“It’s cool. I forgive you.” He leaned down to kiss the back of my hand.
With our reconciliation, it felt like everything was back on track. The holes in my life that had left me feeling incomplete were finally filled. Our attention shifted to the door as the doctor entered. He was an older distinguished man with just a little gray at the temples. His eyes were kind and he had a warm smile on his face. “Well, Ms. Kelley, I wasn’t expecting to see you up and alert so soon. I’m Dr. Harp.” He extended his hand toward me.
I returned the gesture and tugged at my blanket nervously. AJ stepped aside to let the doctor take my blood pressure and check the stitches on my arm. I watched to see if AJ would shy away at the sight of the blood, but he stood close by with his hand resting on my leg. This was the first glimpse I got of the wound and it was more gruesome than I’d expected for it to be. There was still quite a bit of blood on the skin surrounding it and the laceration was nearly four inches long.
Dr. Harp recovered my arm and moved on to checking the hideous cuts on my face. I was embarrassed for him to look at me this way, so I closed my eyes and pretended that he wasn’t even there.
“Excuse me, but how long do you think I’ll be in here?” I didn’t want to sound like I was whining, but graduation was a few days away and I desperately wanted to be there.
“This was a very serious accident. I can’t say for sure yet, but it won’t be any less than a week. I’d like to keep a close eye on you just to make sure that nothing new develops that we may have missed.” I slumped down into my pillow, feeling disappointed by his prognosis. Dr. Harp shifted his weight from his left foot to his right and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “There’s one other thing that I need to discuss with you, but it’s of a more…..personal nature.” He looked at AJ for a brief second.
“No, it’s fine if he stays,” I replied. The doctor’s tones made me slightly nervous, so I automatically reached for AJ’s hand and he looked just as worried as I did.
The doctor’s expression was solemn and he took a few deep breaths before speaking. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this…..but the trauma from the accident caused you to miscarry. By the time you made it here to the hospital, it was already too late. There was nothing we could do,” he stated.
A rush of cold blood shot through my veins in response to Dr. Harp’s statement. AJ continued to hold my hand, but sat down in his chair and put his head down. I shook my head, insisting that he’d made a mistake. “But…..I…..I wasn’t,” I stuttered with a confused look on my face.