Max, Manny, and Peter came in the room, and John didn’t even try to tell them to get out. They were a close group, and all of them needed to see that Mary Kate was going to be just fine. Peter stepped out of the room to let all security teams know that Mary Kate was awake. He also called the ranch to let Maria and Santos know of the change in her status. The next call was to Henry to give him an update.
Alex intently watched Mary Kate as she noticed all the monitoring equipment around the room. She tried to move her shoulder, but the pain she felt was reflected in her facial expression and body language. The panic in her eyes was visible. John asked her if she remembered any of what happened the day before at the ranch. She shook her head no, she didn’t remember anything except Alex telling stories, squeezing her hand, and kissing her. She liked that and would he move so Alex could do it again. The doctor laughed and moved so Alex could return to his wife’s bedside.
“If you can find your sense of humor in all of this my dear, you’re on your way back,” John stated jokingly. “Mary Kate, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Yesterday afternoon you went out to check on Alex and there was an incident involving you and Max.” He paused to be sure she was comprehending what he was telling her. “A gunman attempted to shoot Max. You stepped between him and the shooter, and took a bullet in your right shoulder. As a result, there was some major damage to an artery and the muscles. You underwent surgery last night to repair it, and have been unconscious since.”
“Do you remember any of that, Amada? Anything at all about the surgery, or the shooting?” Alex asked watching for a flicker of recollection, but there was none.
“I do remember falling on Max and horrendous pain in my shoulder, but nothing else until I heard laughing and voices and bits and pieces of stories I remembered. I thought I was dreaming,” Mary Kate replied.
John dismissed everyone from the room but Alex and the nurse to examine Mary Kate. When he removed the bandage from Mary Kate’s shoulder Alex thought he was going to be sick at the ghastly sight of the line of stitches that ran from just above her right breast to her collar bone. Mary Kate looked at him with tears in her eyes, which made Alex want to take her pain. He knew that the recovery from a bullet wound like that would be painful and lengthy.
The exit wound was not much better to look at because it was bigger than the entrance. Mary Kate was one tough cookie, but she was wretched with pain beyond understanding and Alex was coming apart knowing how she hurt.
John glanced at Alex to see how he was handling all of this. “Alex, remember what I told you before you came in here?” John asked.
“Yes, I remember, I promised I wouldn’t hit you for making my wife hurt like hell,” replied Alex.
Mary Kate looked at him but was in such pain she couldn’t speak, so Alex explained what John was referring to. He told her that John wouldn’t let him come into the room last night until he promised he wouldn’t get in the way, and no matter what he would let him do his job. Mary Kate’s attempt to smile was visible, but unsuccessful. At that point, Alex sat down beside her and held her other hand and spoke soothing endearments to her in Spanish hoping to ease her mind. It seemed to help some. It was such a loving scene that the nurse started tearing up, because she understood every loving word Alex said to Mary Kate. Mary Kate was in too much pain to even care.
When John was through examining her, and checking all the monitors, he sat down on the stool at the foot of the bed and excused the nurse. He told Mary Kate that they needed to talk about another condition he had discovered while examining her prior to surgery. Alex looked at her with endearing quizzical eyes and then back at John.
“My God, what else could be wrong with me? I am not sure I can take anything else right now. What’s wrong? Am I dying?” Mary Kate asked as she looked from one of them to the other, panic stricken. “What are all these monitors for? What is this one attached to my stomach for? Do I have a tumor or something?” Mary Kate was almost hysterical at this point, so Alex calmed her down by brushing her hair back from her forehead and kissing her gently. She tried to get up and the pain was unbearable, so she settled down and waited for the nausea to pass.
John asked Alex if he wanted to tell her or should he. Alex replied that he would. He turned to face Mary Kate, and he took her hands in his and said, “Mary Kate the other condition that John discovered is a baby.” Tears filled his eyes as he looked into hers and she stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language that she didn’t understand.
“What are you talking about? How can that be?” she asked in the softest whisper of a voice as if someone had just informed her of a miracle.
John stated, “Well, perhaps I need to have a little talk with you, Mary Kate, if you can’t figure out how this can be.”
Alex gave him an uncivilized look at which point he excused himself. On his way out the door, he reminded Mary Kate that she needed a great deal of rest to recover fully and to remember that both she and the baby were working on recuperating.
Alex looked back at Mary Kate and saw tears running down her face as she looked at him in amazement and shock. She was fighting hard to stay awake to talk to him, but her eyes were slowly closing from exhaustion and medication when she said,” Alex, don’t leave me, please stay with me.” Her eyes closed, and she drifted off to sleep. Alex kissed the tears from her eyes, and laid his forehead against hers as he thanked God for bringing they both back to him.
Chapter 11
He stayed by her side for the rest of the afternoon, leaving only for a few minutes at a time to take a short break and then return. As he watched her drift in and out of sleep, he began to think about the realistic possibility of a baby, his and Mary Kate’s. They had wanted a baby for so long, and were beginning to think it was impossible. Mary Kate wouldn’t go to a fertility doctor. She believed if it was meant for them to have children, it was in God’s hands. If it wasn’t, then there were plenty of children that needed good homes and they could adopt.
