Stone Cold (31 page)

Chapter 24

The emergency room doctors were calm as they
proceeded to go through their checklist of possible causes of Hannah’s pain.

“How old are you dear?” asked a nurse.

“I just turned twenty.”

The nurse continued. “What’s your full name?”

“Hannah Perry.”

“Okay I have one more q
uestion for you. If you can tell me what month, day, and year it is I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

With a roll of her eyes Hannah stated,
“It’s April 15, 2004.”

Three hours ago, during he
r chemistry final, she began having abdominal pains that started out dull near her belly button. The pain became very sharp as it moved to her lower right abdominal area. She thought maybe it was because she hadn’t eaten yet that day but when it became more severe and wouldn’t let up she knew it was more than that.

Hannah
had barely finished the final when she felt a sudden urge to vomit. She had chills and she was certain she’d developed a fever.

“It must be the flu,” she thought to herself.

Not one to make waves, Hannah went back to her dorm and lay down on her bed. She’d had the flu before but never felt this type of stabbing pain with it.

Lana arrived a few minutes later from her final.

“Hey girl, are you hungry? I’m starving! Let’s go get something to eat before I pass out.”

She hadn’t yet noticed Hannah was writhing in pain.

Still unaware of Hannah’s state, Lana went on. “Please tell me you’re not sleeping again already. We’ve got way too much studying to do today.”

Lana went over to her bed to check on her.

“Oh my gosh Hannah, you’re as white as a ghost! What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

Hannah was barely able to speak, the pain was so bad.
Her legs were drawn to her body in the fetal position.

“Lana I think there’s something really wrong. My stomach is ki
lling me. It started during my chem final and it’s worse now.”

She could see that Hannah was holding her right side.

“Your skin feels really hot. I think you have a fever. I’m going to call an ambulance and have them take you to the hospital. I think you have appendicitis or it could be a ruptured fallopian tube or an ectopic pregnancy.”

Lana was a nursing major and had learned about this in one of her classes last semester.
She knew if Hannah’s appendix burst it could cause peritonitis so she had to be seen as soon as possible. She also knew that a ruptured fallopian tube or an ectopic pregnancy were also very serious and needed immediate medical attention.

“No Lana
really, I’m fine. There’s no chance that I’m pregnant – none at all. I’m getting up and we can go get something to eat. See?”

Hannah stood up and before Lana could catch her, she’d stumbled
from lightheadedness and hit her head on the nightstand as she fell, knocking her unconscious.

Lana wasted no time in calling for an ambulance.

After a thorough exam in the ER, Hannah was diagnosed with appendicitis and they wanted to perform surgery immediately. She’d also suffered a slight concussion from hitting her head.

She
was in tears.

“Is there any way I can come back in two days and have the surgery then? I have somewhere very important to be tomorrow and if I miss it I won’t be able to go again for another year.”

The doctor who did her exam listened to her plea with a sympathetic ear.

“Hannah I’m Dr. Gregg and I’ll be doing your surgery. I’m afraid there’s no way
you can wait to have this done. You have to have it today because if your appendix bursts you can get a very serious infection in your abdomen called peritonitis.”

Wincing with pain she asked, “Can I leave today then if you do the surgery soon?
I feel fine, really I do.”

“That’
s probably not going to happen but it will depend largely on whether or not it bursts before we get in there and remove it.”

“I just really have to be somewhere tomorrow.”

Dr. Gregg could see how badly Hannah wanted to get this taken care of so she could be on her way.

“Tell you what. If I get it out before it bursts, I’ll do everything I can to make it possible for you to make it to where ever it is you’re so determined to be tomorrow.”

Hannah could barely make a smile through the excruciating pain.

“Oh thank you
, that’s all I ask.”

Less than
an hour later, she was on the operating table and Dr. Gregg had made the incision.

“This girl has a very important date tomorrow and I promised her she could go
if her appendix hasn’t ruptured,” he said to the entire operating room personnel.

Dr Gregg opened the incision and immediately knew Hannah wasn’t going anywhere today or tomorrow and probably for a week at least.

“Whoa, I’m so sorry Hannah. You’re going to be with us for while. It’s ruptured people. We’ve got work to do.”

When Hannah woke up she could tell from all of the tubes and people in her room she was probably going to miss her trip with her mom to Aunt Grace’s tomorrow.

At first, everything was hazy and she didn’t realize that her mom, dad, Lana, and Gina were there.

“Hi Hannah
. There are those beautiful eyes!” Hey everyone, she’s awake. How are you feeling sweetie?” Sara was the first one to see her eyes open.

Still quite groggy from the anesthesia, Hannah managed to speak, “I don’t feel much of anything. Can we still go to Aunt Grace’s tomorrow?”

Sara could see the desperation in her eyes. She hated to tell her no when she was aware of how badly she wanted to go. It no doubt had everything to do with whomever Conall was she was sure.

