Page 6 of Season of Mercy
CHAPTER TWO
––––––––
TWO HOURS IN THE ER, and Mercy still didn’t know what was wrong with her son. She leaned to him, so small in the big hospital bed, and took his hand.
A knife seemed to turn in her chest.
The mere sight of the ER, the scent of antiseptics and medicine, the murmur of patients, the atmosphere of worry and pain that hung heavily in the air brought back memories. From the ER, Cole had been taken into surgery. That had been the last time she’d seen him alive.
Mercy’s skin crawled, and she shivered. She couldn’t let anything like that happen to her son.
Ethan peeled himself from the wall, shrugged out of his jacket, and draped it over her shoulders. She allowed herself to welcome its warmth, the spicy scent of Ethan’s cologne.
“Stevie will be all right.” Ethan’s whisper was soft, reassuring.
She held on to those words.
Dear Lord, please help my son. Amen.
She’d prayed a lot during the last two hours.
“Would you like to get some rest? I can stay with Stevie.” Ethan touched her shoulder.
Mercy shook her head. “I’m not leaving.”
Ethan nodded. “I kind of knew you’d say that. But I figured I’d ask anyway.”
How had she missed the signs of sickness? She must be a horrible mother. What was happening to her boy? “Shouldn’t they know something by now?” She was desperate for information, for something that would help her son feel better.
“They said they needed to run more tests.” Ethan’s voice was full of concern.
“I’m glad you’re here with me,” she whispered.
“Ditto.”
With the exception of the time of her marriage, when he’d stepped back, Ethan had always been there for her. When she’d scratched her knees after falling from a bike. When she’d received bad grades. Ethan had stood by her side at Cole’s funeral. Ethan had brought soup and medicine when Stevie had the flu. Ethan had stayed with her son when Mercy’s boss had made her work long hours.
Somehow, with Ethan’s incredibly busy work schedule and social life, he’d always managed to be by her side when she’d needed it the most.
Like now.
Half an hour later, they finally got the news.
Stevie needed an expensive heart surgery for a defect that somehow had been missed at birth. The surgery had to be done in a Houston hospital. Mercy gasped as her heart dropped to the floor. Her new health insurance wouldn’t cover the surgery; she knew that much. Even if she sold all her meager possessions, it wouldn’t cover the cost.
Cole’s parents had written off her and Stevie, blaming her for Cole’s death. They wouldn’t help. Anyway, neither they nor her parents had the money needed. If she applied for a loan at the bank, it wouldn’t get approved, due to Cole destroying their credit.
“There’s going to be a long recovery period, too,” the doctor continued. “At least a month. His incisions will need to be taken care of, and he’ll need therapy.”
Mercy felt as if the floor moved under her feet and she nearly collapsed to the ground. Ethan wrapped his arm around her shoulder, as if to keep her steady.
Her boss had already made it clear that Mercy couldn’t miss any more days, never mind a full month.
