Dying to Love Her

by Tina Martin

  “You’re here. That’s what she needs...just to know that you’re here. I know she’s pleased with that.”

  Andre nodded. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Okay, I need to shift my focus. Ah...what are you doing in the area? Opening up more offices?”

  “Yep...one in Huntersville and the other in Matthews.”

  “Nice. So I take it business is good.”

  “Yeah. It’s been going great, but I’m feeling like you these days. At some point I’m going to have to slow down and figure out this family thing. Sasha and I have been trying to have a baby.”

  Andre’s face glowed. “Wow. That’s great, Todd. I’m happy for you, man.”

  “Thanks.”

  “There you are,” Nurse Brandy said, tapping Andre on the shoulder. She came walking up from behind him, so he hadn’t seen her coming. “I figured you were down here.”

  “Is everything okay with Ava?” Andre asked her.

  “Yep...that’s why I came looking for you...wanted to let you know that everything is moving along just fine. Your wife’s vitals are good and the doctors are right on schedule.”

  “Thank you,” Andre said, feeling a wave of relief engulf him, though he was still concerned. “I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  When she walked away, Todd said, “See...everything is going to be just fine.”

  Andre nodded, taking his ringing cell phone from his pocket. He looked at the display and saw his father’s number. “Hold on, Todd. It’s my Father,” he told him.

  Answering his phone, Andre said, “Hey Pops...are you here?”

  “We just touched down, son.”

  “Good.”

  “How’s Ava doing?”

  “The nurse just came by and said everything was going according to plan.”

  “Good. That’s good news. I got the address you sent me. As soon as we get off of this plane, we’ll get a taxi and come straight there.”

  “Okay. See you soon.”

  Andre placed his phone in the front pocket of his pants, looked at Todd and said, “They’re at the airport...will be here in a lil’ while.”

  “Good.”

  “I guess I better start preparing myself for their arrival. When I spoke with my mother-in-law earlier, she was crying so hard, I could barely make out a word she said.”

  “I can only imagine.”

  “And my Mother...she loves Ava like a daughter. She was in tears, too. I have to do the best I can to be there for them,” he suspired dejectedly.

  “That’s understandable, man.” Todd glanced at his watch. “I’ll leave whenever they get here to give you and the family some private time.”

  Andre nodded silently, then pushed away from the table, holding baby Andrew and with Todd in tow, they headed back to the room, waiting for the family to get there.

  Chapter 13

  . ~ .

  ANDRE’S FATHER, WILLIAM, hugged him tight when they stepped into the hospital room where Andre had been waiting patiently for his second update on Ava. Todd had since left, wanting to give him personal time with the family. Andre’s mother, Elena, was in tears just thinking about Ava being in surgery. She was soft-hearted and kind, qualities Andre adored about his Mother – qualities that attracted him to Ava.

  Maria hugged Andre too, wanting to know every single detail that led up to Ava’s surgery.

  Andre told them the story he’d been telling all day, about how he’d found Ava at the kitchen table.

  Maria trembled, feeling at fault because she’d kept her daughter on a tight leash for most of her life and now she felt as if she’d failed her – failed to protect her.

  “How long has she been back there?” Maria asked, holding baby Andrew tightly within an enclosed hug.

  Andre glanced at his watch. “About three hours now.”

  “What’s taking them so long?” Elena inquired.

  “Dr. Burke said the surgery could take up to four hours, Mother.”

  “Well, somebody needs to give us some regular updates,” William said, agitated. “We’re just sitting here like bumps on a log. We need to know what’s going on.”

  Andre sighed. The family was worried. But he was even more worried – that was his wife back there – and instead of getting support, he had to give it. However, that worked out well for him. By reassuring them everything would be okay, he would be, in essence, saving himself the trouble of worrying so much.

  A few taps on the door made everyone sit straight up in their seats and pay attention.

  Nurse Brandy came in the room and looked around, noticing the additional visitors that had come since she’d last spoken to Andre. “Mr. Rockwell, can I speak to you in the hallway?”

  Andre frowned. Something was wrong. He could sense it. The nurse was usually upbeat and chipper. Now she looked worried and downcast.

  He stood up and walked out into the hallway with her, pulling the door closed behind him.

  “Is everything okay with my wife?” he asked her.

  “Come with me. Dr. Burke is waiting to talk to you.”

  She led him into a small family consultation room where Dr. Burke was out of his scrubs and dressed in a white shirt and navy blue khakis.

  Andre looked bewildered. Was the surgery over already? And if it was, why hadn’t he been notified?

  “How did it go, Dr. Burke?” he asked. “Where is Ava? Is she in recovery?”

  “Mr. Rockwell, the surgery went according to plan, but...”

  There was a long pause.

  “But what?” Andre asked, impatiently.

  “We talked about the complications of this surgery specifically and the complications of surgery in general and—”

  “Just tell me where my wife is,” Andre said in a raised tone.

  “Your wife is in a coma.”

  “What!” Andre shouted, his face darkening.

