Page 61 of Highway To Destiny

“Mom told me the legend when we were in college,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I truly believed it then, but now I know it’s true. Mason, we loved each other deeply, got married, had a beautiful home together, and our careers took off, but I felt something was off. A tiny nagging feeling that you get in your gut. But I loved you so much and knew we’d probably always be together. Unfortunately, my cancer took me from you. But I do know that our threads crossed. They were just never bound.”

Tears ran down my cheeks. I thought back to the questions I’d asked Sylvia about being married but not being bound by the red string. “Do you think Connor and I are connected by this red string?” I asked sheepishly.

She smiled. “Yes, Mason. You two are tied together. Once he was born, his thread became bound to you. Destiny in motion.”

Now I knew the truth, and I needed to ask her. “Do you find it weird that I’ve fallen for a man? I mean, this new revelation was completely unexpected, and now I’ve come to realize I might be bisexual.”

“Mason, we can’t help who we fall in love with. It’s the person, not the gender,” she replied. “I’m incredibly happy you’ve found him. Someone destined for you.”

“You make it sound so simple,” I said. It made me question my sexual identity at times, but it was small compared to the age gap. But I realized those thoughts had faded since our summer together.

She let go of my hand. “It is that simple—accept it and just love him. You need Connor in your life, and he needs you in his.” Claudia stepped closer and kissed me on the cheek. “Our time here is done, and you need to get back to that young man. It’s not your time to be here, Mason.”

I went to say something more, but she began to fade before my eyes, and all I saw was a bright, white light.

38

CONNOR

Not more than a minute had gone by when the steady tone of the heart monitor changed to that beeping heartbeat rhythm again. Eli and I sat in the hallway and watched one of the doctors leave Mason’s room and head to the nurse’s station. I jumped to my feet immediately, planning to head him off. I heard Eli call after me, but I ignored him.

As soon as I got to the counter, I saw the doctor giving instructions to a nurse.

“Excuse me….” I said, interrupting him. He held up a finger and continued to give the nurse his orders. Once he finished, he looked at me. Eli had rushed up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. The doctor glanced from me to Eli.

“Is he okay?” I asked. I cringed at my question since I knew Mason was far from okay.

The doctor addressed us both. “I’m Dr. Beauchamp, Mason’s critical care internist. Mason seems to be stable now, and we were able to get his heart rhythm back with some epinephrine. But we will be closely monitoring him considering he’s in a medically induced coma and he’s had a craniectomy to reduce the brain swelling.”

Eli spoke before I could even open my mouth. “He’s had a what…a crane…” was all he got out.

“A craniectomy. Mason had severe brain swelling from his injury, so we needed to relieve the pressure by removing a section of his skull. In time, once his brain swelling has reduced, he will have another surgery to replace the section of skull we removed,” the doctor replied as if it was routine…like making coffee.

“Can you tell us what Mason is going through? What other injuries did he suffer?” Eli asked. “I’m listed as his power of attorney, and I brought his health directives with me. I’m able to make medical decisions for him.”

At that moment, another doctor walked up to us. Dr. Beauchamp said, “This is Dr. Ellington, Mason’s neurologist. We work as a team, along with an anesthesiologist. The trauma and orthopedic surgeons were the first to see him when he was admitted, but it’s the three of us, along with the nurses here, who have managed his care in the ICU.”

“What else is wrong with him?” I blurted it out, only caring about Mason. It brought everyone around to look at me.

The doctor smiled at my persistence and continued. “Along with the brain injury, he’s sustained a dislocated shoulder and a broken clavicle…collarbone. He also has three fractured ribs. All those secondary injuries have been corrected and stabilized. As long as Mason remains stable and the brain swelling goes down with no neurological issues, he should heal just fine. He’s strong, and he’s fit. It will take some time, though.”

Eli jumped in and asked, “Do you know anything more about what happened to him?

“From my understanding and the information given to the trauma team, Mason was unloading freight, and a pallet holding the heavy cargo gave way, coming down on him. He was severely injured from its weight and became unconscious. The men that were there only removed the boxes on top of him but knew they shouldn’t move his body. They immediately called 911,” Dr. Beauchamp said.

“How long do you expect him to be in the hospital?” I asked.

Dr. Ellington answered. “Once the brain swelling is reduced enough, we will slowly take him off sedation. We don’t know how long that will take. Every case is different. We’ll monitor brain function and check for any complications as he’s waking up. That’s our focus right now. His other injuries will heal just fine in time. As for how long he’ll be here, we don’t know, but it will be a couple of weeks, minimum.”

“What caused his heart attack?” Eli asked.

“We’re pretty sure it was the IV medications causing an electrolyte imbalance. That can cause a cardiac arrest. All we need to do is adjust the medications, and there shouldn’t be any issues,” Dr. Beauchamp said. “We will do some cardiac tests to rule anything else out.”

I hadn’t realized I’d been standing with my hand over my mouth, my eyes holding unshed tears. I couldn’t believe it had happened and what he’d suffered. Eli thanked both doctors and nudged me to do the same.

“Uh…thank you, Doctor. Can we see him?” I asked meekly.

“That will be fine,” Dr. Beauchamp replied. “You won’t notice much change when you see him. There’s currently a bit more medical equipment in his room, but it shouldn’t be in your way. I’ll be checking on him later this afternoon or this evening, and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you throughout his ICU stay. I’d encourage you to talk to him, even in his state. We’ve found that a patient can hear even in a coma.”

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