CHAPTER 6 – THE LONGEST OPERATION
CHAPTER 6 – THE LONGEST OPERATION
Three days later, the morning of Norah's surgery arrived.
The sun had barely risen when nurses wheeled her toward the operating suite.
She clutched the stuffed rabbit in one hand and Adrien's finger in the other.
"You'll be here when I wake up?"
Adrien smiled.
"I promise."
"You promise-promise?"
"I promise-promise."
She looked at Lena.
"And you too?"
"I'll be right beside him."
Norah grinned.
"Good."
As the operating room doors opened, she whispered,
"I love you, Mom."
Then she looked at Adrien.
"I love you too..."
She hesitated.
"...Dad."
Adrien kissed her forehead.
"I love you more than you'll ever know."
The doors closed.
And the hardest surgery of his life began.
For eight hours, Mercy General seemed to hold its breath.
Inside the operating room, Adrien was no longer a father.
He had to become the finest pediatric cardiac surgeon in the country.
Every stitch mattered.
Every heartbeat mattered.
Every second mattered.
Outside, Lena sat in the waiting room twisting Daniel's tiny hospital bracelet—the only thing she had kept after losing him.
Vivian sat several chairs away.
Neither woman spoke.
Hours passed.
At one point Vivian quietly moved beside Lena.
"I don't expect forgiveness."
Lena didn't answer.
"I only want you to know..."
Vivian's voice trembled.
"I have regretted every day since."
Lena stared ahead.
"You didn't just hurt me."
"No."
"I know."
"You stole a father from his daughter."
Vivian lowered her head.
"I know."
"You stole seven years from Adrien."
"I know."
"And my son died believing he'd never have a chance to know his father."
Vivian silently wept.
For the first time in her carefully controlled life, there was no excuse left to hide behind.
Eight hours and nineteen minutes after the surgery began, the operating room doors finally opened.
Adrien stepped out wearing blood-speckled scrubs.
His face was pale with exhaustion.
For one terrible second, no one moved.
Then Lena stood.
"Adrien?"
He looked at her.
At Vivian.
Then smiled.
A tired...
Broken...
Beautiful smile.
"It worked."
Lena burst into tears.
Adrien caught her before she fell.
For several seconds they simply held each other, both crying openly in the middle of the hospital corridor.
Behind them, nurses applauded softly.
Even seasoned surgeons wiped away tears.
Because they all knew what had really happened that day.
A little girl's heart had been repaired.
But so had an entire family.
As Adrien held Lena close, he whispered the words he had waited seven years to say.
"I never stopped choosing you."
Lena rested her forehead against his.
"And this time..."
May you like
She smiled through tears.
"I'm never running away again."
