Page 42 of A Burning Rage

“My kids are safe. Right now, my place is here. I won’t leave Shane until I know he’s out of danger.”

“All right,” he says, sounding more than a little reluctant. “I won’t be gone long. Text me if you need me. I’ll come straight back.”

I nod, already turning my attention back to my husband. “Thank you, Cooper.”

I can’t help touching Shane… running my hand gently along his arm, tracing the veins on the back of his right hand, brushing his hair gently.

“I’m here, Shane.” I rise up so I can kiss his forehead. “I’m right here.”

I sit at his bedside, my eyes glued to the rise and fall of his chest. I’m not sure how much time has passed, maybe an hour, when a shrill alarm goes off. I jump as my heart skyrockets up into my throat.

I jump to my feet just as a nurse rushes into the room. She checks one of the machines and presses a call button.

“What’s wrong?” I say, my voice shaking as my pulse pounds.

The alarm continues to blare loudly, sending warning bells through me.

The nurse spares me a quick glance. “His blood pressure is dropping.”

“What does that mean?”

Dr. Markowski rushes into the room. She pulls the sheet down his torso and gently palpates his abdomen. “Prep him for surgery,” she says to the nurse. “He’s still bleeding internally,” she says to me. “We’ll have to go back in.” The woman doesn’t even look at me as she says, “I’m sorry, Mrs. McIntyre, but I’m going to have to ask you to return to the waiting room.”

I have no choice but to leave Shane’s room. A member of the medical staff directs me back to the waiting room, where I find our family members seated together as they wait for news.

My brother shoots to his feet the moment he spots me, no doubt fearing the worst because I’m crying. “Beth?”

I swallow against a painful knot. “They’re taking him back to surgery. He’s still bleeding internally.”

Tyler comes to me and wraps his arms around me. “Sit down before you fall down,” he says, rubbing my back. “It’s going to be okay.”

Everyone keeps saying that, but the truth is, Tyler doesn’t know for sure. No one knows what the outcome will be. The fact that he’s going in for a second operation doesn’t bode well.

Cooper walks through the automatic doors and into the waiting room carrying a small overnight bag. He’s surprised to find me here. “What’s happened?”

“He’s back in surgery. His blood pressure started dropping. They think there’s more internal bleeding. I guess they missed something the first time.”

After dropping down into the chair across from me, Cooper mutters fuck as he scrubs his hands over his face. “He’s already lost so much blood.”

A few more hours of painful waiting pass before a nurse comes out to tell us he’s out of surgery and back in recovery.

* * *

Once I’m back at Shane’s bedside, I quickly lose track of time. Nurses come and go frequently, assessing Shane, checking his bandages, emptying his catheter bag. Occasionally one of them will put a fresh IV bag on the pole.

“Is that the sedative?” I ask one of the nurses, a young man with light brown skin and black hair.

“Yes,” he says.

“How long will he be sedated?”

The young man shrugs. “I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that right now. That’s for his physician to determine.”

I stroke the back of Shane’s right hand. After the nurse leaves, I resume talking to him. I’ve been talking to him the whole time, hoping he can hear my voice, or at least register the fact I’m here.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” I murmur again and again. “I’m not leaving you.” My throat threatens to close up on me again. “Please, Shane. I need you to be strong for me. For Luke and Ava, too.”

I can see outside the window that the sun has set long ago. It’s late. My heart aches when I think of Luke and Ava, confused because we didn’t come home. I just hope they didn’t have too much trouble falling asleep.