AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And there were also Kee’s parents, who sounded like they wanted to be involved with Benni’s life now that they’d reconnected. Kee’s parents were the obvious people to take custody of Benni if anything happened to Kee, they were her closest kin. But poor Benni had never met her maternal grandparents. Wazza didn’t think she’d take kindly to being shipped off to live with people she barely knew.
His heart ached for the little girl, who was now standing on tiptoe to look out the window at the ocean, as the nurse pointed out the beach below. All he wanted was for her to be happy. All he wanted was for Kee to wake up.
Moving to the side of her bed, he hesitantly raised his arm and stroked the hair back from her forehead. Her face was devoid of any color; her warm, brown skin was now washed out, and almost translucent. He dropped his arm and let his hand come to rest over the top of hers, which lay motionless on the bedclothes beside her.
“Come back to me, Kee,” he whispered. “Please.”
She lay calm and peaceful, like an unruffled lake. Had she even heard him?
With a sigh, he turned to collect Benni, when a finger twitched beneath his hand.
“Kee?” He leaned in close, watching her face for any sign. “Can you hear me?” Her whole hand shuddered. Was she finally waking up? One of the monitors started to beep, loud and insistent.
“What’s going on?” The nurse was at his shoulder in an instant.
“I’m not sure, but…” he gasped as Kee’s eyes fluttered open. “Kee?” he said again, this time with wonder. The nurse took one quick look at Kee and punched a red button beside the bed. Then she leaned in to check Kee’s IV line, pushing Wazza out of the way. But he didn’t want to leave. Could this be true?
Benni pulled on his trouser leg. “Mr. Cowboy, what’s going on?” She turned her fearful gaze up to him, tears swimming at the corners of her eyes. All Wazza wanted to do was hold Kee’s hand, look into her gorgeous, brown eyes, and welcome her back. But he couldn’t ignore Benni.
Reaching down, he scooped her up into his arms, and took a step back, just as two more nurses rushed into the room, quickly followed by a young doctor.
“What are they doing to Mummy? They’re hurting her,” Benni wailed, and Wazza drew her in and comforted her.
“It’s okay, bunny. They’re helping her. It’s going to be okay.” Wazza soothed the little girl as she sobbed into his neck. But he was nearly as shocked at Benni, as he watched a nurse draw out the intubation tube from Kee’s throat.
Wazza was just wondering whether he should take Benni out of the room, away from the action that was upsetting her, when he heard a voice, raspy and hesitant from the tube, but still familiar.
“Benni? Where are you? I need to see my little girl.”
Wazza shoved a nurse aside in his hurry to get to Kee’s bedside. “Here. She’s here.”
“You saved her.” Tears were streaming down Kee’s face. She held out her arms for her daughter and Wazza ignored the doctor’s protests, and placed Benni gently on the bed next to Kee.
“Of course, I did,” he replied. “Did you doubt me?” He tried to make a joke, but she’d have none of it.
“Not for a second,” she replied, deadly serious, voice still hoarse and frail. Then her focus shifted, and Kee stared into Benni’s face. “Hi, my love.”
“Hi, Mummy,” Benni gave a watery smile, then rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. The nurses continued to fuss around Kee, but she ignored them, concentrating only on her daughter. Soaking her in. Smoothing her hair with a gentle hand.
Finally, Kee’s gaze came up to meet his. “Thank you,” she said.
But she had no need to thank him, because this was the outcome he’d been praying for. He’d only done what needed to be done because of her. And because of Benni. There had been no other option, he would rather have stopped breathing himself, than to see either of them die. It was simple, really. Love made things simple.
Two of the nurses hustled out of the room, leaving the doctor and the nurse who had first entered this morning.
“It’s nice to see you awake, Ms. Singh.” The doctor was using his officious tone as he pried one of Kee’s arms away from Benni’s shoulders so he could take her blood pressure. “I need to ask you some questions and make sure you’re okay.” In other words, to make sure there were no long-term effects of her near drowning. “Do you mind if we…?” he started to reach for Benni, clearly meaning to remove her from the bed, while he ran his tests. Kee’s eyes turned glacial, her mouth firming into a thin line as she subtly shook her head. There was no way she was letting go of Benni any time soon. Even though she’d just awoken from a near-death experience, there was one thing that would never change about Kee. Her devotion to her daughter, the way she would protect her without thought for herself. She was a lioness. Bold, courageous, and beautiful.
“That’s fine, Ms Singh. We can work around you both, if that’s what you’d like.”
“Good,” was all Kee said.
The doctor took up Kee’s file from the end of the bed and began listing the tests he wanted the nurse to carry out. A blood test for this, a lung function thingamabob, an MRI scan for that.
Wazza ignored the medical professionals, he had eyes only for Kee.
“I love you,” she mouthed to him over the top of the doctor’s head, and his heart felt like it might explode.
* * *
