26. Tara

“What’s happened to him? Did you see his head?” I looked over at John and saw how worried he was. It didn’t make me feel any calmer.

“He said he fell in the park, it’s hard to tell which one. Judging from the way he looked, it was a pretty good tumble.” John’s knuckles showed white on the steering wheel and his voice was strained but he drove calmly, carefully looking around for obstacles and other vehicles.

I decided it was best to stay quiet, let him keep his calm even if I was screaming inside. I’d seen the laceration in his head. A paper cut is a laceration, a knife wound is a laceration. Galen’s skull showing through his scalp was a laceration. How had he driven home like that?

I had my own panic clamped down somewhere inside, and it helped me stay calm. But inside my head I was in tears, worry for Galen washing over me in sickening waves. What if something had happened to him? Before I could even tell him I loved him? I’d tell him once I saw him, I promised myself.

John got us to the hospital and before I knew it, we were settled in a waiting room with squeaky clean floors and a lady dressed in white wiping down seats with sanitizing cloths. I sank into one and began the waiting room game of staring up at a television game show I cared nothing about.

We’d stared like zombies through the show, and then two more before I realized we were watching some game show channel. I suppose it keeps people quiet and calm. I couldn’t help the way my foot tapped, betraying my anxiety, or stop the way I chewed at the knuckle of my thumb. There’d been no word and it had been almost two hours!

Finally, just as the sun was starting to tinge the sky a lighter shade of black through the double doors of the emergency entrance, a doctor called my name.

John and I both stood, but he let me speak first.

“Yes, I’m Tara Elliot. How is he?” My voice betrayed my worry, and the glimmer of hope the sight of the doctor brought me.

“He’s lost some blood, his ankle is going to need surgery at some point but can wait, and that head wound.” The doctor stopped speaking and gathered his thoughts before he spoke again. “Galen has a very shallow linear skull fracture and will be in the hospital for quite a few days. We need to find out if he’s leaking spinal fluid and watch him for swelling. We have a surgeon down now, taking a look at the MRI and his x-rays, trying to decide if surgery is necessary. I don’t think so but his opinion is the one that counts.”

“Can we see him?” John asked, his voice calm and collected. He took my hand, almost absently, and I think in that moment he did it because he needed the comfort, not me.

He really did love Galen!

“You may for a few minutes but we’ve put him in the ICU, so not for long. Mrs. Elliot, talk to him. He’s unconscious at the moment, but talk to him. We’ve found that helps patients quite a lot. Do you have any other questions?”

“Is he going to be alright?” It was the only question I wanted answered.

For a moment the doctor looked uncertain, but I think he was just trying to decide how to word his response. He was a cautious man, I could see that. Probably had to be.

“Galen has been through a lot. He has lacerations to his face, his neck, his stomach, legs, and hands. I’m worried about his head wound the most, but I’m optimistic. It’s just going to take some time and we’d like to keep him here to keep an eye on him.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s not leaving this place until you say he’s a hundred percent!” That came from John and I nodded in agreement.

“Good. Follow me, please and I’ll take you to him.” The man beckoned us as he turned away.

We walked through several halls until we came to Galen’s room in a very quiet ward full of beeping and other whirring noises. The people around a desk all spoke quietly together, all obviously talking about patient care. I watched them as we walked by, confident that they would take good care of Galen.

I knew I was simply trying to distract myself from fear. The fear of what Galen was going to look like, trying to take it all in. Fractures, lacerations, something with his ankle that the doctor hadn’t even gone into detail about. Was Galen going to look like a little boy in a huge bed? How much would my heart break?

We followed the doctor in, my hand still clasped in John’s.

Galen’s head was covered in bandages, both of his eyes were back and swollen, his face was covered in scratches, and his arms were covered in gauze bandages. The only tubing I could see was an IV in his left arm, the rest of his body was covered in a blanket.

“Just speak quietly, and don’t move him around, please. I’ll be back in a few minutes, I’m just going to check on another patient while I’m here.”

John took a seat, staring at his friend with moist eyes. I took the seat on Galen’s right side, and took his hand in mine. For some reason, I was surprised to find it warm. I don’t know why I thought he’d be cold.

