Invisible Strings

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Delaney's POV:

Numb...That is all I feel.

Numb to the fact that Alex had gotten into a crash and ended up on life support since he didn't have a DNI –Do Not Intubate– order in place. Numb because I was still the emergency contact on all his medical forms even though I'd told them that they needed to be changed. Numb to the fact that I am the one that has to decide if I want to watch my kids grow up with their father on a ventilator, a body that couldn't support itself if not for the machines that were keeping him alive, while he slowly withered away until he was a just a shell of his former self.

But the numb feeling was more welcome than the anger I had felt after the reality of this situation sank in. Alex had been given first-hand knowledge on what drinking and driving could do to a person since his parents had been killed because of one. So the fast that he had taken it upon himself to climb behind the wheel of his car knowing that he was far too drunk to do so, angered me to no end. And I'm not talking about him being just a little bit drunk. I'm talking about his blood alcohol level being high enough that he should have been dead from the alcohol alone. According to the paperwork that I had been given upon walking into Western North Carolina Care Center and meeting with the doctor in charge of his care, Alex had had a level of 0.42. And according to the doctor, that was probably lower than what his level would have been when he'd wrapped his car around a tree not even a mile from the home he and I had shared.

That anger had then morphed into hurt and sadness, a fact that I hated with everything in me because even after everything that Alex had done, after all the hell that I had been through because of him, my feelings towards him weren't so indifferent that I didn't still care about him as a person. He was still the father of my kids, the man I had spent eight years of my life with, he was a family member to some, an idol to others, and a man that didn't deserve to lay in a hospital bed with machines and tubes keeping his body alive even though he was technically brain dead.

And even though I had run through every single emotion possible when it came to Alex, Brantley had been right by my side, calming me when the anger threatened to consume me, holding when the tears had flowed to the point that I wondered if they would ever stop. Even now, with the numb feeling that was consuming me as I sat in the small office in Western North Carolina Care Center, his fingers were entwined with mine, reminding me that I didn't have to do this alone. And for that, I would be forever grateful. Without him, I honestly don't know how I would do this.

"It should only be a few more minutes," said Dr. Kelce, the same doctor that had called to give me the horrible news. "I told everyone that they would need to be here promptly at ten."

"And if they–"

Before I could finish my question, there was a knock on the door behind the seat I was sitting in. Dr. Kelce didn't have time to answer before the door swung open and in walked William, Erin, Dillon, and William's parents, Bill and Dana. All of them –with the exception of Erin– looked as if they would rather be anywhere else than in a room with me. When everyone else had immediately crowded into the room as far from me as possible, Erin had come over close to me, resting her hand on my shoulder before leaning down. She kept her voice low when she asked how I was holding up. I just didn't know how to answer her question and didn't know that I ever would.

"Okay, now that we are all gathered here, how about he jump right into the topic and see if we can come to an amicable agreement. But before I get too far into this, it's important that each of you remember that this isn't about what you want. Instead, it's about what Mr. Davidson would want, about how he would handle this if he could speak for himself." She paused then, looking at everyone in the small room. When she was satisfied that she had been clearly understood, she began speaking again. "Now, as all of you are aware, Ms. Connor is listed as his emergency contact and as his wife on all his legal paperwork. It's my understanding that two of them have since divorced, which leads me as to why you all are here. Technically, this decision would have been finalized long before Mr. Davidson ever made it to our facility, but since no one knew who to contact at the time, here we are.