“And the ...the baby?” she blurted, fearing the stitches she felt had already given her her answer.
“You had a ruptured spleen and needed surgery. But your baby is fine. Rest will be important if you want to keep it that way,” he cautioned, and Lana could hear a strange tinge in his voice as he said it.
She lowered back down on the bed, the pillow now at the base of her back instead of her head, and nodded. She thought about what that night should have been.Why was I worried that Kayden might not want a baby, anyway? He had wantedeverything else.Her tendency to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best was one she hated most in this moment. Had she told Kayden in that room and just stayed there for the night, maybe none of this would have happened.
“You need to rest,” Sam repeated. He stood and held out his hand. “Lean forward.”
She glared at him, remembering her promise never willingly to touch him on purpose again, and she leaned forward without his help. He moved the pillow from her back and placed it higher on the bed.
“You can lie back now,” he ordered, in hisPractitioner’s voice.
“I need Kayden,” she commanded, and threw the blanket covering her bruised and swollen body to the floor.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Rupert barked, picking it up as she tried to wiggle to the edge of the bed—a sad attempt to flee.
“You can’t move! Are you crazy? Lie back down!” Veronica demanded.
Lana thought of fighting them all, but in her condition, she could barely breathe without sharp pains winding her. She was defeated, and they were still avoiding her question about Kayden. Dread fell heavily on her chest as she dropped her head back down and looked up at Sam. She took several deep breaths before asking her next question.
“Is Kayden.... dead?”
She held her breath waiting for someone to answer, her red, exhausted eyes rimmed with tears, darting to each of their faces. Her mother stepped forward now and kissed her forehead.
“No, baby, but it’s not good,” she admitted.
Rupert nodded at Sam, who turned and left the room.
Lana searched her parents’ faces.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her forehead creased in concern.
SAM INHALEDSEVERAL deepbreaths before he knocked on the door of room three-fifteen, only a few doors down from Lana’s. Paula, tall and statuesque, answered the door, her long brown hair cascading down her shoulders. Beyond her, Maureen loomed over Kayden as he lay unconscious, bandaged and bruised, with casts and tubes down his throat to help him breathe. Paula stood beckoning him by raising her eyebrows.
“Lana’s awake,” he announced, barely finishing the sentence before Paula pushed past him and out of the room.
Maureen kissed Kayden on the forehead and then walked out into the hallway, following her daughter.
“Thank you,” she acknowledged in a whisper, as she passed him, heading for Lana’s room as well.
Sam looked over at Kayden and shook his head. Kayden was a broken mess of bruises, bandages, and casts, but grateful it was he, not Lana, who took the brunt of the impact. The image of the car speeding toward them played over in his mind—toward Lana—then their bodies being thrown and airborne. Once he was sure that Lana was OK, he sprang into action to save her, what, boyfriend? Fiancé?
He would do it all again because that’s who he was. But Sam couldn’t help being angry that Lana was now a part of an almost deadly family drama that nearly took her life. He vowed that he would do all he could to keep her safe, even if that meant taking her back home and away from him, whether she liked it or not. He left the room, closed the door behind himself, then walked away.
“A COMA?”LANA chokedin disbelief, barely able to believe the words. Paula sat on the corner of her bed and held her bruised hand when Maureen walked in.
“A medically induced coma. The swelling in his brain...” she started, but couldn’t continue.
“I understand the reason why,” Lana admitted.
As a nurse herself, she was very familiar with the reasons. When they put someone in a medically induced coma, it helps to aid the repair of head trauma and reduce any risk of brain damage.
“Where is she?” Lana demanded, as her sadness morphed into stone-cold fury. The “she” in question? Kim, his maniacal ex-girlfriend, who used a police car to run them down like vermin. Paula glanced up at Maureen and dropped her head silently.
“We don’t know. She took off during the chaos of it all,” Maureen admitted.
Lana slowly lay her head back down on the pillow, feeling her rage bubble up in a place so deep inside, she never knew it existed before.
“So, she’s out there, and can pretty much come back and finish what she started?” Lana replied, amazed by the turn of events.
