“Campbell Ryan, she is my wife,” I clarify. “Please tell me where I can find her.”
“Let me just go check if she has been moved yet,” the nurse nods and disappears down the long emergency room hallway.
“Excuse me? You two are married? As in justice of the peace, for all eternity, make a million babies, married?” Jen rambles.
When I don’t say anything, Brooks intervenes on my behalf. “He only said that so we could get information,” he tells them. “They won’t release anything to anyone but family. Right?” He looks to me to confirm my lie, but I still say nothing which is met with a deep brotherly dissatisfied expression.
“You guys! About fucking time!” Royce shouts from down the hallway, gaining the attention of many of the emergency personnel. However, I find his interruption to be greatly appreciated. He waves us toward him, encouraging us to follow him.
The women rush past me, unfazed by the earlier topic of marriage, but Brooks hangs back.
“This conversation isn’t over, little brother,” he whispers to me before taking a step to follow his wife and the others. The disappointment in his tone isn’t caused by the fact I’m married to Campbell, but that I kept it a secret from him. I get it, I really do, but I could give two fucks right now. My sole concern is for her and no one else.
“It’s done, Brooks. We’ve been married since Vegas,” I tell him, causing him to halt his stride. “Campbell wanted to wait until after Jen’s wedding to say anything, but it is what it is. I love her and we are married; get over it.” I try not to insert any prick attitude into my delivery, but with the stress of the situation, I know I’ve failed miserably.
Brooks shakes his head and carefully examines me. After a long pause, he outstretches his hand. “Well, I guess this is congratulations then.”
A hint of a small smile breaks through my cold expression, my fear and apprehension, easing. I say nothing, though; I just shake his hand.
“Now, let’s go make sure your girl is okay,” he says, wrapping an arm around me as we walk down the hall. “By the way, I’m not getting you a wedding present,” he jokes.
Together we enter the room that Royce leads us to; everyone cramped along the walls around Carly, who’s in the hospital bed. Every piece of skin that is uncovered is black and blue; she is completely tattered. Her makeup has smeared down her face from the tears she’s shed. But other than the bruises, she thankfully appears okay.
I search each of the faces, expecting to see Campbell up against the wall with the others, but she’s not here.
“Where is she?” I ask breathlessly.
Her eyes bounce down to her blankets, unable to look at me.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Carly, but where is Campbell?” I say sternly.
My tempter flares, knowing she is in a hospital room as well, but instead of having her friends and her husband there to comfort her, she’s alone. “Why in the hell is she alone? How dare you all leave her, and expect me to abandon her as well. Where in the fuck is my wife?” I shout.
Royce walks over and places his hand on my shoulder, attempting to calm my roar. I can hear my heartbeat trying to pound out of my chest. My entire body feels like it’s shaking from the anxiety of the moment.
“They’re working on her, Lakin,” he says hesitantly.
“What do you mean?” I can barely get the words out through the constriction in my throat.
“She has several smaller defensive knife wounds that are easily repairable with sutures, but somehow in the fight she was stabbed badly in the abdomen. She was bleeding internally, so they couldn’t be sure of the damage until they got her into the operating room. She lost a lot of blood, Lakin.”
I stand motionless, stunned by the news of her status. My heart just ripped into a million tiny pieces and I have no control over whether or not it will be mended. I feel everyone’s eyes on me, staring but unable to say anything. The unease and grief of the situation is palpable.
Royce clears his throat to break the unyielding silence. “They gave me her things; the nurse said she couldn’t wear jewelry in the operating room,” he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out her necklace.
He holds it up, allowing her flower and love token to dangle from his fingers. The sight of it is almost unbearable. She never takes it off, and here she is in her most vulnerable state, without it, without me.
I take a deep breath and then wrap my hand around the cool metal. “Nabac dom gan, mo ghrá,” I murmur, as I rub my thumb across the engraving that is now stained with dried blood.
“Forget me not, my love,” I repeat with more conviction, before turning and leaving the room. I walk through the doors, leaving my grief behind in search of whatever hope I can find.
Fall 2015
Campbell
I walk through the doors of A Scone’s Throw and fight my way back to our table, but I’m met with stunned faces and Carly’s tears. I wasn’t going to miss this day for anything, but apparently the girls thought differently.
I pull out my usual chair and take a seat at our table. “Did you really think I wouldn’t be here for this?” I ask them.
“Well, yeah,” Carly chokes out. “You are supposed to be on that European tour. There were no open days in the schedule. How is this even possible?” she asks.
The waitress comes over and places a water on the table in front of me and I thank her with a smile. “Some things came up, including this, so I took a few days off and flew home,” I explain.
“Since when is it that easy?” Jen counters. “I’ve been on a tour, remember? They suck balls and there is no ‘I’m taking a few days off.’” She scowls at me, daring me to show my hand. I know she’s right; there is no time off during tour. It’s all or nothing.
“I would rather not talk about it just yet. Today is Carly’s day,” I try to deflect. I’ve known Jen long enough to know she won’t settle for that explanation, so I packed my purse with souvenirs in preparation for sharing my secret, just in case I’m forced to.
“We are a family, Campbell,” Carly says. “This isn’t my day; this is a special day for all of us.” Her smile beams and it makes me so thankful I was able to be here for this. I’ve actually been in town for a few days, but I wasn’t ready to see them all just yet. Lakin and I needed to get our own situation handled before explaining everything to them.
“Did you quit? Did the tour end early? How is this even possible,” Vivian asks as she takes a drink of her coffee and places it back on the table.
I wiggle in my chair and take a long pull of my ice water; I’m a little uncomfortable with the direction of the questions. I don’t really want this day to be about me; we should be focusing on Carly.
“I’ve decided to quit for now,” I say quickly. When stunned looks bounce back at me, I continue with my vague explanation. “Lakin and I have other things we need to focus our attention on. As much as I love the job, I’m going to take some time away.”
I’m immediately bombarded with a million questions from every direction.
“Is there something wrong that we should know about?” Vivian asks.
“I thought everything had healed from the surgery?” Jen says, panicked. “You need to tell us right now, what in the hell is going on.”
“Music is your life; you can’t quit. What happened?” Carly demands, her smile fading and replaced with a look of concern.
I had a feeling this would happen, which is why I brought presents. Knowing I can’t backtrack and rewind this conversation, I resign myself to divulge the information I have been hiding from them.