"Guys, this is my buddy, Storm. We served together and he just moved to the mountain on the other side of me," Cole says.
Storm just nods at the introduction. Though if Cole served with him during his third time and trusts him, then the rest of us do well as well. Up on the mountain, we band together and have our own little community. He has his own reasons for coming out here, as we all do but that doesn't mean that he has to do it alone.
Cole introduces Storm to everybody, but he doesn't speak until he gets to me.
"Sorry about your girl. Any updates?" he asks.
"Not yet," I tell him and he nods and grabs a chair next to Cole and his wife, Jana.
Not bothering to try to sit down, I continue pacing the waiting room. When one of the nurses makes eye contact with me, I finally snap.
"You’re seriously going to look at me and tell me there are no updates on my wife?" I grab her and her eyes go wide.
Instantly, Phoenix's wife Jenna is at my side.
"May I?" she asks, and I nod.
Jenna goes up to the nurse and they whisper so that I don't hear what is being said. With the way they are nodding their heads, I'm praying that means good news.
"Thank you," Jenna finally says.
The nurse looks over her shoulder and gives me an apologetic smile.
"So, she is awake and asking for you, but they had to take her back for a CT scan on her head. In just a few minutes, she'll be going to be back to her room, and a nurse will come and take you to her. For now, that's all the nurse knows," Jenna says.
It has to be a good sign that Willow’s awake and asking for me. Anything else that shows up on the test we can deal with later. If I’m at her side holding her hand, I know that I can handle this so much better.
What seems like forever, but in reality, was probably only a few minutes before finally a nurse leads me back to Willow. I have every intention of rushing to her, picking her up into my arms, and holding her. Yet when I step through her door and see all the wires attached to her, I stopped short.
Seeing me, she gives me one of her breathtaking smiles.
"Bennett." she sighs and holds her hand up for me.
Like it's a magnet, and I can't say no, I'm drawn to her. Taking her hand in mine, I’m comforted because that contact alone is reassuring and calming.
"Why so many wires?" I ask staring, trying to figure out what they all are.
"They’re just a lot of monitors, but I do have something to tell you. Why don’t you sit down?" Willow says.
Even though there's a smile on her face, I'm instantly nervous.
Grabbing the chair closest to her bed, I pull it up as close as I can. Then I sit, taking her hand in mine. More than ever, I need the skin to skin contact with her.
"When I got here, the doctors ran all sorts of tests and I'm not sure what all came back, but they did tell me one thing. Something good to hopefully come out of all this. I'm pregnant." She bites her bottom lip and looks nervous as if this isn't the most amazing news that I've heard in my whole life.
My wife is pregnant and giving me a child! Yeah, that’s great news, life-changing. We're going to build our own family up on the mountain and our child would grow up with our friends' kids. As my whole life flashes before my eyes, I lean in and place a soft kiss on her cheek. Then gently place my hand over her lower stomach, right where our little peanut is growing.
There are so many things that I want to say, but only one word seems to come out of my mouth: "pregnant."
I'm still in complete disbelief, not to mention, speechless, but she smiles and nods. Bringing our joined hands up, I kiss them gently. I had absolutely no idea that she was pregnant. Though looking back, little things that I wrote off as stress could have been a sign and I vow to pay more and better attention to her.
Slowly each of the other couples comes to visit.
"Only two visitors are allowed in a room at a time." The nurse who looks fresh out of nursing school pokes her head in and tells us.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing there are only two visitors. Since I’m her husband and I'm not leaving her side, then these two are visiting her," I say referring to Cash and Hope.
The nurse opens her mouth to say something else, but then thinks better of it and moves on.