Callahan's Fate (28 page)

If Anthony was here, he had to see so
Callahan forced his eyes open.
 
A
confusing array of medical equipment surrounded him, and an
EMT
stood over him.
 
He realized the wail
he’d heard had to be the siren and that he rested in the back of an
ambulance.
 
What the hell happened to me? I don’t remember, not this minute, but I
hurt like hell.
 

Callahan struggled and recalled a few
stray scraps, enough to remember Snake and the danger they had faced.
 
I’m
alive, but where’s
Raine
? She’s all that matters to
me.

“
Raine
?” he
croaked.

The
EMT
glanced down at him. “What? No, it’s not raining.
 
Chill out.
 
We’ll be at Lenox Hill in about two minutes.”

Lenox Hill,
he thought.
Hospital.
So this
is
an ambulance.

Darkness engulfed him again, and he sank
into it.

He wove in and out of consciousness for
a while.
 
Snatches of a busy ER, the
sound of
Raine’s
voice, and he thought the lower
rumble of his grandfather’s, pain, and surcease from pain all drifted through
his mind.
 
When Callahan came out of it,
he felt disoriented and strange.
 
He
still hurt but it wasn’t as bad, probably due to medication.
 
His awareness crept back in stages, but
eventually he knew he was in a hospital room, in bed, and he thought it must be
night.
 
The lights had been dimmed, and
through a slit in the curtains he saw nothing but darkness.
 
When he turned his head, pain shot through
his skull with force, but he noticed another bed between his and the door.
 
His arm hurt and he saw that he had tubes
inserted into his veins.

I still don’t
remember much, but where’s
Raine
?

Callahan didn’t know if he passed out or
fell asleep but the next he knew, a nurse stood beside his bed.
 
She smiled. “Hi, I’m just getting your vitals,
and then I’ll get out of your way.”

It took effort but he managed to say, “
Raine
?”

“She’s asleep in the chair,” the nurse
said. “You kept asking for her, and the staff thought you were worried about
the weather until we figured it out.
 
She’s been at your side every minute they would allow it since you
arrived and here in the room since we brought you up after surgery.”

He tried to raise his head so he could
see her.
 
Then he would know she was all
right, but the effort took too much and he couldn’t.
 
The nurse put the bed control into his hand.
“You can lift up easier this way, hon,” she told him. “Try to get some more
sleep if you can.
 
It’s two o’clock in
the morning.”

It took a few tries, but he managed to
elevate the bed and it was worth the effort.
 
The sight of
Raine
in the worn-out hospital
recliner, feet up, with a blanket over her brought a deep peace.
 
He loved the way her hair sprawled out across
the blanket and down her back.
 
Callahan
longed for her to wake, but he wanted her to sleep. He watched her as long as
he could, until he drifted into drowsy oblivion.

When he woke again,
Raine
sat on the edge of his bed facing him.
 
Her fingers brushed his hair away from his forehead, and before he had
his eyes fully open, she bent to kiss his lips.
 
Her mouth barely brushed his but he savored it.
 
He stretched out his hand to touch her and
opened his eyes in time to watch her smile.

“Hey, doll,” he said.

“Callahan, it’s about time.
 
You had me worried sick.”

“I told you I’m tough.” He thought he was,
anyway.

“I know, but four days is a long time.”

Say what? He must have heard her wrong.
“How long have I been here?”

“Four days. It’s Tuesday evening,
Cal.
 
They kept you sedated most of the
time after the surgery so you would rest and heal.
 
You look a lot better. How do you feel?”

He considered it for a moment. “Woozy, a
little weak,” he told her. “I don’t hurt much but I bet if I move, I will.”

Raine
laughed. “You
will. Besides, they’ve been giving you some pretty heavy-duty pain meds.”

The one thing he needed to know was the
extent of his injuries so Callahan asked, “What’s the damage?”

She grasped his hand tight in hers, and
her eyes glittered with tears. “You’ve got a concussion, a fairly minor one,
from the gash on your head, two cracked ribs, a knife wound in your thigh that
nicked your femoral artery, and you had some internal bleeding.
 
They did surgery to stop it.”

Callahan grimaced. “Aw, that’s not so
bad,” he said.

“That’s what you think,”
Raine
said. “You need to rest and maybe try to eat
something light later.”

Weariness washed over him in a pervasive
tide. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m getting tired. But I want to ask you
something. How’d you get me out? There’s a lot I don’t remember yet.”

Raine
grinned as
another voice spoke from the corner, one he knew well.

“She didn’t get you out, Buddy,” his
grandfather said. “I did.”

That stunned Callahan.
“How in the hell?”

The old man shrugged. “I’m the one
called the cops, told them you were in trouble, that’s all. I just had a
feeling. If you want the details, then I’ll tell you later when you’re feeling
better.”

He would rather know now but he could
wait.
“
Whaddya
doin
’
here anyway?
You’d better watch out or they’ll make up a bed for you
down the hall or something.”

Pop laughed.
 
“Where in the hell do you think you inherited
being tough from, kid? I’m good, just old. I had to see how you got along, Buddy.
 
You’re the last grandson I got left and my
namesake at that.”

Touched, Callahan’s throat tightened
with unshed tears.
 
