Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar, #2)(53)

Why was this surgery taking so long? Was it because the doctors were struggling to fix him?

Don’t take him. Please.

The three of us were on a small loveseat. Normally, there’d barely be enough room for Kali, Max and me to fit. But since they were both lying on my lap, their bodies squished to mine as tightly as they could, there was room to spare.

Please don’t take him.

I hadn’t had a chance to pray for Jamie. He’d been stolen from us before we’d had the chance. But for Finn, I prayed. I’d been praying for hours. Praying for a miracle.

“Can I get you anything, Molly?” one of Finn’s employees asked. He was the guy who’d been standing next to the kids. He’d come to the hospital after we’d left, along with a bunch of other guys and the foremen.

“I’m sorry. What is your name?”

“Jeff, ma’am.”

“No, thank you, Jeff.”

Kali had told me after we’d arrived at the hospital that the three calls I’d missed had been from her. Jeff had let her use his phone.

He pointed to the kids, mouthing, “Anything for them?”

I shook my head.

Kali and Max both had their eyes closed. Max was asleep. The emotional stress from the day had worn him down completely. Kali wasn’t though. She looked like she was asleep, but every few minutes, her body tensed.

Each time, I held her closer.

Please don’t take him from us.

In the other corner of the room, David and Rayna sat in chairs closest to the hallway. I’d always thought David looked so young for his age. He was handsome, much like Finn. But today, he looked haggard. The white around his temples was more pronounced. The fear in his heart was seeping through his skin, turning it an ash gray.

Rayna, always beautiful like Poppy, was sitting stoically by his side. Her chin was held high. Her shoulders pinned back like she expected nothing other than her beloved son to come walking out in a few minutes and joke about how he had been wearing his seat belt.

She was trying hard, like I was, to keep the worst hidden. But her eyes betrayed her. They were full of terror because she’d heard the doctor’s warning too.

The chance of Finn surviving so much trauma was slim at best. Five percent. That’s what he’d told us the chance of him surviving surgery was. Five percent.

We were all praying for that five percent. For a miracle.

David had gotten the call first. Bridget had called him after the first responders had arrived and taken over the situation. He’d called Cole, then Poppy, because David knew that after the initial shock faded, after it sunk in, Poppy was going to get hit and hard.

It happened about three hours ago.

We’d all been sitting in the quiet waiting room—the only sounds from people shifting in their chairs and the hospital staff working in the background—when a sob escaped Poppy’s mouth.

She’d broken down, collapsing into Cole as she cried uncontrollably. He’d picked her up and carried her out of the room without a word. They hadn’t been back since.

But I wasn’t worried about her. Cole would take care of her. He’d pull her through this, no matter what happened to Finn.

I didn’t have a Cole to lean on.

Finn was my Cole.

A sharp sting hit my nose. The tears welled. I sniffled and Kali’s body flinched. The arm I had wrapped around her tightened.

Her arms were wound around my thigh and she hugged it even tighter as she whimpered, her shoulders shaking.

I bent and whispered into her hair, “Deep breaths.”

She nodded, sucking in some air. “I’m scared.”

“Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”

If I cried, she would break. So even though my throat was on fire, I forced myself to hold tight. I’d have my moment later, when I was home and alone and could drown out the sound in a hot shower.

A doctor cleared his throat as he walked into the waiting room wearing teal scrubs and matching booties over his tennis shoes. “Mr. Alcott?”

The room sprang to life, suddenly noisy and bustling with movement, even though it had been still and silent just moments ago.

Kali shot off the loveseat as I carefully set Max aside, making sure he wouldn’t fall when I stood.

I grabbed her arm before she could run to the doctor. “Kali, wait. Stay with Max.”

“Mom—”

“Please. In case he wakes up.” And in case the doctor didn’t have good news.

She would not hear it from a fifty-something-year-old doctor with a mole on his chin. If there was bad coming, my daughter would hear it from me.

Her shoulders dropped. “Fine.”

I kissed the top of her hair, then rushed across the room.

The doctor had called Finn’s dad’s name, yet everyone here had converged on him. Bridget, of course, was front and center. “Is he okay?”

“Excuse me.” I shoved past her, joining David and Rayna as they stood beside the doctor.

“Mr. Alcott.” The doctor gestured for David to follow him into the hallway. Rayna grabbed my hand, pulling me along as she followed David.

Kali and Max waited at the waiting room entrance, peering down the hallway as we eased out of earshot. Kali had probably woken him up the second I’d stepped away.

“My kids are right there,” I told the doctor. “Would you mind turning your back to them?”