Chapter
27
“Brian,
Leighanne, this is Dr. Miller. He’s the
ER physician taking care of Hope,” Kessler introduced a few minutes later. Brian and Leighanne had begged to see their
daughter, so he had brought them right down to the ER. “Dr. Miller, meet Hope’s parents, Brian and
Leighanne Littrell.”
“Nice
to meet you,” Brian said politely, shaking Dr. Miller’s hand.
“You
too,” the doctor replied kindly. “Now,
you can just follow me, and I’ll take you to see Hope.”
“Thanks,”
Leighanne said, smiling.
Dr.
Miller led them down the hall to one of the small rooms in the ER. “Before you go in, let me just explain what
has happened to your daughter. First of
all, she was extremely dehydrated when she got here, so we’re giving her fluids
through an IV. Also, she has a minor
concussion from several blows to her head, but that’s not something too serious. She has some bruising on her face from the
same thing, but other than that, she’s fine.
She’s very lucky to have come out of something like this so well.”
“I
know,” Brian said, remembering Sammy’s story.
He was so relieved that what had happened to Megan had not happened to
his own daughter. It was horrible enough
that it had happened in the first place, but at least Hope was all right. He could not imagine having to go the rest of
his life not really knowing what had happened to her, like Sammy.
“Well
then, go on in,” Dr. Miller said, motioning to the closed door. “Take all the time you need to.”
“Thank
you,” Leighanne said again.
“No
problem,” Dr. Miller replied and watched as they went in, then headed back down
the hall to get to his other patients.
***
Meanwhile,
in the waiting room, I noticed Sammy sitting in the corner of the room again, a
spot she seemed to like. Her head was
down, her long brown hair falling over her face. I got up and took a seat next to her.
“Sammy?”
I asked, resting my hand lightly on her back.
She looked up, her face streaked with tears, but she said nothing. “Look, I know you might not want to talk to
anyone right now, but if you do, I’m here.
I understand what you’re going through because I went through the same
thing just the other day with Josh. Even
now, he’s out of surgery, but I have no way of knowing if he’ll make it through
or not. So believe me, you and I are in
the same boat here. I’ll do anything I can
to make this easier for you.”
Sammy
nodded. “I know, Jules,” she said, her
voice hoarse. “I’ll do the same for you
too. And thanks.” She offered me a tiny smile.
I
returned her smile. “Do you need a hug?”
I asked.
She
nodded, looking like a lost child.
Feeling maternal towards her, even though I was actually a year younger
than her, I opened my arms and offered her my comfort. She immediately fell into my arms and hers
drifted around me, as I held onto her.
We both cried then, for the pain we were both going through. And when we let go of our embrace, I felt
much better. I could tell Sammy did
too. And suddenly, I felt as if she and
I had a bond that hadn’t been there before, a bond between two people that were
trying their best to get through a horrible tragedy. It was a bond that had changed our friendship
from that moment on.
***
“Hope,”
Leighanne murmured as she stepped into her daughter’s room, her eyes once again
filling with tears.
Brian
grinned tearfully as he caught sight of Hope, sleeping peacefully in the
hospital bed that lay before him.
He
and Leighanne pulled up chairs on either side of Hope’s bed, just waiting for
her to wake up. Leighanne grabbed her
daughter’s tiny hand, and as she did so, Hope stirred. Her baby blue eyes opened slowly. She looked up at them and broke into a
grin. “Mommy! Daddy!” she cried happily.
Leighanne
broke into joyous sobs and threw her arms around Hope, pulling the child’s
small body to hers. “Oh, Hopie,” she
sobbed, stroking Hope’s silky blond hair.
“Baby, I’m so glad you’re back.”
“I
missed you, Mommy,” Hope whimpered.
“God,
sweetie, I missed you too,” Leighanne whispered, still clutching to Hope. Reluctantly, she finally let go of Hope and
stepped back so Brian could take his turn.
His
own blue eyes, so like Hope’s, shone with tears, as he hugged his daughter as
well. “I love you so much, baby,” he
said, his voice thick with emotion.
“I
love you too, Daddy,” Hope said, smiling sweetly up at him. Just seeing her beautiful smile made him want
to cry harder, for he realized once again how close he had come to losing
her.
Finally,
Brian let go of Hope as well, and settled her back against the pillows. Leighanne tenderly fingered Hope’s cheek,
which was badly bruised.
“The
bad man hit me, Mommy,” Hope said solemnly.
“Justin?”
Brian asked.
Hope
nodded. “I think that’s his name,” she
said. “The lady’s name was Britney.”
Brian
nodded. “Well, baby, don’t worry about
them now. They can’t hurt you
anymore. You’re safe.”
“They
were real meanies,” Hope said, looking ready to cry as she thought back to her
experience.
“I
know, sweetie,” Leighanne said sympathetically, her eyes filled with pain as
she studied her battered daughter. She
couldn’t understand how anyone could abuse a four year old child the way Justin
and Britney had. But she had to stop
thinking about that. The important thing
was that Hope was alive, and that was all that mattered right then. Thinking about how lucky she and Brian were
to have their daughter back safe and sound made Leighanne feel even worse for
poor Sammy. She couldn’t imagine having
to live not knowing what had ever really happened to her daughter. Sammy was strong, that was for sure. Leighanne wondered if she could have been that
strong if the outcome of Hope’s kidnapping had turned out differently. She didn’t want to find out.
***
Meanwhile,
the wait went on. Sammy and I sat
together, barely speaking, but providing each other comfort still. Brian and Leighanne had not yet returned from
seeing Hope, but AJ was there. He sat
rigidly, looking pale and exhausted, and worried as well.
“Hey,
AJ, did anyone call Nick’s parents yet?” I asked suddenly.
