“Good,” he said to Kaylee as the nurse left. “I need to go see Mama C.”
After ten minutes, the grimace on his face only eased slightly, though. “Blayne, maybe you should let them give you something a little stronger.” Kaylee couldn’t stand to see him sweating with pain, his eyes screwed shut.
“No,” he said harshly. Then softer, “No. I can’t risk it, Kay. I’ll be fine.”
Several minutes later he opened his eyes. “Well, I think this is as good as it’s gonna get. Let’s go see Mama.”
“Let me get a wheelchair.” Kaylee hurried out before he could protest.
The nurse came in and unhooked his IV and helped him into the wheelchair. Sweat dripped from his forehead and he gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles flexing with the effort. “Give me a sec,” he said, panting.
“I can ask the doctor for something stronger,” the nurse said, her brows knit together.
“No.” He laid his head in his hand. “I can’t. I’m a drug addict.”
“Recovering,” Kaylee added.
The nurse nodded in understanding. “Well, when you get back, I have a couple of non-pharmaceutical things we can try.”
The trip to MICU would have been comical if not for Blayne’s pain. Pushing a wheelchair with one hand was not an easy task. Especially with someone as big as Blayne sitting in it.
In Mama C’s room, Blayne gripped her hand, tears rolling freely from his eyes. “Mama, please. Why are you just giving up?”
She’d given him the same spiel she’d given Kaylee—about wanting to be with her husband and son.
“It’s just my time,” she whispered, unable to speak any louder.
“But what about the others?” Blayne begged. “Hannah and Clint and DeMarcus. They need you.”
A faint smile crept onto Mama’s face and she laid a hand on Kaylee’s and squeezed Blayne’s. “They don’t need me anymore. They have you two now.”
Blayne looked up at Kaylee. The sorrow in his eyes almost too much to bear.
Mama C continued. “I want you two to send them home. Help them get home. Those children need their real mamas.” She turned her steel gaze to Blayne. “And you. It’s time for you to call your mama. You’re ready. Kaylee will be there for you.”
Kaylee’s parents took her to her apartment to change clothes and grab a toothbrush then they dropped her off at the hospital on their way to their hotel. She spent the night in the chair next to Blayne’s bed even though he protested, telling her to go home and sleep in her own bed. Neither of them got much sleep, Blayne’s pain kept them both up. Even with an ice pack and repositioning, the medication barely took the edge off.
The doctor rounded on him in the morning and said he could be discharged. Kaylee picked up his prescriptions and had her parents pick up a pair of jeans and a stretchy t-shirt for him. She really was glad they’d come. She didn’t know what she’d do without them since her car was still impounded as part of the investigation.
Kaylee’s parents sat in the waiting room, anxious to meet this man their daughter confessed to being in love with. She took the clothes in to him. He was sitting in a chair by the bed, his face still screwed up in a tight grimace. “Where did you get those?” he asked.
“My, um, my parents went and got them for you. They’re, uh, waiting out there to meet you.”
His eyes widened like a schoolboy caught cheating. “What am I going to say to them?”
“I don’t know. Hello, maybe?” She smiled.
“But I…I almost got you killed. They,” he swallowed, “aren’t they furious with me? Don’t they hate—”
Kaylee quieted him by kissing him softly. When she pulled away, she said, “They are excited to meet you. And very thankful that you saved my life.”
“Do that again.”
She turned her head and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
He attempted to smile. “Kiss me. I think that works better for the pain than the medication does.”
She laughed and shook her head. She bent over and he pulled her into his lap. They kissed with a gentle touch, their lips brushing softly against one another. Kaylee leaned in to deepen it, then pulled back. “Ouch.” She touched her swollen, split lip. “Better keep it soft for now.”
Before Blayne could protest, she was moving her lips across his again, only stopping when the door opened. “Oh, umm,” Kaylee struggled to stand. “We were just…”
The nurse smiled. “Oh, I know what you were just doing. Your discharge papers are signed. I see you have some clothes to change into.” She turned to Kaylee. “Do you want to help him change?”
Kaylee’s face flushed. “No. We aren’t…we haven’t…I mean. No. I’ll wait outside.” She chanced a glance at Blayne and blushed even harder at the glint in his eyes.
Laughing, the nurse said, “Okay, how about I help him with his pants, but you come back in so I can show you the easiest way to put his shirt on. It looks like you might need to know this for yourself, too.” She gestured at Kaylee’s sling.
“Yeah, okay.” Kaylee slipped out the door and tried to fan the redness out of her face and neck with her hand.
When the nurse called for her to come back in, Blayne’s face was pale and covered in sweat again. He leaned on the bed, panting. “Give me just a minute.”
Kaylee realized her mouth hung open, and she shut it. Blayne without a shirt—even pale, sweating Blayne with a big dressing on his chest, without a shirt—was astounding. How could someone who’d been homeless for three years, have such great abs? And pecs. And biceps. And everything. Kaylee shook her head and diverted her eyes. The nurse appeared to be amused by her gawking and Kaylee’s face blossomed into flames again.
“Okay,” Blayne breathed. “Let’s do this.” He looked up at Kaylee then at the nurse. “What?”
“Nothing,” they
