The Waiting One

Chapter 45 of 48- The Survivor

Chapter 45- The Survivor

The ambulance flew through the city and finally arrived to the hospital. Zachary wasn't allowed to enter the operating room as they exited the elevator on the fifth floor. He stood in the middle of the hall and roughly raked his fingers through his hair. At the far side of the room, he went and sank down into a chair and began to silently cry. He observed how he was covered in Serronie's blood, and then he began to consider a life without her. Every great thought he had of her began to flood his head. Each time his eyes closed, he saw her round face smiling at him. Then his memories were polluted by his visions of her screaming, crying, bleeding, and holding on to him with all her strength. His head fell down into his palms as he sat patiently trying to keep his sanity. Moments later, he felt a warm hand touch his shoulder. Startled, he jumped in the seat and looked up quickly. To his comfort, it was Jesse.

"How are you holding up buddy?" Jesse asked as he eased down in the seat next to him. Zachary slid lower in the seat, threw his head back, rubbed his face, and shook his head side to side. "Well, how is Serronie and Linden?" "Hmm, I wish I knew. I just want her to be okay, I love her more than anything. I promise I'll go crazy without her. I'll take care of Linden like my own." Jesse stared straight ahead in silence. Moments later, he reached over to pat Zachary on the back for consolation. "If she's fine after this, I doubt any of that will even matter to you." Zachary wiped the tears from his face and nodded his head, "I don't care what she did, or who she did it with. She's my wife, and I just want her healthy and the baby too."

A half hour excruciatingly ticked away. Zachary constantly shifted uncomfortably in his seat and jumped each time he heard a door open. Finally, an older nurse walked in the room and announced, "Mr. Parker?" Quickly, Zachary jumped to his feet. She spoke in a calm voice, "Your wife is stabilized, but I must warn you that she's hooked up to a lot of equipment, and she's sedated at the moment. So you can follow me." He walked in her footsteps as she led him to Serronie's room.

As Zachary viewed Serronie in the bed, pain attempted to burst from every orifice of his body. She was helpless and for once he couldn’t be her knight in shining armor. Jesse dragged in behind him with a somber expression. Somewhere inside, he knew the amount of responsibility he had with her current condition. Jesse was worried about Serronie, and his son Linden. He approached Zachary tried to offer him comfort. But he was too drawn into Serronie to react.

A doctor walked into the room a short while later, “Which of you are Mr. Parker, the father?” Zachary stood immediately, and expressed, “I’m her husband.” The tone of the doctor’s voice was enough to assume that bad news was inevitable. “Well Mrs. Parker here was so close to death that it’s a wonder we were able to save her. At one point she actually did stop breathing and we successfully brought her back. She responded well to the emergency cesarean section and blood transfusion. The infant on the other hand, he isn’t going make it. During distress, the chord became wrapped around his neck, and when she stopped breathing, he didn’t have much of a chance. We got him out quickly, and put him on a machine, it’s pretty much the only thing keeping him alive. We’ll keep him on the machine until she wakes up.” Jesse put his hand over his mouth and rushed out of the room. Zachary couldn’t breathe. The news was too much, even though he knew the possibility. The worst part was knowing that he had to tell Serronie the horrible news. Jesse never returned.

Hours later, Serronie’s eyes fluttered open. He waited anxiously at her side. She woke in a bit of a stupor and was scared. She looked around and clutched Zachary’s arm fiercely. He spoke in a calm voice, “Calm down Ronnie. I’m here baby.” With wide eyes, she surveyed the room suspiciously and then she looked up at Zachary and asked, “Where’s Linden?” He felt nauseous as he spoke, “Serronie….-“ and she cut him off by asking again with more urgency, “Zachary, where is my child?!” He paused to find the right words. Hysteria began to show in her eyes. He grabbed her shoulders and looked square into her eyes, “Serronie, you can go see Linden okay. But baby, we have to say goodbye to him. Things went really bad when you almost died.” The color drained from her face. He went to speak again and she abruptly said, “Take me to him, now!” He pressed the nurse button and when they paged, he asked them to bring a wheelchair.

When the nurses came, Zachary assisted them with getting Serronie in the chair. He said, “Ronnie, I’m going to stay behind, I can’t bear to see Linden, is that okay?” She nodded her head, and was ready to leave the room. The nurse rolled her in the chair along with the IV stand. They entered a room with an incubation box. As they approached the box, Serronie’s heart locked up. She stood slowly, abandoning the chair, and inched slowly over to Linden. She peered through the glass at her son. Linden looked as though he was sleeping. His little chest was rising and falling from the breathing machine. Serronie smiled as she reached her hand through the hole in the side and stroked his tiny foot. She studied his face, and was striken by his resemblance to Jesse. Even though Linden was premature, his features were fairly distinguished. He had none of her physical characteristics. Looking at Linden, it was no secret that Jesse was the father. Another nurse in the room took a picture of Serronie touching Linden. It hurt to look at him.

“Can I hold him”, she humbly requested to the nurse while staring down at him. “Yes Mrs. Parker”, said the nurse pulling the side of the incubator down. Serronie delicately reached in and gathered Linden’s premature body in her hands. He was about 13 inches and three pounds. Serronie whispered to Linden, “You kept me alive these past seven months. I’ve lived for only you. When you get to Heaven, tell God that your mommy said hi”, he voice cracked, “And I would switch with you in a second baby. Watch over mommy and take care of me. I’ll never ever forget you.” She lightly kissed his forehead. Serronie rocked Linden for about fifteen minutes. She carressed his face and arms. The nurse snapped a few photos of her holding Linden. “Mommy’s going to go now, Linden. It’s no words at all to explain anything right now. I love you more than anything sweetheart, sleep peacefully baby.” She sniffled and placed Linden back in his original spot. She leaned in and kissed his hand and rubbed it once more.

Serronie slowly sat back down in the wheelchair and closed her eyes. She was crying. The nurse came and consoled her, rubbing her shoulders lightly. “Are you okay, Mrs. Parker?” she asked. “Just get me out of here before I lose it please”, Serronie requested. Then they were on the way out of the room. Back in her hospital room, Zachary was sitting nervously. He rose to his feet and helped her back in the bed. He didn’t know what to say, so he just held her hand and sat beside her.