by Tina Martin
“Yeah, but I don’t want to have surgery, Andre,” she slurred. “I’m scared.”
“Ava, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” he told her, but they both had everything to be afraid of – she of dying, and he of losing her. But he would be strong for her, coach her through this and see to it that she was getting everything she needed. “The medication is losing its effect and now you have to have the surgery, sweetheart. There’s no way around it.”
She sniffled more, then asked, “Did you call my Mom?”
“No, but I will, as soon as they move you upstairs.”
“Okay.” She dabbed her eyes. “When do I have to have the surgery, Andre?”
“Today, as soon as I give the doctor the go ahead, and like I said, I will call your mother, but unfortunately, she won’t be here before the surgery.”
“Then I want to talk to her.”
“Okay, baby. I’ll make sure you do.”
Andre watched as the curtains ruffled and a nurse peeped through. “Hi. Are you Mr. Rockwell?”
“Yes.”
“Hi there, I’m Brandy,” she said, extending her hand to shake his. “I’ll be looking after your wife this afternoon. Right now, we need to take her upstairs. Someone will be out to the waiting room to get you once we get her settled.”
Andre looked at Ava, finding it hard to keep the look of worry off of his face. “Why can’t I go with her?”
“It’ll be easier this way, Mr. Rockwell. Don’t worry...we’ll make sure you’re here the second she’s set up.”
“Please see to it that I am,” Andre said. Then he looked at Ava, leaned down and kissed her lips. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”
She smiled weakly.
“I love you, Ava.”
“Love you, too.”
Andre walked away from her with a sour feeling in his stomach. It didn’t help matters that Andrew began screaming and crying for her, wanting his mother more than anything right now. Andre consoled him and while he sat in the waiting room, anxiously looking for Brandy or whomever it was to come out and take him up to Ava’s room, he called his parents and Maria, notifying them of Ava’s hospital stay and impending surgery.
Maria broke out in tears, crying while begging Andre at the same time to take care of her daughter. Andre promised her that he would.
When Andre told his mother what was going on, she also cried but gave her son some encouraging words – telling him to be the strong man that his father raised him to be and to make sure Ava knew how much he loved her. His father let him know that they would pack right away, pick up Maria and take the first available flight to Charlotte.
Chapter 9
Andre
. ~ .
“MR. ROCKWELL, YOU can come to her room now,” Nurse Brandy told him.
Andre stood, holding Andrew and followed the nurse to the elevator. They took up to the second floor.
The nurse tapped her knuckles against the wooden door before entering the room. Walking in, she said, “Mrs. Ava, your husband is back.”
Why did she look different in this light? Her skin was pale and with her eyes closed, her lids looked to be a shade of purple. Was he imagining this or did hospitals make a person appear sicker than they actually were?
At any rate, he laid Andrew on what looked to be a built-in seating area next to the windows. After making sure Andrew was secure, he walked over to the bed sat there, leaning close to his wife, just a few inches away from her face.
“Ava,” he said softly.
“Yes,” she replied, but didn’t open her eyes.
“Can you look at me?”
She cracked her eyes open a little.
“I called your Mother. She wanted me to call her back once you were in the room so she could talk to you.”
“Okay,” Ava said barely above a whisper.
Andre took out his cell, dialed Maria’s number and once she picked up, he said, “Ms. Davenport, I’m here in the room with Ava now. Here...I’ll give her the phone.”
He handed Ava the phone, but she didn’t lift a finger for it. She was too weak and groggy, out of it. He held the phone to her ear instead and whispered, “Ava, it’s your Mother.”
Chapter 10
Ava
. ~ .
I DON’T KNOW exactly what I feel right now. All I know for sure is, I’m tired. I remember cooking eggs, feeding Andrew his breakfast and the next thing I know, I’m being transported to the hospital.
Now, Andre is standing next to my bed, holding his cell phone at my ear. My Mother is on the other end and I hear her saying, “Hello, Ava. You there? Hello? Ava? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“What’s going on, baby? Andre called me and told me you have to have surgery.”
“Yeah,” I said, inhaling a good dose of oxygen. “The doctor said I did, so—” I closed my eyes and for a moment, I feel like I’m sleeping, like I’m nodding off and when I open my eyes again, I see that Andre has taken the phone away from my ear and he’s talking to Mom. After telling her that he would see her later, he tucks his cell away in his pocket and is back sitting next to me.
“We knew this day would come, baby,” he said. “Now I need you to be strong for me and fight through this, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, making an effort to open my eyes and look at him. What I see disturbs me. Andre is beyond worried. He’s flustered, looks like he’s about to have a breakdown and this is precisely what I didn’t want. The worry in his eyes worries me and instead of thinking about myself and this impending surgery, I’m thinking about him. If something were to happen to me, I don’t think Andre would be able to handle it. He gave me the spiel about him being the man in this relationship and how he would shoulder my burdens, but even men had breaking points.
