Page 109 of Fractured
At the front counter, I said, “Talia Davis. My wife. Where is she?”
I wondered if they could see my heart pounding in my chest, because it was loud as fuck.
But then I thought about it for a second.
Talia had my heart in the palm of her little hand.
Fuck. Me.
She’d better be okay.
The nurse smiled, typed something, and told me her room number.
I ran through the hospital and then ran into her room.
She saw me coming and then she smiled sadly, “Hey.”
I rushed to her and took her in, and then felt all the air in my body expel out of me in relief.
She wasn’t hurt.
But I needed her to confirm it, “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, “No. I’m sorry, I didn’t call you. I don’t know where my phone is.”
I leaned down and pressed a kiss on her lips, softly.
Then I asked, “What happened?”
A new wave of tears hit her eyes, and I frowned until she spoke.
“I was at Henrietta’s making dinner. She told me her chest had been hurting earlier today but that it was nothing. And I didn’t think it was. So, I loaded her into my car and brought her here. They wheeled her back and then...” her voice broke.
I gathered her in my arms, and then hugged her tightly; tears ran down her cheeks, soaking my shirt.
“I fainted when they told me that... fuck... they told me that she had another stroke, and that it was a bad one.”
She was crying into my shirt when a nurse walked in, and handed me my keys, and softly whispered, “We moved it for you.”
I nodded.
And then kept holding my wife in my arms, feeling the little kicks from my boys.
It was maybe ten minutes later when she finally stopped crying, and then a doctor entered the room.
He smiled, “Everything is okay with you. I was asked to bring you up to the ICU floor. If the two of you will follow me.”
I helped Talia sit up, and then I helped her stand, keeping an arm wrapped around her waist.
We followed the doctor to the ICU floor and then to a little office.
Moments later, a woman walked in.
And I held my wife in my arms as we were told that Henrietta had a second stroke on the way up to get scans.
They did everything they could.
But sadly, she had passed away.
