He nodded and Carol turned to go make a few phone calls. “One more thing, please,” he said quietly.
She stopped and faced him. “What is it, Alex? Whatever you need.”
Taking a deep breath, he met her eyes. “I need you to call a Dr. Cameron Bowen out of Jacksonville. Send the plane for him. I don’t know what Olivia’s mental state will be when she wakes up. He needs to be here when she does. He’s brought her back from the darkness before. He may need to be here to do it again.”
Carol placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Okay. You got it.”
“Thanks, Carol. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Anything for you. You know I love you.” She gave him a quick hug. Then she left to go make all the arrangements Alexander requested.
Several minutes later, Mo came running into the waiting room. “Alex!” he exclaimed, his eyes red from crying.
“Mo! Jesus Christ!” Alexander jumped out of his chair, running to him.
Mo hugged him, trying to comfort him.
“I don’t know what to do! I can’t stand it!” Alexander cried out, pacing the short length of the waiting room as he ran his hands through his hair. “She’s been in there for hours and no one is saying anything!”
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Mo commented, recalling how he felt when Kiera was in the same exact position just a few short weeks earlier.
“Goddammit! I just want to know what the hell is going on! All they tell me is that she is in the best hands possible. I don’t care what hands she’s in as long as she comes out of this alive. FUCK!” He slammed his fist into the wall again.
“Mr. Burnham?” a quiet voice interrupted, getting Alexander and Mo’s attention. He turned to see a solemn looking doctor standing in green scrubs. She was short and blonde with a sweet face.
“Yes. I’m Alexander Burnham.” His heart raced.
“Can I speak with you in private please, sir?”
Alexander looked at Mo. “Anything you need to tell me, you can say in front of Mo here. He’s Olivia’s family.”
The doctor looked at Mo before nodding her head. “My name is Dr. Hatheway. My team and I have been operating on your wife for the past several hours. It was touch-and-go for a while, and we lost her for a little bit, but we were able to bring her back. She is extremely weak. She has lost a great deal of blood, but she has stabilized for the time being. We just need to continue to monitor her vitals.”
Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. “So she’s going to be okay?”
“I didn’t say that. We’re not entirely out of the woods yet. She’s suffered a great deal but, for now, she’s stable.”
Mo hugged Alexander, patting his back.
“Can I see her? Please?”
The doctor smiled. “Of course. Follow me.”
Alexander turned to Mo, hoping he would understand if he wanted to go by himself.
“I’ll let you have a moment alone with her,” Mo said.
“Thanks.” Alexander followed Dr. Hatheway down several hallways, finally stopping outside of the ICU.
She turned to face him. “Before you go in there, there’s something else I need to tell you. Apparently, Mrs. Burnham had been kicked in the stomach multiple times. She suffered from several cracked ribs. I’m sorry, but she lost the baby.”
Alexander stared wide-eyed at Dr. Hatheway. “Sh…she was pregnant?”
“Oh. You didn’t know? She was about six weeks along. She hasn’t miscarried yet and there’s no telling when she will. There was nothing we could do to save the baby. The miscarriage may not have been a result of what happened to her. It may have occurred naturally, but I just wanted to let you know.”
Alexander did the math. Of course. After seeing Kiera in the hospital when they first got back together. “Damn it…” he breathed, shaking his head. “Is she going to be okay to eventually…?”
“If she pulls through, she will be able to have lots and lots of babies. There's been no permanent damage. Don’t worry.” Dr. Hatheway winked as she opened the door to Olivia’s recovery room. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
Alexander thanked her and she closed the door, leaving him alone with Olivia, the rising sun brightening the room. He walked over to where her lifeless body lay. He listened to the gentle beeping of the heart monitor and watched her chest rise and fall. Her left foot was in a cast, and her right shoulder was in a sling. He didn’t want to see her other wounds, not knowing whether he could stomach seeing anything else.
He sat down in the chair next to her bed and grabbed her hand in his. “Olivia, love,” he whispered through the lump in his throat. “I am so sorry. I just… I never thought in a million years that your father…”
He leaned over and brushed his lips against Olivia’s cold cheek, still clutching her hand. “I should have figured it out earlier. I’m so sorry. All the clues were there. I still can’t believe all those documents were sewed tight inside Mr. Bear all these years. Your mama…” He squeezed Olivia’s hand as a tear fell down his cheek.
“Your mama would be so proud of what you did. I’m so proud of you…” He looked at her hand, toying with the ring on her finger.
“I told you not to leave the house!” he cried out, knowing that she had no control over it. “You never did like following instructions, did you?” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “God, even when we were kids, you never listened to me. You always played by your own rules, and I always let you get away with it because it made you happy. And when you were happy, it made me happy. I’ve always loved you, Olivia…”
Alexander looked around the room, a painting of a snowy scene catching his eye. He smiled at his memories of them together as children. “You HATED the snow. God, I never heard the end of it. You were such a whiny kid whenever it snowed. Then, one day, I finally dragged you out to play with me and, with your mama’s help, we built our very first snowman. Every day that week, you would come out and play in the snow with me. I even let you talk me into having a tea party with that snowman. I was the only seven-year-old boy in Mystic who was whipped enough to agree to have a tea party with a girl in his own front yard!” He smiled at the memory.
“When I had to start school, you were beside yourself. You screamed and cried. You were so worried that I would go off to school and make all new friends and forget all about you.” His eyes became sincere and he lowered his voice. “But I could never forget about you. That first day of grade school, all I could think about was you.