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With a sigh, Rose moved to his side and patted his arm. His sister didn’t look happy, but she held her tongue.
“All right,” Dr. Bhati said. “We’ll get you scheduled for surgery this afternoon.” He glanced at the rest of Steven’s family. “Until then, you should give him some time to rest.”
Once the doctors were gone, Dad stepped to Steven’s left side and gave him an awkward hug. “We’ll be back to visit as soon as they let us.”
His sister kissed his forehead. “You’re either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.”
Steven chuckled. “Perhaps a bit of both?”
With a shake of her head, Lanie followed Dad out of the room. Rose held his hand tightly as if her life depended on it. When he shifted his head toward her, tears glistened in her eyes.
“It’ll be okay,” he said, though he wasn’t sure how convincing he sounded. “I have faith in Dr. Bhati.”
“He’s a good doctor.” But her words did nothing to erase the worry etched on her face. Leaning forward, she brushed a hand over his hair. “You must get through this. I have plans for you.”
A small smile tugged at his lips. “Oh? And what plans might those be?”
She kissed his forehead. “Lifelong ones.”
Chapter Four
A few hours later, Marie appeared and let them know that Steven was being prepped for surgery. As much as Rose wished she could assist, she had a new appreciation for the hospital’s policy on treating family. If something went wrong, she wasn’t sure she could handle being in the room and feeling completely helpless.
Still, sitting on the sidelines wasn’t any easier. She was used to being part of the action. But at least she wasn’t alone. Lanie sat beside her on the uncomfortable chairs while Max paced a trench in the carpet. Mercifully, they were the only ones in the small ICU waiting room. Despite working at the hospital for over a year, Rose had never spent time in that room. It seemed like it had been added as an afterthought. The pale-yellow walls were likely meant to be cheerful, though Rose couldn’t imagine they brought much joy to anyone who had to sit there.
“Dad, you might want to take a seat,” Lanie drawled. “It’s going to be a while.”
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” He checked his watch. “I’m going to check on what the cafeteria is serving for lunch. Do either of you want anything?”
“No, thank you,” Lanie said.
Rose just shook her head. She couldn’t imagine she would be able to keep food down at that point. Her stomach was a bundle of knots that she could only hope would untangle once Steven was safely out of surgery.
After Max left, Lanie turned to her. “What do you think the plan will be for his recovery? I mean, the doctors both said the surgery would speed it up, but they were rather vague on the details.”
“Unfortunately, spinal injuries aren’t like a broken leg. They’re much more complicated and are harder to predict.” Rose sighed. “It’s more neurological, like a stroke.”
“So it could still take six months to a year for him to be fully recovered?”
“It’s possible.” At Lanie’s worried expression, Rose hurried on. “It might help to look at recovery as a progressive timeline rather than a deadline.”
“What do you mean?”
Rose debated how to explain it. “Think of it like a baby’s development. In their first few years of life, babies learn a lot of new skills. But we don’t measure their development by the end goal of them turning eighteen and moving out, right? We measure it by milestones.”
“Okay,” Lanie said. “I understand what you’re saying, but what will that look like?”
“Hmm… I would say Steven’s first milestone is this surgery, which will hopefully prevent further complications and allow the healing process to begin. They’ll probably put him in a back brace to keep his spine immobile until it heals.” Tapping her chin, Rose channeled her training to predict what milestone he might meet next. “In a few weeks, maybe his back will have healed enough for them to remove the brace. Then he’ll have some light physical therapy to maintain muscle density. Once the cast is off, he may start working toward walking again, first with crutches then maybe a cane.”
“Do you think he’ll be walking by the wedding?”
Rose swallowed. She’d pushed aside her concerns about the wedding to allow herself to focus on the details of Steven’s diagnosis and recovery. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Lanie nodded and grabbed a magazine, but Rose wasn’t easily distracted. Part of her wished Lanie had never mentioned the wedding, as she didn’t need to add one more worry to her already filled plate. At the same time, if Steven’s recovery was expected to take longer than three months, decisions would need to be made, and the sooner the better.
“I’m going to run to the restroom,” Rose said. “I’ll be right back.”
Once she was clear of the room, Rose bypassed the bathrooms and headed to the nurses’ station on her regular floor. She was in luck. Nobody was around. Slipping into the chair, she toggled the computer on with the mouse. She’d saved their wedding contracts in the cloud so she could access them from anywhere. As she clicked through them, a growing sense of dread came over her. Each one included a deadline for canceling for a full or partial refund. Her heart sank as she realized those deadlines had long since passed.
