I hope you like this chapter!
Teddy knew that Deacon was coming. Tandy had returned a few minutes earlier and told all of them. But he still felt unprepared when he heard footsteps coming toward him and looked up to see a man whom he'd disliked for thirteen years. Deacon was on crutches with Scarlett accompanying him. Teddy was prepared to glare at Deacon, and punish him for what he did to Rayna. Instead, remembering that Rayna would want them to get along, he put a neutral expression on his face and gave Deacon a slight nod. Then Teddy turned away and observed Deacon out of the corner of his eye. Deacon was clearly uncomfortable. He stood awkwardly at the entrance to the waiting room, completely still, as if he was waiting for someone to invite him in. And then someone did.
"If you want, you can go sit by the girls," Lamar said.
Teddy was surprised. He knew that Lamar had always hated Deacon; it was something that often pleased him. So why was Lamar the one who invited Deacon into the waiting room? And why did he suggest sitting near the girls? For a brief moment, he thought that Lamar might be trying to anger Teddy, because the truth about Maddie's father had been revealed. But one quick glance at Lamar cleared that up. There was no smirk, no knowing look. Lamar looked depressed. It was a look that Teddy had never seen on him. He assumed that Lamar was thinking about Rayna's mother, as Teddy himself couldn't get that topic out of his brain. After all, Rayna and Tandy had lost their mother at a young age due to a car accident. Would Daphne and Maddie lose theirs? Was Teddy going to be a widower? He tried once again to push the thoughts out of his brain, but they remained stuck there.
After thirty more minutes of waiting, a doctor entered the surgical waiting room, and walked toward their family.
"I have a new update," he said. "Unfortunately, due to the pelvic injuries there is a large amount of bleeding. We were unable to continue with the surgery because she was becoming too unstable. We have packed her organs and she will be kept in the ICU until we can take her back to surgery."
"Packed her organs?" Tandy asked.
"Yes. Basically, we put a lot of padding in to keep pressure on her organs and keep them from bleeding. We will repair the lacerations when we can continue her surgery."
"I don't mean to be rude, but if you still haven't finished, what were you doing for the hours that she's been in there?" Teddy asked.
"Honestly, we've had a lot of setbacks. We repaired her brain bleed, but as soon as she went on bypass so we could repair her heart, her brain bleed reopened. Then we had to fix her heart and set multiple ribs and other broken bones. And then we pretty much spent the rest of the time restarting her heart and trying to pack her as quickly as possible."
"Restarting her heart?" Maddie repeated quietly. Teddy hadn't realized that she was awake—she'd passed out from exhaustion an hour earlier.
The doctor looked at Maddie and gave her a small smile. "Honey, we are going to try our very best to help your mom." He told her reassuringly.
"What's the mortality rate?" She asked. Teddy looked at her in shock. He didn't realize that his thirteen-year-old was worrying about mortality rates. He knew that she was concerned about her mother, but actually thinking about how probable it was that she wouldn't survive was much more serious. Teddy wished that he could protect her and Daphne from feeling this mind of pain, but there was nothing that he could do. He exchanged a glance with the doctor and nodded, knowing that Maddie deserved to know what was going on.
"Well, pelvic fractures like this usually have a mortality rate of about 55%, but with the amount of bleeding that your mother is experiencing, we'd say about 60 %."
Once again, Teddy was shocked. He had not realized how high the chances were that Rayna could die.
When Deacon heard the mortality rate, he felt as though his head was about to explode. He was filled with thoughts that were all bouncing around and shoving each other out of the way. 60%? How could I do this to her? What will happen if she dies? How can I live without her? She can't die—I love her. But Deacon was worried that his love wasn't good enough to save her. He wanted to go back in time and show up at the CMAs as her boyfriend. He could have talked to her, told her that he understood why she had kept the secret from him. Instead he followed numbly as the family was lead to go see Rayna.
Rayna looked so small in her bed in the ICU. She was covered in surgical drapes, but her face was still visible. Her hair was matted with blood, and Deacon noticed that she had a cut on her forehead that matched his. But that was the only similarity. Rayna was seriously injured, and he had barely been hurt. He couldn't believe how unfair this felt. Why should he be okay if she was not? He was the one who caused the accident—he deserved to be the one to lie in the hospital bed dying.
Later that day, the doctors determined that it was time to take Rayna back to surgery. Her heart rate and blood pressure had improved, and the way they worded it to Deacon was "it's now or never." He watched as they wheeled her bed away, and then followed her family into the waiting room. For hours, he sat motionless, observing what was going on around him. Tandy and Teddy tried to convince the girls to eat, Lamar sat staring at the clock, and Scarlett talked quietly to Gunnar, who had returned to keep her company. Finally, the person that he had been waiting for entered the room. It was Rayna's doctor and he came bearing news of her surgery. All Deacon could think was 60%. It had been in his head the whole surgery, taunting him, and now he felt as though someone was shouting it in his ear. He watched as the doctor approached, his face expressionless.
"She's in Room 24-08. She won't be conscious for a while, but you can go wait with her."
Deacon felt his entire body fill with relief. She had made it past the hard part. The surgery was over. The mortality rate was no longer 60%. She was going to be okay. The fact that she might not wake up didn't cross his mind, though if it had, he may not have been so happy.
Now that Rayna is out of surgery, I'm finally going to get to what it says in the summary (the coma). Sorry that it took so long. Please review!
