Page 38 of Great Pretender
“I’m trying,” I answer.
“He’s tough. I have faith he’ll pull through and be on the road to recovery the doctors were talking about.” Chad sounds calm, and I wish I could feel an ounce of stillness. The events of this week have made my head spin.
“Thank you. I just hate this. I’ve never had to wait on anybody having surgery before. Mom’s treatment wasn’t like this.”
“I know. If she were here, she’d tell you there’s a first for everything and to think of the positive.”
I actually smile. That is something Mom would say. I recall her saying things like that to both of us.
“She would say that. She was a glass-half-full person, right until the end. She even made it sound like she wasn’t really dying. Like she was just going somewhere different. Somewhere beautiful. God, why am I talking about death during Dad’s surgery? I don’t want to jinx it.”
He chuckles. “Piper, you’re not going to jinx anything. What your mom said was cool. But you forgot the rest of what she said. Since I was there when she was talking, I’ll finish it for you. She said she was going somewhere beautiful, where she could always look down on you, and you’d be able to feel her when you needed her the most.”
I forgot that part. I don’t know how I could have. I’m thankful that he remembers.
“That gives me strength.”
“Mission accomplished. Come here.” He pulls me into his arms, and I feel comforted.
My mind drifts again, and I fall asleep.
The next thing I know is I’m being woken up by Chad. I don’t know how long I was asleep for, but I feel refreshed.
My heart skitters when I see Dr. Cormack standing before us with a warm smile on his face, and Chad and I both stand. Well, it’s more like I leap to my feet at seeing him.
“Dr. Cormack, how is he?” I blurt.
“The surgery was a success,” he answers. “He’s in recovery now. We need to watch him closely for the next seventy-two hours, but I’m confident everything should go as planned.”
Those words feel like magic.
“Thank you so much. Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. You can see him in about half an hour. I’ll page you when we’ve taken him back to his room.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“Try to get some rest. I hear you’ve been here all day.”
“I will.”
He gives me and Chad a nod then stalks away.
My whole body sighs with relief, and I turn into Chad’s embrace when he slips an arm around me.
“Thank you for being here and making this possible.”
“Anytime,” he says, and again I feel lucky.
Lucky and like, I’ll always owe him for this, no matter what I do. There are no words to express my gratitude, and doing whatever I need to help him doesn’t feel like such a big deal; Even if I put my heart at risk.
* * *
The next five days saw us going back and forth between the hospital to visit Dad. Thankfully, Dr. Damson gave me two weeks off, so I didn’t have to worry about work.
I watched Dad gain strength day by day and sat with him through the whole time I was allowed to visit. At first, he couldn’t talk. Then, as the days went by, he seemed more and more like his old self. Like he was before Mom died. It was like someone reminded him who he was, and the surgery helped him find his way back to that man.
It gave me assurance that he really would be okay.
