Against the Odds A Love Story

Chapter 29

Just as you begin to feel all is lost, God in his heaven smiles.

Twenty-nine

Hayden

Hayden sat beside the bed holding his wife's hand and wiped repeatedly at the tears  streaking his face.

Hours.

It had been hours since their son came into the world. Hours since the powerful seizure shook Raine's body, causing her to lose consciousness. Hours since he had been gifted with the teary gaze of her beautiful brown eyes.

He pressed his head against his free hand as the doctor's words again ran through in his mind.  Returning his gaze to his wife's still form, his heart and soul were immediately hit with renewed agony.

Raine was in a coma.

When Doctor Salem had given Hayden the news, Hayden had immediately fired a string of questions at the man. How could it have happened? Why had it happened? When would she wake up? Would she wake up? He had struggled with the doctor's straightforward answer.

“I don't know. All we can do is wait.”

Wiping his face once more, Hayden moved closer to the bed and laid his head against his wife's shoulder, fingering a curl that lay against the side of her face. Then he softly spoke to her.

“I'm here, darlin'. I'm right here. And I ain't going nowhere.” He sighed and fresh emotion filled his voice. “You gotta wake soon, baby. I need you. So does our little boy. We need you so much, Raine.”

He raised his head slightly to look at her face. “Come back to me, baby,” he pleaded. “Please come back to me.” He pressed his face to her shoulder again and the tears began anew.

It was a nightmare, one he couldn't seem to wake up from. His beautiful, sweet wife might be taken from him. They hadn't even been married a year, and he could lose her. He couldn't bear the thought.

Surely God hasn't brought us this far to take it all away.

The pain was threatening to tear him apart. If he had been a drinking man, he would surely be sitting in the corner of a bar somewhere completely wasted, trying futilely to numb the pain. But if he did that, he wouldn't be where he should be, which was at his wife's side, being the kind of man, and husband she deserved. Not that he felt he really deserved her anyway. He'd tried to be worthy of her, though, and if she made it through this, when she made it through this, he would try even harder.

* * *

That afternoon, Caroline and David brought Hayden a couple of changes of clothing and his toiletry items because he refused to leave the hospital without Raine. He cried in their embrace and accepted the comfort they offered. He had asked them to call Raine's mother, which they did. They told him she would be flying in the next day.

A while later, the nurse brought little Dane in to Hayden and he held his son for a long while. He talked to Raine the entire time about their baby.

That evening the same nurse brought Hayden a pillow and blanket to use in the recliner when he was ready to sleep. He didn't think he would be able to, but once he slid the recliner as close to the bed as possible, he eventually gave into exhaustion and drifted to sleep with his wife's name on his lips and a prayer in his heart that he wouldn't lose her.