Chapter 17

Shut up and take my kidney.

-Reed under the influence of anesthesia

Reed

Day 1

"Is she done?"

I didn't ask it to anyone in particular. My brothers. One of them. I was fairly sure my mother wasn't there. So, no need to ask her.

"No."

"Did it go all right?"

"Yours or hers?"

Why the hell would I care about mine?

"Hers."

"Still in surgery, bro." I think it was Baylor who said it. "I'll wake you when it's done."

***

Day 2

"Is she okay?"

I couldn't find the strength to open my eyes. I couldn't lift my hand, either.

"She's fine," a feminine voice said. "She made it through surgery. Hennessy is sitting with her right now. She hasn't woken though."

Hannah, Travis's wife.

"When she wakes, let me know," I ordered.

"What about her kidney function?"

Hannah's laughter followed me into sleep.

***

Day 3

My eyes opened, and for the first time I felt like keeping them open.

I looked around the room and found it empty.

My heart lurched.

I pressed the call button at my bedside, heart hammering, and waited.

It didn't take long for a nurse to arrive.

The minute she saw me, awake and alert, she smiled.

"Your family said if you woke up and they still weren't here, that I was to tell you she made it through surgery.

“She's not awake yet, but she's showing signs when stimulated. And both kidney and liver seem to be functioning correctly. As for you, you've been in and out. I think this is the most awake I've seen you."

I didn't care about me. I cared about her. And my babies.

Fuck.

"What about the babies?" I found myself asking cautiously.

"Both are fighting. That's where everyone is. It's visiting hours."

My belly seemed to warm from the inside out.

"Good."

I was glad they weren't alone.

"Have they gained any weight?"

What had it been now? One? Two days?

"Two days since your surgery. Three days since they were born." I must've voiced that last question aloud. Huh. "And they've both lost a little bit of weight, but they're not concerned about it yet."

That fucking sucked.

"Can I go see Kris?" I asked, feeling much more awake now.

The nurse smiled. "The doctor said you were going to ask that. And yes, as long as you don't overdo it, we can do that."

“What happened with me?” I asked as I slowly made to sit up.

The nurse came to my side and waited, allowing me to make the moves without help, and I appreciated it.

“You had a reaction to the anesthesia,” she answered, backing up when I finally swung my legs over the side of the bed. “They were a little worried at first due to your initial response but you seemed to rally well.”

“My initial response?”

She looked at me funny.

“They discussed this yesterday with you.” She paused. “Do you not remember?”

I shook my head, then took a deep breath and stood.

The pain was terrible.

In fact, on a scale of one to I’ve never felt this kind of pain before, I was at ‘I’m going to cry.’

But I stood up anyway and walked—more like shuffled—the two steps with her standing in front of me, ready to catch me if I fell.

I didn’t, thank fuck.

“Take a seat. I’ll grab your cath bag and your IV stand.”

I did, not thinking about my catheter, or anything else.

My anticipation of seeing Krisney was too strong, and overrode all my embarrassment at having to deal with the aftermath of a catheter.

“There we go,” she handed the bag to me. “As for your initial response to anesthesia—it’ll be in your chart from now on that you don’t respond well to it. You nearly died.”

I looked down, the doctor in me studying the color and amount of urine in the bag.

“Everything good with me now?”

“Urine output is perfect,” she answered. “Liver function, so far so good.”

I nodded, then hooked the bag on the arm rest and started to rearrange wires so we could move.

“I’m still in the ICU?”

She shook her head. “No. You’re a floor below.”

“Krisney?”

“Still in the ICU. If she keeps improving, and wakes up soon, though, they’ll move her,” she answered. I frowned at that, wondering how she knew all of this. “I just got off the phone with her doctor when you paged.”

I nodded, understanding her answer.

“Take me.”

She grinned.

“Two shakes,” she said. “I have to…there we go.”

She pushed the brakes off, and then swung me around, leading me at a fast pace out of my room and straight to the elevator.

I’d been in this wing before seeing a patient who’d had a stroke after she’d delivered, and it was completely different seeing it from a patient’s perspective rather than a doctor’s.

Two minutes later, but what felt like two hours, I was being pushed into a room that was similar to mine.

Only, this room had a glass wall that was so close to the nurses’ station that we might as well have been standing in it.

“I’ll leave you for a while,” the nurse said. “Twenty minutes. That’s it, okay?”

She likely shouldn’t even be doing that, but I was appreciative of her taking care of me, and allowing me the time to see the woman that held a large portion of my heart.

The moment the glass door closed, I looked over at the deathly pale woman on the bed, and shivered.

“I’m so sorry.”

I reached for her hand, but it didn’t curl around mine.

I squeezed, but she didn’t squeeze back.

***

Day 4

I took my own catheter out.

That was likely not what should’ve been done, and I’d hear about it later, but I wasn’t in the mood to be tethered to it anymore.

I could measure my own urine output, thank you very much.

Once that was taken care of, I came out of the bathroom with just a single wire attached to me, and even that was coming out once I had the proper tools—IE a fucking Band-Aid—to take care of it.

Hannah was there, watching me, when I came out.

“You want some help?”

I offered her my hand.

I didn’t know my brothers’ wives all that well. With me living in Alabama when I was home, and being in the Army and then the Reserves, I hadn’t had much time to get to know them all.

Hannah, though, was one of my favorites.

Then again, they all were, really, in their own way.

My eyes skidded to a stop when I saw Hennessy standing in the doorway.

“She’s awake.”

I didn’t wait for the damn Band-Aid.

I shuffled out of my room, and down the hall, not giving one flying fuck that my ass was partially exposed, or that I was somewhat bleeding.

Hennessy stayed at my side.

“She’s mad at you.”

I grinned.

“Is she now?”

“Apparently, she figured out that you never went and saw the babies and is now demanding that you offer her compensation.”

I would’ve laughed had I not been worried about how badly it would hurt.

“A kidney and a half a liver aren’t enough?” I teased, pressing the button for the elevator.

The nurses I passed on their way to lunch just shook their heads, knowing that they couldn’t control me.

I waved, pressed the button for the floor above ours, and waited for the doors to close.

“She’s mad about that, too.” She paused. “I think she’s just mad in general at this point.”

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. Not on the trip down the hallway. Not on the way into the room, and definitely not, when I saw Krisney’s angry eyes staring back at me.

“You.”

“Me.” I smiled wider.

She narrowed her eyes. “You promised.”

I shrugged. “I also made a promise to you a long time ago, too. I’d see them with you. I’m holding to your first promise you took from me.”

I knew it was wrong.

But with my family rotating through visiting them, as well as my own mother working there, I knew they were getting visitors.

And, they were doing extremely well.

Had they not, I would’ve gone to see them.

But I’d already broken so many promises, and this was one I couldn’t break. It just felt like, deep inside my heart, something I had to do.

“You’re such an ass.” She shook her head. “And I’m really, really not happy with you.”

***

Day 5

“You’re free to go, Mr. Hail,” the nurse said as she handed me my papers. “I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you again, though.”

I just rolled my eyes.

Then I got out and walked next door to where Krisney was just getting settled.

“Honey, I’m home,” I teased as I walked in.

Hennessy rolled her eyes.

“You’re so weird.”