Chapter 23
The hours waiting for Tara to emerge from surgery felt like an eternity. Myles finally remembered to ask one of the nurses to call in for him and learned that Jack, Sue, and Bobby were on their way. However, he really didn't care; all he wanted was to see Tara's expressive hazel eyes again. He longed for her laughter and entertaining banter.
His black eye from Webster's beatings had swollen almost shut while his head pounded like a jackhammer. His body ached with each breath and at every movement. Myles desperately wanted sleep but he couldn't while Tara was fighting for her life on the operating table.
Finally, the nurse came and told him Tara had made it through surgery, and they were getting her settled into a room. While Myles released the breath he was holding, he wouldn't be satisfied until he actually saw her for himself. The minutes ticked by at a snail's pace while he waited for word that he could see her.
Myles' emotions were a mix of anxiety and anticipation as the nurse pushed him in a wheelchair to the ICU. As she wheeled him into the room where Tara was lying, still hooked up to several machines and IVs, his breath caught in his throat. A doctor was standing beside her bed busily filling out her chart when he noticed Myles.
"I'm Doctor Freeman," he introduced himself. "I performed the surgery on Ms. Williams."
"Myles Leland," was the flat response, as the other man never took his eyes off the woman in the bed. He could not believe all the machines she was still hooked up to. She looked so delicate, like a porcelain doll, her complexion almost as white as the starch sheets she was on.
"She's stable now," the doctor explained, figuring it was best to get down to business. "I emptied the cavity and put in a chest tube in case of any additional fluid build up," he continued, stepping back to allow nurse to push Myles in his wheelchair up next to her bed. "She'll need to stay on the ventilator until her fever breaks as well as the results of the culture and other tests are back, but it's really up to her now."
"Um, thank you, Doctor," Myles replied when he realized the doctor had finished talking. It barely registered with Myles when the doctor quietly left the room. He'd never seen Tara look so frail and fragile before and it twisted at his heart. Gripping her hand in both of his, he gasped as he felt how hot she still was.
"I'm here, Tara," Myles whispered quietly, bring their entwined hands up to his cheek. "Please come back to me."