Chapter 25

It was later that evening before I was moved to a private room. It seems the wrong level of anesthesia was used during the surgery and that caused more problems for me than Lemons' knife had.

Still, I got three solid days of sleep out of the deal and my body got three solid days of restful healing.

That rest came to a halt as soon as I was in a room by myself.

Before the nurse had even finished fluffing my pillow I had a roomful of people.

Paul and his wife brought Mark in for a moment. He couldn't climb on me like he usually does and he looked worried. Causing worry for my 5-year-old son was another reason I had to hate Robert Lemons. I smiled at Mark as broadly as I could.

"Champ," I said brightly. "How's my boy?"

He shrugged and I saw tears in his eyes.

"They said some man hurt you," he said.

"He did hurt me," I told him. "But I'll be as good as new soon. The doctor tells me it will take longer for my arm to heal than anything else. You and I will be playing on the swings in no time."

He still looked worried so I had Paul set him on the edge of my bed.

"Champ," I said. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Mark shook his head.

"Well, I'm going to be fine," I said. "I'll be home in a couple of days and you and I will have to be a little more careful when we do things. But we will do the exact some things we always have."

Mark brightened a little bit.

"Mommy said the bad man was going to hurt Carrie," he said. I could detect a bit of anger in his voice. I hoped he didn't blame Carrie for what happened to me.

"He was, Buddy," I said. "But it wasn't Carrie's fault I got hurt."

"It was the bad man's fault," Mark said with assurance.

"But your Daddy hurt the bad man more than the bad man hurt your Daddy," Paul said. "And the bad man will never be able to hurt Carrie or your Daddy ever again. How does that sound?"

Mark looked up at my friend.

"Good," he said. "I like Carrie. And I love my Daddy."

"I love you, too," I told him. "As much as I love anything in this world. I love you."

He put his tiny hand on mine.

"I know," he said with a smile.

I was still enjoying the brief moment with my son when the rest of the group arrived en masse.

Carrie, Kelly, Kasey and Elizabeth trooped in. Then a woman I recognized but had never met formally.

Kelly and Elizabeth had tears in their eyes when they saw me. I hadn't looked in the mirror yet but I didn't think I'd gotten that much uglier in the a few days.

It turned out that I hadn't but that I smacked the side of my face pretty hard on a tree during my fall. It didn't hurt much so I hadn't noticed. But my eye was black.

"You did very well protecting your girls," Elizabeth said as she patted my sore arm. "But you did not do so well protecting yourself."

I could only nod.

"You didn't include that part," I said. "You said to take care of them. You didn't mention that I should take care of myself."

Elizabeth laughed.

"I told you to take care of yourself," Kelly said. "But you never listen to me anyhow."

"I'll start," I said. "It sounds like good advice. I hear you and Elizabeth are a two-woman wrecking crew when it comes to taking care of me."

Kelly blushed but Elizabeth nodded.

"Carrie needed to focus on you," Kelly answered. "She had better things to worry about than petty hospital bureaucracy and arrogant doctors."

"Thank you, Kelly," I said sincerely. "And thank you, Elizabeth. It's very nice to know that I have you on my side. It means a great deal to me."

"And to me," Carrie said.

Kasey just nodded and hugged her mother.

"Mike, this is Josie Ayres," Kelly said. "I want her to talk to you about the mistake that doctor made."

I looked up at the woman whose face graced a dozen billboards in the area. She seemed smaller than what I expected.

"It didn't kill me so I'm not sure what there is to talk about," I said.

"A lot if you want to pursue it," Josie said as she stepped forward. "I think it is more a matter of the way the hospital treated your family and giving them peace of mind. There is no doubt that Dr. Ericson was negligent. He ordered twice the amount of anesthesia as necessary and he overruled the anesthesiologist when she corrected him. One of the doctors who was attending told Kelly about how much difficulty they had awakening you after surgery. It normally takes an hour or so. You were unconscious for almost 3 days because of his mistake. Just because it wasn't fatal doesn't mean it won't be next time."

I saw four female heads bobbing in my direction.

