Chapter 24
Paisley woke with the same dull pain she’d had since the court hearing ended several days ago. She had felt a bit nauseous after they celebrated with sushi and sake, but she had thought nothing of it.
But this morning, the pain was a little stronger than it had been yesterday. She had an important meeting this afternoon that couldn’t be put off, so a trip to the doctor's office was out of the question.
She and Braxton were still on uneasy ground. Her pride had kept her from sharing with him that she had been feeling ill for the last several days. She didn’t need his help or his pity—she wasn’t his real wife.
As she dressed, the pain in her abdomen became piercing, but she forced herself to finish getting ready and ride to work with Braxton.
She was able to hide her discomfort from him the whole car ride in. But when she sat behind her desk, she could no longer ignore that it had gotten to a point where she might not be able to attend her scheduled meeting.
Braxton settled Emmersyn into the playpen in the corner. He turned toward Paisley and suddenly called her name, “Butterfly!”
Beads of sweat collected on her forehead and her blouse was damp with perspiration. She was hot and her limbs were heavy.
He rushed to her side, placing his palm on her forehead. “Butterfly,” he said again.
But she couldn’t reply.
Then he screamed her name. “PAISLEY.
That caught her attention. She glanced at him, her eyes void of any emotion. She attempted to stand but fell from her chair, clutching her hand against her abdomen.
“Christ, it hurts,” she cried out as she rolled from side to side. “Something is wrong, Brax.”
It seemed like forever as they waited for the paramedics to arrive. Braxton sat on the floor, holding Paisley in his arms as he brushed away the hair from her face and attempted to calm her crying. He was about to scream for their assistant when Rachel escorted a team of paramedics into Paisley’s office.
It didn’t take them very long to identify the symptoms. Without hesitation, the paramedics strapped her to a gurney and quickly moved her toward the waiting ambulance.
Braxton stood, unsure of what to do. An elderly man placed a hand on Braxton’s shoulder. “I’m Sergeant Garcia. Do you know if she has been feeling ill in any way recently?”
Braxton thought for a moment; to him, everything had seemed fine. “She hasn’t. At least, if she has, she’s kept it to herself.”
“I see.” the Sergeant scribbled in his notebook. “So, you’ve noticed nothing at all out of the ordinary? Has she been eating like normal?”
Braxton briefly closed his eyes, recounting the last several days. “Come to think of it, she hasn’t been eating as much as she normally does. How serious is this?”
“Son, once an appendix ruptures it becomes life-threatening. The boys are transporting her to Kaiser North Hollywood; I would suggest you head that way as they’ll be rushing her into surgery. ”
Braxton was about to tell the Sergeant that he didn’t have anyone to drive him when Paxton came rushing into the room.
“Where’s Paisley? Rachel called and said she was taken away in an ambulance.” Paxton’s voice cracked as he spoke. His chest rose and fell quickly from the sprint he’d obviously made to the office. “Braxton, where is she?” His eyes moved from his friend to the sergeant.
“Kaiser, North Hollywood,” Braxton told him as he reached into the playpen to pick up Emmersyn. “You drive my car; the car seat is already in place.” Braxton pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them to Paxton.
“Wait,” a tiny voice called from outside his office. Rachel raced with a look of terror on her face. “You can’t take Emmersyn to a hospital full of germs. She’ll get sick.”
Braxton hadn’t thought of that at all; he was more worried about Paisley. “You watch her then.” He hadn’t meant for the statement to come out like an order, but time was of the essence and he couldn’t debate the topic any longer. Plus he fully trusted Rachel with his daughter. After all, she was more than their assistant. Over the years, she’d become very close with Paisley—girl power and all.
Just as though they were playing a game of hot potato, Paxton tossed Braxton’s keys at Rachel. “Car seat, house keys, and we’ll call you when we know something more.”
Without waiting for Rachel to acknowledge them, Braxton and Paxton blew out of the office and headed toward the elevator.
When they arrived at the hospital, Paisley was already in surgery but they were able to speak with the physician who had quickly examined her before she was rushed her into surgery. Both men had looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language, and it wasn’t long before the physician had realized he needed to dumb down his explanation some. “Mrs. Michaels’ appendix ruptured. This led to bacteria filling her abdomen and making the situation life-threatening. Ideally, we prefer to catch it before it ruptures.” He paused for a moment, ensuring everyone was following him so far. “If everything goes well, Mrs. Michaels will remain here for about a week while she undergoes a series of antibiotics. The first few doses will be intravenously, and we’ll encourage her to be up and moving within a day or two as we’ll need her intestines to start working properly again. Once she actually has a bowel movement, she’ll be able to return home. But she’ll still need to take antibiotics for several weeks afterwards.”
Once they’d assured the physician that they both fully understood the seriousness of what the next few hours held, he
