Finding Our Forever: (A Defining Moments Novel) (2 page)

“Tell me,” I demand.

Ben pulls back long enough for us to take seats beside our dad, who looks completely lost.

“She’s in surgery, Eli,” Ben tells me. “She was hit by a car while walking on Harrison Boulevard.”

My whole world seems to come crashing down in an instant. Not my mom.

“You!” I growl at my dad, who is sitting beside me with his head hanging down braced on his hands. I can tell he is crying, but he hasn’t said a word since I stormed into the room.

“Why are you here?” I grind out. He doesn’t even attempt to respond.

My father, a man I used to think set the sun and hung the moon, sits broken beside me. His shoulders shake with his cries, but no sound comes.

I sit quietly, torn by what is happening. Torn because I want so much to rip into my father, to scream at him for the pain he has caused our family. I’m not sure why I have this overwhelming anger toward him all of a sudden, as if this is his fault.

“Has anyone called Destry yet?” I ask emotionless.

My dad doesn’t even raise his head to respond. “Not yet. I’m not ready to talk about it.”

“Well, Dad, this isn’t about you, now is it?” Ben bites out. “I’ll call him.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and stands, cell phone in hand, stomping away from us.

I watch my dad, still unmoving and seemingly uncaring that his children are terrified about what is happening with their mother. He is such a selfish asshole. How can he even think that his pain and worry is anywhere close to what we are feeling?

“Do they have any idea what happened?” I ask him, hoping that if I can get him talking, he’ll snap out of it.

He just shakes his head, his shoulders still shaking with his crying.

When did this man become such a pussy? I feel as though I should remind him that he is no longer married to the woman he left for his twenty-six-year-old piece of ass.

We sit for what feels like a lifetime, waiting for some word on how she’s doing. Ben comes back in and tells me Destry is going to try to get a flight out as soon as possible, but it may take him a day or two to get here. We need to keep him updated.

Dad gets up and stomps around the room a few times, looking up at the ceiling with his hands behind his neck, squeezing tightly. I’ve never, in my twenty years of life, seen my dad act this way. He looks as though he might have a full-on breakdown.

He paces more, not once speaking to us directly, but he is mumbling under his breath now and then. At some point, he stills, before he tells us he needs to find the hospital chapel and bolts from the room.

The man is losing it. He better ask for forgiveness for being a deceitful asshole while he’s in there praying.

Not more than five minutes after he flees the room, a doctor, still in surgical scrubs, strides in.

“Eleanor Harper’s family?” he asks, a little louder than necessary.

“Yes, that’s us. We’re her sons,” I blurt out quickly, rushing to him, Ben on my heels.

“Your mom is out of surgery and doing fine. She is going to be sore and has some road rash that will be uncomfortable, but she is a very lucky lady. She had a severely broken wrist, which I was able to repair. She’ll need some physical therapy to regain full range of motion, but she will make a full recovery pretty quickly if she takes care of herself,” he assures us.

My legs wobble and I fear they aren’t strong enough to hold my body up.

She’s going to be okay.

She’s going to make a full recovery.

Ben’s arm comes around me, pulling me into a hug, and I can’t help the emotion that takes over me.

“She’s going to be okay, Eli. Breathe,” he whispers to me. I let the tears come without attempting to brush them away.

She’s going to be okay.

My dad enters the room but freezes when he sees Ben and me crying. He lets out a cry and falls to his knees, begging for God to take him instead of her, and it dawns on me that he probably thinks she’s gone. Could he be more of a drama queen?

Ben rushes to him, pulling him into his arms, mumbling words I don’t care to hear. I make my way over to the chairs we were sitting in just minutes ago, letting my body fall into them without restraint. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I hit Destry’s number.

“Hello,” he almost shouts.

“She’s okay, Dez. She’s out of surgery and expected to make a full recovery. Jacked up wrist that they had to fix and will need some therapy for, but she’s going to be fine,” I rush out, knowing he’s been sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for this call.

I hear him crying and don’t say anything. He needs to let it out, and he doesn’t have to say anything in response. We sit silent, holding onto our phones, both letting the situation and outcome sink in.

