Awol Bride

“And he lived?”

“He did, thank God. But he’s been critical for a long time—”

“I’m so sorry. Is he going to be all right?”

“I thought so. I took leave time to follow him from hospital to hospital to make sure everything was done right—he was so messed up that I worried something minor might be overlooked while his major injuries were being dealt with.”

Some things about Conor clearly hadn’t changed—like his need to control any potential problems.

“I wasn’t going to let that happen,” he added.

She’d heard that from him before.

“I can’t treat family,” he was saying, “but I could damn sure be with him through it all and get everything that needed to be done, done.”

The right way—it wasn’t what he said but for Maicy it was an echo from the past.

The right way according to Conor.

He definitely hadn’t changed, which left Maicy with no doubt that he’d been vigilant on his brother’s behalf.

“We’ve been stateside for two weeks and he was doing well enough that he wanted me to make this trip to meet Kinsey in Northbridge. Yesterday I checked with him the minute the plane landed. He sounded a little off to me, but he said he was okay. On the way up here—before I lost service—I called again and discovered that he’d developed a fever.”

“Not good,” Maicy said, interpreting his dire tone.

“Really not good,” he confirmed. “A fever that comes on that fast is a red flag on its own. But then I couldn’t get through again until today and when I did, the news was what I was afraid of—he has sepsis.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“You’ve heard of blood poisoning?”

“Sure.”

“Well, that’s sepsis. An infection has gotten into his blood stream, and depending on how his body fights it and how it’s treated, it could kill him. He hasn’t gone into septic shock but he’s back in intensive care, and he could go into shock in the blink of an eye and—”

“You’re trying to keep tabs on what’s going on with him.”

He nodded. “I have to stay on top of it. VA hospitals here are overcrowded—the staff doesn’t have enough time for sufficient individual care. I can’t let Declan go down because something gets missed or mishandled. Plus he’s allergic to a lot of the antibiotics it would be best to use and I need to make sure he gets the combination he can tolerate that’s still strong enough to give him a chance.”

“I’m so sorry,” Maicy repeated because she didn’t know what else to say.

“I should have gone with my gut and stayed with him,” Conor said, more to himself than to her. “But there’s been stuff with Kinsey and...” He sighed disgustedly. “And then I was up here, stuck in this damn storm.”

Ooo. Maicy had never heard him curse the way he did following that statement. He was really upset.

Collecting himself, he shook his head, drawing back those broad shoulders and stiffening up as if it helped contain some of his stress. “I also got through to Rickie while I had service to see if he could get up here, if he could get me to somewhere I could fly out of.”

“Could he?” Maicy asked hopefully.

“Not any chance in hell,” he said with disgust. “The Billings airport is still closed—along with most of Billings—and now so is the highway between here and there. And there’s been an avalanche and rockslide just outside of Northbridge, on the only road in or out. That’ll keep everybody stuck there until the storm passes. Then they’ll have to bulldoze through the slide before anybody will be able to get to us from that direction. That’s why I went the rest of the way for your things—we’re looking at being here longer than I thought.”

And he was irritated and more shaken up than she’d ever seen him. More like she’d been yesterday when she’d realized what was going on and with whom she was stranded.

Maybe it was her turn to have the cooler head that prevailed, Maicy thought, because Conor looked like he could put a fist through a wall at any moment. And it didn’t seem like he’d be deterred by the fact that these weren’t just walls, they were tree trunks.

“I’m not a medical person,” she said calmly. “I don’t know anything about that kind of thing, so help me understand... Do you feel like Declan’s doctors are incompetent?”

“No, they’re good. They’re just overworked. His primary is actually a guy I was with for a while on a tour on an aircraft carrier—Vince Collier. I’d let him treat me.”

“So his doctor is competent and conscientious,” she said, then, “I know I’m always asked if I’m allergic to anything when I see a doctor, so you must have told everyone about Declan’s allergies, right?”

“I made sure it was noted in big letters everywhere, and yeah, I’ve said it to everyone who’s come near him.”

“Plus Declan knows his allergies and he hasn’t gone into shock, so double-checking his antibiotics is something he can make sure of himself.”

“I don’t know about that—a fever like he has could leave him confused.”

“Okay, but you’ve been there with Declan, so everyone knows you, too—that you’re a navy doctor, that you’re keeping an eye on them and everything they do, yes?”

“Yes, but I’m not there to do that now,” he said impatiently, as if he didn’t see the point of any of what she was asking.

“But the groundwork is laid,” she said. “And you’ve got two brotherhoods working for you—the brotherhood of doctors, and the whole military brotherhood. It seems to me that whether you’re there or not, everyone is going to try that much harder not to drop the ball with Declan.”

That gave him pause for just a moment before he conceded. “I don’t know...maybe... This is just really serious...”

“But you said Declan was doing pretty well before this—it would be worse if this had hit him when he was even weaker, wouldn’t it? Now he’s in good enough shape for you to feel like you could leave him, so he must have a little bit to fight this with.”

“Sepsis is dangerous no matter what,” he insisted.

“And if you were there with him, what would you be doing?”

“Keeping watch!” he said, again as if she was clueless.

“And you’d see a lot of people doing their jobs—which is what’s still happening. Sitting in a chair in his room would make you feel better, but it wouldn’t necessarily change anything,” she reasoned. “So yes, we’ll keep my phone as backup and you’ll still keep trying to get through so you can put your two cents’ worth in, but maybe you can trust—at least a little—that you’ve gotten Declan this far and put him in the best position, and whatever he needs will be done now with or without you being there?”

Conor drew his hands through his hair again, pulling so hard on his scalp that he yanked his head back and glared at the ceiling.

From her vantage point Maicy saw his upturned jaw clench and she wondered if she’d pushed too far, if reason wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear.

Then he took a deep breath and sighed hard as he dropped his hands and brought his head down again to look at her.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he admitted. “About all of that. And I did talk to Collier for a few minutes before the phone cut out again. I think—think—he’s doing what he should. It’s just that this is really bad,” he said in a tone that was thick with fear and worry. “And I should be there...” His voice dwindled off, letting Maicy see just how much this bothered him.

But before she could think of anything more to say he let out a mirthless chuckle. “I guess this must be what Kinsey feels like with us all in active service—afraid for us and helpless as all hell.”

Knowing nothing about what that might be like, Maicy agreed with that observation only with a raise of her eyebrows.

That inspired a shock of pain that reminded her that she was injured. She thought that they were quite a pair stuck here snowbound—her with a head injury and him climbing out of his skin with worry about his brother.