Chapter 213: Sleeping Beauty
Edrick
When I finally burst into the interrogation room, I found the two officers crouched over Moana as she was lying motionless on the ground with her eyes rolled back in her head. I shoved my way past them and scooped her up off of the floor, then ordered them to call an ambulance immediately, which they did.
The ambulance came quickly, and before I knew it I was sitting in the back of it and holding Moana’s limp hand while they drove her to the hospital.
“She went into a state of temporary shock,” the doctor said at the hospital, taking his stethoscope out of his ears and hanging it back around his neck with a sigh. “I believe her wolf put her into a minor coma to cope with the stress, in order to protect her and the baby. But there’s no knowing exactly how long she’ll be asleep.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “You don’t know when she’ll wake up?”
The doctor shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. The best we can do is monitor her and try to get things like her blood pressure back down to a normal state and see if that does the trick, but unless her wolf decides that it’s safe enough for her to wake up, she’ll stay asleep. I’m sorry to say this, Mr. Morgan, but… Some wolves don’t decide it’s safe for a very long time, if ever.”
“Just tell me what you’re trying to say,” I growled. “Don’t beat around the bush.”
The doctor swallowed and his face went pale. “I’m saying that you should be prepared to potentially lose both Moana and your baby,” he said quietly.
As the doctor spoke, I felt anger bubbling up inside of me. I managed to stay silent and quelled that anger just long enough until the doctor left, but when he did, I lost it and punched the wall. Later, none of the nurses mentioned the hole that was left in the drywall by my fist, although I could see their eyes flickering nervously over to it whenever they came in.
Moana stayed asleep for three days. During that time, I didn’t leave her side. I didn’t sleep or eat; I only sat and watched her intently, hoping and praying that she would wake up.
I felt like such a jerk for letting her go down to the police station like that. I should have refused for her… I should have put my foot down and told both her and the two officers that no, she would not be going down there out of the blue to be interrogated. I should have gotten her a therapist the day after the incident in the warehouse, and I should have kept her home from work until she was in a better mental state. But I didn’t do any of those things, and now I felt as though it was my fault that she was in the hospital like this. If I lost Moana and our baby, I didn’t know what I would do. Maybe I would die along with them.
On the afternoon of the third day, my sleep deprivation was really getting to me. My speech was slurred, and I kept catching myself nodding off by Moana’s bedside. I hadn’t changed my clothes during that entire time, and I desperately needed a shower. Even the nurses took in my haggard appearance and seemed frightened of me.
Finally, the doctor came in and told me that I needed to leave.
“Go home and get some rest,” he said gently, patting me on the shoulder. I stiffly looked up at him, still clutching Moana’s small hand in mine. Even his form, which was right in front of me, seemed blurry and almost shapeless from my impaired vision due to lack of sleep. “Your driver is waiting outside for you, Mr. Morgan. Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
I didn’t want to go at first, but the doctor insisted. Finally, I agreed to go, although I felt my heart wrench as I let go of Moana’s hand and walked away from her. But the doctor was right; I needed to sleep. I needed to shower and eat, and there was no doubt that Ella was absolutely distraught. I still needed to be there for my daughter, even if everything else was crumbling in around me.
When I finally arrived back at the penthouse, it was just as I expected. Ella, Selina, and the maids were all beside themselves with grief and worry. They all looked just as haggard as I felt; even Ella had dark circles under her eyes and a gaunt appearance to her face.
“Is Moana coming home, daddy?” Ella asked as I crouched down to her level in the foyer and pulled her in for a tight hug.
I sighed and took Ella by both shoulders. She deserved to know the truth.
“Moana is very sick, Princess,” I muttered. “I don’t know if she’ll come home… Only time will tell. But the doctors are working very hard to make sure that she can come home to us.”
As I spoke, Ella’s big eyes filled up with tears. I held her while she cried, and eventually carried her off to my room to let her sleep with me that night. After I showered, I came out of the bathroom to find her fast asleep in my bed with her little yellow stuffed duck that she never let out of her sight.
I only wished that I could sleep like that. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. And I didn’t have my sleeping pills, either. I couldn’t drink, because if I needed to be there for Moana, I wanted to be sober. All I could do was lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling as sleep seemed so far out of reach.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. Around three o’clock in the morning, I finally gave up on trying to sleep. Taking care so as not to wake Ella, I quietly got out of bed and got dressed, then left Selina a note before I headed downstairs and ordered the driver to take me back to the hospital so I could be near my mate. I didn’t care that the nurses and doctors on the night shift whispered about me, or if they made comments about how I wasn’t helping the situation by being glued to Moana’s side. I needed to be near her… And in a strange way, I felt as though she needed me there, too. Maybe the presence of her fated mate would help her snap out of it, I thought. I tried to be hopeful… But at the same time, a darker, more macabre part of me just wanted to be there because if she died, I didn’t want to be away from her while it happened. At the very least, I knew that I needed to be beside her during her last moments. It didn’t matter if it happened that night, or a thousand nights from now. I just needed to be with her.
And so, on the third night, I returned to Moana and fell fast asleep with my head on her leg, listening to the steady beat of her heart monitor.