  “Mr. Rockwell—”

  “The nurse told me an hour ago that everything was fine.”

  “It was—”

  “Then how does she go from fine to being in a coma?”

  “She didn’t go into a coma until after shortly after the surgery was over.”

  Andre stood up, rubbed his eyes and said, “How’d this happen?”

  “It’s one of the complications of many surgeries, but the percentage of something like this happening is so small, it’s rarely brought up.”

  “Yeah, now my wife is in a coma...”

  “Mr. Rockwell, I can assure you that we will do all we—”

  “Where is she?” Andre asked, cutting him off. “I want to see her.”

  “She’s been moved to the intensive care unit on the fourth floor.”

  “I’ll take you to her room,” the nurse said.

  “Okay...gosh...okay. Ah...” Andre stammered, trying to think of what to do next. “I need to let my family know what’s going on.”

  As Andre walked down the hallway, back to where his family was stationed, he felt like his head was going to explode.

  I have to be strong for them, was what he was thinking. I have to be strong.

  So, even though he felt like his throat was closing up, like his temperature had risen a few degrees, and like a pressing migraine was lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain, he had to be fearless for the family, because if he was not, he would completely lose it.

  When he opened the door to the room where they’d all been huddled and waiting, all eyes were on him. Before anyone could say anything, Andre said, “Ava’s out of surgery, but ah...” he closed his eyes tight and took a much needed breath.

  “What is it, Andre?” Maria inquired.

  “She’s in a coma.”

  Tears fell from Maria’s eyes like drops of rain and with a trembling hand, she covered her wide-opened mouth. “No. Not my baby.”

  Elena walked over to Maria, wrapped her arms around her, trying to calm her down.

  “What happened?” his father asked.

  “N
ot sure. Dr. Burke said that this happened to a small percentage of patients and, ah...they moved her to the intensive care unit.”

  “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to vacate this room,” the nurse said. “I’ll show you where the waiting room is on this floor. Also, since Mrs. Ava is in I.C.U., only person can visit her at a time.”

  Andre felt sick to his stomach, seeing Maria cry. With all the sadness around him, it made him feel like Ava, somehow, wasn’t going to make it through this.

  The nurse led the quiet group to the waiting room. On the walk, no one said anything, probably out of fear and worry. As they found some seats, the nurse said, “Who would like to see Mrs. Ava first?”

  “Why don’t you go see her, Maria?” Andre suggested.

  Maria sniffled, her face a teary mess. “Okay.”

  While the nurse escorted her to Ava’s room, Andre’s parents began tossing question after question at him as they tried to understand what had happened to Ava.

  Chapter 14

  . ~ .

  MARIA QUIETLY CAME walking into the waiting room after staying by her daughter’s bed for the last thirty minutes. She cried so much, she dried up her flow of tears and had gotten a headache in the process.

  “You can go ahead, Andre,” Maria said, holding her head, then took a seat next to Elena. Her face was a shade of red, her eyes a pinkish color.

  Andre took a deep breath, then stood and walked slowly down the hallway towards Ava’s room. It seemed as if everything was closing in around him, spinning, causing him to feel lightheaded at the thought of seeing Ava lying in bed, motionless, while listening to heart monitors beeping and seeing tubes everywhere.

  When he pushed the door opened, that’s exactly what he saw – his wife covered up to her chest with a white sheet, lying face up. She still had a pale look about her, much worse than her look prior to surgery and her lips were dry.

  Andre touched her hand, shocked at how cold they were. He leaned down next to her and pushed his lips against her face while a lonely tear crawled out of his eye.

  Andre took her cold, lifeless hand into his hand again and kissed the backside of it. She couldn’t die like this. There was no way this would be the end of her. Of them. It couldn’t be.

  All Dr. Burke could say was that this was complication, but couldn’t offer anything further. How long would she in a coma? Two days? Three? Would she ever wake up, and if she did, then what? Would she be the same?

  As he stared needfully at her fragile body, their wedding ceremony came to his mind. She was stunning then, adorned in a gown and jewels fit for queens. Her million-dollar smile left him breathless. The way they met made him a believer in true love and happy endings.

  Before he’d lost his mind and proposed to Michelle, he had given up on love because he’d lost faith in ever seeing Ava again. Even before meeting Ava, most of the women he dated were not interested in him. They were more concerned with his status as a well-known business man and all the money that came alone with it. Even the most intelligent, respectful woman didn’t take a real interest in him as a person.

  So he’d given up on love, that is until he saw Ava, in all her beauty, twirling on the beach.

  He smiled now, with that image in his head.

  Right away, he knew she was different, but he had no clue the impact she would have on his life – that she would make him a better person. That she would give birth to his son.

  If only she would just open her eyes...

  He would tell her that he loved her over and over again, take her into his arms and hold her there, the same way he held her last night after they’d made love.

  He kissed her temple and whether she could hear him or not, he softly spoke to her what was in his heart.

