“Presley,” my dad said in an authoritative tone. “Let them work.”
At the sound of my dad’s voice, my face crumpled, and I released the tears I’d been holding back. I nodded and stepped forward. Brenda grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the bed. “Make it quick.”
I did. Rushing forward, I quickly kissed his lips. “I love you. Ariel loves you. Please be okay. I’m right outside the door.”
I’d barely finished when Brenda gently pulled me back and turned me toward the door. “Sorry, Presley, time’s up.”
I don’t know if I walked on my own accord or if she pushed me, but my dad’s arms were suddenly wrapped around me as he ushered me across the hall. “I’m not trying to rush you, but Nora’s here. Do you need a minute?”
“Shit,” I mumbled and shamelessly used my dad’s shirt to dry my face. “Yeah, I don’t want to scare her by being so upset.”
A hand landed on my shoulder. “Take your time. I’ll talk to her,” Dice said quietly.
I exhaled with relief. “Thank you.”
“I know you don’t want to leave him, but maybe we should consider moving to the waiting room so we’re not in the way,” Dad said.
“I’ll see if we can use the bad news room.”
“The what?”
“It’s a smaller waiting room back here for families to have privacy after they receive bad news. We call it the bad news room.”
After getting permission to use the room, I returned a few minutes later and motioned for the group to follow me. Finally composed enough to talk to Nora, I waited for her to choose a seat and took the one next to her. She reached over and clasped my hand. “They’ll be okay. I can feel it.”
Before I could respond, Dr. Vaughn appeared in the doorway. “We’ve got a minute or two before he goes to CT. Come on.”
Nora and I jumped up at the same time, which was much faster than someone with a healing coccyx fracture should, but she didn’t miss a step as she hurried to Ink’s room.
“If they find something on the scan, he’ll go straight to surgery,” Dr. Vaughn said.
“Go ahead,” I said to Nora. As much as I wanted to hog all the time for myself, she was his mother.
“You too,” she insisted. “There’s nothing I’m going to say that you can’t hear.”
We took turns telling Ink how much we loved him, and all the other things people say to a loved one before surgery until someone knocked on the door. “They’re ready for him.”
Ink’s body tensed, and several monitors beeped.
“Ariel,” he mumbled hoarsely.
“We got her,” I told him, and his large body relaxed. “She’s upstairs.”
After Ink was wheeled away for his CT, Dr. Vaughn asked to speak with Nora alone. I knew why, but it still pissed me off. She was his next of kin, and I was nothing—legally.
“Is there a reason Presley can’t be here?” Nora asked.
“It’s hospital policy, and the law,” I said. “I’m not family, and he hasn’t specifically listed me as someone who can have access to his medical information.”
“I’m family,” Nora huffed. “Can she stay if I say it’s okay?”
Dr. Vaughn smiled. “Yes, she can. I'm sorry, Presley. Since you’re an employee and the patient’s girlfriend, I wanted Nora to ask for your presence independently and unprompted.”
I nodded. I understood, and I would thank him for his thoughtfulness at a later date when I was no longer pissed off about it.
“I wanted to go over his injuries with you and how we’re planning to treat them,” Dr. Vaughn said. “Our main concern is his head. Depending on what the CT shows, he’ll either go to surgery or be admitted to the ICU. Other than his head, he has a laceration on his right wrist, ligature marks from the zip ties on both wrists, and various superficial scrapes and bruises. Any questions?”
“Just one,” Nora said. “If he goes to surgery from the scan, I want to know immediately. How do I do that?”
