CHAPTER 6
Curled up in the chair next to Gran’s bed, Everly held her hand and talked to her like she did so many times when she needed advise or just to vent.
“They say you can hear me, so we’ll just go with that. They say there’s a silver lining in everything, maybe right here, right now, the silver lining is that you can’t interrupt me.” She laughed at her poorly played joke, making light of the serious situation.
“Moonshine has taken up with Blake nicely, he doesn’t give me the time of day. Blake doesn’t say so, but I think he is really fond of him. He needs someone, or something, to keep him company, I think. Maybe Colton should find him a dog too. I don’t know. I guess I’m just rambling right now. Maybe I do want you to interrupt me with some of your inappropriate sayings and vulgar words. I really need you Gran, so come back to me. Okay? Soon.”
A tear had spilled over, and made its way down her cheek. She wiped it away with her sleeve, and laughed…Gran would have had a heyday with that. Something about crusty sleeves grosses out the boys. She rubbed Gran’s hand, working on her composure before she finished.
“Gosh…I think you would looove this one, Gran. Life is playing non-stop tricks on me these days. I keep thinking I am going to wake up and this will have all been a strange dream, but nope! My life is turning out to be anything but what I planned or expected. You told me that would happen. You said to get it together and find me a man before fate steps in and I’m stuck with whatever it leaves me
.” She laughed at her own attempt at sounding like her Gran. Her voice was just a sound that couldn’t be mastered.
“Well, you were right…again
! I know you don’t get tired of hearing that. You were right, you were right, you were…right. So, things are going to be changing. I don’t know exactly how, but I’ll figure it out, I always do. It would just be easier with you. Here’s a good one…everyone figured out Doc and I have been canoodling
, or whatever you call it. Bet you called that one too.” Oddly, it didn’t feel like she was talking to herself, like she originally thought. Gran couldn’t answer, but Everly felt like she was being heard and that brought her much needed comfort.
She looked around the room, taking in all of the flowers that had accumulated. They were starting to place them at all of the nurse’s stations, and various areas of the hospital. It was like Gran’s joy and presence was everywhere – Everly liked that.
“You seem pretty popular around here. I hope you wake in time to see all of these flowers, I know how much you love them. Mostly fall flowers, like those wild ones you love so much.” She scanned the room again, taking in just how many bouquets were the same or similar flowers. Her brow furrowed, there were so many, and no cards that she could see with the matching bouquets. Interesting.
“Who keeps sending those wild flowers. They are too similar to be a coincidence. Do you have an admirer, Gran? I bet you do
! Well, how about that! I’ll have to ask Meg if they’re from her shop. Hopefully, it’s someone who paid with a card so we can see who it is. See, you’ve rubbed off on me, that’s something you would do!” She laughed.
“Anyway. I’m just stalling. This is where you tell me to spit it out, girl
! So I guess I’ll just spit it out. Back to that curveball I guess. I don’t really know what to think, or what to do next, but I know that after everything, Doc probably isn’t going anywhere…even if I wanted him to.” She giggled.
“I wish you were awake, I know you would be enjoying the shit out of this. I know I swore off relationships and marriage, but I don’t think I’m going to get away with that. He’s a good guy, Gran. Such a good guy – he hasn’t left my side through this and I’m sure he’d walk through hot coals laced with shards of glass if I asked him too. As much as I think I don’t need him, I want him. Especially now. I know you’re fond of him, and if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were behind all of this, you old broad. Gran…this scares the shit out of me. So much is happening, and about to happen, so fast...I…just come back to me. Okay? I’m about to…”
Out of the corner of her eye, something, or someone, caught her attention. Doc. He was leaning in the doorway with his hands in his pocket and ankles crossed. He wore a sweet smile while he watched her, not intending to interrupt her time with Lou. He knew she missed her terribly and worried despite her stable condition.
“Hey…” he said softly, “You okay?”
She smiled, her eyes filling again for reasons unknown, or maybe reasons that were overwhelming. “Yeah, I think so. Just miss her, ya know? It’s weird without her. I guess that old saying is true…you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone
.”
He came into the room, and sat in the chair next to her, scooting closer to her as he did, “I understand. But she’s stable, babe. Just don’t give up on her, because she’s certainly not giving up on any of us.”
Feeling comforted by his words, she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. He calmed her, took care of her and made everything feel right when it was entirely wrong. As much as she hated needing him, she loved it too. He was all that she was lacking in her life. Doc gave her a kind of love she hadn’t known she was missing, kept her safe…from herself. He was everything she spent her entire life despising and now she couldn’t quit him even if she wanted to for reasons beyond her heart.
His arm draped around her and he held her for several long minutes, neither saying a word until she broke the silence, “You’re a good one, Mason Charles.”
A long lingering kiss to her forehead said
almost everything she needed to hear without a sound between them. In a low near whisper, he confirmed, “I would walk through hot coals laced with shards of glass for you.”
Emotions rolling through her, that unfamiliar sensation of tears streaming down her face hit her yet again. Normally one to detest tears, crying, or real emotion…she welcomed it. She couldn’t control it if she wanted to anyway.
Not used to the butterflies and sweet nothings, she redirected the conversation to safe and easy. “So, what brings you by, Doc? Slow in the ER tonight?”
“Yeah, just a few ski injuries. New powder up above us drawing all the die hards. It won’t be long before it drops to our elevation and we start getting the snow. Anyway, I came to take you to dinner.”