“I don’t think so honey. Dr. Gregg said your appendix did rupture and he has to keep you here for a few days to make sure you don’t get a bad infection in your body from it. I’m not going to go this year either. We’ll go another time.”

Hannah felt very sleepy but she’d heard everything her mom had said. There wasn’t much keeping her eyes open at this point.

Sara
couldn’t resist. She looked around to see who was listening then leaned in close and whispered, “Does your wanting to go so badly tomorrow have anything to do with Conall?”

No one else heard but i
t was too late. Hannah had already succumbed to the remaining effects of the anesthesia. She was out for the rest of the night.

Everyon
e had gone home except for Sara. She’d slept in the chair next to Hannah’s bed and was there when she woke up in the morning.

“I thought I’d feel much better today and was going to ask Dr. Gregg again if I could go with you to Aunt Grace’s but if I’m being honest, I don’t feel well enough at all.”

“I didn’t think you would and there’s no way I would go and leave you here alone.”

“I don’t want to ruin your plans. You should go. Aunt Grace looks forward to this. She’ll be so disappointed.”

“I already called her and she completely understands. We can go again soon. Besides, there’s always next year.”

“Next year.” Hannah wondered how many more years of this she could take.

“You’re right.”

Chapter 25

April 2004 did come soon enough for Conall. Unfortunately, he was still on deployment and missed Hannah again.

He went on leave the following month and spent his time with Addison from May through August before going back to Iraq.

Conall
’s next tour from September until December was with a special operations team consisting of six men and Ryan. Their missions were a mix of reconnaissance and rescue, with a few human targets this time.

When this tour was up he was more than ready to take
a much needed break. Daily missions for six months straight had fatigued him mentally and physically and he wanted to go home and relax.

Before he left, Conall ran into Josh and they chatted for a bit. He was also getting ready to go home after a long tour.

“Lieutenant Stone, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you in so long. It’s really good to see you again.”

“I’m doing okay I guess. So ready to go home for awhile this time though. This tour really wore me out.”

“I totally agree. I’m finally going home for awhile too and when I’m there I’ve finally decided I’m going to ask Hannah to marry me.”

Conall tried to smile but he was paralyzed by the words he’d just heard.

“Good for you,” he managed to respond.

“When do you plan on asking her?”

Josh thought for a moment.

“I was going to ask her as soon as I get there. I keep thinking the longer I wait to do this the more chance there is for another guy to swoop in and steal her from me.”

Conall wanted to put a wrench in Josh’s plans so badly to keep him from proposing.

“That makes sense I guess
, except if she says no that is. Then you’re stuck at home with nothing to do except think about it. If you waited until right before you have to leave for your next tour if she says no at least you’d have your work to think about and do instead.”

He could see the wheels turning in Josh’s head.

“Hm, you have a good point. I never thought about it that way. I guess I never thought about her saying no.”

“It was just a
thought. You do what you think is best. I only said that because I remembered you saying you didn’t think that she was as into you as you are into her. Forget I said anything man.”

Conall kept quiet after that. He had to go on his next tour at the beginning of May 2005 and he knew Josh would be home for at least that long. If Josh waited until the end of April to propose to Hannah, Conall thought he might be able to see her first and prevent her from saying yes.

There was nothing more he could do about Hannah so he had to prepare himself for the person who was at home waiting for him.

Less than twenty four hours later, Conall had arrived at the airport. He
’d imagined getting a soldiers welcome from Addison. He’d pictured her standing in the airport, waiting for him to come through the gates and she’d run to him as fast as she could and jump into his arms. They’d stand there for what seemed like forever, hugging and kissing through happy tears streaming down their faces.

She’d tell him how much she loved him and would beg him not to leave her again. He’d tell her how much he loved her and didn’t ever want to leave her again.

When he snapped back to reality and went through the gate, he saw other soldiers all around him experiencing what he’d imagined for himself - wives, girlfriends, children unable to contain their excitement at the sight of their husbands, boyfriends and fathers.

Sadly,
the scenario in his mind was just that. It had never been his reality since he’d joined and today was no different. As usual, Addison was nowhere to be found.

When he got to his apartment, she was there with a handful of her friends and they were obviously not expecting him.

Addison shrieked when she saw him. “Oh my gosh Conall! I’m so happy you’re finally home! I thought you were coming home tomorrow. I wish I’d known you were coming today and I’d have met you at the airport. Why didn’t you tell me?”

She’d had a lot to drink and was hanging on him, kissing his face.

When she tried to kiss him on the lips Conall turned his face away.

He didn’t want to have a discussion in front of her friends so he refrained from telling her he didn’t change his plans and that they’d talked a few days ago and she knew what day he said he’d be home.

“I’m really tired. I’m going to go to bed. It’d be nice if everyone but you would leave so I can sleep.”

Addison
wasn’t even looking at him. She’d gone back to her circle of friends and started dancing around. Conall was too tired to care. As he walked back to his room he heard Addison make an announcement.