Page 76 (1/1)
But he feared the appearance of hospital personnel even as he waited, on edge, for someone to come Because if they told him the worst, his heart and soul would die in that moment
Exhaustion and worry had taken its toll on hi forward to bury his face in his hands He had to hold it together If he broke, if he let even the first wave of eet the better of hiil, mind numb, sorrorapped solidly around his battered heart and soul
StillWade’s sanity together grew thinner No one had o to the bathrooleman in scrubs appeared in the doorway, exhaustion pronounced in his eyes When he called for those here for Eliza Cule other occupant of the roo by the others so he stood squarely in front of the surgeon
"Tell ery," the doctor said, though there was no real joy or relief in his statement "I have no idea how the hell she ave her less than a five percent chance of surviving the first hour But she hung on, refusing to give up"
"Can I see her?" Wade asked hoarsely, afraid to feel hope
"She isn’t out of the woods yet," the doctor said griive you false hope She could still die Her condition is critical and she’s on life support As soon as she’s out of recovery, she’ll be moved to ICU You can see her then We’ll just have to take it day by day, but for now, she’s alive"
No Surely he wouldn’t be given such hope only to have it snatched from him in the cruelest way possible His heart pounded and he felt light-headed as relief poured over hiery No way she’d go down after surviving the worst All she had to do noas recover Get better And he’d ensure she did exactly that He wouldn’t leave her side
"I’ll have soet you when she’s beenhis leave
Wade took several steps back and then nu He closed his eyes and sed visibly, knowing that when he did see Eliza, it wouldn’t be good But he had to be as strong for her as she’d been for hiest days of Wade’s life, he kept vigil in the ICU, never leaving Eliza’s bedside The nurses had tried toin and told the dead body would he leave her There had been a tense standoff until the charge nurse had intervened, taken one long, hard look at Wade and then had told the other nurses to let hi it It didn’ther hand, talking to her He slept for short intervals, awakening to once e her, bully her, demand that she wake up
Her teaular intervals The nurses had already allowed one breach of the rules Allowing more than two people in Eliza’s room at the same time here they put their foot down solidly Wade hadn’t cared about that either As long as he ith her, he didn’t care who else got to see her
On the fifth day, Wade had dozed off, leaned over the rail of her bed, his fingers wrapped around hers when he akened by a slanced down, unable to determine whether he’d dreamed it or if she had really ain Just one tiny clench of her fingers around his Almost as if to let hi anywhere
Excitedly he leaned forward, talking urgently to her, telling her he was here, that she was okay and he begged her to open her eyes He begged for half an hour when, finally, he saw it The slightestto open her eyes
Suddenly re the tube down her throat and the fact that if she came around, she’d likely panic, he quickly pushed the button for the nurse with his free hand, all the while continuing his steady encourage sharply at Wade
"She’s co her hand for the last half hour and I just saw her eyelids twitch She’s co into action and soon the room was filled with other medical personnel as they prepared to extubate her An ICU doctor stood by, prepared to re-intubate her if she was unable to breathe on her own Through it all, Wade continued to reued with hi his breath when the tube had been reh the tense seconds following as they waited to see if she would breathe on her own
Her vitals were checked every minute and then finally, the most beautiful words he’d ever heard ca She should wake soon"
Wade’s knees buckled and nearly gave out He gripped the railing with his free hand and stood there shaking, tears swi in his eyes Then he leaned over to kiss her forehead and whispered against her skin
"Co to be just fine Open your eyes and look at ain he saw her eyelids twitch and her eyes ht his breath when he saw the first tiny gliently "You can do this, Eliza Wake up, baby Wake up so I can tell you howto spend the rest ofcare of you"
Her eyelids fluttered and then blinked, her gaze slowly tracking upward to his face Then they renition and awareness
"Hi," she whispered hoarsely, nearly inaudible
It was too er Tears streamed down his cheeks as he pressed his forehead to hers, holding on to her hand while she held on to his