“I need a drink,” Destry chokes out after several minutes, and we both burst out laughing.

“You and me both, little brother.”

“Okay, now that I can breathe again, do you have any details on what happened?” Dez asks me seriously.

“Not yet, but I imagine over the next few hours, we’ll get more of what’s going on.”

“All right, well, keep me updated on what’s happening and call me the minute you guys get to see her and she’s awake… or if you find anything out about what happened… or if you need anything,” he trails off.

“Dez, she’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

“Call me with any and all information, Eli. I mean it,” he demands.

“I promise. Now, I’m going to go peel our pathetic father off the ground and make him talk to us. Remind me to tell you that story.” I’m still absolutely floored that my dad is playing the heartbroken husband.

I make my way over to where Ben and Dad are now sitting on the bench seats.

“I called Dez. He’s still going to fly out as soon as he can, but he knows she’s going to be okay,” I interrupt.

For the first time since I arrived, Dad might actually be hearing me. “Thank you for calling him, Eli, and I’m sorry I fell apart. I just can’t believe that we almost lost her.” He starts crying again and pulls me and Ben into his big shoulders. Oh, now he wants to comfort us? When we know she’s going to be okay.

I pull from his grip just as a nurse comes into the waiting room.

“Hello there,” she announces cheerfully. “You must be Mrs. Harper’s family.” My heart feels like it’s lodged in my throat. She’s beautiful. Not in a “sex kitten” way, but in a “perfect girl next door” way. Her red hair is swept up in a loose bun with little pieces sticking out everywhere. I see no noticeable makeup on her seemingly perfect skin and her lips have a light glossy sheen to them, but not from some sticky gloss, maybe from her licking her lips. Her freckles are seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

What the hell is wrong with me? I’m checking out a nurse while my mom is in the hospital fighting for her life. Okay, maybe that’s dramatic, but seriously.
Reign it in, Eli, damn.

“Yes,” Ben replies, because my mouth feels full of cotton balls. She turns her attention to him before speaking again, a stunning smile on her face.

“Mrs. Harper has been moved into the recovery room and will be there for a bit. I can show you all to the room they will bring her to when she’s ready.” She whisks her hand toward the door to the waiting room.

Just as we start to head out, my phone rings loudly and the beautiful nurse glares at me.

“Sorry,” I grumble before silencing it and looking to see who it is. I don’t want to miss Dez. I can’t imagine going through this from two states away.

I’m surprised when I see Cord’s name light up.

“Hello,” I grunt into the receiver.

“Eli, hey it’s Cord. Have you seen or talked to your mom? We’re supposed to get together this evening, and I haven’t been able to get a hold of her and she’s not home. I’m starting to worry,” he spews out, and I can hear the concern in his voice.

“We’re at the hospital. She’s going to be okay, but she was hit by a car and had to have surgery on her wrist,” I tell him, trying to be strong even though it’s hard to even say it without breaking down.

“Oh God,” he whispers, but then says nothing more.

“Cord?” I ask.

“Sorry. What hospital is she in?” he snaps out.

“St. Mary’s Medical Center,” I tell him quickly. “I have to go, Cord. They’re taking us into her room to wait for her to come back from recovery. I’ll text you her room number as soon as we’re in there.”

“Okay, thanks. It’s going to take me a little while to get there, but I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do you guys need me to bring anything?”

“No, I think we’re good for now,” I respond numbly. “Just a heads up, my dad’s here. I don’t know if he knows about you and Mom being friends. I just didn’t want you to walk into it blindly and he’s a wreck.”

“See you soon, Eli.” It’s not lost on me that he doesn’t even respond to my dad being here. I have no doubt my mom has already told him the bullshit my dad has pulled over the past nine months.

Just as we get to an empty room, the nurse turns to me.

“You’re going to need to silence that or turn it off,” she tells me gently. Her voice even does something to my chest. Flutters. I feel flutters in my chest.

What the hell is that about?

I nod and silence my phone. Her smile is amazing. Her eyes are amazing.

We take seats and there’s an uncomfortable silence before Dad speaks.

