The Push: A Sequel to The Pull (3 page)

“Sounds good, Shane. Talk to you soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.” I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the console.

The rain poured down faster. I struggled to find the lever to start the windshield wipers.

“A girlfriend of yours, Shane?” my father finally asked after a few moments of silence.

I mentally groaned. Relationships weren’t something I usually discussed with my father. It was another awkward conversation. “Yeah. Her name’s Gwen. She’s back in California.”

A small smile crossed my mother’s lips beside me.

Gwen was my first serious relationship after all these years. I’d gone from girl to girl without finding the right one for a very long time. Thinking about Gwen gave me a sense of peace. She was my rock even now being on the other side of the country. I missed her already. I was sure my mother was wanting me to marry and settle down. She’d never said those exact words, but I could read her mind. I was too old to be playing around anymore. Darin had settled down. It was my turn to do the same. I’d always envied the way Darin and Livvy were together. They seemed so perfect—so happy. That’s how Gwen made me feel. She was so kind and understanding. She wasn’t moody or psychotic like some of the other chicks I’d dated. I hoped this mess with Darin wouldn’t take too long, that he’d be better in no time so I could get my butt back into Gwen’s gorgeous arms. I wanted to pick right up where we’d left off last night.

THREE

Livvy

I woke up confused by my surroundings. Then I saw Darin lying in bed before me and reality rushed back. I rubbed furiously at the kink in my neck because of the odd way I’d been sleeping. I had tried so hard not to fall asleep, but I guess exhaustion had won the battle. I pulled off the blanket someone had placed around my legs and stood. My eyes felt swollen from all the crying.

“Hungry?”

I jumped at the voice. Turning, I saw Shane standing there, a huge grin on his face, holding up a bag from a fast food place.

“Shane!” I cried out, running into his arms. He hugged me tightly. It felt so good to have him here in flesh and blood. He always made bad circumstances better with his optimistic personality. “But how did you get here? I thought you’d call…”

“I did.” The corner of his mouth curved up into a smirk. “A couple times. You didn’t answer, but I figured out which hospital it was.” He pointed a finger to the side of his head. “I’m no dummy, you know?”

I laughed and glanced down at my cell phone on the stand beside Darin. It was turned off. “Oh, yeah. No cell phones allowed past the ICU doors. I forgot, sorry. I must’ve really conked out there.”

“I’m sure you needed every ounce of it.” He held up the bag again. “Breakfast?” Shane’s dark eyes shifted down to my belly. It was the first time he’d seen me pregnant.

I nodded. “I’m starving. What do you got in there?” I looked back at Darin, at all the machines still recording his heart rhythm, and my own heart ached for him. I reached up to the sides of my hair and smoothed them back. I could only imagine how much of a disheveled mess I looked. “How long have you been here?”

Shane pulled out a couple of breakfast sandwiches and handed me one. He took a seat beside me and glanced at his brother, too. “Only about an hour or so. I drove Mom and Dad down.”

I stiffened at his remark. “Your parents…are here? Now?”

He nodded. “Yeah, why?”

I stuffed my mouth full of a bite of egg and bacon and shrugged. I was suddenly very self-conscious about my appearance with Darin’s family all here. I needed a toothbrush and a comb.

Shane watched me eat for a minute. “Do you want mine, too?”

Looking down, my one bite had consumed most of the sandwich. I chewed furiously and reached over to punch him in the arm. He laughed.

“Seriously. I haven’t even taken a bite. If you need mine too, I’m willing to give it up for my little nephew’s sake.”

I tried to slow down my chewing. I hadn’t realized how long it’d been since I’d eaten last and how famished I really was, especially more so being pregnant. I waved my hand in the air as I attempted to swallow the huge mouthful. “No, no, this will be fine.”

Shane took a bite but kept his eyes on me, amused, I was sure, from the way I was inhaling my food. “Dad’s back is getting pretty bad. They were in here for a little bit, but he had to get up and take a walk. Guess he was starting to stiffen up.”

Ugh. They had been in here while I slept. How embarrassing. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

Shane ignored me. “They’ll be back soon. I told them to go get some coffee.”

I stared over at Darin. “Have any nurses or doctors been in?”

