“Bai-Bai hurt. Me o-tay.” My girl starts talking more, and then this happens.
“I’m okay, sweetheart. Now that Uncle Madden is here to hold the fort down, Bailey’s going to rest her eyes.” The stress from the last however long is taking its toll on me, and all my body wants is to float in a world of blackness.
“Oh shit, we need some help over here!” That’s the last thing I hear before it’s lights out.
THIRTY-ONE
Forest
I was too late. It’s a loop that plays over and over again. A lump has clogged in my throat since I made it to the hospital, pulling myself in both directions, not knowing who to see to first. This was a fucking literal nightmare, one of the worst. I think I’d take dealing with Krissy over not knowing what the hell is going on in the operating room.
“Daddy?” I lift my head. Piper is in my arms, sleeping peacefully. My ass is to the floor, back to the wall. Everyone is here. My parents, her parents, Madden and Hendrix, Luke and his wife, and Evan along with his wife. It’s like a family reunion, except everyone is melancholic. My parents offered to take the girls home since it was getting later in the day. I told them no, needing to keep my eyes on their small little bodies.
“Hey, sweet pea, you want to sit with me?” I ask. Her shoulders are stiff straight. Too much. Cammy has seen too much in her short life. She sits down beside me. My arm goes around her shoulder, holding her tightly to me as she settles into my chest.
“Thanks. Is Bailey going to be okay?” Cammy’s green eyes peek out, her blonde lashes clinging with wetness.
“I hope so. It’s a sit and wait game right now.” Piper doesn’t move, not when I resituate the three of us. Her thumb is in her mouth, and from what Madden told me, she was talking quite a lot when he got there. He also told me that watching Bailey’s eyes roll to the back of her head while hearing the monitor going off was scary even for him. Bailey didn’t just pass out; she lost consciousness, the cause unknown, and it wasn’t for just a moment. It was the whole way to the hospital, paramedics working the entire time. Madden hopped into the seat Cammy was in, abandoning his truck, knowing that he couldn’t just leave the girls with an unconscious Bailey. Piper needed to be looked at, and Cammy needed her uncle, too. He held her tightly, trying to keep her eyes away from what they were doing, but he couldn’t do the same with Piper. One look was all it took for the paramedic to not say a word. From what he told me, the girls saw the whole thing, heard the paddles shock her back to life, and I know if Bailey could have prevented them from seeing it, she would have.
“This sucks.” At another point in time, I’d have corrected her not to use that word. It’s the perfect verb right about now.
“The family of Bailey Martin?” I don’t get up. I want to, but the fact that I’ve got two girls glued to my side won’t allow me.
“That’s us, all of us.” Mr. Martin does me a solid, bringing the doctor closer so I can hear what he has to say.
“Oh yes, well. We determined that the impact caused a subdural hematoma. In Miss Martin’s case, her injury made the blood vessel burst, causing blood to push on the brain. She also has two broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and a lot of bruising from the airbag.” There’s a collective gasp from both of our moms.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask, paralyzed to the floor, body weak, dread pooling in my stomach.
“Yes, we were able to perform a surgical drain. It’ll stay in for the next few days, depending on how she heals. Miss Martin may not look like her usual self. There are wires and tubes right now, but those will be taken out as things progress. If all goes well, she won’t be in here longer than a week. Do you have any questions for me?” Doctors, putting you on the spot when our minds are in overdrive. The thought that Bailey is sitting in an empty room, a drain in her head, more than likely beat to hell, is killing me.
“No, thank you, Doctor,” my dad says. I need to stand up, figure out who’s going in to see her and if my parents wouldn’t mind taking the girls home because there’s no fucking way the woman I love is staying in a hospital room alone.
“Forest, come on. We need to go see our girl,” Amanda, Bailey’s mom, says once the doctor takes his leave. I stand up. Piper slowly opens her eyes, then they drift shut again.