He didn’t move as he rethought the last twenty-four hours. It all seemed unreal. At any moment it seemed Audrey would come into the shower and wash him, like she had so many times before, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. Picking up Audrey’s nail brush, he brushed her dried blood from underneath his nails. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he cleaned every bit of her blood off of him. He went numb. He didn’t understand why. All he knew was that he wanted his Audrey back, he wanted to hold her in his arms, he wanted to kiss her lush mouth and to live the rest of his life looking into her bright caramel eyes.
Closing his own eyes, Tate went under the spray, washing his hair as he choked back a sob. He needed to get it together, he needed to be strong. But it was so hard. All he wanted to do was fall apart and beg for her to come back to him, but really, he hadn’t lost her yet. She was still fighting, so he had to fight too. He had to be strong for her and for his baby.
An hour later Tate rushed through the hospital, his arms full of things for Audrey. He brought her phone, clothes, shoes, pictures of Aiden and of them together, and pictures of Fallon and Audrey. He wanted her to feel at home when she awoke, he didn’t want her to be scared. He wasn’t going to leave her anymore, so he brought stuff for himself also. He hoped the hospital staff didn’t mind him playing his guitar, because he had brought it with him too.
Riding the elevator up to the ICU, he got off and found the waiting room empty. Where was everyone? Making his way down the hall, his pace picked up. Reaching Audrey’s room, he found everyone surrounding her bed. Fallon looked up and said, “Tate, I’ve been calling you for an hour!”
His heart sped up as dread filled his stomach. He missed something? Fallon’s eyes were red with tears, Nora was crying, and William wouldn’t take his eyes off of Audrey, while Lucas held Fallon, not looking at him. Dropping everything he had in his arms, Tate made his way toward her bed and said, “What is going on?”
With a bright grin, Fallon yelled out, “Her swelling has gone down! They are going to slowly wake her up!”
Pressing his hand to his heart, his body slumped forward as he bowed his head. A relieved sob broke from him because he knew she was coming back to him.
He just knew.
Chapter 29
Tate had become a permanent fixture in Audrey’s hospital room.
It had been three days since the doctors had taken her out of her medically induced coma and she still wasn’t awake. Fallon sat in a chair to her left, tearing her nails apart with her teeth. while her mother sat in a chair to Audrey’s right, trying to read her Kindle. Lucas stood along one wall, playing on his phone while keeping a close eye on Fallon and Audrey, and Tate stood by the other wall. William came in and out of the room.
Tate didn’t know how much more Audrey’s father could take. When she didn’t wake up the first day, William freaked, and went nuts saying he couldn’t handle it anymore. He was gone for hours before anyone could get hold of him. It wasn’t good, but thankfully he had come back and tried to support everyone while keeping it together.
Not that it had been easy for Tate. He was having a hard time keeping faith that Audrey was going to wake up. The doctors said it could happen at any time, but also that if she wasn’t awake in a week, they would need to discuss other options. They had done another ultrasound and it was clear that the baby was still holding on. It was a miracle, and he swore it was meant to be held by him. He had to believe that, and to believe that Audrey was going to wake up at any second. Because if he didn’t, he knew he would freak out, like William.
“What are we going to do if she doesn’t wake up by the end of the week?” Everyone looked up, meeting Fallon’s gaze. “She wouldn’t want to be living off a ventilator, and we all know that.”
Tate came off the wall and crossed his arms. “I don’t know that at all,” he said, getting a look from everyone but Lucas, whose eyes stayed glued to Audrey.
“Tate, we have to be realistic here, hon,” Nora said. “She should be awake by now.”
“I am being realistic. She will wake when she is healed,” he said sternly.
“But what if we take her off the ventilator and that helps, it wakes her up?” Fallon asked. “I read that it could happen in some cases.”