I must’ve been hurt bad to get so emotional.
“You got three
great-grandsons, too. Don’t forget them.”

“I
ain’t
, and
neither are you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Callahan
looked from
Raine
to Pop and back.

She lifted his hand, the one she still
held, and kissed it, then touched it to her cheek. “I think he’s trying to tell
you that Shay called.
 
The boys were
scared when they heard about what happened to you, and they want to come see
you as soon as you’re up to it.”

Dumbfounded, he asked, “Who told them?”

“No one,”
Raine
said. “They saw it on the news.”

He had one eloquent word for that.
“Shit.”

Pop grinned.
“Exactly.”

Raine
shook her head.
“Talk about it later. You need to be quiet and rest, Callahan.”

“I don’t
wanna
,”
he said.
 
He knew, though, he should and
would soon.
 
If he didn’t, he’d probably
pass out.

“I’ll be here when you wake up again,”
she told him.

From the armchair in the corner,
Pop
nodded. “And I’ll be here, too.
 
You’re surrounded, so just surrender.”

Callahan laughed. “All right, all right
already.”

Then he shut his eyes and let weakness
combined with fatigue take him back to sleep.

Chapter Nineteen

Callahan remained pale, and he moved
slower than his aged grandfather did when he came home from the hospital after
another week.
 
Raine
had endured his grouchy moments with a reserve of patience she hadn’t known she
possessed.
 
He’d been a difficult
patient, always wanting to push his recovery, ready to run before he could walk.
 
When he had balked at thin broth and gelatin,
she coaxed him to try it, and when he graduated to solid food he swore he
couldn’t stomach,
Raine
took pity on him. She made
the long subway ride to Brooklyn to bring him back a burger from the Shake
Shack.

Pop went home to Jersey but returned to
see his grandson safely home.
 
He arrived
in a vintage brown suit wearing a Fedora hat.
 
Callahan teased the old man about it.

“You look like you should be working
with Eliot Ness and
The Untouchables
,”
he said.
“Or starring on
Dragnet
or something.”

“It’s a good suit, a classic that never goes
out of style,” Pop replied with a big grin.

In the taxi, Pop rode shotgun with the
driver while
Raine
sat in the curve of Callahan’s
arm.
 
He had improved, but she still fussed
and worried.
 
When she considered how
close she’d come to losing him, her heart hiccoughed.
 
Raine
had a secret,
too, something she hadn’t shared yet because she wasn’t sure what he’d
think.
 
When the moment seemed right, she
planned to tell him, but for now she held back.

At their building, Pop didn’t come
up.
 
He would ride the cab on to Penn
Station to catch a train, but he grasped Callahan’s hand tight. “Take care,
buddy, you hear?”

“Yeah, I will.”

Raine
hovered as
Callahan limped into the building and to the elevator.
 
She toted his bag with all his stuff from the
hospital, including his meds. Once the doors shut and they ascended, he slumped
against the back wall for a moment. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he said. “I’m still
weaker than I want to be, that’s all.”

She shook her head and smiled. “It’s a
good thing you’re stubborn.”

He laughed a little and
Raine
loved seeing his mirth.
 
Her Callahan was coming back, growing
stronger every day, and she loved him more than ever.

After spending a few hours the previous
day cleaning, the apartment sparkled and shone.
 
Raine
had the bed made up with fresh, crisp
sheets and a warm comforter.
 
She had
stocked the fridge with bottled water, tea, and a few sodas, along with as many
of Callahan’s favorites as she could fit.
 
His friends from the firehouse down the street had delivered a pot of
chili to be warmed and she had bought the fixings for chicken and dumplings,
too.
 

Raine
settled
Callahan in
bed,
propped against a bank of pillows,
wearing the sweatpants and white T-shirt he’d left the hospital wearing.
 
She untied his shoes and pulled them from his
feet.

“I could’ve done that, doll,” he said.
“I’m not an invalid here.”

“You don’t want to open your thigh wound
and start it bleeding,” she told him.

Callahan rolled his eyes. “Baby, that
thing is stitched tighter than a miser’s purse.”

She laughed at the expression.
“All right, point taken.
 
If you want to rest for a while, I’ll figure out what to have for
supper.
 
What would you like?”

“Whatever,” he said. “I don’t know what
there is available, and I don’t want you to have to run to the store.”

“I can roast a chicken or make chicken
and dumplings or meatloaf,”
Raine
said. “Jim sent
over a pot of chili, too.
 
And I bought
canned soups, deli meat, bacon, and snack stuff.”

His grin radiated warmth. “Chicken and
dumplings would be nice.”

“Then I’ll make some,” she promised. “Do
you need anything else?”

Callahan patted the bed beside him.
“Come lay down with me for a while.”

Raine
kicked off her
shoes and cuddled next to his right side.
 
He shifted position so she could rest her head on his shoulder. She
slowed her breathing to match his and listened to the steady beat of his heart.
 
“If I fall asleep, I can’t cook,” she said.

“There’s always takeout,” Callahan said.
“I like this.”

“Me, too.”

“You’re
gonna
have me so spoiled I won’t be able to manage when you go back to work,” he told
her. “I’ll miss you, but I can’t expect you to miss many more days.
 
I won’t be cleared for duty until after
Thanksgiving,
and only then if the doctor gives his okay.”