The Military Wife (A Heart of a Hero, #1)(76)

“We stitched a gash along her crown. She has a concussion, but the swelling has stabilized, which is a positive sign. It’s a waiting game at this point, Mrs. Teague. She’s being moved to a room in the pediatric ICU. Once she’s settled, a nurse will come get you.”

“That’s all you can tell me? ‘Let’s wait to see if she’ll wake up’? Can’t you do anything?”

“He’s a doctor, not a magician, Allison.” Darren’s voice was scratchy.

Wearing a grimace, the doctor inclined his head and backed out of the waiting room.

The short fuse to a bomb ignited. Allison faced off with Darren. “This is your fault.”

“How do you figure that? You attacked me first thing this morning and started the stupid fight.”

“You aren’t the same man I married. I don’t know who you are.” The truth exploded and left a barren crater.

“I’m dealing with my issues—”

“Issues? You have more than ‘issues,’ and you are most definitely not dealing with them.” Allison’s voice was both mocking and filled with despair. “I’ve tried to help you—I’ve made myself sick trying to help you—but you don’t see or care. Libby and Ryan are scared of you. So am I sometimes. Sophie is the only one … and look what you’ve done.”

Allison made a noise and ran out of the room.

Harper was left behind to bridge the gap. “It was an accident, Darren. Allison is hurting and needs to blame someone.” Harper had been there and done that.

Sinking down in a chair, he didn’t respond. Feeling awkward and like she was betraying Allison somehow, Harper patted his shoulder, not sure what else to offer that wasn’t a lie. If Sophie didn’t wake up, things wouldn’t be fine.

She slipped away to find Allison. The bathroom was dimly lit, the smell of bleach stark in the small space. Harper peeked under the stalls. One of Allison’s tennis shoes was untied.

“It’s me.” Even though Harper kept her voice low, it echoed against the cold white tile.

“Is he gone?”

“He’s not going to leave Sophie, and it’s not fair to ask him to.”

A pause. “I don’t think I can be in the same room with him.”

A sense of helplessness came over Harper. Words didn’t assemble themselves into advice to live by. Wisdom wasn’t bequeathed to a person as a consolation prize for enduring tragedy.

“It was an accident.” Harper settled for a fact.

“If we hadn’t been fighting…”

We. She blamed herself as much as Darren. “People fight. It’s not a crime.”

The sound of toilet paper unspooling was followed by the sound of a nose blowing. The toilet flushed and the door swung open. Allison had a wild, panicked look in her eyes, but when Harper reached to touch her she jerked away.

“I failed him. And her. Everyone.” While the declaration might qualify as melodramatic from another woman, Allison believed the harsh assessment the way she believed the sky was blue—an undeniable truth.

Grief and worry and depression could close the curtains on the good in life. Wrapped in her personal tragedy for months on end, Allison’s reality had been skewed. Her failure to fix Darren had preyed on her mind and soul. She was smart, capable, and because she’d never failed, the magnitude and depth of their life spiraling out of control was like a natural disaster in paradise.

“You haven’t failed anyone. And this is not your fault.” This time when Harper reached for Allison’s hand, the other woman didn’t snatch it away. “You can’t fix everything. Not everything can be fixed. Sometimes a new normal has to be found.”

In the silence, hope broke ground in Harper’s chest.

“I’m leaving him.” Allison’s words ricocheted like bullets off the tile.

“Allison, no,” Harper said more to herself than as an entreaty.

“I can’t do it anymore. The kids need to play and not worry about what kind of mood Darren will wake up in.” A sob escaped even though her eyes were dry. “Maybe it makes me selfish or a terrible wife or a horrible person. I don’t care anymore. I’m so tired. I need peace.”

The exhaustion weighing Allison’s shoulders and aging her a decade wasn’t physical. Or at least not mostly physical. It was mental and emotional and went soul deep.

What was the right thing to do? Did right and wrong even exist in this situation? It all blurred together. “When is spring break for the kids?”

“Next week.”

“How about I take Libby and Ryan back to Nags Head? You can concentrate on Sophie. And Darren.”

Allison’s head popped up and her hand tightened around Harper’s. “What about Gail?”

“Mom will love it. I’ll have her grab some extra canvases and the kids can paint with her. It’ll be like art camp. We’ll go to the beach and the dock to fish. It’ll be…” “Fun” was probably overstating it considering the situation. “A distraction.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you.”

Harper slipped an arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Let’s go see if Sophie is settled and ready for visitors.”

They walked side by side to the waiting room. Darren was gone. Harper grabbed the first nurse she could find and got directions to Sophie’s room. Darren was already by her side, holding the hand that wasn’t in a cast, his forehead resting on the back of her delicate fingers.