saw it.
“What’s happened here? Nobody will give it to me straight.” Mum raised a steely look to me, and as much as I always tried to shield her from any pain, I didn’t have it in me to hide what had happened.
“I’ve fallen in love.”
“Bloody hell.” My father threw up his hands, the IV tugging between us.
“Oh, Luch. That’s wonderful.” My mother wheeled closer and reached out a hand to take mine. “And I dearly would love to hear more, but can we first talk about what landed you in this hospital bed?”
“Leslie, how did you even get here? You were supposed to stay home.”
“Surely you didn’t think I’d hang back while you went to harass my sweet baby boy, did you?
” My mother’s voice was like ice. “Anne drove me down and thank goodness for it, or the lot of you would try to hide this from me as well. Go on, Luch. Tell me. Ignore your father, he’s clearly being an arse. ”
My father sat back, properly chastised.
“She’s a healer, Mum, and an amazing one at that. She healed Oban, and she helps others, too. But, she healed me after a Kelpie attack and I’m terrified that it’s too much for her. That she won’t be able to come back from it.”
“A Kelpie attack?” Mum brought her hands to her mouth, her face in shock. “Oh my God, Luch. That’s awful.”
“And your husband only made it worse. Instead of letting her help me, he tried to stop her.”
“I didn’t know if—” Dad jumped up and brandished the arm not connected to the IV in the air.
“If what?” My mum stared him down.
“If she’d screw it up. If she’d hurt him. Like the healer hurt you. So I tried to stop her.”
“And in doing so, you interrupted the vital part of the process where she takes the pain from the patient and directs it elsewhere. If she can’t do that, she takes it inside her, but at great cost to her own safety.
Injuries of this nature? It might be too much.
” My voice cracked, and I wished I could rip the IV out and storm down the hallway to find her.
I couldn’t though, not yet. I’d barely make it a step off the bed before collapsing to the floor.
Come on, blood, work faster.
My mother took in my face, and ignoring my father entirely, wheeled herself to the door and cracked it open.
“What’s your girl’s name?” Mum asked over her shoulder.
“Faelan Fletcher.”
“Lynn, darling?” Lynn appeared in the doorway. “I’ll need an update on your patient, Faelan Fletcher. Immediately. Otherwise you’re about to have a very stubborn patient to deal with.”
“Och, doctors, I swear they make the worst patients.” Lynn made a tsking noise and I could hear the smile in her voice.
“Oh, I well know it.” The two women shared a smile.
“I’ve already checked. She’s in intensive. Vitals are stable, at the moment, but she’s not responsive.”
“I need to go to her.” My heart clenched. “Lynn, they don’t know what she needs. It’s not what …”
“Shh, lad.” Lynn eased inside the room and closed it tightly behind her.
“You’ll just be telling me what she needs and we’ll sort it out.
She’s got unusual contusions and bruises all over her body.
Blunt-force trauma almost, yet no bones are broken.
No internal bleeding. Nobody can make head or tail of it. ”
It would only get worse, the longer she held the pain in. But how could she release it, if she wasn’t coherent? We needed to wake her, somehow.
“She needs a special tea, to start. It’s at her house. Can we call for help? Someone who can go?”
“Of course, though I’m not sure how we’ll get tea into her.” Lynn tapped a finger on her lip.
“I’ll drip it into her mouth. Anything. But she needs us.”
Lynn came over and put a hand to my wrist, checking my pulse against her watch.
“Color’s returning to your skin. You’re looking a lot better, Dr. Carmichael. Care to enlighten me on anything?” Lynn looked up from her watch.
“Best not. If it’s all the same to you.”
“No problem by me. Either way, I’ve got your back. I doubt I’ll be able to keep you in this bed much longer, correct?”
“Correct.” I gave Lynn a small smile. She knew me well.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you stay here another twenty minutes, I’ll chat with that nice Sophie in the waiting room about getting the tea for Faelan. Does that suit?”
“Sophie’s here? Aye, of course. She’ll know what to do.”
“Then, and only then, can you go to her. But I can’t have you falling over and hitting your head, understood?
Whatever this”—Lynn waved her hand at the IV between my father and me—“is doing … well, it’s working wonders.
A few more minutes won’t hurt, and it will put you in a better position to help your woman. Understood?”
“Understood. I’ll be good,” I promised.
“And I’ll make sure he follows orders,” Mum followed up.
“In that case, I’ll be off. Twenty more minutes. And try and drink some water if you can.” With a shake of a finger in the air at me, Lynn left.