  “Ava, sweetheart...I just want you to know I’m here, and that I love you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry, baby,” he said, allowing a string of tears to escape his eyes, something foreign to him because he couldn’t recall an instance in his adult life that he’d ever cried. Men didn’t cry. They just didn’t, but he was torn apart, seeing his wife, the mother of his child, lying so lifeless. She didn’t deserve this.

  He dried his eyes and regained his focus – monitoring her well-being and being a rock for the family.

  Dr. Burke had stated that the surgery went well, and that was good. Andre could find some solace that at least the heart valve portion of the surgery was a success. Ava’s heart rate was normal. She was breathing okay. Now she just needed to wake up.

  He gave her a kiss on the cheek then stepped out into the hallway, where he saw Dr. Burke near the nurse’s station.

  Stepping up to him, he asked, “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

  “Sure,” Dr. Burke responded cheerfully. He excused himself from the nurses and walked off with Andre.

  “How long will Ava be in a coma?”

  “Ah...it’s hard to say, Mr. Rockwell.”

  “Well, give me some ballpark...some past examples...I need something.”

  “Ah...I don’t like to compare one patient to another, because people react in different ways. What I will say is, I’ve heard of patients being in a comatose state anywhere from a day to a few months.”

  A few months.

  Andre dreaded the thought of Ava being in a coma for that length of time.

  “Is there anything I can do to help? I don’t know anything about comas...never had to deal with anything like this before.”

  “Well, most family members like to talk to the person...maybe massage their legs, hands and feet.”

  “Okay. What else?”

  “I’m afraid that’s all. We will continue to monitor her...make sure she remains stable.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Burke. I appreciate it,” Andre said, then began heading for the waiting room.

  “Oh, and Mr. Rockwell,” Dr. Burke said loud enough so Andre could hear him.

  “Yes?”

  “Ava’s a strong woman. She’ll pull through this.”

  Andre shot him a half smile and continued on to the waiting room.

  HIS MOTHER WAS asleep, resting on his father’s shoulder.

  Maria was staring blankly at nothing while baby Andrew slept in her arms.

  “How is she, son?” his father asked, waking up Elena in the process while simultaneously taking Maria out of her reverie.

  Deciding to take a positive approach, Andre said, “She looks well...looks like she’s just resting. I’m hopeful that she’ll pull through this, and Dr. Burke thinks she will. This is just a minor setback. She’ll pull through.”

  Andre slid his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

  “It’s getting late and I want Andrew to go home. Mom, Dad, I figure you can take him by the house, make sure he’s bathed and give him some warm milk before bed. I know you want to rest, too.”

  “No, Andre...we would prefer to stay here with you, son,” Elena said affirmatively.

  “I know you would, and I appreciate that, Mother, but I need you to rest and I need my son to be in a stable, relaxing environment right now, so please, take him by the house. You have a key, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” William said, shaking his keys.

  “Maria,” Andre said, turning to her. “I’m sure you want to stay.”

  “Yes. I have to. I won’t leave her.”

  “Okay, then we’ll take turns going to sit with her.”

  William stood and stretched, his joints popping, his body’s way of waking up from sitting for so long.

  Elena joined him and then walked over to Maria to take Andrew from her arms. He was sleeping again, no doubt, tired from a long day of chaos. “Have a good night, Maria. We’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Okay. Goodnight.”

  Chapter 15

  . ~ .

  THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, Andre and Maria took turns sitting with Ava, talking with her, touching her arms, massaging her hands. She showed no signs of waking up and Maria had b
ecome upset again, managing to squeeze more tears out of her already drained eyes.

  Andre comforted her as best as he could, telling her how Ava was a strong woman, reminding her of the doctors from her past who had predicted that she wouldn’t live to see twenty-one. They’d been wrong. Doctors were human, too. They could prognosticate this and that, say this will work and that will work, but not one of them could truly put an expiration date on a person’s life.

  Sometimes, people put too much faith in doctors and not enough in God. It had been nothing short of a miracle that, with her heart condition, Ava was able to give birth to a healthy little boy and not have any medical complications. While it was distressing to watch her in a comatose state, being in that condition was another protection for her. It was a way for her body to shut down and give her time to rest and heal from just having open heart surgery.

  SITTING IN THE café sipping on coffee, Andre glanced up at Maria who hadn’t touched her breakfast.

  “Maria, it’ll do you some good to eat something.”

  “Yeah. I know. I have a hard time eating when I’m worried.”

  “Me, too, but I actually feel a little better. Come on...eat. We have to be strong for Ava.”

  Maria smiled. Could she ask for a better son-in-law? It baffled her at how quickly Andre had swooped into her daughter’s life, made her happy, gave her stability and showered her with love. Andre was a stand-up guy, a man who committed himself to her daughter, who vowed to take care of her and love her. He was sticking to his promise.

  Maria spread strawberry jelly on a toast, began eating then looking up at Andre she asked, “What attracted you to my daughter?”

  A smile grew on his face. “She’s refreshing, and beautiful, of course, but she has a genuine spirit about her. I know she loves me and I don’t have to worry about her having any alternative motives.”