After saying that, the doctor beat a hasty retreat, muttering under his breath as he went.
Ryan turned back to Adam and Ethan. “Let’s go. They’ll let us in or I’ll tear this damn place apart.”
Ethan chuckled, the tension escaping in a rush. “You don’t have a good track record with hospitals, man.” He turned to Adam. “Remember when his cranky ass was shot and he pissed off every nurse and doctor in the ER and on the floor until they put him in the same room as Holly?”
Adam smiled but his heart clutched at that long-ago memory. At the moment he knew he’d be every bit as forceful as Ryan if they dared to keep him away from his wife.
CHAPTER 13
IT was as if time had stopped and for the moment Christmas had been suspended into a nebulous cloud that floated above the Colter family. Everyone refused to even contemplate the holiday without Holly at home, surrounded by her family.
She was, as Adam had asserted, the very center, the heart and soul of her husbands and children.
Holly sat in the hospital bed, her fingers gripping the sheet as she considered her options. With Christmas just a few days away, the very last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a hospital room when she could be at home, surrounded by the family she so dearly loved.
“I’m not asking, Dr. Hollister,” she said calmly, because she’d long ago discovered that calm was hard to argue with. “I’d like to be discharged today. I understand your concerns, and I’ll heed your instructions to the letter, but I would recover more rapidly in my own home.”
“Nothing like throwing me to the wolves,” the doctor said dryly. “Those husbands of yours will kick my ass if I let you walk out of here before they believe it’s time. Hard to remember who has the medical degree here.”
The light sarcasm in his voice made Holly grin. Dr. Hollister had been Holly’s physician for years. He was well acquainted with her unusual situation, just as he was very well acquainted with her husbands’ huge protective streak when it came to her.
“I want to be home for Christmas,” she said, an ache in her voice that was more pronounced than any residual pain from her surgery. “It’s going to be so wonderful this year. And I’m cooking!”
Dr. Hollister stared at her over his glasses and tactfully cleared his throat. “Well, maybe it’s best if you aren’t puttering around a kitchen quite yet.”
Holly snorted. “You’ve listened to far too many stories about my lack of ability in the kitchen. My daughter-in-law is a dream cook, and she’s taught me how to make the most awesome holiday dinner.” Her smile softened wistfully. “All my babies are going to be home this year. That hasn’t happened in so long. We always have most, but not everyone. No way I’m going to miss that.”
Dr. Hollister smiled indulgently. “I’m going to let you go, Holly. I don’t fool myself into thinking that if I said no you’d actually listen to me. But I want you to follow my care instructions to the letter, and don’t think I won’t outline them in great detail to your husbands.”
She scowled at him. “I’m not staying in bed twenty-four/seven. Just so you know. Don’t even hint to my husbands that this is part of your care plan.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “What I’m going to tell them is that you are to resume normal activities with caution and that you are to rest perhaps more than usual until you’re feeling more yourself again. I want you to take your medications and I want you to listen to your body, Holly. I’m serious about this. If it’s telling you to slow down and rest, then do it. You don’t want to end up back in the hospital, I assume?”
She shook her head vigorously.
“Then follow my instructions and we’ll all be happy. Your husbands included.”
“Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “How soon can you have me discharged?”