“Did you know her and Jackie were beefing?” She had a confused expression on her face the same way I did.
“That’s weird because Jackie asked Kateri if she could plan either y’all wedding or baby shower.” I almost choked on the black and mild. Kateri had my heart for sure but marriage wasn’t even in my future, especially after the shit with Victoria.
“Well, I won the first bet.” She shrugged with a smile on her face.
“And what bet was that?” I wanted to know what it was and why they even had one going in the first place.
“That you would finally fall in love again.” Mushing her in the head without acknowledging what she said, I put the mild out and headed inside with her. Once I hear from the doctor that Kateri’s ok, I’ll feel a lot better.
“How is she Cairo?”I was standing at the vending machine with Raul discussing the shit with Jackie. I sent two of the guys overto her house and she wasn’t home. That was odd because the family was up here and she wasn’t.
“We’re waiting on a doctor to come out.” She stared at my clothes.Manny had the bag with my clean clothes in his hand. I was hoping to change before seeing her but that didn’t happen.
“Is that her blood?” She pointed. I didn’t what to give her the obvious answer. My mother knew and jumped in right away.
“Hi, I’m Mrs. Romano and this is my sister, Sophia, my husband…” As her voice trailed to introduce her to the family, I had Felix find one of the nurses he knew to take me to use the doctors’ showers.
It took me all of twenty minutes to shower, get dressed and return to the emergency room waiting area. Too scared that the doctor would come out, I rushed just to make sure I didn’t miss him or her. When I entered the area, it seemed as if more people showed up.
“The family of Kateri Coleman.” A woman stepped out wearing a white coat.
“I’m her mother; is she ok?” Ms. Coleman walked over to where the lady was. You could hear a pin drop, that’s how quiet it was.
“Do you mind if I talk freely?” She introduced herself as the Director/ Chief of Emergency Medicine. In other words, she’s in charge of all the doctors in the hospital.
“Yes it’s ok.” Ms. Coleman looked at me.
“And besides, if you didn’t tell her man, he’d probably kill you in the parking lot.” Ms. Coleman joked but little did she know that’s exactly what would happen.
“Kateri came in with two gunshots; one in her arm and the other in her leg. One of the men stated she fell and hit her head as well. We checked and there was no brain bleed but she may have a concussion.”
“Is she ok?” Ms. Coleman asked again.
“The bullet in her arm was easy to get out but they’re having some trouble removing the one from her leg because it was lodged in one of her muscles.”
“What does that mean? Will she be able to walk?” My mom asked because Ms. Coleman was becoming overwhelmed.
“Yes she’ll be able to walk but with some of the fragments still inside, there’s a possibility of chronic issues with that leg. Meaning she’ll have some scarring around them if the doctor can’t remove them. Unfortunately, the bullet damaged some nerves and tendons in her leg as well and she will have constant pain.”
“Can they get the fragments out?” Rosalina chimed in with her question.
“That’s what they’re trying to do now. If not, they’ll do more X-rays later and see if they can remove them at another time before the scarring gets too bad.” As she went on to explain what else the doctors were doing in the operating room, all I could do was blame myself.Why didn’t I go to the car myself? The person wanted me and she got caught in the crossfire.
“If you have any questions, I’ll be around and the doctor performing the operation will come out and speak with you once he’s done.” She handed Ms. Coleman her card. Taking a seat in the waiting room, I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes. Kateri’s gonna have a long recovery.
CHAPTER 23
Raul
“Is she ok?What’s going on with the surgery?” Sariah asked in a panic.
She delivered my son a week and a half ago and Kateri was shot tonight. There was no way she’d be able to go up to the hospital. She could barely walk and with her breastfeeding, my son needed his mom to be around him.
I had Sariah move in with me two weeks before the delivery and brought her granny along. The plan was to move them into their own place but decided against it when Sariah kept being unsure about where and when to move.
Her grandmother was cool as hell and said she’d come for a short time but that staying with her granddaughter and family didn’t sit right with her. She wanted her own freedom and felt Sariah was old enough to move on without her. She wanted her own privacy and I agreed. It took some persuading from me for Sariah to see it the same. My girl had to respect her decision whether she wanted to or not.
“She’s going to be fine.” It’s crazy how you can say something and not really know for sure if it’ll be true.