As she drifted in and out of consciousness, they would steal a few minutes to talk about the baby and the future. Alex feared that she kept her knowledge of the pregnancy from him until she decided on their future together. He began to realize that she hadn’t known about the baby by her visible shock at the news, which relieved him. After his disappearance, she was having a hard time dealing with the entire situation. He realized that Mary Kate couldn’t do that to him or to herself, and he was just panicked with disbelief.
They were both overwhelmed with the news of the baby. With everything else that had happened over the last several months, they were both exhausted. Alex would take a cat nap whenever Mary Kate would sleep, and in between John’s checking on Mary Kate and the nurses coming in and out of the room, they tried to catch up on much needed rest.
Later that evening Mary Kate displayed her first signs of an appetite. She was finally awake for more than just a few minutes at a time. Alex asked her if Max could come in for a few minutes. He described how Max had been there the entire time, and his need to visit with her. She appeared to be elated to see him and make sure he was alright.
Alex left the room in search of Max and found him in the little makeshift waiting room across the hall they had used for almost two days.
**********
Max entered the room and stopped as if waiting for permission to enter any further. He appeared to be relieved when Mary Kate smiled at him and asked him to sit by her in the chair vacated by Alex. He did as he was asked and was a little more relaxed as he moved in her direction.
He sat down and wasn’t sure what he should do next. Mary Kate extended her hand to him and when he grasped hers, she smiled up at him and asked Max how he felt about having a little brother or sister. At that point Max leaned over just enough to give her a kiss on her cheek and a gentle hug. He clasped her hand in between his two large ones and returned her smile.
“I am so sorry for everything and all that has happened between us over the last s
everal years,” he sighed as he looked down into her loving, forgiving eyes, “and thank you for saving my life. I can see now why my father loves you so much.”
“Max, you don’t need to apologize to me for anything. We are a family and sometimes families must work through situations before they can arrive at clear understandings. Everything is forgiven,” Mary Kate told him as she looked into a face that so much resembled his father’s. “I only hope that you are excited about being a big brother.”
“I can hardly believe it. A little person running around the ranch will be quite a sight to see and experience.” Max exclaimed. “I only hope I will be involved in the excitement.”
“You will be the big brother, of course you will be a major player in the game,” Mary Kate sighed as she glanced at Alex and began to drift off to sleep again.
“Thank you, Mary Kate, for everything,” Max replied as he watched her fall back to sleep and her hand went limp in his. He tucked her hand under the sheet, kissed her cheek again, and went to stand by his father. They both turned around and gazed down at Mary Kate fast asleep. Sheer exhaustion toppled with pain medication made staying awake for very long very difficult.
**********
Mary Kate slept in between visits by doctors and nurses throughout the night. Alex slept in the chair beside her bed as much as he could with all the interruptions and noise. Sometime between midnight and three in the morning, John came in the room and removed all the monitors and tubes except for the fetal monitor. He told Alex that Mary Kate would move to a private room first thing after the shift change the next morning. With the vast improvement of both Mary Kate and the baby, there was no need to keep her in ICU any longer.
Alex was relieved with the news of Mary Kate’s upgraded condition, which only meant that the baby’s situation had improved as well. The security team would be relieved to get both to a more secure area and away from the fish bowl they had been living in over the last two days.
The change of rooms was completed by ten the next morning and once everyone was completely settled and thoroughly evaluated, the fetal monitor was removed except when Mary Kate was in bed.
Max came back to the hospital after a short trip to the ranch, and stayed with Mary Kate while Alex went to the ranch to shower and change. A bed was moved into the room so that Alex could rest more comfortably than he had been the last two nights.
Max was still with Mary Kate when John came in with a nurse to inform Mary Kate that it was time for her to get up and start moving around. Max was not so sure.
He stood up in alarm and addressed them both. “Wait a minute! I think we need to wait for Dad before she starts walking!”
John and Mary Kate appeared determined that this was going to happen now, paying very little attention to Max’s protests. “Max, the longer she waits to get moving the more difficult it will be for her when she does.” John paused for a second before continuing, giving his words time to sink in. “I can get someone in to help if you’re not comfortable helping with this?”
“It’s alright Max, I understand.” Mary Kate looked at him with total understanding before continuing. “It’s not going to be an easy assignment.”
“No, I’m ok. I just thought you might want Dad here rather than me. I’m ready whenever you guys are,” Max stated as he stepped up to the plate to help Mary Kate along with the nurse.
As gently as possible under the circumstances, they got her up and walking. The pain she experienced was heart wrenching for Max to watch, but he never allowed anyone to see. He still felt responsible for Mary Kate being in this condition, and didn’t know what to do to make it any easier for her. It made him physically ill to watch what this was doing to her.
