Page 19 of His Forever

“Thank you. I will leave my sister with them and be back as quickly as I can.”

He told Lena where he was going, kissed the top of Marleigh’s head and was out the door in minutes. Driving to the salon, he located the leftovers and bagged them up, made a sign that he put on the front door, and was back on the road within five minutes. At the hospital, he handed the bag over to the nurse who took it immediately to the lab after taking him to the room where the salon girls were all at, miserable and throwing up, although he was glad to see that all were now hooked up to IVs.

“Well, this is one way to get out of work,” he said, looking at the pitiful women.Ah if looks could kill he would be dead!He grabbed another towel and went into the bathroom to wet it down. Going back over to Marleigh’s gurney, he wiped her face and neck down. “Mi siempre hermosa, I am sorry I cannot do anything to help you.”

Looking at him through reddened eyes, she said, “You got us here. You figured out something was wrong. You did plenty, Zeus.”

His mother, even though she felt like a truck had run over her rib cage from all the vomiting, smiled a little watching the two of them. She sent up a silent prayer that they would continue walking this path they were obviously on, even if they didn’t realize it yet.

Zeus and the other men who were with their wives kept busy getting clean basins and ice chips. A nurse came in, looking frazzled, and said, “Apparently, y’all weren’t the only ones who ate there. The Health Department is over there now and has shut them down. We’ve had to send folks to the ER across town because we’re out of beds. A doctor should be in shortly once the lab tells him what we’re dealing with, so I apologize in advance for the wait.”

“It is okay, miss,” Zeus told her. “If you could point me in the direction of more linens, I will get them. We will keep an eye on the ladies. You take care of those who have no one, okay?”

The nurse looked at him appreciatively, thinkingDamn, why can’t all men be like thatbefore saying, “I’ll bring you more face cloths when I come back to hang more fluids. The doctor just gave the okay for me to get some anti-nausea medicines onboard so I’ll have those as well.”

“Thank you. We will be here,” Chandra’s husband, Pete, said. “Is there anywhere we can maybe grab a few more chairs?”

“Yes, if you’ll follow me I’ll point out the ones you can grab. I know it cannot be comfortable to stand.”

***

María-Luisa, glancing over at the sleeping women, softly said, “Jesús, thank you for finding us this morning.”

“Mamá, no need to thank me. I knew something wasn’t right. I just hate y’all are going through this,” he replied, not taking his eyes off the sleeping woman he was sitting next to. She was curled into a ball and occasionally whimpered in her sleep, but since the anti-nausea and pain medicines had been added to her IV, she had slept. He glanced at his watch and saw that they had been there six hours already without seeing the doctor yet. He knew they were busy but decided he needed to see how much longer it would be before the women were seen. “Mamá, I am going to see when the doctor is expected, you should get some rest, okay?”

“Si, Mijo. Te amo.”

“Te amo, Mamá.”

Walking out of the room they were in, he was astonished to see the hallway filled with gurneys on both sides.No wonder it’s taking so long. He made his way to the nurse’s station, where he found the nurse from earlier in the day. “I’m sorry to bother you, miss, but was wondering how much longer before the ladies from the salon would be seeing the doctor?”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. We got the information from the lab and he is in the process of getting the antibiotics everyone needs ordered. He should be in shortly. Is everyone okay? Or as well as can be expected, anyhow?”

“Yes, they are all sleeping right now.”

“Good, good. I’ll be sure he sees y’all next.”

“I can see you are full and appreciate you taking the time to tell me what is going on,” he told her.

He turned and headed back into the room and gave the men the latest update. “It looks like it will be a little bit longer. At least they have stopped throwing up, right?”

Pete laughed saying, “I don’t think they have anythingleftto throw up. Chandra wasn’t even that sick when she was pregnant.”

***

They had been there ten hours by the time two doctors came into the room, with the first one apologizing for the lengthy wait as the second one began checking each woman out. “We figured we would bring two of us in here so that hopefully, we can get you checked and possibly discharged,” the first doctor said.

“What did the Health Department find?” Zeus asked.

“It’s definitely a form of e. coli, which is why we have started everyone on antibiotics. We’ll also send prescriptions home for them, as well as anti-nausea and pain medicines. I’m sure their ribs hurt from all the vomiting,” the doctor replied.

Marleigh, who had finally awakened, sat up a little and winced at the pain she felt. Zeus, seeing her discomfort, came over and said, “Mi siempre hermosa, let me help you,” as he gently lifted her up and propped pillows behind her. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit with a Mack truck, but I don’t feel like throwing up so that’s a positive,” she responded.

He grinned down at her and she could see how worried he had been. Hell, if she were being honest, she had been worried as well. “Mamá? How are you feeling?”

“Like we should have gotten tamales yesterday,” María-Luisa said, causing all the women to laugh.

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