“Oh, I’m not hungry. Thank you, though.”
“Ev…you haven’t left at all. I’m guessing you haven’t slept or eaten either. Just a couple hours, anything you want. I mean anything
.”
She gave him a dramatic eye roll and silly giggle followed by an elbow to the ribs. “Nice, Doc. Look, I really want to stay here. Just in case.”
“Compromise…dinner downstairs, in the hospital cafeteria. Not exactly fine dining, but we’re already at the hospital if we choke on it.” He tried to woo her with humor, but without much luck.
“Doc. Seriously, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Evie, c’mon. This isn’t healthy. You’re pale, exhausted, and wearing the stress you’re carrying. It’s just a quick meal so you don’t end up in a bed next to Lou.” His tone was heavier than his typical happy go lucky. His concern was legitimate, but she didn’t care.
“I just want to stay here, with…” she went to stand, but immediately lost her footing when the room began to spin and everything went dark around her.
Doc reached out for her and broke her fall. Holding her in his arms, he reached for the nurse’s button on the side of Lou’s bed and shouted toward the door for the nurse he recalled seeing as he came in, “Carly! Need some help in here!”
With his heart in his gut, Doc worked to bring her back. Her pulse was strong, she was breathing, all good signs. Had he jinxed her only moments ago when he mentioned falling ill? Time stood still while he held her in his arms, not as a doctor, but a man holding his love. Those moments he waited for her to respond to him felt like hours – he literally held his heart in his arms.
“What is it Doc Ma… Oh, God!” Carly, a newer nurse to McKenzie Ridge and McKenzie General, rushed to his side to assist.
“I think she just fainted. Vitals are good, she’s starting to stir a bit. Grab a gurney and a lab tech – let’s also start a line and run fluids.”
After rushing from the room, Carly was back in no time with everything but the lab tech. “I couldn’t get through to the lab, so I just grabbed the kit. I’ll draw whatever you need after I place the line. Help me get her to the bed?”
Doc nodded in appreciation, thankful for her attentiveness. Standing straight from the floor, he lifted her, cradled against his chest, and gently laid her in the bed Carly had rolled in.
“Or, you can just get her in the bed, Doc,” Carly teased. “Step aside, I got this. Can you check Lou? I hear her monitor getting a little noisy.”
He did as she requested, tending to Lou was a nice distraction. Normally he was the one calling out the orders, but he appreciated her taking charge of the situation. He figured it was in her nature to do so. She was a petite little brunette, sweet, bubbly, and…bossy. Doc had never been exposed to such fear in his life, nor responsible for a loved one as an instant patient. Lou was fine, likely just her body responding to the chaos around her.
“All done Doc. Drip’s running, and drew for labs. Here are the vials, just need to know what you want ordered so I know if I pulled enough before that drip goes too long.”
Carly took the vials of blood with Doc’s lab order marked stat. He pulled the chair close to her bedside sitting between her and Lou, and buried his face in his hands. She had stirred, spoken, though it was mostly jibberish. Odd as it was, he took that as a good sign. She may have fainted from standing too quickly with a heated temper while likely dehydrated, but now she had fallen to the mercy of sleep. Much needed sleep – she was exhausted – and when you don’t listen to your body, it has a way of forcing the issue.
Never in his career had he felt as panicked over his most critical of patients as he did over a stressed out, exhausted Everly. As a doctor, he knew she wasn’t critical – she was a generally healthy, active woman who was always on the go, seeking out new challenges from rock climbing to skydiving. She wasn’t afraid of anything. As the man who loved her, and man did he love her, he worried.
She was the first thing he thought about in the morning, and the last thing when he finally gave in to sleep at night. She’d quickly become his every dream, desire, and future. He needed her like the air he breathed, and she became his constant hunger. She was his everything…and now she lay at the mercy of her own demons, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to save her from herself.
Patience wasn’t his strong suit when it came to Everly Shaw. Fully aware that she had made a pact with herself, never to become more serious than a romp in the sack – with anyone, not just him – he knew, from the day he met her, he would be the man to change that. Her life had been anything but perfect, but given the circumstances, she had a full life, full of love. She was just too blind to see it. His personal mission had been to show her, wait for her, until she saw what was right in front of her.
“C’mon Ev, why are you doing this?” he whispered, “Let me give you everything. It can be amazing, you just have to let it be. You don’t have to worry or live in fear anymore because your past is not your destiny. Let me carry your fear, your hurt, and fill that emptiness. Jesus, I love you…so much it hurts.”
He kissed the back of her hand, holding it in his as he watched her sleep. She was so peaceful, relaxed…and so damn beautiful with her golden hair, refined features, and full lips. That was only the tip of the iceberg because every bit of her was beautiful, inside and out.
Checking his watch, he noted enough time had passed for the initial labs to process. He leaned in to leave a kiss on her forehead as he stood to leave the room. Standing above her, he took her in.
He whispered, “What is going on with you Everly. Why do I feel like you aren’t telling me everything?”
Before he made it to the door on his way to the nearest computer at the nurse’s station, his attention was caught by the increasing tones of Lou’s monitors. Stepping back to look them over and assess her, he couldn’t find anything obvious to be concerned about. Was she reacting to him and Everly?
He noted the subtle change in Lou’s expression, “Is that a scowl? What do you know old woman? What do you know?”