Page 124 of Star Crossed
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Come on, darlin’. Eat just a little,” Melody coaxed as she sat in a chair next to Jules’s hospital bed. “Babies need something besides that clear IV stuff they keep pumping in ya.”
Jules swallowed past the nausea, and even though she knew she should be eating, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I’ll eat it later.”
“You said that twenty minutes ago,” Clay growled from his seat in the corner. “You’re white as a damn sheet. Eat the food, Jules.”
Jules looked from Melody to the plate. She tried to will up the strength to fight past the pain. They’d put her left arm in a sling when she’d discovered that moving it was too much agony to bear, but that didn’t help with the rest of her problems. It’d be easier if she was willing to take something besides Tylenol, but she wasn’t. The image of those little babies on the grainy ultrasound screen flashed in her mind. She picked up her fork even if it went against the very core of her being. Food was truly repulsive at the moment.
“I think that medicine made me queasy.” She closed her eyes against the wave of sickness. “And it didn’t do a lick of good. I still feel like hell. Just my luck to get shot the one time I can’t have anything good for it.”
“I know,” Melody whispered. “But you’re strong, Jules. I know you can do it.”
“I don’t feel strong,” she whispered miserably, thinking of Romeo. She’d been up awhile now, and no one could give her a straight answer. “Is he dead, and y’all are just scared to tell me?”
“No.” Melody shook her head quickly. “We’d have told ya.”
Jules dropped her fork and wiped at the tears rolling down her face. “I can’t do it.”
“Christ.” Clay huffed and stood, reaching for the big TV hanging on the wall. He pushed a button, and it flickered on, casting a strange glow in the darkened room. “It’s been nonstop Romeo and Juliet since last night. If he dies, they’ll be the first to know. I learned more shit ’bout you than I have in almost thirty years of knowing ya.”
“We’re here with Sara Jensen, who actually married the couple two days ago. Sara, what was your reaction when you first saw their names on the forms they filled out?”
“It was romantic. Everyone came to watch. We’re all torn up over what happened ’cause they were a nice couple. You could tell they were really in love.”
“Oh!” Jules gasped at the picture that flashed on the TV. It was Romeo kissing her under the magnolia tree. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to see those pictures.”
“There they are.” Clay gestured to the set. “They got tons of ’em. Those folks you put on a show for at the courthouse came to the media right away with the photos.”
Fresh tears filled her eyes, and Jules took a bite of food to fight against it as she watched the news and saw different pictures of her wedding day. It was bizarre to see them for the first time on the national news, but she couldn’t look away.
Wyatt walked into the room and growled, “Y’all are letting her watch this crap?”
“She’s eating now, isn’t she?” Clay countered. “Those pills and the concussion are making her sick. She needed a distraction.”
“This is the distraction you chose?”
“Shhh!” Jules waved her fork at Wyatt when the media coverage changed to a man standing outside an emergency room. “They’re at the hospital now. They’re gonna tell us what’s going on.”
“It’s suspected that Juliet Wellings will make a full recovery, but we’re waiting for word on Romeo Wellings, who is still listed in critical condition. We know he had emergency surgery shortly after he was airlifted to St. Francis, but have very few details on his situation. His family has been very private in regards to his injuries.”
“What?” Jules barked at the television before she turned to Wyatt, feeling the sadness and fear well into a surge of injustice. “I wanna know what he had surgery for! He’s my husband. That means—”
“You were in a shoot out. He got shot, Jules.” Wyatt sounded as if he was letting out poison, and it spilled out of him quickly. “He had surgery to remove two bullets. One was in his chest. The other got him in the back.”
Jules sucked in a sharp gasp, terrified of the answers she’d been asking for. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“Yes.” Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief as if only now believing it himself. “I just walked over and saw him. He’s still sleeping, but they say he’s gonna be fine.”
Jules took another shuddering breath. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.” Wyatt rested against the side of Jules’s bed and gave her a wan smile. “I didn’t wanna say anything till I was sure.”
“You promise?” Jules asked, her bottom lip quivering. “He’s not gonna leave me?”
“When have I ever lied to you? You told me not to pacify you, and I’m not.” Wyatt brushed at the fine wisps of hair on her forehead. “It’s not gonna be a walk in the park. He lost a kidney. I’m sure his recovery will be challenging, but he’s tough. I think he’ll be fine.”
Jules dropped her fork and reached out to him. She hugged Wyatt tightly. Her entire body shook as great racking sobs of relief burst out of her. She let all the fear, pain, and stress that had been building since she’d woken up flow out of her, and she didn’t care when the nurses came in, because Wyatt kept them away. He knew she needed the emotional cleansing. She could rise out of the ashes once it was over. Now she had hope Romeo would fight past the ruins with her, two phoenixes that had overcome the tragic ending written a long time ago, proving that history doesn’t always repeat itself.
