Beyond Broken(127)

Surgery? she thought, dazed.

"Oh my God," her mom murmured.

Caleb recovered faster. "Are you serious? She's pregnant! She can't have surgery."

"We'll do a laparoscopy. It's less invasive with quicker recovery time," Dr. Taylor explained, although she was still wary of Caleb. "There are risks, of course, with any surgery but pregnant women have undergone this procedure many times and their babies are perfectly healthy, I assure you, Mr. Montgomery."

Caleb was furious, Maddie could tell. But he also recognized that it was a necessity. Appendicitis … if she didn't have this surgery, the organ could rupture. She could die and so would the baby.

"W-when can we do it?" Maddie asked.

Dr. Taylor turned to her. "Immediately. If we wait too long, it will put both of you at risk."

Maddie met Caleb's eyes and she could see that he was scared. They both were.

"Okay," she said. "L-let's hurry."





* * *





Caleb had stopped believing in God a long time ago-if he ever had in the first place-but it didn't stop him from sending up a prayer because he figured it couldn't hurt. He was willing to try anything at this point.

They'd wheeled Maddie in for an emergency surgery a little over a half hour ago. It was five in the morning, the waiting room was virtually empty and eerily quiet, except for the mounted TV that played news reels over and over again. His footsteps echoed on the white tiled floor as he paced up and down the room. He'd tried sitting, but the nervous energy welling up in him was unbearable and he needed an outlet.

Cindy watched him from the chair she'd claimed. Dressed in her pajama bottoms and the sweatshirt that Caleb retrieved for her from his SUV, she looked a little fragile, but a lot like Maddie. She'd spent the first half hour googling appendectomy procedures during pregnancy and whatever she found there seemed to comfort her slightly. But the strained lines around her mouth and eyes betrayed her calmness.

"Everything will be fine, honey," she told him, probably tired watching him pace. He was probably making her anxious, but his heart felt like it'd beat out of his goddamn chest. "You'll see."

"You can't know that for sure."

"Well, aren't you the little optimist," she teased and he recognized what she was doing. She was trying to relax him, just a little. And for a moment, it reminded him so much of Maddie that it stole his breath, because if this procedure took a turn for the worse, would he ever have the chance to experience her again?



       
         
       
        

It was hard to not let dark thoughts enter his mind, even though he knew that in all likelihood, the procedure would be a success. Appendectomies were performed every day. Her appendix hadn't ruptured and she was getting the damn thing taken out at that very moment.

Still … he'd never felt more terrified.

Her phone beeped and she glanced down at it. "Thomas is about ten minutes away."

She'd called him shortly after the two of them were shown to the waiting room. He'd been angry that Cindy hadn't called him sooner, but she hadn't wanted to worry him until they knew what they were dealing with.

Caleb sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd sent a text to Peter, explaining the situation and that Brian would take him to school that morning. He didn't know how long he'd be there, but he wasn't leaving Maddie's side when she eventually came out of surgery.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cindy asked, after a brief pause.

He shot her a confused look. "Talk about what?"

"About what happened between you two," she answered, eyeing him. "Maddie wouldn't talk about it. But a mother knows things and I picked up on what she wasn't saying."

Caleb couldn't do this right now, not when he was worried out of his mind for Maddie.

That motherly sixth sense seemed to extend to him. "Or we don't have to. But I do want to tell you something." That got his attention. "I just want to say that I was worried when Maddie first told us she was pregnant. How could we not be? She'd always been so focused, so driven on finishing school and starting her career, that getting pregnant was probably the last thing I ever expected from her. She's never even dated, as far as I could tell. So, of course, I was a little alarmed and curious about who the father was. And when Thomas told me about you, that you weren't good for her, that you had a past, I tried not to cast judgments until I saw it for myself. And I'm glad that I didn't."

So, Thomas had tried to sway her opinion of him. Not that Caleb had expected anything less.