Chapter Twenty-Four
“I’m sorry but you all can’t go in at once. Mr. Hettinger is in critical condition. Only one visitor at a time, only immediate family members…hey!”
Brock shrugged at the hapless nurse when both Melody and Kayla ignored her and walked into Trent’s room together. He got a glimpse of a wall of machines and heard a cacophony of noises before the door shut behind them, leaving him alone, shaking and adrenaline depleted. Not to mention starving.
Instead of seeking out food or water, he sat, staring at the closed door, unsure what to do now that he’d fulfilled his part of things. He guessed he should go home. Leave the family to their wounded and their healing.
An alarm began to clang and a red light flashed over Trent’s door. Several medical types ran in as Kayla stumbled out, hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Brock rose and went to her, holding her while she sobbed into his shirt. He pressed his lips to her hair, unable to resist the need for more connection. She sniffled and looked up at him. Her face was soot-streaked, he realized from earlier, when he’d grabbed onto her out of sheer disbelief that she was there, at the damn bar, alive and well.
“He’s… I don’t… How did this happen?”
“He thought you were in there. He wanted to save you.”
“You were there too?” She wandered to a set of chairs and fell into one.
He joined her, taking her hand and pressing her knuckles to his lips. “Yeah, but I’ve got this aversion to running into collapsing, burning buildings, I guess.”
She smiled then put her hands over her face and shook so hard he glanced around in search of a nurse in case she needed one. “Well, I guess I know who my real hero is, then,” she said, accepting the tissue he held out from a box he’d found nearby.
“Without a doubt,” he admitted. She sighed and leaned into his shoulder.
He held on to her as they waited, together, while Trent’s door stayed closed in front of them. At some point, Austin appeared, with a terrified Taylor. Kayla got up and hugged her then pulled her toward the door. He followed them, his need to protect her stronger than ever. It opened, revealing a bunch of scrub-wearing types, and Melody, curled up next to Trent in the tiny hospital bed.
Before the door could swing shut, Kayla held it and pushed Taylor inside then turned back to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. They stood like that for a while, until a doctor approached them.
“Are you family?” he asked, poking at his tablet screen.
“Yes. I’m his sister.” Brock stood with his arm around her shoulders. “That’s his wife and daughter in there. Should I get them?”
“Yes, please. I’d like to talk to all of you at once.”
“I’ll get them,” Brock said, ducking into the room where he talked the Hettinger women away from the bed with promises of medical updates waiting outside.
“Okay, so I think we’ve established that Mr. Hettinger was not fully saturated as was first feared.”
“Saturated?” Melody asked, her voice calm.
“Yes, we were afraid that the smoke had suffused his lungs to the point where it was poisoning his bloodstream, but that isn’t the case. He only had a few cuts that seem minor and his skin wasn’t terribly affected. We’ve kept him on steroids a while and want to keep the intubation in place overnight. But all in all, he is a very lucky man. He should make a full recovery.”
“Oh, dear Jesus,” Melody moaned and slumped against the wall.
The doctor took in her obvious condition and motioned for a nurse. “Let’s get you into a bed, shall we? I don’t like the way your skin is flushed. Just a quick blood pressure check and…”
Melody yanked herself away from them and stood straight. “I will stay with my husband. Anything you want to do to me will have to be done in his room.” She marched herself back in there, leaving the earnest-looking doctor and nurse at a loss.
“So he’s…he’s going to live. And he won’t be damaged or anything, right?” Kayla heard the weak sound of her voice at the same time her stomach let out a loud growl. She glared at the doctor. “How long before he can go home?”
The doctor nodded toward the room then glanced at his tablet again. “Three days, tops. As long as nothing unexpected arises.”
“Okay.” She slumped into Brock who tightened his hold on her shoulders. “Okay, then. Good.”
The doctor gave them a quick smile then headed down the hall to his next crisis. Brock guided her back to the seats, where Austin waited, holding bags of delicious-smelling food.
“I don’t know about you, but my stomach is going to rebel if I don’t put something in it,” he said, helping her into a chair then grabbing the bag with a quick thanks to his brother. He pulled out sandwiches and fries, handing some to her before devouring one so fast he barely tasted it.
His own throat felt ragged, as if he’d swallowed glass, but he powered past it, needing the food more than worry over something that would go away on its own. Kayla ate a few bites then put the food on the table in front of them and leaned back, her eyes closed. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“Me neither,” Brock said around a mouthful of fries. “But thank God he’s all right.”
She opened one eye and peered at him. “I’ve missed you,” she said, surprising him. “I mean, I don’t have anyone to make snarky comments to during meetings anymore.”
He grinned then sipped from a water bottle, feeling nearer to human than he had in hours. “Yeah, that would have been worth near death from smoke inhalation. What was I thinking?” He smacked his forehead. She frowned and threw some fries at him. He picked them off his shirt and lap and ate them with gusto. Without thinking, he grabbed her hand again and pressed it to his heart. “I thought I lost you today, Kayla. I didn’t care for that very much.” Understatement of the century but he knew he had to go slow, not to scare her.
She blinked fast and bit her lip.
“No need to say anything. I just wanted you to know.” He let go of her and leaned back in the seat, settling in for a long wait. They sipped water in silence. When she took his hand and threaded her fingers through his, he felt as if his whole universe had righted itself. Keeping it low-key, he shot her a quick smile then kept drinking, relishing the sweet warmth of her hand in his.
After about an hour, Melody and Taylor emerged from Trent’s room. Kayla ran up and hugged them then turned to Brock. “You don’t have to stay, you know. But I’m going to stick it out here tonight.”
He rose, stretched and gathered up the remains of their dinner before tossing it into a bin. “I’ll stick it out too, if that’s okay?”
Kayla ducked her head but he saw her blush. Melody nodded and gave him a quick hug. “Can you find me something to eat, maybe? Tay? You need anything?”
“On it, ladies.” He snapped a quick salute once Taylor admitted that she was starving, too. Before he headed out to seek and find the comfort food they required, he turned to Kayla, took her hand and blurted out something he’d been thinking for the last hour. “I want to take you out on a date. A real date, like with clothes that don’t reek of bar or fiery inferno. To a place where the food is so expensive they don’t even put the prices on the menus. Can I interest you in such an outing, Miz Hettinger?”
He saw Melody and Taylor smile behind her but was discouraged by the frown on Kayla’s face at his question. “You’re got a nerve, Fitzgerald.”
“So I’ve been told,” he quipped, hoping to calm her with an attempt at humor.
“You think you can distract me from the fact that you didn’t rush into the burning building to save me with a date? Seriously?” The left side of her lips lifted, reminding him of the first time he’d seen her and marveled at her slow, subtle smile.
“God, Aunt Kay, lighten up. Go out with him. He’s cute.” Taylor gave her shoulder a fake punch.
“Okay, fine. But I’d better not get the menu with the prices on it.”
Brock kissed her knuckles, much to the delight of the watching women and to the further deepening of Kayla’s blush. “Never. The places I’m talking about always make sure the man gets the prices. I’m a pig that way.”
She chuckled and pretended to push him away, but the way she looked at him—with hope, and relief, and happiness—stayed with him for hours.