Page 66 of Gin & Jewels

“I’ve slept on worse.”

I got the impression they knew each other, and it didn’t surprise me. Working at Dovie’s, it seemed everyone knew Shannon, which meant they had to know her son too. It was a small town, after all.

“Your vitals are looking good,” Dr. Watson said to me. “And the surgery went well yesterday.”

“Good.”

“But …” He looked at Brad, then back at me. “There is something I need to discuss with you privately unless you want Brad here?”

My gaze met Brad’s, and no matter what the doctor had to tell me, I didn’t want to go through it alone, not when I finally had someone who cared about me. “He can stay.”

“Okay.” Dr. Watson pulled a chair over to the bed.

My heart was beating fast, and so many possibilities were going through my mind at a rapid rate. Was I paralyzed? Would I need to poop in a bag for the rest of my life?

“As you know, the bullet went in through your abdomen.” I nodded. “We were able to stitch the area, but the bullet went through other parts as well.”

My heart stopped, and Brad grabbed my hand in both of his. He kissed the back of it before Dr. Watson continued. “On the way, it grazed your uterus and destroyed one of your fallopian tubes.”

I sucked in a breath, and my hand tightened against Brad’s. “What does that mean?”

“We were able to repair your uterus, but we had to remove the damaged fallopian tube.”

“Okay …?”

“Can she still have children?” Brad asked.

“Well,” Dr. Watson took a deep breath, “there’s no way to know that for sure. Because you still have one fallopian tube, there’s a chance you can still conceive, but that chance is really low. Even though we were able to repair the uterus, it was still damaged, so it will all depend on how the scar tissue forms and …luck.”

A tear slid down my face. I’d lost my parents at fifteen, my brother stole all my money when I was eighteen, then he robbed my workplace, drugged and kidnapped me, and now I’d been shot and possibly left infertile at the age of twenty-two.

It was safe to say that luck wasn’t on my side.

Dr. Watson left after telling me a few more things, but I wasn’t listening to him. My mind was on the fact that so much had been taken from me. And while I wanted to break down and cry, I didn’t want to do it in front of Brad. He was my friend, and a guy, and I didn’t think he’d understand fully what it meant to possibly not have children.

Where did that leave us? Was there even an us?

“Can I get you anything?” Brad asked.

I shook my head.

“I need to go call Gabe and my boss to let them know that I’m not going back for a few more weeks.”

“You’re staying the entire time I’m here?” I asked.

“Of course I am.”

“You don’t have to. I’ve been on my own since I was fifteen. I can take care of myself.”

“While that may be true, princess, you have me now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Brad …” I protested.

“Shh. It’s fine. Plus, I don’t think I should leave town until the investigation is over.”

“It’s not over?”

“More or less, but I’m assuming they’ll need a few days to get everything finalized and make sure it’s all documented.”