* * *
Dusty sat in the hospital waiting room, leaning into Chad’s hard form. Laurie sat on Chad’s other side, her worried eyes sunken and sad. None of them spoke.
“Sam!” Dusty jumped up and ran into her brother’s arms as he entered. “Thanks for coming.”
“What’s going on? How’s he doing?”
“No news yet,” Chad said, “but it shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“Can I get any of you all anything?” Sam asked. “Coffee or something?”
Dusty shook her head.
“Nothing for me, bud,” Chad said.
“How about you, Ms. McCray?”
“Nothing, sugar. And please, call me Laurie, Sam.”
Sam sat down next to Dusty and took her hand. “He’ll be all right, Dust.”
She nodded and gulped down a sob.
After what seemed like hours, Zach’s doctor finally entered. “Mrs. McCray,” he said.
“Yes. How is he?” Laurie asked.
“So far, so good. His wound is infected, so we have him on IV antibiotics. It’s probably just a local staph infection, fairly common with this type of injury, but because of his high fever, we want to err on the side of caution. I have him on three different medications, plus a sedative.”
“I see.”
“It’s lucky you got him here when you did. His fever was nearly one hundred and five degrees. If it had gone any higher, he could have had a seizure.”
Dusty nearly lost her footing. “Lord…”
“Thank God you were with him, sugar,” Laurie said. Then, turning back to the doctor, “How quickly do you expect him to respond?”
“Within twenty-four hours if all goes as planned. We’ll keep an eye on him. He’s not in any immediate danger that I can see, so you all can go home and get some rest if you want.”
“I’m not leaving,” Dusty said. “I’ll stay with him.”
“He’s not responsive, ma’am,” the doctor said. “He’s sedated.”
“I don’t care. I’m staying. I’ll sit with him.”
“It’s the middle of the night, Dust,” Sam said.
“Do I look like I care? I said I’m staying.”
“I think he’d like her to be here, Sam,” Chad said and turned to Laurie. “Come on, Ma. I’ll take you back to the hotel. We can get a few hours of sleep and then we’ll come back.”
“You should go too, Sam,” Dusty said. “You’re competing tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m sorry I won’t be there.”
“It’s okay. I understand. You need to be here.”