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  “Maybe they did call, and you were asleep,” Wyatt rationalized. “And if she just came out of surgery, they might not have had anyone free to come up and check on you. It is two in the morning, after all.”

  The elevator arrived on the third floor, and Wes dashed out of the door over to the nearby desk.

  “I’m looking for Kristin Arthur’s room,” Wes told the nurse anxiously. He looked at the tag hanging on the lanyard around her neck to see it was Maura.

  “Are you family?” she asked politely.

  “Yes, I mean… she’s the mother of our child and my fiancée, that’s enough, right?” Wes said excitedly and with little patience.

  “Easy, son,” Wyatt said to him, putting his steady hand on Wes’ shoulder.

  “I’m… I’m sorry,” Wes told the nurse as she looked on. “it’s been a long, stressful night.”

  “it’s okay,” Maura told him with a comforting smile. “She’s in 12A. She’s probably resting, and maybe still a bit out of it from the anesthesia. I think Dr. Morales is still here. I’ll buzz him and see if he can come down.”

  “Thank you,” Wyatt told Maura as Wes was already off looking for the correct room.

  Wes marched down the hall as quietly as he could until he reached Kristin’s room. He pushed the door open gently and saw Kristin in the bed closest to the door, eyes closed. Machines were beeping all around her, and she was on oxygen, which made Wes worry. He peeked around the curtain, separating the room and saw there was no one else in the room with Kristin. Wes pulled over one of the cushioned wood chairs in the room so he could sit next to Kristin. He took her right hand in his, being careful not to jostle her or where she was hooked to an IV.

  Kristin barely stirred when Wes held her hand, but she did grip his hand, recognizing his touch. Wes brought their mingled hands up to his lips and kissed her hand. He sat watching Kristin for a few minutes, holding her, and saw that her breathing and heart rate relaxed and became steady and calm.

  “Wes,” Wyatt whispered from the doorway. Wes turned to see his father partially lit from the hall light.

  “The doctor is out here to meet with you.”

  Wes placed Kristin’s hand down on the bed and rose from his chair. He moved quickly and quietly, trying to avoid squeaking his sneakers on the floor. He closed the door, just leaving it open a crack, and walked back over to the nurses’ station where he saw his father standing with another man.

  Dr. Raul Morales was engaged with Wyatt, talking about horses, when Wes came up. Wes stood a full six inches taller than the doctor. Dr. Morales was in his forties, his dark hair tightly and neatly cut. He gave a firm handshake to Wes as the two men introduced themselves to each other.

  “How is she?” were the anxious words that shot from Wes’ mouth.

  “She came through the surgery well considering how complicated it was,” Dr. Morales said. He looked down at his notes and information on the tablet he held before him.

  “A section of her intestines had moved behind the hernia and was losing blood supply. Luckily, we caught it when we did so we could repair it. The surgery was more detailed than we thought it might be. We had to do open surgery instead of laparoscopic, and there was untangling to do to straighten everything out and then deal with the hernia, but we took care of it all. She’s going to be sore for a while, sorer than she was from the c-section. It might lay her up for another 4 or 6 weeks while she recovers, and she certainly shouldn’t be lifting anything heavy, including the baby, for a bit. We’re going to want to keep her here for a few days just to watch her and make sure she’s doing alright, and we’ll get her up and walking so she can move around a little.”

  Wes processed the information, all while peering at the door to Kristin’s room. No matter what the doctor said, he still harbored concerns about how she would be right now and in the coming days. She looked weak in the hospital bed, nothing like the strong woman Wes loved and saw every day.

  “Do you have any questions, Mr. Martin?” Dr. Morales offered. The doctor’s question broke the trance Wes fell into.

  “No… no, I think that’s it for now,” Wes replied as he turned to face Dr. Morales. “Thank you for everything.”

  “I’ll be back later in the day to check in on her, but the doctor on duty starting at seven will probably come in and check on her this morning. I know that’s only a few hours away, but maybe you want to go home and get a bit of rest before you come back.”

  “Is it alright if I just stay here with her?” Wes didn’t want to leave Kristin’s side, not with her in the state she was in.

  “Well, we don’t normally let people spend the night in the rooms like that,” Dr. Morales told him.

  “Please, I don’t want her to wake up and be alone like that. I’ll be glad to pay to move her to a private room if that’s what is needed. Or I can just stay in one of the chairs in the room.”

  Dr. Morales knew by the look on Wes’ face that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “I’d prefer not to move her around right now. Since there isn’t anyone else in the room at the moment, I don’t think it will be a problem. I’ll let the nurses know you will be here.”

  “Thank you,” Wes said gratefully as he turned to walk back to Kristin’s room to be at her side.

  Dr. Morales quietly excused himself, shaking Wyatt’s hand as he left.

  Wyatt placed his hand on Wes’ shoulder.

  “I’m going to head back home unless you want me to stay with you,” Wyatt told him.

