“Thanks dad. I’ll feel better once the doctor lets me see her,” Alex said, glancing through the doors, into the waiting room.
“Let’s head back inside,” Joseph said and they walked back towards the family.
Alex paced the room for what seemed like the hundredth time when a doctor walked through the doors. The man headed towards the large group. “Alex Anderson?” he questioned.
“That’s me,” Alex answered quickly.
“Your wife is out of surgery. She’s in stable condition but the next twenty-four hours are critical. She’s in a coma right now but we have every confidence she’ll wake within the next few days. Her collar was broken and she had a large cut on her left leg. We’ve fixed both those things. Her head was hit pretty hard and that’s our main concern right now. We had to relieve the pressure built up and will have to keep an eye on her.” The doctor finally stopped speaking.
Alex stood digesting the words the doctor was saying to him feeling like he was being slapped. He was so worried about Jessica. “Can I please see her?” It took all of Alex’s control not to grab the doctor and demand to be taken to his wife. He wasn’t normally a man who would ask.
“She’s being moved into her room right now. The nurse will take you up in a few minutes,” the doctor replied and then left through the double doors.
“We’ll wait here, son,” Joseph said, while patting Alex’s arm.
A few minutes later a led Alex through some corridors into Jessica’s room. Alex gasped in shock as he saw Jessica lying in the large bed. Her face was bruised up and slightly swollen. He felt a tear slip down his cheek, as he realized how close he’d come to losing her.
He pulled the chair up next to her bed and gently placed her hand in his. “Jessica, I’m so sorry for everything I have put you through. We’ll be just fine. Please wake up, so we can be a family. I love you so much and can’t live without you,” he said to her, willing her to open her eyes and look at him.
She didn’t stir. He sat with her the rest of the night. The nurse had come in and told him visiting hours were over but gave up after a few minutes, knowing she couldn’t budge the devoted husband.
The next day a doctor stepped into the room and was looking at some charts. “Well, we have some great news, Mr. Anderson. She’s healing nicely and should wake up anytime. It also looks like the baby wasn’t affected by the accident and her pregnancy is just fine,” he finished.
Alex sat in shock. He had a mixture of emotions running through him. Did she know she was pregnant? She would’ve told him. “How far along is she?” he finally choked out.
“I’m sorry, I assumed you already knew,” the doctor seemed to stumble over his words. He glanced back down at the chart. “She’s about twelve weeks along,” he finally said.
Alex’s face lit with joy. They were going to have another child. He loved his son so much and now they were going to have a sibling for him. Even better, he would be there for the entire pregnancy. He would see his child come into the world and he would be there every single day to enjoy the entire pregnancy.
He sat there next to Jessica and thanked the heavens for the blessings in his life. His wife was going to be fine, although he’d feel much better once she finally opened her eyes. He was going to have another child to love. Jacob was the most perfect child in the universe. It only seemed right to bring more children into the world. He smiled to himself, thinking he sounded a bit prejudiced but that was alright too.
He vowed he would never let anything bad ever happen again to anyone in his family. He couldn’t stand to feel so helpless.
Later that afternoon both families came in to check on Jessica, bringing in more flowers and balloons. Her room looked like a floral shop from all the arrangements people dropped off wishing her better.
“We’re going to have another baby,” Alex excitedly stated to everyone in the room. He knew he should wait to tell everyone until Jessica was awake but he couldn’t help himself. He was too excited about it.
There was a moment of silence, before the room erupted in excited chatter. “Congratulations son,” Joseph nearly shouted before grabbing Alex up in a huge bear hug.
“That’s wonderful, just wonderful,” John added with tears in his eyes.
His brothers each gave him a hard hug and Amy kissed him on the cheek. They were equally as excited as he was.
“I don’t know if Jessica even knows yet but I couldn’t wait to tell everyone,” Alex stated, sheepishly.
“Alex.” His head whipped around, as he heard the quiet whisper of his name spoken. Jessica’s eyes were cracked open in confusion and she was looking right at him.
“Baby, it’s so good to see you awake.” He settled down into the chair next to his wife and took her hand into his.
“Wh…What happened?” she finally managed to croak out. Her throat felt like sandpaper. The rest of the room went completely silent.
“You were in a terrible car accident but everything’s fine now. You should be able to return home in a few days,” he said.
“I don’t remember. I was driving and then everything went black,” she said, sounding scared.
“You have nothing to worry about. The doctor said you’re going to be fine,” he reassured her.
“Jacob’s okay, right?” she asked. Her heart monitor started beating as she frantically looked around the room for her son.
“Jacob is fine. You need to relax, your heart rate is getting too high,” he said calmly and breathed a sigh of relief as the beeping slowed. “He’s home with Julia. She will be down here in about an hour with him,” he said and kissed her gently.
Jessica drank in Alex’s face. He looked like he was the one who had been in an accident. His eyes had dark circles and his face was unshaven. His clothes were in desperate need of changing. He’d never looked better to her.
“I’m sorry for the things I said. I do love you more than you could ever imagine. I was just scared. You’ve held my heart for so long and I was afraid if I told you how I felt you’d somehow hold control over me. I should’ve realized sooner it did not matter. When I thought I could lose you I went out of my mind. Please forgive me for being so stupid,” he pled to her.
Neither of them noticed their families quietly slipping out of the room, giving them much needed privacy. They didn’t notice the happy looks between Joseph and John, the two meddling fathers.