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Liza regarded her face. “I’m sorry, dear. You look so tired, and I disturbed you. I apologize.”
“No need. I was just resting my eyes.”
“I feel so badly you couldn’t sleep last night. Was the bed uncomfortable? I know it’s difficult to sleep when—”
“It wasn’t the bed. That felt wonderful. I was just too wound up. I’ll sleep better tonight.”
“I hope so,” Liza said, sinking in the chair beside Kate. “It’s so kind of you to stay here day in and day out like this…for Adam.”
Her words charged up Kate’s back. “We were close in Venezuela…working together constantly. I can’t help but be concerned.”
“I understand,” Liza said. “You’re a kindhearted young woman.”
“Thank you,” Kate said, not knowing how to respond since her motivation was selfish.
Kate’s gaze drifted toward the door, and a doctor stepped into the room. He gave her a nod and headed their way.
“Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery?”
Kate struggled to keep from rising. Liza stood and joined her husband.
“Yes,” Frank said.
“The EEG shows no permanent damage. We’ll continue with analgesics for pain and keep an eye on him. I noted some extensive swelling, but hopefully that will subside and he’ll regain consciousness soon.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Liza asked.
“Brain stimulation. Talk to him. Patients can often hear. They just can’t respond.”
Liza nodded. “I’ll feel better once I see him this morning.”
“He should be back in his room now if you’d like to check. Once they remove the chest tube, he’ll be going up to the surgical floor later today.”
“That’s great news,” Frank said.
The physician agreed, then departed.
Liza turned to Kate. “We’ll go in for a few minutes.”
“You go ahead.”
His mother clasped her bag, then took her husband’s arm and headed toward the exit.
Kate watched them leave. She’d tried to keep her attitude hopeful, but she wasn’t as optimistic as the physician. Adam had been unconscious too long.
She’d worked with concussion patients before, but Adam’s injury seemed worse. The corner of the cabinet impacted his head above the temple. Wounds like that could cause diffuse axonal injury that resulted in disrupting the neural connections. Time could regenerate the damage, but Adam could be left with significant impairment. The possibility crushed Kate’s hopes.
Pushing herself from the chair, she rose and left the waiting room. She took the elevator to the second floor where she found the chapel empty. She stood at the back, struck by the dramatic stained-glass window at the front. Brightened by sunlight, its colors spread out along the beige carpet, leaving it dappled with red, blue, purple and green.
Kate sank into the last pew and closed her eyes. She needed God’s help—safety for Adam and guidance for her own upside-down world. Wrapped in a moment of silence, she spoke to God, the way she’d done since childhood. Somehow the Lord came through whenever she needed Him the most.
Her prayer centered around Adam, asking God to heal him and return him to good health, unaffected by the horrible wounds he’d received. She prayed for the Lord’s loving guidance to provide her life a new direction. Though she longed to return to Venezuela, she knew God was in charge. Perhaps He had something different in mind to give her life purpose. She would accept the Lord’s will as she’d always done.
Opening her eyes, Kate was gripped by the vivid window in front of her—not the colors, but the scene of Jesus healing the sick. His hands lay on the eyes of a blind man who knelt before him. Nearby, another man stood with his weight supported by crutches. The look on the men’s faces awed Kate, seeing the hope and trust of those who were ill who waited for healing.
Kate carried the thought into her life. Did she have that kind of hope and trust? Today she worried about her future and what she would do about a place to stay until things were sorted out. She stopped herself in midthought. The Lord had sustained her through a difficult childhood. She felt confident God would not let her down.
Feeling uplifted by the depiction on the stained glass and by her prayer, Kate rose and stepped into the corridor. She needed to speak to the nursing director. She didn’t want to put it off any longer. Her destiny lay on the outcome of her superior’s decisions.
Kate’s footsteps tapped along the tile floor as she returned to the elevator and traveled upward to the administration floor. Hopefully today, she’d know her immediate plans, anyway.
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