Page 94 of Her Marine
“I need to pack a few things and buy a ticket, and—”
“No, all you need to do is get dressed. I’ll pack some things for you while you do. Axel and I purchased tickets on the way over. The plane leaves in two and a half hours. He’s going to go with you, and I’m going to call Abbie and have her move any appointments and see if she can take care of those that can’t be moved,” Kaydence informed her.
Journee nodded, grateful to her friend, as she grabbed some clothes, a pair of sneakers from her closet, and a bra from her dresser and went into her bathroom.
She washed her face and brushed her teeth. She got dressed before taking her silk scarf off her head. She’d wrapped her hair when she’d made it home and decided to throw it into a bun on top of her head.
Journee put her hygiene items into a toiletry bag and exited the bathroom. She found Kaydence placing some shirts into a small suitcase on the bed. Her friend held her hand out for the toiletry bag, and Journee gave it to her. When it was secured in the suitcase, Kaydence zipped it up.
“I packed all the essentials. Your phone and tablet charger are in the front compartment, and I moved your tablet from your satchel to your purse,” Kaydence informed her before handing her phone to her.
Journee looked down at the phone and saw that she had a plethora of missed calls—some from Kaydence and some from Ziggy and Gena.
“We should go,” Axel called from down the hall.
Journee picked up her purse and dropped her phone in. She grabbed the suitcase from the bed, and she and Kaydence left her room, turning the light off behind them. Axel took the suitcase from her, and they exited her house after Journee made sure she had her keys and locked the door.
“I’m going to drop you off at the airport and take care of things here,” Kaydence told her.
Journee was grateful for their friendship and bond because she wasn’t sure she would have been able to get things done how she felt. Axel’s words kept replaying, and she couldn’t shake them.
The plane ride seemed far longer than it should have, and getting a taxi had taken longer than Journee would have liked, even though it hadn’t taken a minute. She was now on the hospital’s fourth floor, going to the nurses’ station.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes. We’re here to see Killian Stoll. Has he been placed in a room yet?” Axel answered.
He’d told Journee on the plane that he’d still been in intake, having transferred from a different hospital when Ziggy called him, and they hadn’t gotten a hold of her when they landed. All they knew was which hospital he was at and that he was on the fourth floor.
“I’m sorry, but Mr. Stoll can only have relatives with him,” the nurse responded.
“I’m his brother. She’s his wife,” Axel replied, not missing a beat.
“Journee, Axel.”
Journee turned to find Ziggy approaching them. She hugged her first before moving to embrace Axel. “It’s fine,” Ziggy told the nurse, and she led them down the hall.
“How is he?” Journee questioned.
Ziggy stopped outside of a closed door and turned to her. “He’s out of the woods. They operated and stabilized him at the last hospital before transferring him. We didn’t get the call until he was here. He’s in a coma.” Ziggy began to tear up, and Journee bit the inside of her jaw, trying to keep herself from following suit. “The doctors are hopeful that as his body heals, he’ll come out of it.”
“Do you know what happened?” Journee asked, trying to keep herself together; breaking down would not help matters.
“No. I just know that he was working when it happened.” Ziggy opened the door. “I’ll give the two of you some time alone with him. Mom and Dad went to the second floor to get some coffee since the machine up here was broken. They’ll be gone a few minutes.”
Journee nodded before stepping into the room with Axel behind her. When Killian came into view on the bed, she let out a shuttering breath. It had been a while since she’d seen someone lying in a hospital bed with IVs and machinery around them.
He had cuts and bruises on his face and the parts of his right arm that she could see. His left arm was also in a sling. She wanted to know what he’d been doing when this happened, how it happened.
Journee sat in the chair on the right side of his bed and gently took his hand in hers. She hadn’t realized that tears had begun to roll down her cheeks until Axel was rubbing her back, telling her that everything would be okay, and Journee wanted nothing else but for him to be right.
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“You should leave for a few hours and get some sleep in a real bed.”
Journee looked over at Axel as he leaned against the wall. It’d been four days since they arrived, and she hadn’t left Killian’s side for much of anything. Ziggy had given her the key to Killian’s condo so that she and Axel could stay there without worrying about a hotel. Journee gave the key to Axel, not wanting to leave.
“I’m fine,” she responded.
