Page 120 of Speechless
Her eyes popped open, darting frantically around the white hospital room for a glimpse of Connor. A sliver of sanity among the chaos of what she found herself in. But he wasn’t there. There was nothing, no one, familiar in her godawful surroundings.
Two new faces rushed into her line of sight. One grabbed her forearms, avoiding the mitten-like things that had been Jenna’s hands, and careful not to touch the thick bandages around her wrists, the bulky cast on her left arm.
“Steady now, sweetheart. Just relax and let us take this nasty tube out so you can breathe properly. Give us a minute.” Sympathetic brown eyes, so like Sarah’s, stared into hers calmly. “Stay still for me, there’s a good girl. Just like that.”
Jenna choked, retched as the tube inched free. Each dry heave drove a knife between her ribs, twisted the blade deeper. She tried to clutch at the sheets beneath her, but pain ripped through her hands, up her arms until she screamed hoarsely the moment her throat was clear.
The nurses tossed orders between themselves, working quickly and effectively to make Jenna comfortable, but her instincts had been drop-kicked to their absolute limits. Ignoring the hands of strangers attempting to soothe her, she screamed for Connor.
Her lungs burst into flames. Not literally—no smoke poured from her mouth or nose—but it damn well felt like it. Wheezing, she couldn’t catch a full breath. She called for him again and again between shallow, burning inhales.
“He’s not coming, Penelope.” A more mature version of her own face loomed over her even as one of the nurses tried to nudge her back. “You won’t be seeing him again.”
“That was a stupid move,” the nurse muttered and physically pulled the woman away from the bed. “Do not upset the patient when she’s in this condition.”
Jenna’s heart stuttered, faltered in mid-beat. Disbelief washed her mind clean of everything but Connor. He wouldn’t leave her. He wouldn’t abandon her into thecareof these strangers. Strangers who had ripped her from her home, her lover, her world, and thrown her into a nightmare of biblical proportions.
“Penny, sweetheart, don’t you remember us?” The man from the photo eased nearer, his hand resting on the bed close to her leg. “I’m your father.”
Jenna jerked her leg away, bit her lip as wounds pulled and broke open. Struggling to breathe, she forced her body—her very broken body—to inch toward the other side of the bed. If they wouldn’t bring Connor to her, she would go to Connor.
“Maryanne, catch her!” The nurse holding the woman—Jenna’s mother—by the arm shouted in alarm as Jenna’s weight started to tip over the edge. “Jesus Christ, she’s not awake ten minutes and all hell breaks loose.”
Hands supported her gently, eased her back onto the mattress. With a snap, Maryanne locked the siderails into position. She set her hands on her hips and glowered. “That’s the final straw. Everyone who is not vital personnel, get out. That’s you,” she said, pointing a finger at the man. “And you,” she added, turning to Jenna’s mother. “The patient is recovering from several major surgeries on top of other traumas. You do not get to upset her on my watch. Get out, stay out, and do not come back in here until you are told otherwise!”
“How dare you presume to give me orders!” Ilene Abernathy planted her feet, fists on her hips, and skewered Maryanne with a deadly gaze. Jenna saw the insult written over her former mother’s face and had a horrible moment of wondering whether her own features took on that bitter cast. “My daughter needs her family around her in this difficult time. Do you have any idea what her circumstances are?”
“Thepatientneeds familiarity and quiet rest time—neither of which you can provide,” Maryanne snapped back. “This is my floor, Mrs. Abernathy, and I’m fully apprised of her circumstances. You are not permitted back inside this room without express permission from me. Joanna,” she addressed the other nurse with calm authority. “Please see Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy from the room and ask security to send a man for the door.”
Relief swamped Jenna, enough she simply melted into the mattress. It grew as the people she no longer accepted as her family were ushered out by a stone-faced Joanna, and Jenna tried to convey her gratitude silently when Maryanne nodded once decisively then turned to her.
“Now then…Penelope?”
“God, no,” she whispered tiredly. Exhaustion overwhelmed her. “Jenna.”
“Jenna. Okay, Jenna, we’ll wait for Joanna to come back so we can move you back into the middle of the bed without hurting you. No more trying to roll away—you hit the floor, you’re gonna hurt far more than you do now.” Maryanne examined her with warm, gentle hands. “Would you like me to get anything for you, Jenna? Someone other than those two out there?”
“C-Connor? Can you get Connor?”
The nurse’s hand laid lightly on Jenna’s forearm. “It’s the talk of the ward, sweetie. There are some legalities in place which means Connor can’t see you right now. He knows you’re here, he knows you’re okay, and we’ll get him in to see you just as soon as we can.”
Her arms twitched, but Maryanne shook her head to discourage any movement. “Please. I want Connor.”
Maryanne bit her lip. “Let me check you over so you can sleep. I’ll see what I can…” Her voice dropped to a murmur as she glanced toward the open door. “Arrange, okay?”
It was a difficult decision. War against the anxiety of being trapped in hospital with strangers or submit and be given Connor as a reward for good behavior. Turned out the decision wasn’t difficult at all. She acquiesced reluctantly, delicately processing all the factors her muddled brain could think of.
Connor trumped every negative consequence.
Joanna came back in and shut the door firmly behind her, closing off the raised voices following her into the room. Her pretty hazel eyes rolled as she walked hurriedly to the other side of Jenna’s bed. “Wow. They are seriously miffed, Maryanne. I think they’re gunning for you—they keep demanding to speak to the head nurse.”
Maryanne smirked. “Lucky me. As head nurse, I’m sure I’ll look forward to that conversation later on in my busy, busy day.” They dropped the sides on the bed in unison. “We’re going to be as gentle as we can, Jenna. Quick and gentle.”
She cried out when they lifted her, yelping like a kicked puppy as her bones seemed to rattle painfully together, settling her back in the center of the bed. Hands petted her, trying to take away some of the pain, but every banked fire inside her ignited into raging infernos.
The oxygen mask was a welcome gift, and she sucked air into her aching lungs as quickly as the pain allowed. Her eyes ticked over to the door as it swung open and a figure darted inside, pressing their back to the wall as they closed it behind them.
Sarah pressed her finger to her lips in warning.