Mended

by Stacy Eaton

  “Tucker, you’re only going to aggravate your injuries if you keep that up, especially if you try to move your leg. You’re going to need another surgery on that.”

  “Why didn’t they do it while I was under?” I asked, irritated that I’d have to be put back to sleep.

  “You weren’t strong enough to handle a longer surgery.”

  I studied her face for a moment, her full lips were compressed into a straight line, and her chin was up as if she were preparing for battle. What the hell was going on?

  “Why wasn’t I strong enough?” I asked her. “Josey, please tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Before she could say anything, a man in a white coat entered the room. “Officer Wheatcraft, I’m Dr. Aarush Patel. I performed your surgery earlier today. So far, you seem to be doing well.”

  “Except no one will tell me what the hell is going on,” I growled.

  The doctor glanced toward my sister who turned away shyly. He returned his attention to me and asked, “Officer Wheatcraft, do you remember being hit by a car?”

  “Yeah, and I remember being shot, too. What damage did it do?” I felt my heart rate increasing, and both the doctor and Josey glanced toward the monitor.

  “The bullet entered your abdomen. You’re lucky that it was a small caliber and didn’t pierce any vital organs. It did, however, fragment inside of you and caused small lacerations to a few of your organs. We were able to repair them and get all the fragments out of you.”

  “Okay, that’s good, so what’s wrong?”

  “Unfortunately, your leg is broken in multiple places and when you were struck, your pelvis was shifted. Right now, it is putting pressure on your spine. You’re going to need surgery again very soon to shift your pelvis and relieve that pressure and also have your leg repaired.”

  “Why didn’t you do it while I was already in the operating room?”

  He sighed, “You weren’t strong enough. You coded in the emergency room, and your vitals were up and down during surgery.”

  “Are you saying I died?” I blurted and found myself staring at Josey.

  “Well, yes, but only for a few moments, and they brought you back. As soon as you were stable, we rushed you into surgery.”

  “Okay, so after they fix my leg, how long will I have to be in the hospital?” I didn’t want to dwell on the fact that I had died.

  “It all depends on how you heal and if there are any complications. You might have to spend some time in a rehab facility.”

  “A rehab facility? Why?”

  “Tucker,” okay, this was going to be bad if the doctor was taking it to a personal level and calling me by my first name, “the damage to your leg is extensive, and we don’t know what kind of damage might have happened to your spine. There is a good chance that you are going to need some very intense therapy to be able to walk again—if you do at all.”

  Say what? I stared at him and let the words run back through my mind. Maybe the drugs were making my brain confused because I thought he just said I might not walk again—and that was not possible. “Did you just say I might not walk again?”

  “There is a chance that there’s permanent damage to your spinal cord, and until we can get your pelvis shifted and let the swelling go down, we won’t know for sure.”

  “Then do the damn surgery now!” I shouted, and an alarm began to sound over my head.

  Josey stepped forward. “Tucker, you need to calm down. Your heart has already had more than it can take right now. If you don’t calm down, you could do more damage.”

  “Josey, is he serious? Am I never going to walk again?”

  “Tuck, we don’t know. We’re not going to know until after the next surgery, but we can’t do it until you have rested more and you’re stronger.”

  The nurse appeared beside my bed and grabbed hold of my IV tubing. The doctor nodded, and she stuck a needle into a port. “What are you doing?” All of a sudden anxiety rushed through me.

  “Tuck, you need to rest. We’ll talk again later, get some sleep.” Josey’s voice was already drifting away as the medicine began to take effect. Her face faded away along with my fear.

  Chapter 5

  Josey

  Well, that went about as well as expected. Shared looks went around the room, and his sister spoke softly from the chair.

  “I didn’t know how to tell him.”

  “Marisha, it’s probably better that you didn’t,” I comforted her and rounded the bed to squat beside her. “You saw what happened just now. It’s going to take him a while to comprehend and accept the possibility that he might not walk again.” I squeezed her hand, “You’re just going to have to take it slow. When will your parents be here?”

  She glanced at the clock on the wall. “In about an hour or so. Can you stay here with me until then? I’m afraid he’s going to wake up and ask more questions that I can’t answer.”

  Dr. Patel spoke, “Josey, if you want to stay and explain it, that’s fine. I have another surgery I need to step into.”

  “Well, since I am just getting off work, I can stay for a little while.”

  Dr. Patel told Marisha he would be back later to speak with her parents and see how Tucker was doing.

  I studied Tucker’s monitor. His heartbeat remained steady and slow, his oxygen levels were normal, his blood pressure where it should be.

  “Do you want to go grab a cup of coffee, or breakfast? He’s going to be out for at least an hour.”

  “Sure,” Marisha replied and darted out of the room so quickly that I had to practically run to catch up to her.

  “Is Tucker your only sibling?” I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

  “Yeah, he is.”

  “Did you guys grow up here in New York?”

