Torrid Affair(57)

“Hi, I’m Dr. Christensen. We talked on the phone earlier.” Her voice was low when she spoke. “When Mrs. Hansen arrived in the ER, she was unresponsive. The CT scan showed that she had a hemorrhagic stroke, which is a ruptured blood vessel that caused the brain to bleed. We were able to fix the rupture, but there was a lot of swelling to the brain. Currently, we have her in an induced coma to allow the swelling go down.”

“Will she be okay?” My voice was so low I wasn’t sure if she heard me.

“Right now, we won’t be able to say much. Her heart is weak and she was without oxygen for quite some time.”

I bowed my head. This was all my fault. If I’d answered when she called. . . .

“The next forty-eight hours will be crucial. Do either of you know if she has a Do Not Resuscitate or did she request extraordinary measures?”

My head snapped up. “What?”

“She took out a few life insurance policies when she was pregnant with Brielle,” Brian said. “I don't think she’d want any additional measures.”

Anger boiled through me.

This was why he showed his damn face.

Money. It always resulted in money.

“Out.” I seethed. Brian’s eyes met mine. “Get. Out.

You selfish prick!” I shouted. “That’s why you’re here! You want to collect on my mother’s death!” I marched toward him, but Dr. Christensen stepped in front of me. “Get out, Brian! Get the fuck out!”

“Ms. Hansen, I need you to calm down,” Dr. Christensen stated in a firm voice.

“He’s fucking drunk. He’s drunk right now!”

She looked over at Brian. “Maybe you should leave.”

“She wouldn’t want to live if she was a burden for us,” he said.

“Leave, Mr. Hansen, or I’ll call security to escort you out.”

My father left and my strong stance faltered. Like a helpless child, I crumpled into Dr. Christensen’s arms and cried. Sadly, I found comfort in a complete stranger.

I sat on the recliner in my mom’s hospital room for hours. The nurses took pity on me and brought me dinner and water, but I had no appetite. Once I calmed, Dr. Christensen returned and I explained the situation between my parents. Unfortunately, she informed me, because my parents were still married, Brian was her next of kin, and unless there was a living will that stated otherwise, the decision was his.

For hours, I sat in the chair watching the machine fill my mother’s lungs with air, but my phone never rang and Nate never arrived The night shift nurse draped a blanket over me and I fell asleep. Though I was restless, my body tried to heal itself.

A sudden noise startled me awake. Scared, I looked over to my mother, but she was still sleeping quietly. The sun was peering through metal shades. A new nurse smiled at me.

“She’s fine,” she reassured me. Clearing my throat, I wiped the sleep from my face. “Your phone was buzzing.”

I ran my hand through my knotted hair and reached for it from a small table nearby. The backlit screen notified me I had one new text message.

Nate: I’m sorry, but I can’t go to Chicago. And I can’t be with you anymore.





Chapter 21





Brielle


Forty-eight hours.

Two thousand, eight hundred and twenty seconds.

Baby steps, I reminded myself. First priority was my mother. Then I would find a way to repair my broken heart.

It was late in the afternoon, and my mother’s blood pressure had dropped. I held firmly on to her hand, begging her to hold on tight.

I wasn’t sure I believed in God, but when those machines began to beep and the nurses breezed in, I began to pray.

“Please, God, save her. Please, Mom, stay with me. I’m not ready to lose you! I need your guidance, your love. You’re all I have, Mommy. Please, God, don’t do this to me!”

My prayers were answered and her blood pressure normalized. I exhaled a breath that was caught inside and dropped my head on the bed. I didn’t know how much more I could take.

A few hours after the low blood pressure incident, Dr. Christensen paid me a visit. She scanned the binder with my mother’s information and walked over to me.

“How is she doing?”

Dr. Christensen sighed. “Still no change. We will run another CT scan on her soon to check her brain activity. How are you doing?” She laid her hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head. “She’s all I have.”

“Brielle, maybe you should go home, take a shower, get some sleep. I’m on tonight, so I’ll call you if there’s any change.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out a business card. “My cell number is on there and also my pager. You can call any time.”