Page 2 of Mysterious

As the nurse leaves, I think I hear her grumble under her breath something about Mia upsetting everyone else on the entire floor for the past two hours. That sounds like her.

A few seconds later, the woman herself rushes into the room and stops dead at the foot of my bed. Staring at me with horror in her eyes, she shakes her head before starting to cry.

“They wouldn’t let me in until right now. What kind of place is this? A person gets shot protecting someone, and then they don’t let the person you were protecting in to see you? I didn’t know if you were dead or what might have happened, Liam. These people are monsters! I hate them for letting me think all those horrible things all alone out there.”

“I don’t think they meant to scare you. They had to focus on making sure the bullet didn’t do any huge damage. At least that’s what I assume all these wires and machines are about.”

The horror in her eyes transfers to the rest of her expression when she looks up and sees what’s commonplace in a hospital room all around me. “Oh, my God! Did you have to be on life support? What are all these machines doing here? Oh, Liam, it’s bad, isn’t it? You got shot because of me, and now you’re going to be laid up for God only knows how long.”

I hold my good hand up to stop her before she completely unravels. Thank God I have experience with a mother who overreacts or dealing with Mia right now might be too much to handle.

“It’s going to be fine. It’s not like I’m actually on anything to help me breathe or anything like that. These machines are standard in most hospitals. It doesn’t mean I’m dying or anything.”

Mia stares at the wall behind me for a long moment before returning her attention to me. “You’re really going to be okay? You’re not just lying to me to shut me up?”

With a smile, I shake my head. “Well…”

Hurt replaces fear in her expression, so I quickly add, “I’m not lying, but you have to be nicer to everyone here, Mia. They’re just doing their jobs. They have rules about visitors, especially when someone’s not conscious yet. That’s why they didn’t let you in to see me before. Take it easy on them. They’re fixing me up, so I’ll be fine. Don’t you worry.”

“Do you promise?”

For the first time since she barged into my hospital room, I see real sadness in her eyes. I don’t want her to feel that way, so I quickly smile as broadly as I can and hope she sees I’m going to be okay.

“I promise. You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.”

And in a flash, whatever happiness she felt when I said I promise disappears. Tears well in her eyes, and then she covers her face with her hands and sobs, “This is all my fault. You would have never been there to get shot if it wasn’t for me trying to leave the estate without any bodyguards. I’m so sorry, Liam. I wasn’t trying to get rid of you. That’s not what I wanted at all.”

“It’s okay, Mia. This isn’t your fault, so don’t think that way. Whatever happened, I’m going to be fine.”

Just as I hope I’m convincing her, the doctor comes in and looks at Mia still crying at the foot of my bed. “He’s going to be fine, miss.”

Mia drops her hands and sniffles as she stares up at him with genuine hope in her eyes. “He is? Really?”

“Really,” the man says as I try to figure out if he’s old looking with dyed dark brown hair or just someone who’s spent too much time out in the sun and has the deep wrinkles in his face to prove it.

“Okay,” she says, wiping tears from her cheeks. “Because he’s very important to me. I need him to be one hundred percent or I can’t do what I need to do, which will mean a lot of people will be unhappy.”

He seems confused by her explanation for a few seconds, but then a look of appreciation comes over him and he nods like he finally understands what she’s talking about. “You’re Mia, the singer! My wife loves your music. We played one of your songs for our dance at our wedding reception.”

The center of his attention, she beams her happiness at being recognized. “I’m so happy to hear that. So you see, I need Liam to be able to go out on tour, and if he can’t go, I can’t go, so I need him to go or thousands upon thousands of fans are going to be disappointed every night when I have to cancel my tour.”

My doctor turns to look over at me, but I have nothing to add. Mia seems to believe she can’t go out on tour without me, so I’m just going to have to be well enough to do my job so she can do hers.

“So Mr. Jackson, you seem very important to this young woman. I’ve taken a look at your injury and it wasn’t too bad. You bled a lot, which probably made it look worse than it was, but I was able to sew you up with no problem. The bullet exited out the back of your arm, so you have stitches on both sides, but that’s it.”

I push myself up so I’m sitting instead of lying down and smile at the good news. “Great! See, Mia? No problem.”

“But I do want your right arm in a sling so you have the least amount of movement possible for at least three weeks. Other than that, you can resume whatever your duties are.”

Quickly, Mia explains, “Liam is my bodyguard. He’s essential to my being able to perform, so just hearing you say he’s going to be okay is the best news ever!”

“Well, he’s going to be fine, so let the show go on.”

The nurse who left just before the doctor showed up pokes her head into the room and asks, “Can Mr. Jackson see his family? They’re out here very worried about him.”

No doubt my mother has pestered every person at the nurses’ station since the minute she walked into the building. It’s my broken wrist in third grade all over again.

“If the patient is up for it, I’m fine with him having visitors. I’m going to get the process moving to get you released, but until then, you’ll be in a holding pattern for a little while, so enjoy the visit from your family.”

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