“Look, boys, I know I’ve done some not-so-admirable things over the past year,” he mutters, “but I need you guys to understand that I love you and your mother more than anything in the world. The thought of losing her forever about killed me. I’m so sorry I shut down.”

I laugh out, and I’m not talking a chuckle. I full-on belly laugh at the audacity of this man.

“Eli, I know that this has been a crazy day, but I don’t find anything funny about any of it,” he scolds me, which makes me laugh even harder.

“You’ve gotta to be freaking kidding me.”

“Listen, young man,” he starts, but I seriously can’t even catch my breath I’m laughing so hard.

I feel a hand touch my arm, but I know it’s not Ben because he’s standing beside Dad with his hands clenched into fists, face blood red.

I turn my head to the side and look into those gorgeous chocolate eyes. I could get lost in those eyes.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to give you something to help you relax?” she asks with genuine concern on her face.

I put my hand on top of hers and pat it, taking a deep breath to calm my craziness. She’s trying to comfort me, and all I can think about is wrapping her in my arms and kissing the shit out of those lips.

“I’m good.” I give her hand a squeeze, and she lets go of my arm, turning to exit the room quickly.

I return my gaze to my dad when she’s gone.

“You have a new family now, remember?” I bite out, trying really hard to control my temper and not get us kicked out of here. “In case you forgot, you aren’t married to her anymore. She’s
our
mother, not just some woman you left behind when something new and shiny popped up.”

I watch as his face morphs from hurt and embarrassment to anger. He opens his mouth to speak, but I shake my head and head toward the door. “I’m done with this conversation. Go home to your family, Dad.”

I hear him speaking, but I don’t pay attention and leave the room quickly. I don’t need to hear any of his lame-ass excuses anymore. Yes, he’ll always be my dad, but I’m done with his bullshit drama.

I stop around the corner from Mom’s room and lean up against the wall, laying my head back against it, taking in a couple of deep breaths.

“You okay?”

I don’t have to open my eyes to know that voice. It’s attached to those chocolate eyes.

I don’t lift my head from the wall, but I roll it to the side to look down at her, seeing concern written all over her face.

“I will be now that I know she’s going to be okay.”

A small smile plays on her lips, but she doesn’t respond. We stand, just looking at each other, no words needing to be spoken.

Our stare off is broken when I hear a throat clear, and a woman who looks like an Olympic shot-put athlete stands a few feet away, arms crossed over her massive chest, glaring daggers at the dainty beauty next to me.

“Sara, don’t you have patients to check in on?”

Sara.

“Yes, ma’am. I was just checking on Mrs. Harper’s son. He’s upset,” she tells her firmly but politely.

“Well, he seems just fine to me, so please return to your patients,” she barks.

Sara looks at me one last time, nods, and then strolls away. I glare at the other nurse before turning and making my way toward the bathroom. I know one thing for sure, I need to get Sara’s number before I leave this hospital. We are obviously not going to get any time to talk here with this nurse bossing her around.

The moment I see my reflection in the mirror, I cringe. I look like death warmed over. My face is pale, my eyes are red and swollen, and my hair is out of control. I’m sure Sara was thoroughly impressed. Ugh.

I splash cold water on my face, hoping it will help the redness. I run my wet hands through my hair, trying to tame it a little. Whatever. That’s as good as it’s getting today.

Returning to Mom’s room, the first thing I notice is that my dad is gone, and Ben is standing in front of the window, looking out.

“Ben, I’m sorry I freaked out on Dad, but I just can’t listen to his bullshit anymore.”

“Don’t, Eli. I know. He and I had it out too and I told him he needed to leave for a bit so we could all calm down,” he tells me without taking his eyes off the window.

I’m actually speechless. That doesn’t happen often. Ben almost always sides with my dad, so for him to back me up makes me want to tackle-hug him.

We sit in silence for a while, just the sounds of the hospital outside the door keeping us sane. About an hour after our dad leaves, they wheel Mom’s bed into the room and my heart stops. She looks so broken.

We both rush to her bed the moment the orderly moves out of the way. Her arm is in a splint and heavily wrapped in gauze, road rash all over, and she’s still unconscious, but just seeing her with my own eyes sets my mind at ease.