Love, Exes, and Ohs (Cactus Creek #4)(42)

The tired, lost look Isaac had caught a glimpse of on Darcy’s face while she’d been gazing out the window vanished. “You guys didn’t have to come all the way out here to come visit me.” She smiled at the flowers. “These are lovely.” Seeing the covers of the magazines, she laughed. “And these are perfect. My sister only gets the stuffy magazines for me.”

Isaac took a seat at the corner of the room while Xoey took the chair closest to Darcy. “So how are you doing? You look great today, by the way.”

Darcy snorted. “Yes, I am rocking the fall line of hospital gowns something fierce.” The humor on her face dimmed a little. “They’re taking me back into surgery in a bit.”

“What? Why? Vivian didn’t tell me that.”

“They just called her. The scans this morning found some more bleeding in my brain that they have to take care of immediately.” Her lips quivered for a beat before she got it under control. “I’ve also lost the sensation in my left arm now too.”

Isaac kept his face neutral even though he was crying a river for her inside. He’d seen way too many spine, neck, and head injuries from MMA fights to know what all these complications meant.

Xoey leaned forward and shook her head firmly. “None of that. You’re going to be fine. The doctors brought you this far. Now we just have to let them finish this last bit of housekeeping to make sure you remain as brilliant as always.”

That inspired a glimmer of a smile. “You know Xo, you’re the only person who has ever used that word to describe me. Brilliant.”

“Not true,” said Isaac warmly as he moved to stand beside Xoey. “The other week, Blake went on and on about your amazing food creations and he showed us some of your kids’ and party cookbooks. I distinctly recall my telling him you were a brilliant, cooking genius. Which he wholeheartedly agreed with, of course.”

Xoey nodded in confirmation.

Suddenly, Darcy paused and looked back and forth between them. “Something’s changed between you two.”

Isaac watched Xoey turn the cutest shade of pink.

“I’ll take that as irrefutable confirmation.” Darcy lavished them with an approving smile stretching from ear to ear. “I’m happy for you both. I don’t think I’ve ever met two people more perfect for each oth—”

“Darcy? Darcy!”

Xoey shot forward to hold Darcy down when she started convulsing.

Isaac lunged for the nurse call button and ran out to get help.

A team of medical personnel came charging down the hall an instant later with doctors and nurses barking out orders and starting CPR on Darcy when she abruptly became motionless. Xoey gripped Isaac’s arm while shouted stats and commands continued to pepper the air.

The side rails of Darcy’s bed were slammed upright and before they knew it, she was getting wheeled out of the room.

A doctor Isaac recognized from the other week joined the mix, sprinting alongside the bed as they made their way through the swinging doors leading to the surgical wing.

Xoey ran as far as she could before the head nurse stopped her. “I need to know what’s going on to tell her sister, and her son. She was just fine a minute ago. What’s happening to her?”

“I’m sorry, Miss. We can’t release patient information to anyone who isn’t related to her. But I promise I’ll call her sister asap and relay everything the doctors can tell me at this point.”

Isaac walked Xoey back to Darcy’s room while a nurse ran back through the swinging doors to gather more information. Xoey reached in her pocket and immediately started dialing Vivian’s number. With a heavy heart, he stopped her. “Just in case Vivian doesn’t have call waiting, you might want to keep the line open for the nurses.”

Xoey nodded numbly and together, they stared at the empty spot where Darcy’s hospital bed had once been. Then without a word, they both went to grab a handful of napkins to mop up the broken shards of the ceramic vase lying in a puddle on the ground with a colorful mess of trounced gerbera daisies.



*



“SHE’S IN A COMA.”

Xoey felt her heart drop to her stomach at the grim doctor’s announcement.

Stricken, Vivian pelted the doctor with question after question. “I don’t understand. She was doing so well after the first surgery.”

“It’s always difficult with the brain.”

A different doctor Xoey hadn’t met yet stepped forward. “The trauma to Darcy’s brain from the impact resulted in considerable swelling and bleeding. We’ve caught all the bleeders that resulted in her coding earlier this morning, but we’re still waiting for the swelling to go down. Many times, the body remains in a coma post-surgery to protect the brain from further swelling, similar to the way a medically-induced coma works. Darcy’s body has been through a lot—her spinal cord and her organs. There was considerable damage. Sometimes, the sheer combination of trauma also plays a huge factor in post-operative comas. All we can do now is wait and continue to monitor her. People wake up from comas all the time. But it’s just too soon to tell. We’ll take new scans in the morning and update you with the results.”

Both doctors excused themselves shortly after, leaving Xoey and Isaac to comfort Vivian as best they could.