  “No, go home and get some rest, Dad,” Wes answered quietly. “Thanks for coming down and helping out.”

  “No big deal. Do you need me to bring anything over for you or Kris?”

  “No, I’ll wait on that for now until we see how long she is going to be here. Can you go check on Izzy and Molly? I don’t want Izzy to worry too much.”

  “I already took care of it. Before I came here, I brought the girls down to our house to stay with your mother. It gave Izzy an extra set of hands with Molly and gives me someone to watch out for your Mom,” Wyatt told his son.

  “Always a step ahead, Dad,” Wes remarked.

  “I try to be. Get some rest if you can, Wes. I’ll call you later and see how things are going.”

  Wyatt placed his Stetson back on his head and ambled down the hallway, leaving Wes alone to be with Kristin. All Wes heard was the beeping of the machines and Kristin’s soft breaths when he reentered the room.

  Maura walked in just as Wes sat, carrying a blanket and pillow and stopped to face Wes.

  “These might help you feel a bit more comfortable,” she whispered. “I know that the chair isn’t much, and it’s not great for getting any rest.”

  Wes took the blue blanket and pillow and smiled at the nurse.

  “Thanks so much,” Wes told her as he put the pillow behind his head, so he didn’t have to lean against the wall.

  “No trouble at all. We’ll be in to check on her periodically, and I’m here until 7 AM if you need anything else. Don’t worry, Mr. Martin. She’s in good hands, and she’s doing great.”

  Maura left the room, closing the door, but leaving it just ajar so a small slit of light came through.

  Wes glanced at Kristin as she slept, then turned his eyes up towards the ceiling as his head pushed back into the pillow.

  “Thank You,” he said softly as he gazed up before closing his eyes. As much as Wes wanted to get some rest, he knew it wasn’t likely to come.

  6

  Kristin’s eyes fluttered open, and she spied a nurse changing one of the IV bags that hung from the pole next to her bed. She felt like she had been asleep for a week, and the temptation was great just to close her eyes again and doze off, but Kristin fought it as she tried to clear her head a bit and figure out what was going on.

  “Hey there,” the female nurse said to her with a big smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I got hit by a car,” Kristin rasped, her throat feeling
parched.

  “You had a long surgery, but everything looks good so far. The doctor will be in soon to check on you and talk to you. How’s your pain on a scale of one to ten?”

  Kristin didn’t need to think too long about it. The moment she had tried to sit up, she felt a stabbing pain in her side where what she assumed the incision was from the surgery.

  “When I do that, about a seven,” she winced.

  “I just switched your pain meds, so you should get some relief in a bit. I know it sounds harsh, but you may not want to move around too much just yet, though at some point today, we are going to get you out of bed and try to walk you around a bit.”

  Kristin let out a small cough and felt the searing pain in her side again. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

  “Coughing and laughing will hurt, too,” the nurse told her, “until things start to heal a bit more. Let me get you some water and see if the doctor will be here. Maybe we can get you something for breakfast too.”

  The nurse scurried out of the room. Kristin watched the woman leave, and then her gaze fell on Wes. Wes was contorted in the small chair beside the bed. The pillow wedged between his head and the wall while his feet stretched out far in front of him.

  “Wes,” Kristin croaked. She tried her best to clear her throat without bringing on another cough that might cause pain.

  Wes stirred and awakened. He stretched his arms high above his head, yawned, and moved his neck from side to side, so it cracked the kinks out. When he spied Kristin looking at him, he bolted upright and then got out of his chair.

  “Kris!” he exclaimed as he took her head and bent down to kiss her. He gave a gentle kiss on her lips, and both could feel the cracked, chapped skin that had formed.

  Wes ran his hand through her blonde hair as he watched her crack a smile.

  “How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

  “The nurse just went to get me some water,” Kristin said. Her voice continued to crackle. “I’m pretty sore. Exactly what happened?”

  “The surgery was more challenging than originally thought,” a woman in her lab coat remarked as she entered the room. The nurse followed right behind her, holding a small pink container of ice water.

  “I’m Dr. Kingery,” the woman stated, “the doctor on duty this morning. Dr. Morales, who performed the surgery, will be by later today to check on you, but for now, I just want to see how you are doing.”

  Dr. Kingery slid over to the left side of the hospital bed, nudging Wes away so she could get closer to Kristin and where the surgical incision was made on Kristin’s body. Dr. Kingery pulled down the blanket covering Kristin and lifted the thin hospital gown to reveal the area covered in bandages.

  “They tried to go in where your C-section scar was, but they may have extended it just a bit,” Dr. Kingery said as she examined the area. Wes peeked over the doctor’s shoulder and could see the elongated scar that resided on Kristin’s red and tender flesh.

  “It looks clean, but we’ll change the dressing on it now. I’m sure it’s still sensitive to you, so you’ll need to be careful. Rest up this morning, and Dr. Morales will check it this afternoon. Maybe then we can get you out of bed and try walking around a bit.”

