Page 69 of Wildest Desire

“Youthink this man can live withoutyou?Look at him,”my father says from behind me.

AndIdo.Ilook at Ethan, but it isn’t him.I've never seen him look so lost.If something happened to me, could he come back from it?Looking over at Dan,Isee him and Jon sitting together.

“Dan?” I go to touch him, but stop, remembering I’m not actually here.

“You are your brother's world. It'll kill him knowing you aren’t here for him.” I feel a shock slamming into my body. “Dad, what’s happening?” I'm afraid as

I feel the shock again. “Dad? Help me, please!” I shout as I fall to the floor as the pain hits me again.

At a touch on my shoulder,Ilook up and see a different room.Slowly standing up,Isee the doctors and nurses looking at the lifeless body on the table.It’s my lifeless body they are furiously working to save.The shock hits me again, and the pain is almost more than I can take.

“Princess, the choice is yours. Do you want to live or die?” I look at him again. “I've never left you, and I'm not going to start now. I am always with you. When you begin to doubt it, remember this feeling and know that I’m here. But, for now, you have to make a choice.”

I look at my father. I don’t want to leave him, but I don’t want to leave Ethan either. The shock hits me again, and I look at myself lying on the bed.

Chapter 30

Ethan

Looking at my watch for the hundredth time, it seems as if the second hand is moving slower than it should. Three hours have passed, and not one doctor or nurse has come to tell me what's happening. All I want is for someone to tell me everything is okay, but I’m not getting anything. Then again, it might be best for them to not come if they can’t give me something definitive. I don’t want to lose my temper and start shouting at the medical staff. That's the last thing they need to hear.

Rubbing my forehead, I look over at Tanya sleeping on the chairs. Travis stares at me with a look that tells me he doesn’t have the words to comfort me. Standing up, I walk back over to the door, hoping I'll see or hear something. All I hear are the mumblings of everyone else in the waiting room. Some of Jackie's girls came in when Lexi was admitted and haven’t left since they got here.

Every time the doors open and close behind me, the smell of medicines and disinfectant assaults my senses.

The door flies open and a nurse hurries out. My eyes freeze on the floor, covered in blood-soaked bandages. As the nurse opens the doors to rush back into the room, I get a quick glance at Lexi lying on the table. As I take a step closer, hoping to hear something, the door suddenly swings shut.

Damn it! I stare at the doors again, waiting for something—anything. All I can do is wait. Turning around, I see my mom looking over at me. Even though I’m standing this far from her, her eyes tell me everything is going to be okay.

“Lexi Jackson?” I turn around at the sound of her name to see the same doctor that met us at the ambulance.

“Yes?” I look over at Dan as he comes over stand to with me.

“She’s still unconscious, but she’s stable. All we can do now is wait for her to wake up. She lost a lot of blood, which prevented us from being able to completely fix the damage during surgery. Once she’s awake, and her body has had a little time to recover from the initial trauma, we’ll go back in.” The doctor stops and looks at Dan and me. “Is Lexi married?”

“I’m her boyfriend,” I tell her, and the look on her face is enough to crush me. What has happened to Lexi that has the doctor so concerned?

“The stab wound…” she stops for a moment. “The stab wound cut into one of her ovaries and fallopian tubes. This has significantly decreased the chances of her conceiving naturally. She might not be able to get pregnant.” She watches me as I stare at her, letting the words sink in.

Okay, so we might not be able to have children. I can live with that as long as Lexi is alive and well. “There’s only one thing I’m concerned with right now. Is she going to survive this?”

“The next twenty-four-hours are critical and depend entirely on her. If there are no further complications, then she will probably need to stay in the hospital for a week or two before she can go home. She’ll be on bed rest for a short while once she goes home, but should be fine from there,” the doctor tells me.

“Can I see her?”

“The nurses are moving her to a private room. They'll call you when she’s settled.” The doctor gives us a nod and walks back into the room.

Sitting in the closest chair I can find, I don’t know whether to be relieved or still be worried. I have to believe Lexi will beat this. She came through the hardest part, now she just has to wake up to get to the finish line.

“Ethan,” Dan says, sitting in the chair next to me. “I’m not sure what your plans for children are, but Lexi has always wanted a family. She knew she couldn’t even dream about it until Sam was no longer in the picture, but after she knew she was safe, she definitely wanted children. This is going to be a devastating blow, but—”

“Dan, I’m not leaving her. All the doctor said was that it could be more difficult for her, not that it would be impossible. When that time comes, we'll think of something, But, until the day I die, I’m not leaving her,” I say. I walk away from him before I say something we’ll both regret.

I know Dan is coming from a good place, but does he really think I would leave if Lexi couldn’t have children? I'll always love her, with or without children.

“Ethan, you don’t have to be—”

“I know, Mom. Before you say anything else, I know. I just need everyone to realize that I don’t care about anything else right now. All I want to do is see her, to hold her, to…” Sitting in the chair, I put my head into my hands and let the tears fall down my face. “I want to tell her that I love her,” I say through sobs.

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