“I like her,” my mother said, wheeling her chair back to my side.
“She’s both terrifying and incredibly comforting. Runs the entire hospital. Knows everything about everyone.”
“You’re lucky to have her.” Mum squeezed my hand and then leveled a look across the bed at my father. “Haud your wheesht, Richard Carmichael, and settle yourself. It’s time you follow my orders.”
“I will not—”
“Och, you will.” Mum drew herself up in her chair and gave him a look that had his shoulders hunching over.
Nobody had the ability to cow my father, other than my tiny mum.
She was his sun, and he fought every cloud he could from shrouding her glory.
“Because this will be the last time I say it. You’ve ignored me for years now, but I want you to hear me very clearly. Are you both listening?”
“Aye,” my father and I said in unison.
“If you ever, and I mean, ever, bring up the birth and my subsequent injury again, with the intent to place any sort of blame on the healer, on my non-Wulver bloodline, on anything other than the fact that accidents just happen—I will leave you.”
My father gave a sharp intake of breath.
“Leslie, no.”
“Never, in all my years, have I threatened this, so I hope you understand how deadly serious I am. There is nobody to blame for what happened to me, Richard. Your son is not to blame. The healer is not to blame. Even you, for choosing a wife outside of the magickal bloodline, are not to blame. There is no blame when accidents happen. I know you hated seeing me like this, but bloody hell, Richard. I’ve led, and continue to lead, a beautiful life.
How could you begrudge me the use of my legs when it’s never really slowed me down?
I’m happy. And I love my life. It’s you who always seeks revenge, not me.
And revenge for what? The healer didn’t know what was wrong with me.
She’d already gone by the time paralysis had set in.
Maybe if she’d been there she might have been able to help.
Nobody knows. But what I do know is that our son, our smart, handsome, strong boy has grown into a man who has fallen in love with a healer.
And her life hangs in the balance because you were blinded by your own unfounded beliefs. Never have I been more ashamed of you.”
My father flinched next to me, and I did the same, even though her wrath was not directed at me.
“And you should be ashamed of yourself. A Wulver’s job is to protect, not harm.
You have a responsibility to the poor lass, Richard.
Now, I’m going to find this nice Sophie, and see if she can tell me more about what’s going on.
I’m so angry that I can’t even be in here right now.
But I’m glad you’re on the mend, Luch. As soon as you can, go to your woman.
Love is an incredible gift. It can heal most wounds.
And even make you forgive seemingly impossible hurts. ”
“Leslie …” My father’s voice was ragged, and I turned, surprised to see such intense pain on his face.
“Not now, Richard. I can’t.” Mum wheeled herself out, and my father hung his head.
Silence filled the room.
This was such an unusual side of my father—one where he was properly hurting from his own actions—and I had no clue how to proceed or even what to say.
I was so used to his Alpha commanding presence, that seeing him like this—a downcast man—shook me to my core.
Finally, my father sighed, shook his head, and looked up at me.
“She’s right, you know. Always is, your mother. Good head on her shoulders. Love is a gift, and if this Faelan’s the one for you, then I’m sorry I tried to get in the way. I was blinded by my own shite. Your mother has the right of it. I’m sorry, Luch.”
It felt like that boulder dropped back on my chest. Never in all my years had my father admitted he was wrong to me. It made me look at him in a different light.
Taking in a deep breath, I reached out and squeezed his hand.
“It seems we all do stupid things sometimes. Me included.”
“What did you do that was dumb?” My father looked to me.
“I let Faelan walk away.”
“Och, even I know better than that. Never let the right one walk away. Or in your mother’s case, wheel away.” My father checked the watch on his wrist. “And in fifteen minutes, I’m going after the love of my life. I hope you’ll do the same. Is there anything I can help with?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“We’ll stay on. Just in case.”
“Thanks … I appreciate that.”
We sat back in silence, our eyes on the clock, two vastly different men with fearful and contrite hearts. My father’s shocked me. To have changed his position so … genuinely?
“Love is a gift, and if this Faelan’s the one for you, then I’m sorry I tried to get in the way.”
To have recanted every vile word he’d said …
But in that moment, as much as I wanted to process his words and consider what they meant for my future, all I could concentrate on was the need to get to my woman. The woman who so sacrificially healed me, despite the consequences. The woman I loved more than life itself.
I needed her to know what she meant to me, maybe had meant to me from the moment I’d laid eyes on her, and had not had the guts to tell her yet.