“Thank you.”
We went back to stand with Edward for a while and Rush remained silent. Considering he could possibly hear us, it wouldn’t have been right to discuss what the doctor had said in front of him. Eventually a nurse came back over and said we’d need to step out in a few minutes so they could take some bedside X-rays, but we could come back again when they were done.
Rush nodded and said we’d leave in a minute.
He was quiet for a moment and once again took his father’s hand. When he started to speak, at first I thought he was talking to me. But he wasn’t. He was speaking to Edward.
“I know we never got along. You might not be happy that I’m even here right now. But your other son—Elliott—he needs you. On some level, I’ve always been jealous of what you and Elliott had. The connection the two of you share. So even though we might not be that close, I’ve seen with my own eyes how much he looks up to you. How much he loves you and needs you. So fight for that. Fight for Elliott, Edward.” Rush paused for a moment, then added. “Plus, if anything happened to you, I’d have to find a new nemesis. And I’m not so great about change. So hang in there, you big pain in my ass.”Rush and Elliott decided to follow the doctor’s advice and hold off on surgery. Later in the night, Rush talked Lauren into going home and getting some sleep, assuring her that he’d stick around and let her know if anything changed. He tried to send me home in an Uber, too. But there was no way I was leaving him. The nurses were kind and brought us two comfortable chairs that reclined a little so that we could sit by Edward’s side in ICU all night. We both actually dozed for a few hours, and when we woke up it felt like one big do-over. The only thing that had changed was that light now streamed through the window behind his bed.
“I’m going to run and get some coffee,” Rush said. “You want something?”
I patted my belly and smiled. “Yes. And I’m too lazy to get up and go with you.”
He hit me with the first real smile I’d seen since before Oak walked into his office twelve hours ago. He stood and stretched his arms into the air, before walking around to where my chair was positioned. Leaning down, he kissed my belly and whispered in my ear. “I’ll get both of you something to eat. Be back.”
After he disappeared, I closed my eyes again and started to fall into a light sleep. Rush’s footsteps approaching made me smile. They stopped next to me, and I still hadn’t opened my tired eyes.
“Can you feed me? I’m too tired to do it myself,” I teased and opened my mouth, figuring I’d get a dirty comeback from Rush.
But it wasn’t Rush’s voice that spoke.
“Open wider. I got something for you, alright.”
Elliott.“Piece of shit.” I kicked the damn vending machine that had just stolen my dollar. Thinking maybe it was just out of coffee, I pushed every other button. Of course, it didn’t do anything except piss me off. When it ate my second single, I might’ve dented the thing.
Deciding a walk would do me some good, I made my way to the hospital main entrance and asked the security guard where I could get some coffee and breakfast outside of the building.
Last night after Gia fell asleep in her chair, I watched her sleep for a while. I couldn’t stop thinking about the baby and what kind of a relationship Elliott might have with this child. And what the kid would think of Elliott. It got me thinking about Edward and me.
My whole life, all I wanted to do was hate the man. Hate him for what he’d done to my mother. But was he always an asshole? Without a doubt, I knew with absolute certainty that he had been a dick to me the last twenty years. Although I couldn’t remember back when I was three or four. Had he tried back then, and it was me who never gave him a chance at all? Obviously, there are some situations that you never really understand unless you’re part of them. I definitely recognized that better now that I found myself in a sharp corner of a similar kind of triangle.
At the deli, I ordered three breakfasts. An egg white omelet with turkey and Swiss for me, an order of French toast with whipped cream and a cherry for Gia—the whipped cream for her, the cherry for me to watch her eat it, and a giant cupcake with blue frosting for my little boy.