“Nurses check on him constantly but no doctors. They said someone would be in later this morning.” Shane frowned. “One nurse said he has abnormalities in his one artery. How didn’t we know this before?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe the doctor can explain more, but I just need to know he’s going to be okay.” I felt my voice begin to choke. Oh god, I hoped I wasn’t going to cry again. My entire body was still lagging from the emotional turmoil I’d put on it last night.

Shane reached over and patted my leg. “He’s tough, Liv. He’s going to be fine. I know it. Don’t even second guess that, do you hear me?”

I nodded. “Thanks for breakfast. Now where’s my coffee?”

“Ha. Are you supposed to drink coffee when you’re pregnant?”

“I can have a little. I’d settle for some orange juice.”

Shane stood up. “Orange juice it is. I’ll be right back.”

My stomach felt better and I was a little more rested. Now I could focus on whatever it was that the day brought, hopefully a good report on Darin from one of the cardiologists. I reached out and touched his hand again, making sure he was still there with me.

“Darin,” I whispered, “your family’s here, your mom, Shane, even your dad. I need you to wake up, honey. Please, Darin. Come back to me. I need to see you open your eyes.” I stared at him, willing it to happen, but all I could hear was the slow beating of his heart rippling across the monitor and his breathing to match it.

The door opened and in came Darin’s parents, Evelyn and Henry. I stood up to greet them.

“I must look a mess,” I said nervously, giving them each a kiss on the cheek and helping his dad walk over to sit in the chair I’d been sleeping in.

Evelyn waved a hand in the air. “Nonsense. You’ve been through hell and back last night. I don’t expect you to look like a super model.” My eyes shifted to my father-in-law who gave me a quick wink. “How are you, dear? How are you holding up with everything and the pregnancy?”

“Oh, I’m fine.” I didn’t want anyone worrying about me right now. 

“Tell us how it all happened,” Henry asked. “What happened last night with Darin?”

I took a deep breath, my shoulders slumping slightly as if it were my fault, feeling as if I didn’t take good enough care of Darin or something. “We were just having a late dinner. I was at the sink washing dishes, Darin was cleaning up the table. We were talking and then he didn’t answer me. It took me a few moments to realize something was wrong. I turned around only to watch him slump to the floor holding his chest. I…I called 911 and…that’s basically it. I wish I had more to tell you.”

“Here’s your juice,” Shane announced as he came back into the room and handed it to me.

“Thanks, Shane.” I immediately put the cup up to my lips and drank, still feeling guilty. “Did he have any problems with his heart when he was a child?”

My mother-in-law shook her head as she shifted positions in her chair. “No, nothing I can recall at all.”

“The doctors will sort it all out,” Shane told us in a convincing tone.

We all just sat there for a little while looking at Darin, making small talk and waiting. I was already so tired of being patient. It made me think of how worried Darin must’ve been when I’d been in that coma. He’d wanted me to come back to him, open my eyes, but I didn’t. I couldn’t imagine going through the same thing with him. No, I thought. Darin
had
to be okay. Life wouldn’t allow him to be taken from me after all we’d been through and finally getting our lives back together again. With a baby boy on the way, he needed his father, and I refused to lose him. A surge of anger pulsated through me. I grabbed Darin’s hand and linked his fingers between mine. I would hold onto him no matter what. We only proved before we could get through anything. This would be just another stumbling block. Now they knew what was going on with his heart, they’d found the problem, and they’d fixed it. It was time to heal, and I’d be the one to help nurse him back to health. I felt a little better feeling his warm skin against mine. The door pulled open again. A doctor entered the room.

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Shane

“I’m Dr. Hummell.” The man moved around the room and shook everyone’s hand. He went over and examined Darin and kept checking his laptop he had carried in with him, seeming to study everything in depth. We just sat there and watched him, waiting for some sort of answer to how this all could’ve happened.

“Okay,” the doctor finally said. “Was it explained to you what exactly happened to Mr. Thorne last night?”

I glanced over at Livvy. She had her hands folded in front of her as she sat up perfectly straight as if she were trying not to break down, like she had all of her hope and future placed in this doctor in the white lab coat standing before us.

“The surgeon explained a little last night, but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to focus very well. Something about abnormalities of an artery?” Livvy asked, her voice unsteady and quiet.

