Page 102 of Fighting Jacob

She talks fondly of her husband, so I’m somewhat surprised she’s no longer wearing them.

“I thought it was time to remove them.” Her face pales when her attempt to spin her missing engagement ring around her finger is thwarted by an empty hand. “My husband died last year. He had thyroid cancer. We tried every treatment recommended by his doctors, but nothing worked. I became his nurse in the last few months. The pain of watching the man I love fade into a man I no longer recognized was harder than I ever anticipated. Noah is my first patient since his death.”

Tears well in her eyes when she shifts them back to Noah. “I forgot how hard this was. I thought it wouldn’t bother me as much because the person in a coma was a stranger.” Tears splash down her cheeks when she shakes her head. “I was wrong. This is just as painful. I may not know Noah, but I understand his pain.” She grips Noah’s hand before lowering her lips to his ear. “Be the man Emily wants you to be. Fight for her; make yourself the man she has always wanted.”

When I draw her to my chest, her tears soak my shirt. Unfortunately, her devastation doesn’t lower the volume of her next confession. “I’m so sorry about the baby. No one should lose a child. Not even one who isn’t born yet—”

Dr. Miller's second sentence is interrupted by Noah's heart rate triggering an alarm, a horn blaring down the corridor to advise there’s a code blue in Room 34. As Dr. Miller races to hit a big red button above Noah's bed, I move to his bedside. His eyes are rapidly moving under his eyelids, and his fists are clenched.

“We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to hinder your recovery.” When my confession coincides with Noah’s heart rate monitor announcing he’s flatlining, my anger gets the better of me. “You said he could hear us, so why the fuck would you say that?! This is your fault. If he dies, it’s on your shoulders."

My angry outburst startles Dr. Miller so much, she mouths a silent apology before running out of the room. I feel terrible for what I said, but my focus has to remain on Noah. I told Emily he’d be fine. This isn’t fine.

“Hold on; help is coming. I need you to fight, Noah. You have to fight.”

As nurses frantically gather supplies, Emily arrives out of nowhere to grab Noah’s other hand. I’ve barely gotten over the shock of her sudden arrival when a doctor in scrubs yanks on my shoulder. “Move back.”

When I step back, she drops down Noah’s bed so it lies flat before she requests for Emily to move so they can wheel a defibrillator close to Noah’s bed. I jump into action before she can voice the denial I see in her eyes.

“Noah!” She thrashes and kicks against my hold when I drag her away from him. “Please, Noah, fight!”

“Charge. Fully charged. Stand back. Clear!”

When they zap Noah with the defibrillator, I close my eyes. The image of his back bending as he’s zapped with a massive bolt of electricity is too much for me to bear. This is bullshit. He just started living again, so why the fuck is his life being cut so short? He deserves more than two years of happiness after the many years of grief he endured.

“Still no cardiac output.”

“Charge again.”

This shock is enough to buckle Emily’s knees. I barely catch her before she tumbles to the floor. After pulling her close to my chest, I beg and beg and beg for Noah to be given another chance, for God not to be so fucking cruel. I even promise never to do anything remotely illegal again if I can just hear the faintest beep on Noah's heart monitor.

Twenty seconds later, when I’m on the brink of cracking, the beep I’ve been praying for pulsates through my ears.

It’s followed by another.

And another.

And another until I feel confident enough to open my eyes.

I see a face I wasn’t expecting to see. It isn’t the weeping face of Emily. It’s Noah’s doctor, Dr. Fitzpatrick. He looks as bewildered as me.

“What happened?”

He shrugs. “I have no clue. Patients usually go into cardiac arrest before they’re comatose, not after.” He lowers his eyes to Emily. “I'll have a cardiac specialist come check on him. He’ll assess if the lack of oxygen caused any damage to his brain, but I doubt that has occurred. Going into sudden arrest here significantly lowered the chances of his brain being without oxygen long enough to cause permanent damage.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Nodding, Dr. Fitzpatrick makes his way back to Noah’s bedside.

“He just scared the fucking shit out of me.”

Emily tightens her grip around my waist before murmuring, “Me too.”

Chapter Fifty

Jacob

I spot Lola the instant she enters the room. It wouldn’t have mattered how crowded it is, I’d locate her no matter what. She’s too breathtaking to miss. I called her after Noah went into cardiac arrest, and she promised she'd come straight to the hospital. Although that was forty minutes ago, the trip from Erkinsvale to Ravenshoe is a bitch at this time of the day. Commuter traffic is at its peak, and don't get me started on the increase in tourists since news of Noah's hospital admission was broadcast across the country. Fans line the sidewalks of the hospital as far as the eye can see.

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