I am Andre’s breaking point.
Chapter 11
Andre
. ~ .
“MR. ROCKWELL, WE’LL need to go ahead and take her to the operating room now.”
Andre blew a breath and leaned down next to Ava again so their faces touched. “Be strong for me baby. I’ll be right here. I won’t leave you.”
“Okay,” she said.
“I love you, Ava,” he said, his voice strong but weak.
She smiled, too befuddled to reply back, but her smile was enough for Andre. He knew she loved him.
“You can wait in here for her to come out of surgery. Do you know where the cafeteria is?”
“I’m sure I’ll find it,” Andre replied, but he had no appetite. “Tell Dr. Burke I need to speak with him before the surgery.”
“Yes, he should be up here to speak to you in a few minutes, Mr. Rockwell.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Andre watched in agony as three nurses wheeled Ava away from him and down a long hallway, pass two wooden, oversized doors. Moments later, Dr. Burke emerged, walking briskly from the opposite direction wearing blue scrubs and a white hospital coat. He extended his hand for a shake.
Andre reached to shake his hand and said, “I know we’ve talked about this a million times, but I just want to get your gut feeling on this, doctor. So tell me straight up...will this work?”
Dr. Burke sighed. “With surgery, as you know, there are always risks. No one can predict what will happen in the O.R., but I assure you, Mr. Rockwell, that I will do everything in my power to make this surgery a success.”
“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“All right, well I’ll see you in about two to four hours. The nurse will be giving you periodic updates on Ava’s progress.”
“Okay. Thank you, Dr. Burke.”
ANDRE SHIFTED HIS focus on his son. Andrew, in his sleep, had rolled to the edge of seat where he was resting. Andre would have preferred it if the family was already here so someone could take Andrew home, bathe him and get him comfortable for bed. With Ava in surgery, Andrew needed the stability of home. He was probably confused as to why he couldn’t be with his mothe
r.
Until the family arrived, Andre had to wait. It was thirty minutes after five and all he had between four white walls was his son and his thoughts. He rubbed his eyes, stroked his mustache and nervously bounced his legs up and down. He was worried. Anxious. He needed something to take his mind off of the visuals he had of Ava in surgery, of her chest being cut open.
A distraction came in the form of a phone call from Scott.
He answered with a simple, dry, hello.
“Hey, man,” Scott answered. “When did you say you were going to be back again? I’m not trying to rush you, but we finally have a meeting nailed down with the chief operating officer of Flashtec Systems on—”
“I’m not sure when I’ll be back, Scott,” Andre muttered evenly, interrupting him. “Ava is having emergency surgery as we speak.”
“What? What happened?”
“She nearly fainted this morning and...” Andre dropped his head, pinching his eyes closed tightly.
This morning, he’d awakened from a beautiful night’s sleep, ready to start the day after reuniting with Ava, making love to her and proclaiming his love as an everlasting one – one that was true. Now he was in a cold hospital room with sweaty palms, waiting for her to come out of surgery...
Was he somehow at fault for this? Did he make love to her too forcefully? After holding out on sex for four months, was it too much for her body? If only he’d stayed in Miami and given her the space she requested, she probably wouldn’t be in this predicament.
“You there?” Scott asked.
“Yeah. Um, like I said, she almost fainted this morning...I had to call an ambulance and uh...now I’m here...at the hospital,” he said with an unsteady voice, “Waiting for my wife to come out of surgery.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, man. I’m glad she’s getting the surgery she needs, but I know it must be nerve racking.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, listen, I don’t want to talk business while you’re going through this, so—”
“Honestly I need a distraction right now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. Now, as for Flashtec, we need our best sales manager on this, so I want you to pull in Geoff Kirkshan.”
“Hmm...I was thinking Franco. Why Geoff?”
“Geoff is efficient and thorough. He leaves no loose strings. Franco may be the top salesman, but he’s a talker, a delegator. I need someone to see this one all the way through. Geoff is our man.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“When is the meeting?”
“Monday morning, promptly at 9:30.”
“I’m sure I won’t be back by then. As a matter of fact, I’m going to call my assistant and have her draft up a company-wide email to let everyone know that I will be out for a while.”
“Man, I know that’s tough. Do you need anything?”
“No. I’m good for now...just make sure Geoff heads up this Flashtec deal.”
“You got it, boss.”
“I’ll try to check in with you again, probably late on Monday.”
“Cool. Listen, man. I pray everything goes well with Ava. Call me as soon as you hear something.”
“Will do. Appreciate it, man. Later.”
Andre held the phone in his hand, staring at it before deciding to call Todd. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it was a must that he called his best friend whom he considered a brother. A constant traveler, he wondered where Todd was these days. The man never stayed put. He was busy opening up tax preparation offices all over the United States, busy growing his empire. He was about his business, but Andre knew if he called him, Todd would drop everything and be right there with him. That’s what close friends like him did.
