her.
Major’s phone started to ring again with that peculiar ringtone she’d noticed on other occasions.
“Whoever that is has called a couple of times already. Once we talked to you as his emergency contact, we didn’t want to answer it.”
Before Meredith could dig the phone out of the bottom of the big plastic bag, it stopped. “Well, if they call back, I’ll answer it, just in case it’s something important.”
They stopped at the nurses’ station for the surgical unit, and Meredith gave them her name and cell phone number.
“You realize he’s going to be in pre-op and surgery for a few hours, right?” the nurse asked when Meredith told her she planned on staying around.
“Someone needs to be here for him, and as far as I know, I’m the only someone he’s got.” Pressure built in her throat. Even though she’d seen him with her own eyes and Alison had assured her he’d be okay, fear laid claim to her soul. Something could still go wrong.
“All right. But it’ll be a long evening. If you’d like, the cafeteria is down on the second floor. They serve dinner until nine o’clock, and the coffee shop is open all night.”
The heavy plastic bag started digging into Meredith’s fingers. “I think I’ll go put his stuff in my car—oh, I’m parked in the ER visitor lot. Should I move it to another parking area?”
“Your car should be fine where it is.” Alison touched Meredith’s arm. “I’ll be praying for your ... friend.”
“Thank you.” Meredith briefly pressed her hand on top of Alison’s.
“I’ll take you back down to the ER—that’ll be the easiest way to get to your car.”
Meredith did her best to pay attention to their route so she could find her way back through the labyrinthine building when she came back. Alison showed her where to go from the emergency room lobby to get back upstairs. Meredith thanked her again then stepped out into the chill March air.
Only when Major’s phone started ringing again did Meredith remember to dig it out of the bottom of the bag.
A slight rustling came over the line then a click and dead air.
“Hmm.” Meredith looked at the screen again. Call Ended. Well, that was odd.
She’d just gotten onto the elevator when the phone rang again. “Hello? This is Meredith Guidry answering for Major O’Hara.”
A slight pause. Then, “Major—I need to talk to him.” The voice was low and hoarse enough that Meredith couldn’t tell if it was male or female.
“He can’t come to the phone right now.”
“I need to talk to him.” Urgency made the voice sound female.
“I understand, but he’s ... he’s been in a car accident, and the doctors are looking at him right now. Is this —are you his mother?”
Dead air was the only response she received. She looked at the screen, but the call timer kept ticking the seconds away. They hadn’t been disconnected.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
She kept the phone to her ear and made her way down a myriad of corridors until she found the correct surgical waiting room.
“Hello? Are you still there?”
Silence came back to her.
After another few minutes, she tried again, but to no avail. She disconnected and stared at the screen a moment. What did
The line rang twice, then a click. “Hello. You have reached the main switchboard at Beausoleil Pointe Center. Our hours of operation are 7:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. If you know your party’s extension, please dial it at any time. If this is an emergency, press 6 to page the on-call physician.”
Meredith hung up. On-call physician? What was this place?
She went back into his contacts list and scrolled down to the
She flipped through a couple of old magazines, called her parents, tried to watch the news program on the overhead TV, called Forbes, paced, sat, called Ward, paced some more, and prayed—prayed hard. The more time dragged on, the more frustrated and worried she became.
“Ms. Guidry?”
She practically ran to the nurses’ station. “Yes?”
A male nurse dressed in green scrubs leaned against the counter. “Mr. O’Hara is in the pre-op area. The doctor said you can go back and see him for a minute if you’d like.”
“Definitely.”
He spotted the cell phone in her hand. “You’ll have to turn that off. You can’t use it back there anyway.”
“Okay.” She pressed and held the End button, hoping it worked just like hers. Blessedly, it did, and she dropped it into her jacket pocket. Flipping her phone open, she did the same to it.
Major was the only patient in the pre-op area. Her breath caught. The entire left side of his face looked bruised, with tiny cuts across his forehead, cheek, and jaw. His broken leg, the sight of which had nearly made her ill downstairs, was covered with a sheet.
The anesthesiologist who hovered near the head of the bed introduced himself. “I thought I’d wait until you had a chance to talk to him before I gave him the sedative.”
“I appreciate it.” She approached the other side of the gurney. “Major?”
His eyelids raised to half-mast to reveal glazed eyes. He blinked a couple of times, and his gaze became a little clearer. “Meredith.” He reached toward her.
She grabbed his hand with both of hers. “It’ll be okay.”
“Will you pray for me?”
“Of course. I have been praying for you.” She lifted his hand and pressed it to her cheek.
“I mean right now.”
“Miss, I really need to administer this.” The anesthesiologist raised a hypodermic needle.
“Major, I’ll pray for you while the doctor gives you the sedative.” She looked up at the anesthesiologist. At his nod, she leaned closer to Major, keeping one hand wrapped around his and resting the other on top of his head.
“Lord God, I bow before You right now so thankful that You chose to spare Major’s life. Father, I pray for the doctors and nurses who will be performing the surgery. Steady their hands, give them strength and wisdom and clarity of mind. And I pray especially for Major, someone I know is precious in Your sight. Watch over him and protect him while he’s in surgery, and then we ask for a quick recovery afterward. Amen.”
“Amen,” the nurse who’d brought her in repeated.
Major grunted, and his head lolled to the side.
The anesthesiologist removed the needle from the port on Major’s IV. “It works pretty quickly.”
“It’s time, Ms. Guidry. We have to take him to surgery now.”
She nodded, fighting more tears. Placing her hands on Major’s cheeks, she turned his head until he looked at her. “I love you, Major O’Hara, and I’m not giving you up without a fight.”
“Love you.” Slurred though his words were, they still sounded sweet to Meredith.
She followed them out into the hall, but they went the opposite direction from the door that would lead her back to the waiting area. After standing in the middle of the corridor for a few long moments after they disappeared, Meredith returned to what she was quickly coming to think of as
But she couldn’t just sit here all night. Maybe she should go down and get something to eat. The memory of
