Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(55)

“Oh no, honey, it’s all taken care of; however, the builders did call yesterday asking for the floor plan to the cabin. I didn’t know what to tell them, so I said I would be in contact soon.”

“Call them back and tell them they’ll have the floor plan as soon as possible. There needs to be some changes made to it,” I said to her. The changes would come as a complete shock to Galen when he saw it, but it would be a surprise that he’d surely love. It’d be the perfect Christmas present for him.

“Sounds good, Korinne. I just want you to know that we’re all thinking about you here.”

“Thank you, Rebecca. I’ll be in touch soon.” By the time we hung up, Brady and Elizabeth came out of Galen’s room.

“You’re up,” Brady said.

I walked into his room and hoped beyond hope that he’d look better, but he still looked the same… so still and vacant. I really didn’t know what I was expecting, but I knew what I was hoping. Hopefully, once they got him off of the coma inducing drugs he’d wake up easily. If he stayed in a coma for longer than two weeks the situation would become dire. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he didn’t wake up during that two week period.

“Hey, sweetheart,” I said, moving closer to the bed. I hovered over him and kissed him on his dry, cracked lips. “You better wake up, Galen. After this is all over you better wake up. I have so much to tell you, and you wouldn’t believe all the things that have happened.” I paused and just stared at him, imagining how his face was going to look when I told him I was pregnant. Rubbing my stomach, the tears had started to fall, but they were good tears. “You’re going to love the surprise I have for you. Believe me, it was definitely a shock for me when I found out. I have the bump on the head to prove it.” I laughed.

“Mrs. Matthews?” a soft voice said coming from the doorway. The nurse was a short lady with long, brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and looked to be in her late thirties.

When I acknowledged her, she approached me and held out her hand. “I’m Sarah. I’ll be assisting Dr. Andrews with Mr. Matthew’s surgery. I used to assist your late husband, Dr. Anders, as well.”

I shook her hand and smiled. “I’m Korinne, and it’s nice to meet you, too. You know, I remember Carson talking about a nurse with your name. He always told me how he enjoyed working with her and how she was excellent with patients. It must have been you he was talking about.”

“Really?” she asked. Her eyes were welling up with tears, but she wiped them away. “He was the nicest doctor I had ever worked for. I worked with him on the last night he was here. I don’t know if this oversteps the boundaries, but I thought you would like to know this. Do you want to know what he said to me before he left?”

I sat there frozen, my mouth hanging open. I could feel the burn tingling behind my eyes, making them water again. I nodded my head at Sarah, curious to know what my Carson’s last thoughts were before he left the hospital on that dreaded morning. “Please,” I said softly. “I would love to know.”

She wiped away more tears before she decided to speak. “He said that no matter what happened here, or how many patients he lost or couldn’t save, there was always a light that people had to follow. At the end of the day, you were his light. He said he would follow you no matter where you were and that home was where his light was.”

I cried, “That was my Carson, always the poetic one. Thank you for telling me that, Sarah. It means a lot to know that’s what he thought about me.”

She sniffled. “I’m sorry for talking about Dr. Anders in this situation, but I really wanted you to know.” She stopped to regain her composure before she spoke again. “Now, I need to tell you about Mr. Matthews. I just wanted to let you know we’re about to get him ready for surgery. The whole process will take about five hours, maybe more depending on if there are any complications. Do you have any questions or concerns?”

“No, I think I’m good,” I murmured, looking down at Galen.

Sarah placed her hand on my shoulder, and I lifted my gaze to her. “We’ll take good care of him.”

“I know you will. I just know that he’ll never be the same after this.”

“That’s true, but at least you’ll have each other?” she asked with a grin on her face.

I laughed. “He may beg to differ on that some day. How long will it be until you take him into surgery?”

Sarah glanced at her watch. “Everyone will be here in about five minutes to wheel him off. Make sure you get some rest and get something to eat.”

“I will.” I smiled. She left and now I had only four minutes left to say my good-bye. I bent down to kiss Galen again on the lips and I lingered there, wishing his lips would respond. “I love you. Please come back to me,” I murmured to him. Slowly backing out of the room, my gaze never left his still form as I exited out of the doorway and turned to walk away.





“Now why were you in such a hurry to get home? We have five hours until Galen gets out of surgery. I think we have plenty of time,” Jenna said sarcastically.

“There’s something I need to do, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I did it.”

“Interesting, and what is it you feel you have to do? You need to be resting, or did you forget that?” she scolded me.