CHAPTER 28- Elizabeth's surgery

Carson went to Elizabeth and asked for help, because of the length of her wound he couldn't use anesthetic. Charlote and Nathan entered the room after putting some clean clothes on her. Charlote didn't know what to put on her because she didn't want to be exposed to the men, when Nathan came in with a long-sleeved shirt of his and a samba-song saying that it wasn't inappropriate for his wife to wear her underwear. Her thigh looked very bad, it was inflamed, because in addition to the bullet wound, there had been a lot of damage because Charles had kicked her a lot in that place, and he had done it on purpose as revenge for her, because Charles knew where he was hitting. There was a huge area of her thigh where the flesh was completely black, which made Carson shake his head in pity and concern for her. Nathan, trained in mountie first aid, knew what Carson was going to do, so he kissed her lips and said:

— Lizbeth, my love, we need you to endure the whole process, as Carson has already explained we won't be using anesthesia due to the length of your wound, plus it's more serious than you thought after Charles, so we're going to hold you beyond what you've already been strapped down but we'll be with you the whole time.

— Nathan, can you at least cover me, I have no clothes on.

Carson came to the front just then and explained:

— Elizabeth, you're more important to us than you realize, no one is here to see if you're naked or not, and that's to perform your surgery. It's nothing to be ashamed of or shy about, you're among people who love you and we're going to take care of you.

Charlote stood to the side and held her hand, saying she wouldn't leave for anything. And kissed her forehead.

Carson explained that he would have to make a cold-blooded cut and then remove the bullet and perhaps do a bloodletting, all without anesthesia, and then he would clean the wound and suture it. He would put a towel over her mouth so that she could scream freely.

In the next room everyone was waiting for Elizabeth's surgery, Frank was praying and everyone was following. In the bedroom Nathan lay under Elizabeth's chest while Charlote lay on her legs, they put the towel over her mouth and started the surgery. Charlote spoke words of support to her as tears welled up in her eyes. Carson made a cut in her thigh that was more than twenty centimeters deep and where a lot of black blood came out, screams muffled by the towel could be heard from the room, everyone was thankful that little Jack was asleep on Lee's lap, tears flowed from the eyes of everyone in the room, Frankison hugged Wynn who was desperate to get into the room and couldn't stand her screams of pain; Many moans of pain and muffled screams were heard, along with Nathan's broken voice and Carson's orders asking Bill for help. Bill rushed into the room, leaving the door open, and Wynn also entered. It was a real agony for them when they saw her all tied up, with Nathan and Charlote trying to hold her down with a towel over her mouth and her thigh wide open and a lot of blood all over the bed, it seemed as if they had been there for hours and not a few seconds. They rushed over and helped, Charlote went to her head where she was flailing around screaming, Wynn and Bill held her now immobile legs while Nathan lay completely on her chest and with his free hand stroked her face talking softly. Wynn looked at Bill and said:

— I never imagined that I would see our daughter suffering so much pain, Bill.

Bill replied with tears in his eyes, his voice like a protective bear...

— It will be the first and last time anyone makes her suffer. I'll kill anyone who tries again.

Nathan thought to himself, a judge talking about killing someone in front of two mountie and two more witnesses, if it wasn't so cruel to see his wife like that, and if he didn't agree with Bile either, he would find the expression funny.

Charlote noticed Elizabeth's glassy eyes and told Carson that she was very hot. He said he would medicate her, but that unfortunately he would have to continue until the end or she could lose her leg or have sepsis.

As time passed and Carson dripped with sweat, Nathan commented to them:

— She's not big, but she's strong enough to give you a hard time.

Charlote laughed and went on to say that Nathan was talking like her son Jack, she's not big but she's so stubborn, I think that strength is her stubbornness. She'll be able to beat Nathan, she loves you and she wants you and your children together and happy as a family. We all do.

Everyone noticed Nathan's affection for his wife, they could see that he was suffering, if he could he would swap places with her. Carson told her that he had already done the bloodletting and that the bullet had shattered in her legs, and so he removed the small bullet fragments that they found. There were five in total, she was very agitated and screaming a lot, but the three men were using all their strength to hold her still. After removing the last bullet fragment, there was a lot of bleeding, Carson was struggling to control it, that last fragment had grazed an artery. Carlote was pale, she had never seen blood gush out like that, it was spurting upwards causing all the bedding, her and even the men to get dirty, Elizabeth was drenched in blood, very pale, already with less strength from fighting so much, she was motionless with a lifeless gaze glazed on Nathan, she didn't even blink. Carson, after a lot of struggle and small stitches, managed to stop the bleeding, cleaned the wound and told Nathan that he needed to seal her leg from the inside. He took a knife from his bag and went into the living room where a fire was burning, he entered the room without looking at or talking to anyone and left in the same way, everyone knew what he was going to do and were already preparing themselves, that's when a great cry of pain was heard and then a huge heartbreaking silence was felt after she lost consciousness, tears in everyone was what was seen the most. After that he closed the huge bandage and said to Nathan:

— I'm going to bring help, even if she's in this state with almost no clothes on, I'm sure everyone will only be worried about her, and then she doesn't even need to know that anyone else has seen her, it's up to you to tell her husband or not. And so he left the room and soon returned with Gab, Tom and Lucas.

Now in the bedroom they were going to do some teamwork while Nathan carried Elizabeth with Charlote holding her leg tightly, Gab went to get clean clothes from Nathan's suitcase, bringing out a large plaid shirt that she loved so much, and a black samba, Lucas removed all the bloodstained bed linen and put it outside the room on the floor where Henry already had a huge garbage bag to collect it all, Tom cleaned the bed and put on a new sheet and bedspread, and between them he put a huge plastic sheet to keep the bed from getting dirty so it would be comfortable. Wynn and Bill, all dirty from the blood that had fallen on them during the surgery, were cleaning the floor, because they were so dirty that they couldn't touch anything. As soon as the men had left, Charlote and Nathan put Elizabeth on the bed and changed her clothes, cleaning her all over, But always before removing them he put a sheet over her, not letting her be exposed even to them, and he said to Charlote, I just don't want her to think that I took any opportunity to see her naked, even though she's my wife, giving her to me must always be because she wants me to, otherwise I'd be another Charles...