Dr. Hummell nodded. “Correct. Mr. Thorne, being in his middle 30s, is a reasonably healthy man. He’s had no history of anything except some depression in the past…”

For when his wife was taken abruptly from him,
I thought to myself.

“And so why does this go unnoticed in a man like Mr. Thorne for so long? Well, something brought it on last night, stress or exertion…”

“He was only cleaning off the kitchen table,” Livvy informed him.

The doctor nodded again. “In healthy men like Mr. Thorne, unfortunately abnormalities of the arteries do go unnoticed until something brings them on. This is a congenital defect.”

“Meaning what?” my dad questioned him.

“Meaning Mr. Thorne’s had this since birth. The defect is the shape of one of the arteries of the heart. The heart depends on the arteries to get its blood supply, oxygen, and nutrients. Therefore, this artery had been lacking in that department, and the heart wasn’t able to get the proper source of blood needed, thus giving Mr. Thorne a myocardial infarction, an MI.”

“A heart attack,” Livvy whispered.

“Exactly. A heart attack.” The doctor’s gaze moved back to Darin. “Now surgery was performed last night to help correct the defect so that the heart muscle could receive proper blood flow once again. There was some damage done to the muscle during the MI, however, and they had to shock his heart back into working not once, but twice according to notes. There’s been significant damage to Mr. Thorne, and as you can see,” he said pointing to the monitor, “his blood pressure continues to be lower than we would like along with a very slow pulse.”

“How long till he gets better, doc?” I threw in, taking note how Livvy’s face had now drained of color while listening to the man’s words.

The doctor pressed his lips together and looked down at his computer for a moment. “He’s still not doing well. We have him on medication to try and bring the pressure and heart rhythm back up to speed. He’s not responding to it, however, so it’s just a matter of time of monitoring and continuing to administer medication to him. The next few days of observation will tell us exactly what kind of prognosis we’re looking at here.”

“What are you thinking in terms of prognosis based off of how Darin’s doing now?” my mother asked.

I was instantly pissed she’d asked that question after he’d just rambled on about how poorly my brother was doing. I was concerned about Livvy right now. She didn’t look so good, and I didn’t think she could take the words I knew were about to slip out of the doctor’s mouth, but I sat there without exploding on anyone, waiting to hear more about my brother’s doom.

Dr. Hummell paused for a moment. “Right now, with the way things have been since the surgery without much change, if things don’t start to improve soon, Mr. Thorne’s prognosis isn’t looking too promising.” He nodded his head at us. “I’ll be back around later to check in on him. If you have any questions, the nurses can communicate with me.”

“Thank you, doctor,” my dad said, leaning over to shake his hand again.

“Oh, one more thing,” my mother chimed in. “This is Darin’s brother. How likely is it that he has the same congenital defect?”

The doctor turned on his heels at the door to face her. “Some studies have shown that these sorts of abnormalities can be passed down from family, however, there’s not enough evidence to prove that. I suggest you get yourself checked out, though, just for peace of mind,” he replied, making eye contact with me.

I nodded. I wasn’t concerned about myself in the least right now. I had two people to worry about—actually three, I thought, glancing back down at Livvy’s belly.

My father groaned a little as he shifted positions in the chair. I wondered how much longer he’d be able to sit there. My mother let out a huff of impatience at the noise my father had made. “I suppose we should just go on home for now so your dad can rest his back and Darin can get some rest too.”

“We just got here,” I growled at them.

Livvy’s eyes shifted between all of us, sensing the tension. It would probably be easier on everyone if I just took them back home and returned alone.

“Fine. I’ll take you two home and come back,” I stated.

“Well then, help me up, will you?” my dad said to me, extending out his hand for me to grab.

I sighed. What a pain in the ass my old man was turning out to be in his elder years. He was definitely a pure grump anymore. I’m sure my mom was having tons of fun putting up with him all the time. I pulled him into a standing position.

“Take care, Livvy dear,” my mother stated as she walked over and gave her a hug, my dad following behind her to lend her his support. She then turned to Darin and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. “Take care, my boy,” she whispered, turning to head toward the door.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” I told them. I turned to Livvy then and looked in her worry-filled eyes. “Liv, why don’t you come with us?”