Page 31 of Keeping His Brat

There was no long wait time when you were rushed in by ambulance in a delirious state. Sam went one way, but she was blocked from following by a nurse with a clipboard. Everything about her looked efficient and professional and Charlie had a feeling she wasn’t going to get by her.

“I need to go with him,” Charlie protested.

“I’m going to need you to fill out some forms for me, honey. Don’t worry they’ve got things under control. Just come on with me.” She sounded way too chipper for someone working with medical emergencies.

Charlie gritted her teeth but took the clipboard and let herself be led to a chair. She was glad she’d remembered his insurance card and ID, they seemed to need an awful lot of information. It took her forever to fill everything out. There was even a form for her. As the one filling out his paperwork, they needed to know what her relationship to him was.

Why? She couldn’t even begin to imagine. And what was she supposed to put there? ‘He’s my Daddy’ didn’t really seem like what they were looking for.

She wandered over to the desk to ask. “Um, why do you need this?” She held out the clipboard and the nurse took a cursory glance at the paper.

“Well, we need to know if you’re the next of kin. In case there are medical decisions that have to be made. If you’re not the next of kin, then we need the contact info of whoever that would be so we can notify them.”

“Oh.” Sam didn’t have anyone but her. Did that make her the next of kin? She wasn’t sure what the legalities were. “He doesn’t have any family, but I’m his …” She paused, reluctant to lie, but also afraid she wouldn’t have the right to see him if she didn’t. “Fiancé,” she said after the slightest hesitation.

That was almost true. She had asked Sam to marry her, and he hadn’t said no. A fiancé should have the right to be with him, especially if he didn’t have anyone else. She realized, from the nurse’s sympathetic expression that she was wrong.

“I’m sorry honey. It has to be a relative or wife, unless he filed paperwork to make you his next of kin,” the nurse explained.

“But we live together. We own a ranch together. That has to count for something,” Charlie said. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, ready to throw a fit if they tried to keep her from him.

“I really wish I could help you, but without some legal relationship there’s nothing we can do until—” She paused, looking down to read his name off the paperwork “—Sam is able to tell us what he wants.”

“You mean I can’t wait with him?” Tears prickled at the back of her eyes. She stubbornly blinked them away. She wasn’t going to allow herself to cry in front of strangers, but the thought of waiting out here, not knowing, was awful.

“Oh no, you’ll be able to sit with him once they get him stable. You don’t have to be next of kin for that. But right now, they’re working to find out what’s going on. So, you can wait out here. As soon as we know something we’ll let you know.” The nurse spoke firmly but there was a warmth there that said she did understand.

Charlie took a slow breath and nodded. “You’ll be able to tell me how he is?”

“Just generally, we can’t go into details until we know what his wishes are but once he’s doing better, you’ll know.” She flashed a gentle smile adding, “I promise.”

Charlie waited a few moments longer and then returned to her seat to finish filling out the paperwork. When it was complete, she dropped it on the registration desk and then began to pace up and down the short hall.

She should get her laptop or her book from the truck. She needed something to keep her mind busy, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. Until she found out he was going to be okay there was no chance of being able to focus on anything. So, she walked the length of the hall and back, repeatedly.

There were vending machines at the far end, and on her third circuit she stopped to get a terrible cup of coffee. It tasted like it was made of mud, but at least it was hot. That was a comfort to her numb fingers. It felt like they’d been frozen since Sam had gotten sick.

Of course, it was the stress. She didn’t see that getting better any time soon either. The coffee had a placebo effect though and it did seem to help.

Charlie lost track of how long she wandered the same boring path. White walls, white floor, and a few generic pictures that were probably supposed to be uplifting, all seemed to blend together until it was a blur.

Finally, on the umpteenth repetition the nurse caught her as she made a U-turn in front of her desk. She had a phone receiver to her ear. “Ms. McGee? Sam’s doing a little better and he’s—” She stopped, listened for a second, and then let out an exasperated sigh. “—I think asking for you is a little mild for what he’s doing. You’d better go straight back.” She gestured towards the doors to the closed section with her free hand.

Charlie’s heart leaped at the news, and she immediately headed in the pointed direction. She paused, one hand on the door, as she realized she wasn’t really sure where she was going. “Just through here?”

“Yep, go straight through and check in at the nurse’s station right down the hall. They’re waiting for you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

As Charlie pushed through the heavy swinging door the nurse added, “Please hurry.”

Charlie wasn’t sure what was going on, buthurrysounded bad. She shoved her way through and sprinted down the white corridor to the obvious central hub of the emergency room. Two people in scrubs stood there conferring with each other.

They were clearly waiting for her and looked relieved to see her rushing towards them. One stepped out from behind the counter and motioned to her and then led the way down the hall with squeaking shoes. She looked back over her shoulder at Charlie. “He’s been a little agitated. Worried about you, I think. Once he sees you, we’re hoping he’ll calm down.”

Sam was in a small exam room. There was an older female doctor with gray hair tucked up into a no-nonsense bun in the back, and a burly young orderly trying to get him to relax and lie back, but her Daddy wasn’t having any of it.

“Nope. Not until I see Charlie,” Sam was saying as she came in. She stopped in the doorway to see what was happening. “She’s going to be out of her mind worried about me.” With the bars in place on both sides of the bed he couldn’t get very far but it looked like he was determined to make the attempt.

---