Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
My head hung and I noticed that I was kneeling in another pool of blood. Now I was wearing Cheyenne’s and Sam’s blood on my clothes. I pulled myself together and stood. Everyone was standing around like they weren’t quite sure what the hell to do. I turned to Max who had his hands clasped above his head a look of shock on his face.
“I’m going to go with her. Keep me updated.” I said to him.
He nodded that he understood, and I took off in the direction that they had taken her. The floor we were on was the emergency surgery floor, and they had taken her back to the only open operating room that was available according to the nurses that were left at the nurse’s station. She led me around the corner parked me right outside the operating room door.
“Wait here.” She said. “I need to see if you are allowed to go in.”
I leaned against the opposite wall of the door and hung my head.
The saying you never know what you have until its gone started running through my head. Cheyenne was such a great sister. She was annoying at times, but I loved her.
I remembered walking her down the aisle at her wedding. It meant the world to me that she let me do that she asked me to. I would have given anything to have our father there to do it like it was supposed to be done, but when she asked me something in my battered heart mended.
I arranged to have the father-daughter dance with her. Sam’s mom set it up with the DJ to play I Loved Her First by Heartland. Cheyenne was leaning against Sam at the end of the bar talking to our old CO. I walked up to Cheyenne and asked her to dance with me. She smiled and walked onto the dance floor with me, and I gave the DJ a nod. Cheyenne gave me a small watery smile when she heard the lyrics, but it wasn’t until the chorus that she really let go.
But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first
When the word father was about to be sung, I whispered into her ear brother instead. By the end of the song there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The next song was also another slow song, but I stopped and took her face into my hands.
“I love you, Chey Chey. I am so happy for you. You are one of the most amazing women on this earth, and Sam is lucky to have you.” I said to her, and then kissed her forehead.
I smiled for the first time since this whole incident started earlier this evening.
I took a look around and noticed the curtained off area across the open area that had one patient being monitored, I assumed from just having surgery. I was just turning around when the door to the right of Cheyenne’s door swished open and Sam emerged on a hospital bed. I walked up to him and saw that he had a breathing tube down his throat, one IV coming out each arm. He had a gauze pad covering the bullet wound. His color was definitely a lot better than the last time I saw him.
I flashed back to when Malcolm had pointed that gun at him. He was just standing there waiting for the inevitable to happen. Malcolm had pulled away from the medic far enough that I could get a clear shot, so I took it. I was too late though. He’d gotten one shot off a split second before I’d gotten mine off.
I turned hoping that Sam would still be standing, but he wasn’t. I ran over to him. Max, Gabe and Jack beat me there by a few seconds. Gabe had his fingers poking into the gaping wound that the bullet had ripped through his collar bone. Sam’s blood was spreading out in an ever increasing puddle on the floor, and I prayed harder than I had ever prayed before.
Seeing him now gave me a little life back. I let out a relieved breath. The nurse that was wheeling him out saw me, and smiled.
“He is doing well. He was nearly awake when we started wheeling him out, he should be awake soon.” She said.
“Where are you taking him?” I asked her.
“Just over there, recovery. He should be there for around an hour or two just to make sure he won’t need any more emergency surgery. Once he is nice and stable, then we will take him up to the third floor. He won’t need the ICU, so he will be in the main recovery wing.” She answered.
“His wife is in here.” I gestured to the other OR with my head. “Can you let him know when he wakes up? He will want to know.” The nurse nodded, looking concerned.
The other nurse that went in to check to see if I could go in with Cheyenne came back out and walked up to me. She gave me a sad smile and my stomach dropped.
“The doctor doesn’t think it’s a good idea for you to come in. She isn’t doing so well; they were just about to take the babies out when I went in there. If they are doing well, then they will bring them out for you to see them, and then take them to the nursery to get checked over.” She said,
“Can you go in there and tell her that her husband made it out of surgery fine?” I asked her.
She nodded and went back in.
So I waited.
It wasn’t but ten minutes, but it felt like a lifetime waiting for more news. I glanced over at Sam to see a nurse talking to him at one point, and it looked like he was moving his hand, so I assumed he was awake. I turned back to the door of OR-3 and watched it until the nurse emerged with two wailing babies in a clear plastic box that was pushed on top of a metal cart.