Page 92 of Property of Anchor

“Find her.”

I had no answers.

No one in that waiting room did.We just sat there in silence and tried to hold our shit together.

The nurse came in and broke the silence.“Ashland Moore’s… family?”

We all stood at once, and voices overlapped.“Here.”“That’s us.”“We’re with him.”

The nurse blinked, wide-eyed.“Uh… wow.Okay.That’s a lot of you.I’ll go check to see if the doctor can speak to everyone at once.”

Pearl looked at me, and her eyes were glassy but hopeful.“That’s good news, right?We wouldn’t be talking to the doctor if… if he was…”

She couldn’t say it.

And I couldn’t either.

I threaded my fingers through hers and gave her hand a squeeze.That was all I could offer.

Minutes passed like hours.

Then the doctor walked in, green scrubs, tired eyes.He held a clipboard against his chest.“Ashland Moore’s family?”

“That’s us,” I said and stepped forward.

“Come on.Let’s move to the corner so we can talk without disturbing everyone else,” the doctor instructed.

We all moved like a unit and crowded into the far corner of the waiting room.There was no one around but us.

The doctor didn’t waste time.“Ashland is alive.”

There was a collective release of breath, like someone had popped a balloon holding in all the fear.Skull muttered, “Thank fuck.”Vin clapped his hands together.Even Prime seemed to breathe easier.

But the doctor raised his hands to stop the celebrating.“But he’s nowhere near out of the woods.”

The joy in the room vanished in an instant.

“He lost a lot of blood,” the doctor explained, his tone serious.“The knife nicked the carotid artery.If the bleeding hadn’t been slowed down on the scene, and if you hadn’t gotten him here so quickly, he wouldn’t have made it.”

I felt Pearl press closer to me, and Shay grabbed her arm.

“Whoever applied pressure, good job.That likely saved his life,” the doctor added.

“Shay,” I said quietly.Pearl nodded in agreement.Shay didn’t say anything, just stared at the floor.

“He was stabilized in the trauma bay, and we’ve closed the artery.But there was a lot of damage.He’s on a ventilator in the ICU right now.We’ll be monitoring his brain activity and keeping an eye on possible swelling or infection.He’s got a long recovery ahead.Best-case scenario, he’s moved to the PCU in a few days.After that, we’ll talk physical therapy.”

“Will he… be the same?”Prime asked from behind me.

The doctor looked grim.“We don’t know yet.It’s too early to tell.He’s alive, but that’s all I can promise.”

Pearl made a soft sound, part relief, part grief, and laid her head back against me.I curled my arm around her and nodded at the doctor.“Thanks for the update.”

He nodded and walked away.

We stood there in silence, no one sure what to say.

The weight of it all pressed down on me like a motherfucker.