Jake gives me a knowing smile and whips out his debit card. After we have all the food, we make our way back up to the second floor waiting room. Elizabeth decides to take her sandwich back into the room and eat with Avery. I put a sandwich, bag of chips, bottle of water, and the cheese fries back in one of the bags for Avery.
“You’re so good to her,” she says as she walks back towards the room.
The afternoon passes quicker than the morning. Everyone takes turns going in and visiting with Avery again. While Will was in there, Brooklyn woke up for a little bit. He said he got to hold her for a few moments while the nursing staff changed her bedding.
Before we know it, it’s after six, and it’s another round of deli sandwiches for everyone. Jake and I are both scheduled to work tomorrow, but after a quick call to our Lieutenant, we trade our shift tomorrow for one on Friday. That leaves us working a five day stretch with two of them being twelve hour shifts and a holiday, but neither of us minds at all. We’d both rather be here, even if it is just sitting in a waiting room.
By eight o’clock, everyone is getting pretty restless. We’ve gone for walks up and down the halls, outside around the courtyard, and down to the cafeteria. We’ve consumed enough caffeine to keep a small army awake for days. We all gather in the waiting room to get ready to head home since visiting hours are over.
I don’t want to go. I don’t care if I’m stuck sitting in this hard plastic seat all night, I’m not leaving. I look over at Jake, and I can tell he knows I’m up to something.
“What?”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Why would you stay? You can’t see them. You might as well go home and sleep in your own bed. We’ll head back up here first thing in the morning.”
“No. I’m not leaving.” Just as I start to defend my decision to Jake, Elizabeth comes into the room.
“Avery’s making me leave for the night. She doesn’t want me to sleep in the chair a second night. Brooklyn has improved a little today, though not completely out of the woods. She’s still sleeping a lot so there’s not much we can do.”
“I think it’s a good idea for you to come home and get a good night’s sleep, honey,” Michael says.
“I know. I just hate leaving them here alone.” Her eyes start to fill with tears. “Avery won’t leave her bedside. It kills me to see her so distraught and helpless.”
“I’m staying,” I say.
“But, you can’t go back there, dear,” Elizabeth states.
“I know. But you can tell the nurses that I’m here in the waiting room so if they need anyone, I’m right here. I’m not leaving.”
Elizabeth gives me a small knowing smile as the boys all gather up their belongings, dispose of the trash, and straighten up the area we’ve just called home for the past twelve hours.
“I’ll go say good night to the girls and tell the nurses that you’re in here.”
A little bit later, Elizabeth comes back. “I’m ready,” she tells her family.
“Nate, you ride with Jake so your mom can ride with me, Travis, and Will.”
“Okay,” Nate replies
Jake comes over to me. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yep, I’m not leaving.”
“You’re a good man, Maddox Jackson.” And with that he slaps my back, turns and heads out of the waiting room with Nate.
As the rest of them start filing out of the room, Elizabeth turns and comes over to me. She speaks in a low, hushed voice and looks around to make sure no one can overhear her. “The doctors are finished making their rounds by nine. The nurses are willing to look the other way after that if you accidentally wander down the hall to room 214.” She gives me wink, followed by a kiss on my cheek and turns to follow everyone else out of the waiting room.
I’m alone again, but this time with the comforting thought that I will get to see my girls in just a little bit.
*****
I force myself to sit in the waiting room until almost ten o’clock. I want to make sure I’m not going to run into trouble from any doctors or hospital administrators. Finally, it’s time for me to make my way to room two-fourteen. I smile at the two nurses sitting at the nurses’ station. They smile back and quickly look back towards their charts.
When I finally get to room two-fourteen, I hesitate at the threshold. What if she doesn’t want me here? What if I upset her more than she already is? Then, that’s fine. I’ll go back to the waiting room and give her space. But, I’m still not leaving this hospital.
“She’s asleep,” I hear quietly behind me. I turn to see a petite older nurse with friendly eyes wearing brightly colored scrubs. “She hasn’t slept a wink since that baby arrived last night. I think exhaustion finally got a hold of her. She fell asleep about fifteen minutes ago.”