Page 34 of Keeping His Brat

He let his eyes close; the bright white light was making his headache worse. “Yeah well, I know you. You’ve been worrying yourself to death since I got sick, and I figured if it was bad enough for me to be here then you’d be a wreck.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Well, I have every reason to be worried. I couldn’t get you to stay awake and you kept saying weird things. I’m not even sure you knew where you were, so I called the ambulance.” Her voice hadn’t quite managed an ‘I told you so!’ vibe but he could tell it was only because she was holding it back.

“Sorry I scared you, Darlin’. But I’m going to be just fine.”

It probably would have been more reassuring if he hadn’t immediately launched into a coughing fit. His whole body shook with the force of it.

The doctor whipped out a stethoscope and leaned in to listen to his chest the moment he caught his breath. She was shaking her head as she straightened. “I think we’re definitely looking at pneumonia. We’ll take some x-rays to be sure, but it’s pretty tightly congested in there.”

“He was fine just a few days ago and then we got caught out in the storm. We both got drenched but I just don’t know how he could have gotten this sick so fast,” Charlie said.

The doctor frowned. “We don’t normally see things escalate this quickly so there might be something else going on. Any chance you aspirated some water while you were out in the rain?” she asked Sam.

He tried to think. It took effort to make his brain work, finally he shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe? The rain was coming at us sideways and we were trying to save a cow caught in barbed wire. I wasn’t really paying attention.” He could hear the wheezing as he spoke.

“It’s a good possibility then. Don’t worry, cowboy. We’ll get you fixed up, but I don’t want anymore fussing from you. Your girlfriend can stay here and wait for you when they take you down to x-ray.

“I’ll behave, scouts honor,” Sam said. He offered her a half-smile, which was about all he had the energy for.

Charlie snorted. “You were never a scout, but I’ll make sure he behaves, Dr. Oliveri.” She gave Sam a look that said she meant it too.

He raised one eyebrow and gave her the stern Daddy look in return. As worn out as he was, it probably didn’t have the usual effect. But he waited until the doctor, and the parade of nurses and orderlies finally left them in peace before he said something to her.

“Someone’s getting too big for their britches,” he commented as soon as they were alone.

“Yeah well, you can take it out of my ass later, but Sam I wasscared!” She was still scared; he could hear it in her voice. “You got sick so fast.”

He released her hand and tapped the metal bars. “Here, Charlie girl, put this rail down for me will ya? I can’t manage it from this side.”

“You’re not going to try to get up again, are you?” She stepped back, sounding alarmed.

He chuckled, keeping the laugh slow and gentle so he didn’t set off another paroxysm of coughing. “No baby. I said I’d be good, and I will.” He gave her a slight smile to reassure her and after a second, she began to look for the release to lower the rail.

Once it was down, he held out his free arm to her. “Come on, there’s room for you on the bed.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked at his other arm. Between the monitor they’d slipped on his finger and the tube to pump him full of fluids it must have looked like a complicated mess to her. “I’m not sure I should. What if I hurt you?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. I just want to hold you, darlin’, before they come back to do more tests.” He shifted over, being careful of the IV line so it didn’t get tangled, to make room for her.

Charlie still looked uncertain, but she must have needed the touch as much as he did because a second later, she was climbing up on the bed to tuck herself against his body.

She felt so good pressed against him as he hugged her tight with his unencumbered arm. He buried his face in her hair and kissed the top of her head. “This better?”

She nodded, without looking up at him. One arm snaked across his chest as she attempted to squish as close to him as possible. “I was scared. You were saying such weird things too. Most of it didn’t make sense.”

“I know, Charlie girl. I’m sorry. Gotta admit I’ve never felt this bad before.” He rubbed her back gently, trying to offer her as much comfort as her presence had given him.

They were graced with a half hour alone and it did a lot to settle his mind. When a nurse came in and saw Charlie on the bed, she made a soft tsking sound but didn’t say anything about it. “Just going to check your vitals and then we’ll be bringing you down to get X-rays in a few minutes.”

Charlie scooted off the bed with a guilty look on her face and settled in a chair in the corner to watch as the nurse took his blood pressure. The pursed lips and narrowed eyes said the nurse didn’t care for the results, but she didn’t actually announce the numbers. He would have asked but then he’d have to have her explain what it all meant, and his head hurt too much to think.

His temp was next and didn’t seem to please her any better than the blood pressure had. She jotted some notes on a clipboard and checked the monitor on his finger.

“Can I get something for this headache, you think?” Sam asked. The throbbing behind his eyes was almost constant now.

“I’ll check with the doctor first, but it should be fine. I think she’s waiting for the test results before she does anything else. I’ll be right back.” After making a few more notes she vanished, and she didn’t return for a long time.

Apparently ‘right back’ was a vague medical term meaning ‘sometime in the future’ and it was ages before she finally brought him a couple of pills and a paper cup of water to wash them down. He’d managed to talk Charlie into getting back on the bed, so he didn’t mind the wait … much.

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