Todd wasn’t one of those fair-weather friends, who were only around when things were going well. He was there for the hard times too and had been through difficult times with Andre before. They helped each other through struggles, through difficult relationships back in the day, through the hard work and dedication it took to start up their companies.
Andre hung his head low, sucked in a breath and dialed his number.
“Dre, how’s it going? You work things out with Ava?”
“Yeah...we worked things out, but now she’s in the hospital...having surgery.”
“Surgery? For what?”
“You remember I told you about her condition?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Well, the doctors think the valves in her heart can be repaired, so—”
“Wait...you called me a couple of days ago saying she’d left you and was in Charlotte...now she’s having surgery?”
Andre sighed and stood up to walk over to the windows again. “Okay, let me back up...I flew out here to Charlotte to talk to her.”
“Right.”
“So I got here late last night to talk to her and,” his lips trembled. “We worked through things and um...the next morning I go downstairs because she’s not in bed and I hear Andrew crying. I see Ava sitting at the table, her head down like she’s resting, but she’s not responding to Andrew at all. So I run to her and she’s just lying there, her eyes closed and she wouldn’t move.”
“Ah, man...”
“I can’t help but think if I had stayed in Miami and gave her space, she’d be fine right now.”
“Nah, you did the right thing. If it was Sasha, I would’ve went there to get her too, man. The most important thing right now is seeing her through this surgery. What are the doctors telling you?”
Andre glanced over at Andrew as he moved a bit to get comfortable, but his eyes didn’t open. “Dr. Burke says she’ll make a full recovery if the surgery is a success, but I’m just sitting here, worried to death about my baby. I can’t lose her, Todd.”
“Man, I can’t even begin to imagine what you must be going through.”
Andre stared blankly out of the windows. He could feel the warmness from the sunlight as he stood there, thinking about how beautiful of a day it was outside, while on the inside, he was going through a massive storm.
“Which hospital are you at in Charlotte?” Todd inquired.
“Ah...” Andre scratched his head. “I think it’s the one in Uptown. Why?”
“I’m heading up that way, actually...I’m about thirty minutes south of Charlotte. I’ll come up there and keep you company for a while.”
“Nah, bruh...you don’t have to do that, man.”
“You’d do it for me.”
Andre cracked a smile because Todd was right.
“Text me the address.”
“Okay. Look out for it in the next five.”
“All right. Do you need anything?”
“Yes, I do actually. If you could pick up a pack of size three diapers for Andrew, that would be great. With all that has happened this morning, I didn’t think about grabbing his diaper bag or anything, and he’s overdue for a diaper change.”
“Okay, I got you. Anything else?”
“No. That’s it.”
“Okay. See you shortly.”
Andre glanced over at Andrew again. His eyes were still closed, even though he was stirring a bit. Andre quietly walked from the windows to the door, opening it and finding one of the nurses, asking for the hospital’s address. He texted it to Todd and to his father.
While standing out in the hallway, he called his assistant and had her draft up an email, notifying everyone of his unavailability. He told her that he would be on leave until further notice. For now, he had to put company matters in Scott’s hands. He had more important matters to deal with.
Chapter 12
. ~ .
“WISH WE WERE meeting under better circumstances, man,” Todd told Andre as they sat in the cafeteria. Todd had arrived at the hospital forty-five minutes ago.
“Me, too,” Andre said, sipping on grape juice. He’d already changed Andrew into a fresh diaper and was feeding him graham crackers.
“So how long does that type of surge
ry take?”
“Anywhere from two to four hours, and she’s already been in there for two hours.” Andre took a sip of juice. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared in my life. I mean, Ava puts things into perspective for me because before I met her, my company was everything. Now, I could walk away from the company and not think twice about it.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
Andre let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve been thinking about it. It’s been tough trying to balance work and home and when Ava pulls through this surgery, I want to be there for her full-time. I don’t need the distraction of work interfering with my family life. I love my family more than anything.”
“You could have both. It’ll just require a lot of delegation on your part. But I understand what you mean. I struggle with the same thing.”
“I just don’t know what I...” Andre closed his eyes and rubbed his hand down the length of his face. Opening his eyes again, he said, “I don’t know what I would do without her. She’s my everything.” He thought for a moment and said, “She’s the most giving and unselfish woman I know. When I met her and we spent that week together, I hate that she didn’t tell me about her condition then and there. And I was furious when she hadn’t called me.”
Todd nodded, fully aware of all the frustrations Andre had experienced when it came to Ava back when he’d first met her. She’d basically disappeared from his radar after they’d spent a week together, and then Andre had found out she had a baby – his son.
“And I was even more furious when she didn’t tell me about Andrew, but she did it all for me. And when she left Miami and came here, she did it for me...told me she didn’t want me worrying about her anymore...that she didn’t want to be a burden on me. She does all this for me, trying to protect my feelings and now she’s lying there on an operating table and I can’t do a single thing to protect her.” Andre’s lips quivered.
