Detective Constable Jenny Lord - When the past & present collide

Chapter 7 - Fifty more years to love

May 2019, Broadchurch

Jenny paced the tiled floors of the operating theater's waiting room. With each step, her anxiety mounted. Adam looked at Ruth calmly knitting, Daisy snuggled in Darrick's arms, and Ellie going over case files, all apparently oblivious to the young women's pain, he sighed and stood up. For a half-second his tired legs would not support him as he crossed the floor and pulled the shattered girl into his arms. "Jenny, my girl, you need to sit down. Pacing is not going to help or make the time go faster. Doctor Jones said the operation would take four or five hours, and it's been less than an hour. You will wear yourself out if you keep this up."

"I know Adam, but I am a bundle of nerves right now. My mind keeps going to what if places?"

Adam gave her a puzzled look, "What if places? What are you talking about?"

"What if Alec doesn't make it through the surgery? What if his body rejects the heart? What if he's not the same man after surgery? I just can't relax, my mind is on fire with all these questions?"

"He will always be the man that loves you, sweet girl. He will survive this and be healthier than ever. My Ruth said so; you know she is always right. Now, sit down next to Ellie and go over those files she gave you. That will give your mind something to do rather than worrying."

She hugged and kissed him on the cheek, "Adam, I love you and Ruth. I don't know what my life would be like without you two. I'll go over them after I get a cup of tea to calm my nerves."

Adam shook his head and pointed to a seat next to Ellie. "You, young lady, will sit down now. I will get all of us a cuppa." He flashed a smile as he glanced at Ruth, "While I'm at it I'll grab some snacks; it's going to be a long night."

Four and a half hours later, between worried glances at the operating doors and sips of tea in foul styrofoam cups, Jenny had skimmed over all of Alec's Liverpool files. She dismissed them as irrelevant; he had only a small role in all of them. She had just started on his first major case as arresting officer in Manchester when she heard the swoosh of the operating room doors. Doctor Martha Jones came through them looking exhausted but pleased. Jenny met her before the doctor had crossed half the distance.

"He came through the surgery just fine. We had no problem removing the old heart and attaching the new one. Once we took him off the heart/lung machine and stimulated the new heart, it started beating like a drum."

Jenny grabbed and hugged her as a cheer went up. "We are not out of the woods yet," she said between congratulatory hugs from a terrified family. She continued, "I'm keeping him sedated for the next forty-eight hours, to let the new heart acclimate to his body. I started him on the anti-rejection drugs. The next two days are crucial to his survival. If his body does not reject the heart in that time frame, then there is a great chance it never will. Doctor Silvan is taking him back up to ICU. I'll meet him up there."

Nervous looks passed between all assembled.

Martha continued. "Now, I only want one of you to stay here with him. Doctor Silvan and I will be taking shifts at his bedside to monitor him and frankly, we don't have space in that tiny room for more than one other person. Jenny, I assume that will be you. The rest of you, should go home and get some rest."

Adam clutched Jenny's trembling hand and asked the hard question. "Doctor Jones, be honest with us, what are his chances?"

"I would say fifty-fifty for the next forty-eight hours. After that, it goes up to eighty percent for the next two weeks. This is not a promise but after that time period, we should be in the clear in my professional opinion."

Daisy grabbed her other hand as Jenny squared her shoulders and asked, " Can I go to him now?"

"Give us a half hour to get him set up on all the monitors and IV's and then you can come up."