chapter FIFTY-SEVEN
Ten days later
Monday, April 18, 2016
Curtis was pacing the floor, waiting for the doctor to show up for his morning rounds. Lorrie had had an exceptionally bad night, and he wanted to know that the hell they were doing to get her well. They were going on three weeks in this place, and so far nothing they’d tried was working, and he was growing tired of the runaround. Something had to be done. Someone had to make her better, because he couldn’t sit back and watch her get worse.
“Mr. Walker.”
Curtis looked up at the sound of the doctor’s voice. He was walking toward him in his crisp white coat, holding a chart in his hand as he scanned the pages. The only thing that stopped Curtis from railing on the guy was the concerned look on his face when the man finally met Curtis’s gaze.
The doctor nodded toward Lorrie’s room. “Let’s go in and talk.”
Swallowing hard, he followed the doctor into the room.
“Lorrie,” the doctor greeted, his tone a tad more cheerful than before. “How’re you feeling?”
Lorrie was sitting up in bed for the first time in what felt like days, but she looked weaker than Curtis had ever seen her.
“Not good,” she rasped, her voice brittle.
“We got the result of the bloodwork from this morning. Still no improvement.” The man’s face softened. “Truth is, it’s not looking good at all.”
They had asked him not to sugarcoat things, but Curtis wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way the doctor was relaying his concerns. Especially not directly to Lorrie.
“I don’t understand,” Curtis barked. “Why the hell can’t you find what’s causing this?”
Lorrie’s hand landed on his, her way of pulling him back from the ledge. The doctor seemed to understand, because he didn’t take offense to Curtis’s outburst. Instead, he set the chart down on the table beside him and leaned against the wall.
“I’d like for you to walk me through exactly what happened since”—he briefly glanced at the chart—“Dr. Willow removed the kidney stone.”
“We’ve been over this already,” Curtis stated, his frustration growing stronger.
“I understand that,” the doctor confirmed. “But I’m hoping if we go over it again, maybe I’ll pick up something that I missed before.”
Curtis started to answer, but Lorrie beat him to it.
“Dr. Willow said it was a normal procedure,” she explained. “They blasted the stone, removed it, sent me home with a Foley catheter and a stent in my bladder. Two weeks later, I went in and they removed that, and they sent me home with a clean bill of health. Curtis took me to dinner, and two days later I’m here.”
That was the exact same story they’d told repeatedly to everyone who asked.
“He didn’t say anything else? Nothing he was worried about?”
Curtis wondered why the doctor didn’t bother to call Dr. Willow and get the scoop for himself. Or maybe he had and that was the problem. There were no more details to the story. “That’s it,” Curtis acknowledged. “But you said it’s not her kidney, right?”
“It’s not her kidney,” he confirmed, his face once again masked. “What about after that? What did you eat? Did you go anywhere?”
Curtis looked down to see that Lorrie had once again drifted off. She’d been so out of it lately, both from the drugs and the infection brutalizing her body.
Curtis sighed. “When she felt better, we went to eat at the same place we’ve been eatin’ for forty years. She wanted to spend a little time with the horses, but we didn’t stay long.” He glanced down at her once again. “Other than that, pretty routine. We stayed at the house, and then the next thing I know, she’s pukin’ her guts up askin’ to go to the hospital.”
“Join me outside,” the doctor said to Curtis, nodding toward the hallway.
Curtis didn’t want to join him outside, but he forced his feet to move.
The doctor closed the sliding glass door and turned to face him. “Mr. Walker, you asked me not to sugarcoat it, so I’m not going to. We’ve tried everything we know to try, and nothing’s working. Her white blood cell count continues to concern me. Because we can’t pinpoint it, we’ve been trying new things every day based on the blood work results. As you can see, nothing is helping.” The doctor glanced into the room briefly, then met Curtis’s gaze again. “And now there are other issues.”
“What sort of issues?” Curtis felt a little dizzy.
“Her kidneys aren’t functioning properly. They have significantly reduced function, and basically, her organs are all starting to slow, which indicates that the infection is winning. Sepsis will slowly tackle every organ and reduce how they function until her vitals become unmanageable.”
“What does that mean?” He reached for the desk, trying to keep himself upright.
The doctor nodded down the hall. “Is the family still here? I think it might be best if I talk to everyone at once.”
Curtis nodded, then somehow managed to follow the doctor down the hall and to the waiting room. For the past few days, the boys had been spending most of their time there, sleeping in the waiting room until they were allowed to come back. Everyone was getting more and more worried, not wanting to be far if something happened. Curtis couldn’t blame them, though he had continued to hold out hope.
The doctor had just sucked all the hope right out of him with those few words.
When they stepped out into the waiting room, it was full of people. Probably ninety-eight percent of them Curtis’s family. Even Gerald and his wife had come down from El Paso, wanting to be there for Lorrie and helping out with Curtis’s grandkids so his children could be there.
Travis was the first on his feet, with Gage right beside him, both men moving toward Curtis. “What’s goin’ on, Pop?”
Curtis shook his head, then allowed the doctor to repeat the same thing he’d just told him, going into more detail about the deteriorating organ function. It sounded bad, really bad. As though the doctor himself was beginning to think that Lorrie could very well take a turn for the worse.
“What’re you sayin’?” Zane asked, his voice harder than Curtis had ever heard it.
“I’m saying the prognosis isn’t good. At this point, Lorrie’s going to continue to deteriorate, and likely her organs will begin shutting down. From there, we’ll only be able to make her comfortable until…” The doctor took a deep breath. “Basically, we need to prepare ourselves because we are losing this battle.”
Curtis’s legs went out from under him and the world began to spin.
“Dad!” Travis yelled at the same time Curtis felt strong arms grab him.
Travis and Kaleb lowered him into a chair, but Curtis hardly noticed. He’d gone completely numb. He heard voices continue to speak as the boys fired off questions, voices rising, emotions beginning to be set loose.
This couldn’t be happening.
It couldn’t.
Curtis wouldn’t know what to do without her.
And with that thought, he started to cry and he couldn’t stop.
This couldn’t be happening. No way could this actually be happening.
Zoey couldn’t hold back the tears, but she wasn’t the only one. When Curtis broke down, the room suddenly went silent, other than the horrific sound of his broken sobs. Travis and Gerald took the doctor out into the hall and were talking to him, while everyone else in the room was either in tears or damn close.
“Come here, baby,” Kaleb said, his voice low and gentle.
He wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him back, tighter than ever.
This couldn’t be happening. Lorrie was the foundation of this entire family. It was her love that kept things running smoothly. It was her voice of reason, her kind heart, and yes, even her stern side when things weren’t being managed appropriately that kept this huge, wonderful family together.
What would they do without her?
Curtis’s devastating sobs grew louder and Zoey managed to release Kaleb. “Go to your dad. Please. He needs y’all right now.”
Kaleb nodded, tears in his eyes.
As she stood back, she watched as all seven of Curtis’s sons as well as Beau, Gage, and Jared rallied around him, trying to keep him together while he fell apart. His desperate pleas to God broke her heart.
V, Kylie, Jessie, Kennedy, and Cheyenne came over, and the six of them clung to one another while they stood and watched the most horrific scene as the Walker men crumbled.
This couldn’t be happening. Something had to be done. Someone had to figure out how to fix this, because these men—these proud, strong, stoic men—would never be the same if something happened to Lorrie.
Hell, none of them would.