**********
The three of them walked down the hall to the nurses’ station, unaware that Alex was standing behind them watching from the opposite end of the hall. He had recuperated from enough injuries to know the horrific pain Mary Kate was suffering. He wanted so badly to make that pain his and protect her, but he knew that wasn’t possible. His eyes were brimming with tears as he watched his son and wife work through the healing process together; a bonding he never thought he would see. He kept his feelings in check, because the last thing Mary Kate needed was weakness or sympathy. She would need all the strength she could pull together and everyone around her would have to be strong.
They made the turn at the nurses’ station and headed back toward the room. Alex relieved Max of his position and helped get Mary Kate back to bed and settled.
Upon returning to the room, Max excused himself. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to get something to drink. May I get y’all something?” They all declined.
Mary Kate asked for her pain meds and Max left the room. The nurse reconnected the fetal monitor, gave Mary Kate her medication, and left the room also.
Mary Kate was in a great deal of pain from moving around for the first time since the injury. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating. Alex took a cool wash cloth and wiped her face until some of the color returned and she could finally speak.
“Querida, I am so sorry, but remember what you told me one time when we were in a reversed situation?” Alex asked. “You told me that there are two good things about pain. One is that you know you are alive and the other is that it doesn’t last forever.”
She smiled and nodded her head, because the pain was so great she couldn’t speak. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill.
They were finally alone. Alex spoke very softly through the pain she was feeling to tell her, “Mary Kate, you cannot keep the pain bottled up inside you. It isn’t good for you or the baby. I know you hurt like hell and you feel that showing your emotions is a sign of weakness, but you have got to let it go, Amada. I am here for you, if you will just lean on me a little.”
She looked up at Alex and let the tears begin to fall. Alex lay down on the left side of the bed as gently as he could and turned on his side to face her. He held her left hand in his and laid his face as close to hers as he could, and rested his head on his right arm. He gently kissed her tears away until the pain began to ease, and she finally slept.
Alex got up and went out to the hall to check on Max. Max was busy talking to Peter about security business and the latest development with the Cartel and the threat to them all, when he noticed Alex watching them.
Max got up immediately and inquired about Mary Kate, “She’s finally resting. It will take time and patience, but she will be back to herself before we know it. Being in excruciating pain with very little that can be done due to the pregnancy creates limited options for relief.” Turning to Max as he continued, “I’m so proud of you for helping Mary Kate with the walk. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
Alex asked Peter for an update on any developments with the shooter. Peter informed him that a man with the caliber of weapon that should match the bullet taken out of Mary Kate was found dead a few miles from the ranch in a culvert. The situation indicated a professional job. There was no identification on the body, but the prints and a photo were being run for matches in the company’s database, as well as by the locals in the registered database.
“Sam has recruited a few Texas Rangers and local county deputies to add to the security until this is over,” Peter reported. “Michael Johnston has brought a few of his buddies along to help.”
Michael Johnston was a running buddy of AJ and Alex’s since elementary school days. Michael went to Texas A&M University in College Station and started his military career as a member of the Corp of Cadets. After college, Michael spent ten years in the Marines and then came back to Texas to begin a successful career in law enforcement, and now he was serving the state as a member of the elite Texas Rangers.
“He is a good man and will help every way he can,” Alex replied. “You can depend on him, but don’t get too detailed with anyone else just yet.”
Max walked to the nurses’ station to stretch his legs. �
��How is Mary Kate really doing, Boss?” Peter asked Alex quietly, so Max couldn’t hear.
“She is in a great deal of pain with limited relief, and you know how stubborn and tough she is.” Alex told him. “Her prognosis is very good, but the stress from everything that has happened and what is going on now is taking its toll on her and creating great stress on the baby.”
“When do you think they’ll let her go home?” Peter asked.
“I have no idea, but I hope it’s soon. We can keep her more secure at the ranch than we can here. There are too many people coming and going all the time. The security is a nightmare,” Alex said as he looked up to see John coming down the hall.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. How is the patient?” John asked Alex.
“She is finally sleeping. That walk this morning almost destroyed her,” Alex told him.
“You know as well as I do that moving as soon as possible after an injury is very important to continued movement,” John commented. “You have been patched up enough times to understand that.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t understand it. I am just saying that I don’t like to see my wife in that much pain,” Alex replied gritting his teeth and glaring at John.
“I know it can’t be easy to watch someone you love be in that kind of pain Alex, but she has to get up and move around. The faster she becomes mobile the sooner she can go home,” John told them both.
“John, when can we take her home? If she is out of immediate danger medically, can’t she recover at home?” Alex asked. “I can get around the clock nurses, medical equipment, and anything else she needs. We can keep her more secure there than we can here.”
“If she and the baby continue to improve, and she’s getting around better, she may go home tomorrow. If she does go home, she’ll have complete bed rest and twenty-four hour nursing. I will come by every morning and evening, and she must be kept quiet and calm,” John told him, and he agreed.
Twice in a Lifetime: A love story you'll never forget! (Cedar Creek Saga Book 1) Page 8
