They all came to their feet, and Sean asked, “How is she?”
“She’s stabilized, and sedated,” the nurse said, looking around at all the faces.
He glanced back at all the people who had come to make sure Lana was all right. His gaze zeroed in on Kate and Sienna. “I’ll come back and tell you how she is.”
Lana’s room was private and dimly lit. She lay very still, very pale, but her hand, when he took it in his, was warm.
“Do you think you’re going to stay?” the nurse asked in a hushed voice.
“Get used to the idea, lady.”
After she was gone, Sean pulled the chair up to the side of the bed and sat with Lana’s hand in his.
He sat and watched her face, the rise and fall of her chest.
After a little bit a nurse asked him to wait outside while she checked Lana’s vital signs and changed her IV.
Sean left the room and was greeted with Lana’s father hurrying down the hallway with her sister, Paige, and her fiancé, Justin, following close behind.
“Where is she?” her father demanded.
Sean pointed toward the room he just came out of.
Without another word, they all moved past him and inside.
* * *
After assuring Kate and Sienna, Sean walked to the small hospital chapel and sat in the last row. He shut his eyes and let his mind close down.
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Lana’s father whispered from behind him.
“Didn’t expect to be here,” Sean said, moving over so the man could sit down.
“I wasn’t sure you would even want to talk to me, young man.”
“Why?”
“Well, the last time I talked to you, I wasn’t exactly cordial.”
With a short laugh, Sean said, “No, you weren’t.”
“I apologize for that. I want the best for my daughter.”
“And living out your dream? Is that best for her?”
“It’s what she wants.”
Sean nodded. “That’s what she told me.”
“You don’t believe her?”
“I think that she thinks it’s true, but deep down inside, she has dreams of her own.”
“Maybe,” Mr. Dempsey said softly, as he stood, then turned and walked away.
* * *
When Lana woke in the morning, she turned her head on the pillow to find Sean, his upper torso resting on the bed beside her.