Chapter 12
After the staff got her settled in her new space, Abbey looked over and saw Jed. 'What is he doing here? It's still Saturday. And why do I have all this equipment attached to me? This is not normal for such routine surgery. What has happened?" Abbey's thoughts swirled through her brain.
Smiling, Jed walked over to her bed, unsure as to what he should say next.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Florida."
"Well, I came back early."
"Why?"
"You."
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"Jed, quit answering me with one word. Why are you here? You weren't supposed to come back until Sunday…Wait, what day is today?"
"Sunday."
"But I had the surgery on Saturday." There was a pause while her tired brain put two and two together. "Jed, what's going on?"
"You had some complications from the surgery, Abbey. Millie called me yesterday and asked me to come back because you were sick. Very sick. You almost died."
"You know about the surgery?"
"Yeah. Dr. Cox explained everything to me. Why didn't you tell me, Abbey? Why didn't you tell me you were sick? I knew you weren't feeling good these past few weeks. Why didn't you talk with me?"
Abbey broke eye contact with him. "I didn't want you to worry about me until I knew what was wrong."
Jed grabbed her hand. "Abbey, that's what I'm for. To worry about you. To care about you. To wonder what you're doing at every minute of every day."
"I know, Jed. I'm sorry."
Jed leaned in to kiss Abbey and she let him do it willingly.
"Now, did Kim say what she found?"
"Yes." Now it was Jed's turn to move his eyes away from Abbey's.
"Jed, what's wrong?"
Jed gathered up all his strength and looked directly at his wife. "There were some complications in the OR. When she did the D&C, you began to hemorrhage heavily. They were unable to stem the bleeding. Kim had to do an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. You almost died, Abbey. She had no choice."
"A hysterectomy?" Her voice cracked with the words.