Page 2 of Tempting Tessa

“He’s with my parents and they are on their way down here as well.”

“Ok, sweetheart, we’ll be there as soon as we can. I’ll call Heather, Nicole and David and let them know they should head down to the hospital as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, Dave, I really appreciate it.”

I need to get down to the family waiting room soon – even though I am pretty sure it is going to be a bit longer before they have any news on Matt. I quickly call Caroline, as I need her as well. She has been my best friend since we were babies. Her phone rings until I get her voicemail. I don’t know if she would be able to understand a message from me because I’m so upset, so I hang up and text her.

Tessa: Please call me ASAP, it’s an emergency.

I’m sure she is probably busy with Jack now, so I decide to head down to the family waiting room. Just as I’m about to get onto the elevator, my phone starts to ring. I’m the only one in the elevator, so I answer it.

“Tessa, what’s wrong?”

“Caroline, it’s Matt.” I break off in a sob.

“What’s wrong? Was he at that fire where the building collapsed? It’s all over the news. They’re saying two firefighters were trapped and hurt badly.”

“Yes, he’s one of them. Can you please come down to the hospital? I’m headed to family waiting room C to wait for the doctors to update me. Our parents are on their way and they are taking care of calling all our siblings.”

“Yes, I’ll drop the boys off with Luke and head to the hospital. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Let me know if you need anything.”

After hanging up with Caroline, I make my way to the waiting room. Chief Miller is in there, as well as a few other firemen. They all greet me when I enter and the chief informs me that no one has come in to give any updates yet. I don’t know what to do with myself as my husband lies in the OR fighting for his life. He is only 25 years old. How can this be happening? A few minutes later my parents arrive with Tyler and rush to my side. I pick up my boy and just hug him close. My parents surround me to give me their support. My mom leans in and whispers to me that they haven’t told Tyler anything, as he wouldn’t understand what’s going on. About 10 minutes later Matt’s parents, as well as my brother, Brian, arrive. After receiving hugs from everyone and informing them all that I don’t have any new updates, we all take a seat to wait.

About 30 minutes later, Caroline arrives, as well as Matt’s two sisters. Everyone is so worried, but I am clinging to the “no news is good news” saying at this point. About an hour later the remainder of our family has arrived and Caroline offers to have Luke come pick up Ty and take him to their house to feed him dinner and let him play with Jack. He is getting fussy being kept here in the waiting room, so I decide that isn’t a bad idea. My brother Brian’s girlfriend, Sara, offers to go and drop him off so Luke doesn’t have to load up Jack and bring him down to the hospital. My dad goes with her to help load him in their car so that they don’t have to move his car seat to Brian’s car for the short drive over.

About 5 minutes after Sara leaves with Tyler, the doctor enters the room. The look on his face is grim and I immediately stand and start to cry. He approaches me. “Mrs. Daniels, I am sorry to inform you we have done everything we can, but your husband has passed away.”

My life crashes before me. I go completely numb. I would have hit the floor if it weren’t for my dad standing right next to me and catching me. The sounds of sobs from all around me are deafening. I don’t really know what to do right now, so I just lean on my dad and cry. The doctor stays in the room to answer any questions we have as well as bring up organ donation. Matt is a registered organ donor and was adamant that when he died he wanted anything that could be donated to save another person’s life be donated. I agreed to the donations, and asked if I could see him again. The doctor agreed and with the support of my parents and Matt’s parents I was led into the OR to say goodbye to my husband, the only man I had ever loved and kissed; the father of our son. I go into the OR and since he had died during surgery, his body is mostly covered. They are keeping his body breathing with machines until his organs are harvested for donation. This will take place in the next few hours as they line up recipients for the organs. I kiss his cheek and tell him how much I love him and will miss him. I tell him that Tyler will forever know how great of a man he was. After spending time saying goodbye to Matt, I leave the OR and head back to my family. The thought of having to start planning Matt’s funeral and everything that will take starts bombarding my thoughts. I don’t even know where to start when it comes to all of that.

When I get back in the waiting room, a representative from the fire department has arrived who is there to help me with everything. The first thing I have to do is pick a funeral home and decide if he will be buried or cremated. Due to his job, we had discussed all this type of stuff shortly after he joined the academy. We knew he performed a very dangerous job and every time he walked out of our door, I was scared. The liaison from the fire department, Becky, thankfully had the information on the different options in our area, and I knew Matt wanted to be cremated. That was an easy item off the growing list of things we had to take care of. Becky suggested we call it a night as it was getting late. She said no other decisions had to be made tonight, but that she would be in touch the next day and that she was available if I needed anything before then. Before leaving, a nurse informs me that 5 people will be receiving organs or tissue donations from Matt. They were able to find a match for his heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs. I know he would be happy to know he could save so many lives from this tragic accident.

I am still so numb to everything that has happened today. I am lost and not quite sure what I need to do next. All our family is still there at the hospital with me. Most of the firefighters left hours ago. Chief Miller is still here, and I appreciate his support. I imagine it is hard on a chief when he loses a man in a fire. I then remember the news that there had been a second firefighter trapped with Matt and realize I never asked if he made it or not.

“Chief Miller, can you tell me anything on the other fireman who was trapped with Matt? Did he make it? Will he be ok?” He replies, “Yes, the other firefighter will make a full recovery. He had some broken bones, a few burns and some smoke inhalation. He will spend a few days in the hospital and then be sent home to finish recovering.”

I’m relieved that another family will not have to deal with what we were. Like the saying goes, I wouldn’t wish this nightmare on anyone.

Tessa

Present Day

Fuck, fuck, fuck… I just walked into my kitchen to find a few inches of water all over the floor. It appears to be leaking out of the ceiling, which tells me either my washer has flooded or my bathroom has, since both are above my kitchen. I don’t know how many more things can go wrong with this house. It seems like every time I turn around something is breaking or stops working correctly. It’s days like today that make me miss Matt even more. He would know exactly what to do and how to fix the issue. I, on the other hand, don’t have a handy bone in my body when it comes to home repairs. Just then my cell starts ringing. I’m sure it’s Caroline calling to bug me again about what we are going to do next month for my “Dirty 30”. Sigh…

“Hey, biotch, what are you doing today?” she asks as soon as I put my phone to my ear. I can’t help but laugh.

“Well, if you must ask, I’m currently standing in a few inches of water in my kitchen. The entire floor is covered.”

“Oh shit, that sucks, what happened?” she asks.

“I have no idea. Something must be leaking in my bathroom or the laundry room. I literally just found the water a minute before you called. I’m going to call my dad and David and see if they can come over and help me.”

“Sounds like a good plan. I’ll head over in a few to help you clean up the water and then maybe we can take the kids to the park to run off some energy while we soak up some of this wonderful sun we have today.”

“Sounds heavenly! Ty is still at my parents’ house. He had his Friday night sleepover with grams and gramps last night. See you soon.”

After hanging up with Caroline, I call my dad to see if he can head over to help me with the leak issue. I ask him if Ty can stay with mom until after I get everything cleaned up and tell him I will just come get him then. Thankfully, my parents are super helpful and have no issues with him hanging out at their house when I need help with him or when I’m at work. I also call up my brother, David, to see if he can come over and help dad out.

“Hey, what’s up, sis?” he asks upon answering his phone.

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