Page 37 of Healing Home

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Did you make it through?

Yes. Finally. In with him now.

Ok, good. Tell me when he’s assigned a room.

Will do.

A woman started sobbing down the corridor and BB wondered what was going on, or if it was part of Lincoln’s team. It sounded like someone had gotten terrible news. As she listened to the woman break down, her own eyes filled with sympathetic tears, then overflowed. For just a moment, she allowed the situation to overwhelm her.

“Why are you crying?” A deep voice rasped.

Her gaze jerked to Lincoln. His eyes were slitted open and she shook her head in exasperation. “You need to go to sleep,” she said, her voice tight with tears.

“Why are you crying?” he asked again, hand tightening around hers. “You don’t have to be here. If this is too much just go.”

He tried to pull his hand away, but she didn’t let him. “Quit it, Lincoln. I just got a little overwhelmed for a minute. This is a lot to take in, you know? But I’m okay. As long as you’re okay I’ll be okay.”

He closed his eyes for a minute and she thought he’d gone back to sleep. “I’ll be okay,” he whispered. “Thank you for being here. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

BB blinked, wondering if she’d head him correctly. Then, as she thought about the pain he had to have gone through, her eyes filled with tears again and she tightened her hand on his. “Same, Link. I’m glad you made it back. Now go to sleep.”

His lips tilted up in a smile and his breathing deepened.

They moved him into a room an hour later. BB tried to stay out of the way, but she was afraid to lose sight of him just in case she had to reassert who she was to him. Maybe if she stayed with him they would just assume she was supposed to be there. She did have to step to the side when they changed the bandages on his back, but she caught a glimpse of his injuries, and it twisted her stomach to even think about it. His poor back had been shredded, cuts and scrapes going every which way. There were several that were obviously deeper, held together with sutures. She stepped closer and looked at the nurse settling him. “How many stitches did he get?”

The woman looked down at his back and shook her head. “A hundred, maybe? I’ll check the chart in a minute and see if it says exactly.”

BB watched what she did for Lincoln. All of the cuts were cleaned and the deeper ones were rebandaged, but the smaller ones were left just with a sheet draped over them. His thighs and the bottom edge of his buttocks looked the same, though his back had taken the brunt of the damage. The nurse cleaned the wounds then draped him in another sheet. Then she cleaned up her mess and gathered up his chart. “Looks like he got a hundred and thirty-seven stitches.”

The woman left the room and BB headed to her chair, feeling faint again. Damn. She cracked open a bottle of water and drank. It settled her tummy and let her think more clearly.

Mary came to the room as soon as she texted her the number. Her face looked haggard, alarming BB. “Are you okay?” She asked.

Mary shook her head and drew close enough to rest a hand on Lincoln’s arm. Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped them away. “One of the guys isn’t doing well. He’s in surgery now and they’re not sure he’s going to make it.”

BB sagged in her chair, then stood to give Mary a hug. “Give him a chance. These guys are all incredibly strong. Lincoln keeps waking up even though they’ve given him enough sedatives to keep an elephant down, the nurse said.”

The other woman nodded, smiling. “He’s not going to like being on his front for very long. Justin had an injury like that once and it about drove him nuts.”

“Is he doing okay?” BB motioned to a spare chair and Mary sat down.

“Yes, he’s doing okay. I’m going to have to go home soon to report otherwise he’ll be in here. He’s already hobbling around the house and he’s not supposed to be.”

BB shook her head. “Does anything keep them down?”

For the first time, Mary grinned. “No, not much.” She leaned over and gave BB a hard hug. “Let me know if anything changes with him. Or if they have an expected release day.”

“I will, definitely.”

Mary stood and moved to the door, then turned back. “Oh, I know a couple of the nurses here and I had them add you to Link’s call list as his fiancée.” She grinned wickedly as BB gasped. With a wave she was gone.

BB shook her head, but she appreciated what Mary had done. It would make it easier for her to get in and out of his room now.

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