His
eyes widened. “No, I don’t think so,” he
said. He looked to Sammy. “Did you call them?”
She
shook her head. “No,” she said,
regretfully. “I was so upset, I forgot
all about them.”
“I’ll
call if you want me to,” AJ offered.
“Thanks,
Aje,” Sammy said gratefully, not sure if she could make that kind of call
without breaking down.
“No
problem,” AJ said, digging out his cell phone.
He punched in the digits of Nick’s parents’ number in California, where
they lived. “Hi, Jane?” he asked. “Oh, BJ, hi… yup, it’s me… actually, not too
good… no, not me. It’s Nick… yeah… well,
I don’t want to go into too much detail with you here, but he’s been hurt, and
he’s having surgery right now…yeah… ok… Hi, Jane… yeah… no, we haven’t heard anything
yet… yeah… yeah, you better… ok….ok… we’ll be waiting for you… ok… take care…
bye.”
Finally,
AJ hung up, sighing. “They were upset,”
he said, his eyes looking a little misty.
“Of course, Jane insisted they fly down here right now. Luckily the whole family’s home now, so
they’re all coming here to see Nick.”
“That’s
good,” Sammy said.
“Hey,
that reminds me. I need to call Sonny’s
parents!” Heidi suddenly interjected,
after being lost in thought for some time.
“They have no idea this even happened!”
“Yeah,
you need to call them,” I agreed. I
thought of Josh’s family. They had gone
to stay the night at a local hotel and probably wouldn’t be back until morning.
Heidi
pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll call
his mom first. His parents are
divorced,” she explained. She dialed the
number and waited. “Damn,” she muttered
after awhile. “She’s not there. I’ll try his dad.” She dialed another number and waited
again. “Damn!” she cried again. She sighed.
“Sonny’s dad’s never home. He’s a
senator, so he’s always busy.”
“A
senator? That’s cool,” AJ remarked.
“Yeah,”
Heidi agreed. “Oh well, I guess I’ll try
again later.” She sighed again and sunk
back into her seat. Moments later she
sat up again. “I can’t stand just
sitting here anymore. I’m going to go
see Sonny now, ok?”
We
nodded and watched her head off to Sonny’s room. Then we sat back, restlessly waiting some
more.
***
Sonny
was sound asleep when Heidi got to his room.
She sighed and sat down beside his bed.
She took his hand in hers, but he didn’t stir. “I love you, Sonny,” she whispered, touching
her lips to his pale cheek. When he
still didn’t awaken, she just sat back and watched him sleep.
***
A
few minutes later, Brian came back into the waiting room. “How’s Hope?” I asked anxiously.
He
grinned. “She’s gonna be fine,” he
said. “She’s pretty bruised up and
dehydrated, but her doctor said she’ll probably be discharged sometime
tomorrow.”
“Oh,
Bri, that’s great,” I said, jumping up to hug him. AJ and Sammy both hugged him as well.
“Have
you heard anything on Nick yet?” Brian asked, his happy expression turning
solemn.
“No,
not yet,” I said glumly.
AJ
glanced at his watch. “It’s almost
midnight,” he announced. “Nick’s been in
there for more than two hours. Shouldn’t
he be about done by now?” He looked to
me, for I was the doctor.
“Well,
I’m not a surgeon or anything, but that sounds about right, for something like
that. He should be out pretty soon,” I
replied.
“Ok,”
AJ said, sighing restlessly. We were
all rather jumpy. All this waiting was
getting to us, especially to Sammy. She
didn’t say much, but she kept glancing at the clock on the wall and fidgeting,
and every now and then, a tear would escape from her eye.
I
prayed that Nick would come out of it okay, for all of our sakes, but mostly
for Sammy. I could tell how much she
loved him, and I knew she could not bear to lose another loved one, like she
had lost Megan.
***
Another
half hour passed, and finally, we were all back in the waiting room
together. Leighanne had returned from
Hope’s room, and Heidi had come back from Sonny’s room. We all sat together, just waiting for Dr.
Coleman to tell us that Nick was out of surgery.
As I
looked around the room, our group seemed so much smaller than it had at Brian’s
house Halloween night, before all of this had happened. That’s because our group was
smaller. Four members of the group were
here in this hospital, and three were in critical conditions. Two, actually. From what I had heard on Sonny, he seemed to
be doing much better, while Josh and Nick were not doing so well. I prayed that things would get better for
both of them. I know Sammy was praying
the same thing.
Suddenly,
I looked up to see Dr. Coleman entering the room. I took a deep breath, trying to prepare
myself for the news, bad or good.
“H-
how is Nick?” Sammy stammered. She
looked deathly pale suddenly, and I feared she might pass out from her anxiety.
Dr.
Coleman noticed this as well. He smiled,
calming Sammy’s nerves a little, and said, “Nick pulled through just fine and
is in Recovery. We got the bullet out
and corrected the damage done to his heart.
His heart is weak right now, and he’s not out of the woods yet, but I’m
hopeful that he will make a full recovery.”
Sammy
let out her breath on one long whoosh, and the color returned to her face. Tears of relief filled her eyes. “Oh, thank you so much,” she said, her voice
filled with gratitude.
Dr.
Coleman smiled, surprised at her outburst of emotion. “You’re welcome,” he said, patting her
shoulder. “Give him a couple more hours,
and then he’ll be moved to his own room in ICU.
You can see him then.”
“Okay. Thank you,” Sammy said again.
Dr.
Coleman nodded in appreciation. “I’m
going to go check on some of my other patients now. I’ll be back later.” He left the room.
I
turned to Sammy and wrapped her in a hug, so relieved that Nick had made it
through so well. Nick was a fighter, I
knew that. I had a feeling he was going
to be just fine.
***
