Grayson
"Magda has been cooking up a storm. It's ridiculous, you should see her. She's taken over our entire kitchen, making all of your favorite foods. I told her I didn't want to eat without you." I continued stroking her hand and lowered my head.
"You can't let those meatballs go to waste."
I jerked up. Emmalin was gazing at me.
"Holy shit." I lunged at her, hugging her tightly. Probably too tight. She winced, but I didn't loosen my grip. "God, baby, you scared me. You fucking scared me." I kissed her all over. She was here. She was back. My life was back. I reached over and hit the call button. A few seconds later, a nurse came in. She looked at Emmalin and smiled, immediately walking over to assess her.
"Welcome back, Ms. Ross. I'll page the doctor." Two minutes later, the doctor came in.
"Good morning, Emmalin. I'm Dr. Stiles. You gave us quite a scare." I watched as she shined a light in Emmalin's eyes and looked her over. "Emmalin, do you know where you are?"
Emmalin looked around the room. "Hospital?" Her voice was hoarse as she spoke.
"Can you tell us the last thing you remember?"
"Um. I remember yelling, and Carson and... Oh my God, Abigail?" She turned toward me.
I nodded. "She's fine. She's completely fine. I don't even think she knew what was going on."
Her eyes began to tear up. "I'm so sorry, Grayson."
"She's fine. I promise." I gently wiped her tears away.
"Ms. Ross, you were shot in the chest, which punctured your left lung. We call this a sucking chest wound, and unfortunately, there was no exit wound. Because your lung collapsed, this turned rather quickly into Pneumothorax. You coded several times, en route to the hospital, as well as during surgery. We were successful in removing the remaining debris. But, because of all the stress on your body, your blood sugars began to act erratically, so the safest possible decision was to put you into a medically-induced coma, to allow your body to heal."
Emmalin cleared her throat. "How long have I been out?"
"You were taken out of the coma five days ago. Today was the sixth day." The doctor paused, and I knew what was coming next.
"Ms. Ross, there's more. There was also extreme sexual trauma."
I gripped her hand tight. She took a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about that."
"There is a counselor I want you to speak with. We understand this is a sensitive nature."
Emmalin wiped away a tear.
"There was one other thing. During blood work and surgery, we discovered that you were about three months pregnant."
Her eyes shot up and she looked at me. "I'm pregnant?" For the first time since awakening, there was a light in her eyes. Now I had to watch it be doused out.
I pulled her closer to me. "Were, baby."
She looked to the doctor. "Because of the gunshot wound, and you coding, as well as multiple kicks to your abdomen, we weren't able to save the baby."
I leaned into her. "We can always try again. You got pregnant, and your chances were slim. We can try again, baby," I whispered in her ear.
She shut her eyes. If Carson wasn't already dead, I would kill him all over again. That's two babies she lost because of that family.
"How soon can she go home?"
"We need to run some tests, of course. Make sure she has no problems breathing. You are going to be in pain for a bit, Ms. Ross, but that's to be expected. If all goes well, I would be comfortable with releasing her in two to three days."
I nodded. Emmalin had already stopped listening and retreated into herself. I stepped back as the doctor and nurse checked her over. Emmalin stayed quiet the entire time. Twenty minutes later, they were gone. I walked back to her side.
"I've texted everyone that you're awake, but told them not to come until tomorrow. I don't want to overwhelm you so soon. Not to mention, I kind of wanted to be selfish for a bit." I gave her a small smile and she turned her head. I decided to keep talking. "Everyone's excited to see you. Isabella. Chace. Noah and Abby made you a giant card."
"You should go," she whispered.
"Even when you're quiet, you're funny, Emmalin." I stroked her hair, and she jerked away from me, scooting to the far corner of the bed. She looked so small and fragile. I was imagining that even if she wore my ring, it would slip right off with the amount of weight she lost. I lowered the side rail and climbed in next to her. She tensed when I wrapped my arms around her. Her breathing began to shudder, and my heart clenched. Beaten. Raped. Miscarriage. I didn't know too many people who’d gone through what she'd gone through in life. I held her while she cried. "We'll get through this," I whispered over and over in her ear, until she fell asleep.