Free A Christmas Peril (The Teacup Novellas - Book Five) by Diane Moody Page B

come back.”
    It
made no sense. We’d known each other less than a week! How can you really know a person in a matter of mere days? Such a big decision shouldn’t be made on a
whim, should it?
    But of
course I said YES!!!
    We
laughed and cried and talked for another hour. It was almost one in the morning
by then. Gary had to report for duty at 8:00 this morning, so we finally said
goodnight after a thousand more kisses.
    He
plans to pick me up at 6:30 after saying goodbye to his folks at
home. He assured me they would understand that he wanted those final moments
alone with me to see him off at the station. I’ve felt badly that he’s spent
most of his leave with me, and worried that they might resent me for it. But at
this point, all I can think of is having to let my lieutenant go.

Chapter
8
     
    As I turned the next page,
Dr. Bradley entered the room after a quick knock on the door. I set the diary
aside and stood to greet him.
    “Good afternoon, Lucy,” he
said, shaking my hand. “How’s our patient doing today?”
    “The same. Same as yesterday.
Same as the day before. The same, the same, the same.”
    He peered over his glasses at
me with an understanding smile. “Have a seat. We need to talk.”
    I didn’t like the sound of
that, but sat back down while he pulled the other chair over and took a seat
facing me.
    “Wait ‌—‌should I call Mark’s
sister? His parents are coming in today, but‍—‍”
    “No, I’ll be glad to talk to
his family later. For now, I want to assure you we’re doing everything we can
for Mark until he wakes up.”
    “But that’s just it. What if
he doesn’t wake up?”
    “Then we’ll cross that bridge
when we come to it. Traumatic brain injuries are extremely complicated, which,
of course, makes it difficult to predict the short-term and long-term effects,
or even how long a patient might stay comatose. Mark’s TBI is severe based on
the nature of his injury. You’ve watched me check for his response to light
stimuli, waving my flashlight in front of his eyes, and testing voice and
motion stimuli. So far we’ve had no response. But as I’ve said all along,
that’s not always a bad thing. Mark’s body is trying to heal the injury. Think
of it as shutting down all the extraneous activity in order to use every ounce
of energy it can to help heal the trauma to his brain.”
    “I need you to be honest with
me, Dr. Bradley,” I whispered. I still wasn’t sure about the whole concept of
coma patients hearing what goes on around them, but I wasn’t going to risk it.
“Will Mark be the same if ‌—‌ when he wakes up? Or will he be . . .” I couldn’t say it. The words just
sat there, stuck in my throat. “Will he be‍—‍”
    “Vegetative?” he whispered,
pinning me with eyes that understood.
    I was thankful he said what I
couldn’t. “Yes.”
    He sat back in his chair and
folded his arms across his chest. “You asked me to be honest. So yes, Lucy.
It’s a possibility. But only a possibility. And considering we’re just a
week in, I’d say it’s a remote possibility at best. We’ll continue to monitor
Mark, run some additional tests later this week.
    “But for now let’s focus on
the bigger picture, the healing that’s going on. The body is an amazing thing. As
doctors we like to think we’re pretty smart and know every intricacy of the
human body. But the fact of the matter is, God designed these earth suits with
incredible resiliency, with capabilities we still don’t fully understand. Meaning,
we’ll do the best we can on our end, and trust God with the rest. Does that
work for you?”
    I took a deep breath and
slowly blew it out. “Yes. I keep trying to remind myself about God’s part in
all this. And I truly believe He can heal Mark. I do. But
sometimes . . .”
    “Sometimes it’s tough to keep
holding on, isn’t it?” he said, standing. He patted me on my shoulder. “Keep
the faith, Lucy. Let the staff know when Mark’s