  She laughed, “No, we grew up in Texas. Tuck had wanted to be a New York City cop since he was a kid.” It wasn’t until she said the word Texas that I heard the southern twang in her voice. Funny that I hadn’t noticed it before, and I tried to recall Tucker’s voice to see if he had an accent, too.

  “And you live in the city, too?”

  “Yeah, I followed my big brother out here a few years ago. I work in the fashion industry designing jewelry.”

  The elevator doors opened and we both stepped out. “So do you make it or just design jewelry?”

  She grinned, and I saw the weight lift off her shoulders as she let go of the stress of the night. “I help design it, but I do make some select pieces. One of the pieces I made a month ago was just selected to be used by a fashion model in an upcoming magazine ad.”

  “Really? Which one?”

  “Wilma Young,” she gushed.

  I laughed, “I’ve met her before. I’m actually friends with her brother, Ward.”

  “Oh my god, he is so gorgeous. I read an article on his gaming company.”

  I laughed for a moment then hit her with an intense look. “And very much in love with Trudy Parker, who is also a friend.”

  “Oh, I know he is, but a girl can fantasize, can’t she?”

  I laughed harder as we entered the cafeteria. “Yes, she can.”

  A few minutes later, Marisha and I had a light breakfast in front of us and were seated in a corner.

  “Are you close to Tucker?” I asked before I bit into my bagel.

  “Yeah, we’ve always been close. I guess that’s why this is so hard. I can’t imagine Tuck not ever walking again. I’m not surprised that he started freaking out. All he has ever wanted to do was be a police officer. If he can’t walk, what is he going to do?”

  “Well, I think before you start planning his future, you need to let them do the surgery and go from there. They could find out that there is no problem with his spine and he’s just going to have a long recovery with his leg.”

  She paused with her bagel halfway to her mouth. “Do you think that is what is going to happen?”

  “I don’t know, but I sure hope so.”

  She set her food
down. “And if that’s not the case, what are we supposed to do?”

  I crossed my arms on the table in front of me so I could lean forward. “Be strong. Tucker is a strong, proud man, and he’s going to need others to be strong, too.”

  She cocked her head, “How do you know my brother? Have you dated him?”

  “Dated him?” I laughed, “No, I haven’t dated him. We have mutual friends, and I’ve run into him a few times through them.”

  “Who are his friends?”

  “Walker Hunt and Jasmine Willows. Your brother saved their son’s life.”

  “The little boy that fell under the ice?” She sat upright quickly.

  “Yeah, Tony was walking with his mom along the water, and he broke through the ice and slipped under before Jasmine could get to him. If it hadn’t been for your brother walking through the park that night, Tony would have died.”

  “Wow,” pride flitted across her face, “he never really talked about it. Even after the award ceremony, he said it was no big deal. I met Walker and Jasmine last night, but I met so many people I didn’t put the names together.”

  “What he did was a huge thing. It’s actually what brought Walker and Jasmine together.”

  “Why? Were they getting divorced or something?” She resumed her eating.

  “No, they actually didn’t really know one another before the accident. Walker is an emergency pediatrician and took care of Tony in the hospital.” I refrained from telling her how they had first met. I didn’t need to share my shame of walking in on that kiss. “They hit it off, and now they are one big happy family.”

  “But you said Tony was his son, too, or did I hear that wrong?”

  “Walker adopted him, so legally he is his father.”

  “That’s amazing! I’m so glad that Tucker was there. I love happy endings.”

  “Yeah, I do, too.”

  She sighed, “Now if only Tucker could have a happy ending for himself.”

  I wasn’t sure if she was talking about his love life or his physical body, so I waited.

  “Neither of us has been lucky in love, and if Tucker can’t walk, he’ll never find someone.”

  “Don’t say that. Just because someone has a disability does not mean they can’t find love.”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. Tucker would look at himself as damaged goods, not good enough for anyone else. I know how hard he is on himself. Since he was a teenager, he’s worked out to stay in perfect shape, he only eats healthy, doesn’t drink alcohol often, and I doubt he has ever used a drug before in his life.”

  “Well, having a healthy lifestyle should help him move forward, but if he has to be in a wheelchair, it should not hold him back.”

  “Could you love a man in a wheelchair?” she asked quickly.

  I didn’t even hesitate, “Of course I could. Why, couldn’t you?”

  She winced and looked away. “I don’t know.”

  “Marisha, are you going to love your brother any less if he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair?”

  “No!” she blurted. “Of course not.”

  “Then why couldn’t you love someone else who might be in one? Just because they don’t have the use of their legs does not mean that they aren’t smart, talented, funny, sweet, and loving.”

  She scanned the room while she pondered my words. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I—” she sighed, “I guess I have always just thought about people in a wheelchair as being different, having problems.”

  I laughed, “We all have problems, Marisha. Being disabled is not a problem, it’s a condition—one that will take time to get used to, but then it will seem normal. I mean, it would if that was the case. Let’s not put him in one yet, okay? Let’s wait till the surgery is over and see how his rehab goes.”