  “Walking already?” Kristin said. Her voice felt better after taking a long sip of cold water.

  “Yep, we need to make sure you can move around, and we don’t want any blood clots or issues, so we get you going right away. The faster you can do things, the faster we can get you home,” Dr. Kingery told her as she pulled Kristin’s gown back into place.

  The doctor left after making a few notes, leaving Wes and Kristin alone in the room.

  “How’s Molly?” were the first words from Kristin upon everyone else leaving.

  “She’s fine,” Wes reassured her. “Izzy had her last night, and then my Dad brought the two of them down to my parents’ house, so Mom was there to help out if they needed it. I’ll give Izzy a call and make sure everything is okay, but I’m sure they are fine.”

  “Are you sure your Mom can handle it? She’s got enough of her own stuff to do. And what about Izzy and school? You’ll have to be home with the baby…”

  “Kris, relax,” Wes told her. He pulled his chair across the linoleum floor so he could sit closer to Kristin.

  “It’s Saturday. Izzy doesn’t have school until Monday, and I’m sure we can work everything out, so we have coverage. Besides, it sounds like the doctor is going to try to have you out of here by Monday anyway. You need to concentrate on feeling better. I can take care of Molly, Izzy, the house, and whatever else needs to get done. Trust me; there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Kristin leaned back into her pillow and then pressed her finger on the control for the bed so she could sit up more. As she sat up straight, she felt a tug around the incision for the surgery.

  “How the hell did I get a hernia?” she wondered aloud. “I’ve felt fine since Molly’s birth. I didn’t notice any bulges or anything. It was just all of a sudden, and I was down on the floor.”

  “I know,” Wes consoled. “It was scary. From what the doctors have said, hernias aren’t uncommon after a C-section, and you don’t always have symptoms right away. Yours was just more complicated. It’s a good thing they caught it when they did so they could repair it. Now you’ll just be laid up for a while.”

  “How long did they say to you?” Kristin asked worriedly.

  Wes sat back in the chair and saw the concern on Kristin’s face.

  “Dr. Morales said it could be six weeks, maybe more. It depends on how it heals.”

  “Six weeks?” Kristin exclaimed. “Wes, I can’t go six weeks without picking up Molly. I’ll go crazy.”

  “Kris, you don’t really have much of a choice. You don’t want to rupture anything and make it worse and end up with bigger problems. This was scary enough. We’ll do whatever we need to so we can be sure you’re healthy and safe.”

  Kristin rubbed her temples as she contemplated what the immediate future might hold. She had just started to get into a comfort zone of motherhood and its routines. She was even doing a little bit of work for the library as well, and now it all was thrown into a tumult.

  The morning nurse appeared holding a tray and came over to Kristin.

  “Dr. Kingery said you could have some breakfast, so I brought you a choice of things,” the young lady said. “I know it’s not much, but there’s some yogurt, some scrambled eggs, juice, and I can get you tea if you want. Soft foods for breakfast, so we can see how you do.”

  “Thank you…” Kristin offered, pulling the tray closer to her and then glancing at the dry erase board so she could see that the nurse’s name was Gloria.

  “Thanks, Gloria,” she said, suddenly feeling hungry and popping open the yogurt.

  “If you’re hungry, Mr. Martin, the cafeteria is open,” Gloria mentioned as she checked all the readings on the equipment.

  “No, I’m fine,” Wes insisted.

  “You should get something to eat, Wes,” Kristin said to him in between spoonfuls of blueberry yogurt. “Besides, you’ve been crunched in that chair all night. Stretching your legs might not be a bad idea.”

  Wes nodded and rose from the chair, feeling a familiar ache in his left knee.

  “Okay, I won’t be long,” Wes told Kristin. “I’ll grab something and give Izzy a call to see how they are doing.”

  Wes bent down and gave Kristin a light kiss on the lips, tasting the last of the yogurt Kristin had polished off. Wes reached into his pocket and pulled out Kristin’s cellphone and left it with her.

  “If you need anything or want me, just call. I’ll be right back.”

  Wes walked out of the room, leaving Kristin alone with Gloria.

  “If you don’t mind me saying so, you’ve got a good man there,” Gloria said with a smile. “There aren’t many guys that would have stayed up for hours and then slept like a pretzel to be with their partners.”

  “He is
a good man,” Kristin announced proudly as she picked up the spork to use for her eggs.

  “And he’s easy on the eyes, too,” Gloria said with a chuckle.

  “That he is, Gloria. That he is,” Kristin answered with a stifled laugh.

  ****

  Wes took the elevator down to the first floor and followed the directions for the cafeteria. Hunger wasn’t foremost on his mind, and after looking at what was offered for breakfast, he left right away and walked over to the kiosk down the hall and instead got a cup of coffee. He sat at one of the empty high-top tables nearby, pulled out his cell phone, and pressed the number for Izzy’s phone.

  The phone rang several times before Izzy answered with a sleepy hello.