"Then to make matters worse he blamed the mistake on someone else," Josie continued. "I am not the type who sues for just the thrill of it and I get the impression that you aren't either. He purposefully put his mistake on someone else to cover his own ass. The hospital refuses to take action on the matter and has even refused to remove him from your case. Kelly had your power-of-attorney and she has initiated a civil suit on your behalf. She did that solely to force the hospital to remove you from his care. Now that you are awake and lucid, you can rescind the lawsuit — although I had to get a court order this afternoon to force the hospital to take action."

I shook my head.

"What a clusterfuck," I said. "What in the hell happened? Why does everything have to be this difficult and why do people cover their asses instead of admitting they screwed up? Offer to rescind the lawsuit against the hospital if the guy is fired and the AMA is notified. I survived his mistake. So I'm not worried about that. But he was a dick to my daughter and for that I'll have his ass. Plus he is an arrogant little bastard who needs his ass kicked. If the hospital wants to play rough, play rough back. Hell, you know this stuff better than I do. Do what you need to and coordinate with Kelly and Carrie. Kelly is used to making decisions for me and Carrie probably needs the practice."

Josie simply nodded her head.

"You know you I always pictured you as taller," I said.

Josie giggled.

"I'm 20 foot tall on those billboards," she said. "That's 15 feet taller than I am in real life. I get that a lot. So for now, at least until you're out of here, the suit against the hospital is on hold. The court order will keep Doctor Arrogant from having any say in your care. I'll offer the hospital the deal you offered so long as I get a written statement from the AMA that Dr. Ericson is reprimanded."

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Now, when can I get out of here."

"Mike, you were stabbed in the heart," Carrie said. "Your lung was punctured. You lost 18 percent of your blood volume. Plus you were unconscious for 41 hours."

"What's your point?" I asked.

Carrie smiled and shook her head.

"My point is that it will be a day or so, I would imagine," she said. "I would guess somewhat longer than that. And you will stay in your bed and do exactly as you are told until they tell you that you can go home safely. I'm invoking New Year's Day rules here, Mister."

"Yes, Ma'am," I said. "I'll be good. Did you call about the house?"

Carrie's mouth dropped.

"No, Mike," she said. "I did not call about the house. I had a few things on my mind while you were sleeping."

"Oh," I said. "OK. Well, maybe you should do that tomorrow."

"It can wait," Carrie said.

"What house?" Kelly asked.

I had figured that Kasey had filled her mother in.

"Oh, Carrie and I looked at a house the other day," I said. "It's a nice one. I just wanted to make sure that Lemons doesn't disrupt our lives more than he has. Sorry."

All eyes shifted to Carrie.

"I'll call in the morning," she said with a smile. I winked at her and she blew me a kiss.

"So you're moving in together?" Kelly asked.

"Uh, you know, we already live together," I mentioned.

"I thought that was short-term," she said with a blush. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

"Well, you have children together," Carrie said. "That makes Mike's living arrangements your business. But yes, we are planning to make things more permanent. He and I are planning to buy a house together. I'll take you, Mark and Kasey with me when I look at the inside of it. It's just in the preliminary stages as far as this particular house but our plan is to be together for quite a while."

Kelly nodded.

"Thanks, Carrie," she said. "I guess it is my business but I know Mike well enough to know that he would never put the kids in danger. If Kasey and Mark want to go with you then they can. But I don't need to see if it is appropriate. If Mike is willing for the kids to stay there then I'm sure it won't be a box under the bridge."

Kasey laughed and shook her head.

"No, Mom," she said. "Not a box under a bridge. It's a beautiful house in Bunner's Woods."

"Bunner's Woods?" Kelly asked. "Mike, how can you afford Bunner's Woods?"

"I can't," I said. "Hell, I can't afford to even drive through Bunner's Woods. Carrie, on the other hand, can afford it. I'm just baggage she totes so she can hang out with you and the kids."

I saw that Carrie was going to smack me but she stopped herself and covered her mouth.

"I almost, I," she said as she started to cry.

"Just don't hit my arm or my chest," I said. "I think everything else is still fair game. Or better yet, I get a free pass to be a, what was the word you used the other day, Kasey, douche-nozzle for a while."

Kasey turned red as everyone turned their gaze to her.

"Kasey," Kelly said harshly.

I broke out in laughter.

"Listen folks, I don't mean to run you off," I said. "I love you all — well, not Josie but if she gets me millions of dollars I might. I love the rest of you but I'm tired. You are free to hang out in the room but I think I'm going to sleep for a while."