  “Josey, I can’t thank you enough for staying and talking to me. You have no idea how much you have helped me. I know my mom is going to be so upset, but I feel so much calmer now, and I know I’ll be able to deal with her.”

  “Well, I’m glad to help. If you ever need anything else, let me know.” I wrote my phone number on a napkin and passed it over to her while I tried to stifle a yawn. “Just give me a call, even if it’s just to talk.”

  “You know, you don’t need to stay. You’ve been up all-night working. You’ve made me feel much better. I should be able to handle talking to my parents.”

  “You sure?”

  “Absolutely,” she responded with a light-hearted smile.

  Marisha and I finished our breakfast, and I left her at the elevator banks. I was starting to feel the exhaustion of the night creeping over me, and I was ready for bed. I told Marisha I’d be by to check on Tucker before I went back to work tonight and reminded her that she could give me a call if she needed to and headed home.

  When I stepped into my apartment, I wanted to pass out in the entryway. It had been both physically and emotionally exhausting, and I barely made it to my bed before I stripped out of my clothes and climbed under the covers wearing just my panties.

  My last thought before I fell asleep was of Tucker and the anxiety-filled expression he had turned on me when he heard he might never walk again. “Please, God, don’t let it be true,” I whispered to my pillow just before I slipped off to sleep.

  Chapter 6

  Tucker

  When I woke, light streamed through the window beside the bed, and I heard muted conversation right outside my door.

  I blinked a few times to clear the cobwebs out of my eyes and tried to remember what had happened last. Oh, yeah, the doctor told me I might not walk again, and then I’d panicked, and they’d knocked me the hell out. Okay, so I needed to keep from freaking out about this so they wouldn’t keep pumping me full of mind-blowing drugs.

  I cleared my throat and tried to shift in bed, immediately sucking in a fast breath to combat the pain.

  “Hey, he’s awake,” Marisha announced from the door and immediately she and my parents were beside my bed.

  “Tucker,” my mother gushed, tears dripping down her cheeks the minute she reached for my hand. My mother was an incredibly strong woman, but when it came to her family, she was an emotional mess. “Honey, I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

  I glanced at Marisha, “Water.”

  Marisha grabbed my cup and straw and held it out like the nurse had earlier, allowing me to moisten my mouth and throat again.

  “It’s okay, Mom. It’s not like you missed me being awake.”

  “But, honey,” she started to cry again, and my father pulled her into his arms as she began to wail in earnest.

  “Mom, I’m alive. Can you just be happy about that right now and leave the tears out of this?” I glanced at my sister who gave me a look of empathy.

  “But Tuck, sweetie, they say you might never walk again.”

  I clenched my teeth, forcing myself to use my police training to mentally ground myself and keep calm. “Mom, the doc said I might not walk again. He said I still need another surgery and they won’t know anything until that is done. Do we know when that surgery is?”

  “The nurse said they are hoping to get you back in tonight,” Marisha answered.

  For the first time, my gaze connected with my father’s, and I saw the strength in his eyes that I would need to move forward. He was the rock of the family, always had been, and for the first time in a long time, I wanted to lean on him.

  He winked at me as if he knew what I was thinking. “We’ll get this all figured out, and you’ll get better, Tucker.” His deep voice filled me with a warmth that I had not felt since this whole incident happened, and I blinked back tears.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked them as I tried to hold my composure.

  “We got in about an hour ago.” My mother finally stopped crying and turned back to me after wiping her nose with a tissue. “Your sister and the nurses have been filling us in.”

  “Okay, that’s good.” I glanced around t
he room, “Where’s Josey?”

  “She went home to get some sleep,” Marisha answered. “She has to work again tonight. She said she would check on you before she starts.”

  “Who is Josey?” my mother asked, her eyebrow rising.

  I recognized the look in her eye. “She’s a friend, Mom, nothing else. She was in the surgery with me last night and waiting for me in recovery afterward.”

  My mom looked a little disappointed that I had said she was just a friend, but she was going to have to deal with it.

  For the rest of the day, my nurse popped in and out of my room periodically to check on me. She told me that if I continued to stay as calm and relaxed as I was, they shouldn’t have any problem doing the surgery on my leg tonight. No matter what I had to do, I was going to remain calm.

  I would probably have been calmer if my mother hadn’t broken down in tears a dozen times over the day. Most of them were brought on by the sight of seeing someone passing my room in a wheelchair.

  Several of my fellow officers had stopped by to check on me, but since I was in the ICU, they weren’t letting anyone in except family. If my surgery went well, I’d be in a regular room in a day, and then I could have other visitors. The only person I really wanted to see anyway was Camille. I knew she would be taking this hard.

  Breakfast and lunch were a liquid diet since I was going back into surgery tonight, and the broth delivered to me for lunch was so salty I wanted to gag. I had just taken my last allowed ice chip when Josey appeared in the doorway and knocked quietly.

  “How’s the patient doing?” She smiled toward me, and for a moment that was all I saw—her sparkling light green eyes, her honey-blonde hair, and her full lips curling warmly as she drew closer.