Page 8 of Saving Emily
The further we travel, the more the respirators working hard to keep the injured alive overtakes the shrill of the pulse in my ears.The noise that should represent life bombards me with an array of emotions. I feel equally queasy and thankful. Queasy I’m in this predicament, but thankful it isn’t worse.
When the nurse stops without warning, I crash into her back. I don’t understand why she’s stopped at the bedside she has. The man in front of us isn’t Noah—is it?
I realize how silly I am when I take a closer look. It is Noah. He’s barely recognizable since half of his face is covered with bandages. The ventilator tube in his mouth hides his plump lips, and his rock star leather jacket and grungy jeans have been replaced with a light blue hospital gown.
After swallowing to soothe my burning throat, I move to Noah’s bedside. I want to offer him comfort, and for him to know I'm here, but I don’t want to hurt him, so instead of talking, I carefully run my index finger down his badly bruised cheek.
My head slants to the side when a male voice says, “Some complications arouse during recovery, which resulted in us needing to put Noah on life support. He’s responding well, but his prognosis is still problematic to calculate.”
“Is he in any pain?”
Gratitude fills me when the surgeon who updated me on Noah’s condition earlier today shakes his head. "He's heavily sedated, but in general, patients in a coma don't have any association with pain. He's in for the fight of his life, but he's young and fit, so I'm sure he'll give it his all."
I nod. Noah is a fighter. He needed to be for what he endured in his childhood.
After dragging my hand across my cheeks to make sure they’re still dry, I lock my watering eyes with the surgeon. “Thank you for helping him.”
His smile reveals my praise wasn't needed, but was very much appreciated. "You're very welcome." He gives Noah a final once over before walking to the nurses' station in the middle of the intensive care unit.
For the next thirty minutes, I stand next to Noah’s bedside, gently tracing the veins in his hand. I don’t talk, but I’m confident he can sense my presence.
Approximately ten minutes later, a young nurse with a rounded stomach approaches me. “Visiting hours are limited in this section of the hospital.”
“Oh. Okay. Sorry.” I’m shocked, but not as much as I am annoyed. “My fiancé is in the ICU. Can’t some leeway be given?”
"No, I'm sorry. We have stringent protocols we must follow." When she arches a brow, silently demanding for me to follow through with her request, I roll my eyes before saying goodbye to Noah.
Being ever so careful, I press a kiss to his cold, bruised cheek. “I love you, baby,” I whisper in his ear before stomping toward the exit, my eyes narrowing more with each step I take.
When Jacob spots my drastic exit, he leaps out of his chair and charges for me. “Is he okay? Is he awake?”
"He's on life support," I force out through cottonmouth.
As a bottomless pit burrows into my chest, my vision blurs. I feel queasy, like the land is moving beneath my feet even more than it did from Jacob's big stomps.
When I sway like a leaf on a hot summer’s day, Jacob bends his knees to peer into my eyes. I feel so disorientated, I’m certain my eyes are replicating balls in a pinball machine. “Em…”
I don’t have time to assess the concern in Jacob’s high tone. I’m too busy protecting my stomach as I careen toward the floor at a rate faster than Jacob can catch me.
As blackness engulfs me, my mind drifts to fonder times. . .
“Now it’s your turn to jump.”
I robustly shake my head before glaring at Noah like he’s insane. There’s no chance in hell I’m jumping off a cliff into freezing cold water. Not only is it ludicrous, it’s also dangerous.
When Noah tightens his grip around my waist, I wriggle with all my might. “No way, Noah. I don’t have a death wish.”
“I’d never put you in harm’s way, Em, but life is short, so you have to live every moment.” After releasing me from his tight grip, he lowers his head to rest on mine, then locks his calm eyes with my panicked ones. “Do you trust me?”
I shouldn’t considering he just dove headfirst off a waterfall, but for some inane reason, I do. “Yes.”
He peers at me in shock, as if he hadn’t expected me to say yes. “Trust is easy to give, Noah, but almost impossible to regain. As long as you don’t lose my trust, you’ll always have it.”
The shock on Noah’s face jumps onto mine when he seals his mouth over mine. Our kiss starts slow, but it rapidly builds in intensity. It’s a soul-stealing embrace that has me forgetting he’s wearing nothing but a pair of drenched boxer shorts.
He’s not the only one with wet undergarments. Mine are drenched from our kiss.
By the time Noah pulls his lips away from mine, I feel invincible. “You only live once, right?” Apprehension is heard in my voice while quoting what he said earlier.