“Galen, we’re here, darling. John and I are here.” I waited to see if he’d open his eyes but he didn’t. “Everything is going to be alright now, baby. Everything. Even all of this stuff with Rikki. It’s all going to be okay.”

Galen didn’t move but for a moment his blood pressure went up, and that made me feel like he knew I was there. It broke my heart to see him like that, and all I wanted to do was hold him, but I was afraid to touch anything more than his hand!

John sat in his chair, his gaze locked on Galen’s face. I went quiet, not knowing what else to say, and not wanting to pour my heart out with John sitting there. The doctor came back in a few moments later.

“I’m afraid that’s long enough. Mrs. Elliot, you may stay, of course, as long as you follow the rules on the wall there. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave us to it though, sir.” The doctor didn’t look as if he liked telling John to go, but we both understood.

“I understand. He’s going to be alright, that’s all I needed to know. I’m going to get home to his little girl and do what he’d want me to do. If he needs us or anything changes, let me know. Tara, you too, honey. Just call me when you’re ready to come home. You know Amanda and I will take care of Rikki. Don’t worry yourself about that.” He gave me a quick hug, the first time he’d ever really touched me like that, and left before I could even say thank you.

I wasn’t upset, I knew he was just emotional because of Galen’s condition. I turned to the doctor and stopped him from leaving.

“How long do you think it’s going to be before he wakes up?”

“It might be a few minutes, or a few hours. He’s got some pain medicine in him now, and that might keep him out for a while. Head injuries are hard to judge, Mrs. Elliot, but try not to worry too much. He’s in good hands.” The doctor gave my shoulder a slight brush and flashed a reassuring smile.

“I think he is, thank you.” I’d read the tag on his white coat, Dr. C. N. Angel. I took it as a sign. Doctor Angel.

He left and I was alone with Galen. I remembered when my grandmother got sick, how quiet her room always was, how the ventilator would whoosh as it rose and fell, the sound of her blood pressure monitor always an irritant. I’d lost her just when I needed her most, but Galen had come along and helped to heal the hole she’d left behind. And Rikki, and Amanda.

“You’ve brought me so much, Galen. You can’t leave me now.” I know what the doctor had said, and what his words had meant. He didn’t think anything more traumatic was going to happen to Galen, but he wouldn’t rule it out either. I had to remind him what he was fighting for.

“I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you across my lawn. The sun going down behind you made it look like you were standing in a halo.” I could hear my voice shake but kept going. “You were this blond god, or maybe an archangel. I know the rumors, I’ve heard your own admissions, but to me, you were perfect and still are, Galen. I need you to make me live life. If you leave me now, I’ll go back to the old me, too disinterested in the world to know it’s even there.”

I don’t know where the words were coming from but they flowed out as I watched his face, my eyes taking in every red mark and purple bruise.

“Rikki needs you too. Now that Sarah’s confessed she lied, the whole thing is going to fall apart. I can almost understand why your in-laws wanted Rikki now. They wanted her to take Kayla’s place, I think, to fill that hole. I watched her that day you know, Kayla’s mother, at court. She was so full of pain. She doesn’t realize that you can’t take that pain away. You have to learn to live with the loss of a loved one or you’ll drown.”

I went quiet, stunned at myself. Where was all of this coming from? My heart, I decided.

“I can’t fill the hole in Rikki’s life, or yours, but I can make it better, just as you’ve both done for me. You gave me something to embrace when I was trying to live around all of the hurts in my heart.”

This time I stopped speaking because Galen shifted in the bed, and then his beautiful eyes opened. He looked at me blearily for a moment, gave a glimmer of a smile, and then shut his eyes again. I thought he’d gone back to sleep, but he spoke.

“Love you too, Tar-wah!” He said it as Rikki did, his playful voice a whisper. Tears filled my eyes and I sobbed before I stood up to kiss his cheek.

He’d gone back to sleep, real sleep this time, not the unconscious state he’d been in.

I sat back down in my chair to wait. I’d sit in it until I was fused to it if I had to, but I wasn’t leaving him. Not when he’d said he loved me.