Page 52 of His to Love
I watched as Patton took my brother’s hand and held our son in the other arm. “Virgin Mary, please hear our prayers.”
My brother added, “Alejandra Consuelo Christina De La Cruz-Nash is needed here on Earth.”
Me? It’s me they’re praying for?
I felt dazed as I continued to watch them pray, no longer hearing their words, but sensing the desperation behind their pleas. I couldn’t stand this anymore—they needed to know I would never leave them.“Hey, I’m here!” I shouted. But neither of them looked at me. I figured it was because I was floating above them. So, I reached out, trying to grab Patton, the taller of the two men, to use him to pull myself down to the floor so they could see me.
Waving my hand through the air, I managed to get to him and grabbed his shoulder. He shuddered and stepped away from me, looking at the empty space beside him with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Luciano asked him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Something cold touched just my shoulder.” Patton looked around, even straight up at me, but he didn’t seem to be able to see me.
Am I dead?
That would certainly explain the floating. Closing my eyes, I tried not to cry. I had to stop this from happening. I couldn’t be dead. I wouldn’t be in this hallway if I were dead. I’d be on my way to Heaven.
Unless my sin has caused me to stay in limbo.
I hadn’t made a confession about what I’d done with Alejandro. And now it was too late to do anything about it.
Or was it?
I watched as Patton’s eyes moved around, as if he searched for something. “Alexa, I love you. I want us to be man and wife for real. I want us to raise our son together. I want us to be a real family and I never want to let you go. So, please, please, stay with us. Don’t leave us. Not now. Not ever. And I swear to the lord above that I will never leave you.”
“I love you, Patton,” I shouted.
A sense of determination settled into every ounce of my being—or whatever being was left of me as I floated in this limbo. I wasn’t dead yet, and I’d be damned if I’d let anything take me away from the man of my dreams and my son.
A sudden jolt of pure heat hit me square in the chest, and I felt as if I was being yanked back into the room. It felt as if I was body-slammed onto the bed, and then white-hot pain scorched my entire body. “Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! Make it stop!”
“We’ve got her back,” I heard a man say.
And then I saw Patton and Luciano run into the room as Patton shouted, “You stay with us, Alexa Nash! I love you!”
It all came rushing back to me.He loves me!“I’m not going anywhere. I love you too, Patton Nash.” The pain in my chest was on the scope of unbearable. “You’ve got to stop this pain,” I begged the doctor who stood over me.
He looked at me with concern and sympathy. “I know it hurts. But the pain will soon fade. It’s from the electric shock we had to use to get your heart back on track.”
Suddenly, the jolts I’d felt made sense. “Oh. Okay.” How could I be upset when they’d done it to bring me back to life? “Do you know why my heart stopped in the first place?”
“Well, not yet,” the doctor told me. “But we’ll find that out.”
As everyone began moving back and leaving the room, Patton came to me, our sleeping baby still in his arms. His warm lips pressed against my forehead, sending chills through me. “I’ve got my suspicions it was the pain medication. So, try not to take any more of that.”
The doctor made a grim face. “Yes, we won’t be using that on you anymore. We’ll go ahead and place a warning about that on your chart, too. No more Vicodin for you, Mrs. Nash.”
I didn’t recognize the doctor at all. “I’m sorry, doctor. You are?”
“Doctor Levy. I’m on call here today. I’ll be sure to make a full report for Doctor Barclay.” He looked at the baby, who’d begun to squirm in Patton’s arms while making a little fussing sound. “Are you breastfeeding?”
“I haven’t had the opportunity yet, but that is my plan.” I held out my hands for the baby. “Looks like he’s getting hungry though.”
“Yes, it does look that way,” the doctor agreed. “But I don’t think you should breastfeed him right now. Your heart did stop beating for almost three minutes. All you need to worry about right now is getting some rest and recovering your strength. I’m shocked you’re even conscious right now.”
“That makes sense,” I said as my eyes started drooping. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I had to do what was best for me or I wouldn’t be able to do anything for anyone else. And I had lots to do.
“I’ll send in a nurse with a bottle of formula,” the doctor said then left.
