Chapter 76
T HIS PATIENT IS IN TROUBLE. She could die … Everybody knows she’s a saint.
I spent the next three hours in the waiting room, alone and without any further word about Kayla. My head was filled with disturbing ironies: Two of my kids had been born at St. Anthony’s. Maria had been pronounced dead here. And now Kayla.
Then Annie Falk was with me again, down on one knee, speaking in a quiet, respectful voice that scared me like nothing else could right then.
“Come with me, Alex. Come, please. Hurry. I’ll take you to her. She’s out of the OR.”
At first, I thought Kayla was still asleep in the recovery room, but she stirred when I came near. Her eyes opened, and she saw me ? recognized me an instant later.
“Alex?” she whispered.
“Hey there, you,” I whispered back, and gently took her hand in both of mine.
She looked very confused and lost for a moment; then she squeezed her eyes shut. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and I almost started up myself, but I thought if Kayla saw me that way it might scare her.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s over now. You’re in recovery.”
“I was
so scared,” she said, sounding like a young girl, an endearing part of Kayla I had never seen before.
“I’ll bet you were,” I said, and I pulled over a chair without letting go of her hand. “Did you really drive yourself here?”
She actually smiled, though her eyes stayed slightly unfocused. “I know how long it can take to get an ambulance in this neighborhood.”
“Who did this to you?” I asked then. “Do you know who it was, Kayla?”
In response to the question, she shut her eyes again. My free hand tightened into a fist. Did she know who attacked her, and was she afraid to say? Had Kayla been warned not to talk?
We sat quietly for a moment ? until she felt ready to say more. I wouldn’t push her on this, the way I had pushed poor Mena Sunderland.
“I was on a house call,” she finally said, eyes still closed. “This guy’s sister called. He’s a junkie. He was trying to detox at home. When I got there, he was just about out of his mind. I don’t know who he thought I was. He stabbed me
“
Her voice trailed off. I smoothed her hair and put the back of my hand against her cheek. I’ve seen how fragile life can be, but it’s not something you ever get used to, and it’s different when it’s somebody you care for, when it sticks this close to home.
“Will you stay with me, Alex? Until I fall asleep? Don’t go.”
It was her young girl’s voice again. Kayla had never seemed as vulnerable to me as she did right then, in that fleeting moment in the recovery room. My heart broke for her and what had happened when she was trying to do some good out there.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere.”