Page 127 of Fierce-Matt

BE THE ROCK

The curtain moved aside and a doctor walked in fifteen minutes later.

Her father was lying so still that if it weren’t for the machines monitoring his heart rate and oxygen levels, she’d think he wasn’t breathing.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Lester,” the woman said, coming forward to shake everyone’s hand. “Sorry that it’s taken time to talk. I examined your father when he arrived. Since he’s not conscious, we couldn’t ask what was going on and ran a bunch of tests. I know his medical history from his charts. It appears he’s got a concussion. There is some bleeding on the brain, but no signs of a stroke.”

“A stroke!” her mother said.

“I’m trying to rule out what could have caused the fall. It’s possible it was him losing his balance, but if he’d had a stroke or a heart attack or any other sudden attack, we’d need to know that. It’s all been ruled out.”

Her shoulders relaxed over that news. Nothing she’d thought of.

“That’s good,” her mother said. “What did you find out?”

“Two of his ribs, his left tibia, and his ankle are broken. I’ve got an orthopedist paged. I’m positive he’s going to need surgery with the severity of his break, but he’s stable now. We’d like him to gain consciousness prior to that, but we can’t always time those things.”

“How long could he be out?” she asked.

Dr. Lester shrugged. “It’s hard to say. It could be a few hours, it could be days. We are working on getting him admitted. There is no reason to keep anyone in the ER longer than necessary, but that takes time.”

“Everything takes time,” Anya said. Her tone was sarcastic and she hated that, but she couldn’t control how she felt either.

“There isn’t much we can do right now. It’s just a waiting game. I’m going to check back, but if he wakes up or moves, buzz the nurse immediately and we’ll get back in here.”

“Thanks,” her mother said. “That wasn’t all that helpful.”

“Yes, Mom, it was. Dad is going to be here for a bit by the sounds of it. Once he’s settled in a room, you can go home and get some sleep. They will call you if there is an update, but you need to build your strength to care for him when the time comes.”

“Why don’t we take turns?” her mother said. “You go home and then I’ll call you when I know something.”

“I’m not leaving you, Mom.” She turned to Matt. “You don’t have to stay.”

“I’m not leaving either,” he said.

“Don’t you want to go home and change?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m staying with you both until we know more. I’m just going to fill my parents in and then cancel anything I’ve got planned for tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to do that,” she argued.

“Anya, don’t. Don’t fight me wanting to help you. Don’t put walls up either.”

She’d never seen him this serious before.

He wasn’t wrong that she was doing exactly that.

Too many times in her life she’d had no one to lean on and learned to rely on herself.

“It’s hard not to,” she said.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He’d asked her to trust him, and she did.

That meant he’d stay by her side too.

She nodded and moved over. He opened his arms for her to step in for a hug she’d needed more than she could express.