Redemption by H.L.B. Adams (fun books to read for adults TXT) 📕

“No thanks,” Brandon said holding Kenzie to him tighter.

“Okay, do you want me to go get you anything?” Jasmine asked hoping there was something she could do to help.

“No thanks,” Brandon said and went back to staring in space.

Jasmine got up and walked over to Jason. He was standing outside the waiting room and watching the nurses’ desk. As soon as someone came out of the OR, behind the desk, he was going to be there. He wasn’t going to wait for the nurse to come and give them an amended version. He wanted to know the truth.

Jason jumped when he felt someone’s arms go around him, but settle into the embrace when he realized it was Jasmine. “Why her?” Jason asked pressing his face into Jasmine’s hair.

“I don’t know,” Jasmine said wishing she could do more to comfort him.

The doctor came out a couple of hours later. Brandon laid Mackenzie down on a couch, and walked to the door to talk to him. “How is she?” Brandon asked as Jason and Jasmine followed the doctor into the room. The doctor pointed to some chairs by the door and they all sat down.

“The surgery went fine, but she still has some swelling. It will take a little time for it to go down,” the doctor said and paused. “She’s in a coma. I’m not sure how long it will last. As long as there is still some swelling in her brain, at least.”

“But she will wake up,” Brandon said.

“I don’t know,” the doctor said. “It’s a waiting game now. All we can do is wait and see what happens. I wish I had better news.” Brandon stared at him for a second. “May I see her?” Brandon asked.

“She’s being moved to ICU. You should be able to see her in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay,” Brandon said nodding. “Thank you.”

Brandon stood up and walked over to where Mackenzie lay. He knelt down beside her and cried. After a few minutes he wiped his face, and picked Mackenzie up.

Jason and Jasmine sat by the door, and watched as Brandon broke down. Jason and Jasmine both had tears running down their faces. “How are we going to tell her?” Jason asked Jasmine. “How do you tell a child that her mom might not wake up?”

“We don’t,” Jasmine said. “We wait and see what happens. We stay optimistic.” Jason looked at Jasmine and broke down. He laid his head on her shoulder and cried like he never had before.

When Brandon walked toward the door with Mackenzie in his arms, Jason and Jasmine got up and followed him out and up two floors to the ICU.

“Daddy, do we get to see mommy now?” Mackenzie asked as they entered the ICU waiting room. “Yeah, baby,” Brandon said and gave her as kiss on the forehead. He set her on her feet and walked over to the nurses’ station. “May we see Ann Mackenzie now?” Brandon asked. “Are you family?” the nurse asked.

Brandon was truly getting tired of that damn question. He was getting tired of how damn rude they all were. “Yes, I’m her husband.” Brandon said in a clipped voice. “Me and our daughter would like to see her, along with her brother,” Brandon said pointing to Jason, “and his wife.” Brandon figured a couple of little white lies wouldn’t hurt anybody and would get them back there faster.

Mackenzie looked back at Jason when she heard Brandon tell the nurse a lie. Jason shook his head at her to let her know that she shouldn’t call him on it. “But,” Mackenzie began. “But nothing Mac,” Jason said, “I’ll explain later.”

“Okay,” Mackenzie said, “Can we see mommy now?”

“Yeah,” Brandon said turning around. He had wrote all of their names down on the list so they wouldn’t have to answer any more questions. He held Mackenzie’s hand as they all walked back to Ann’s room.

Mackenzie ran to the bed when they got to the room. “Mommy, mommy,” Mackenzie said. “Why won’t she wake up?”

“She needs her rest,” Brandon said squatting down to be eye level with Mackenzie. “Mommy got hurt pretty bad, and she needs a lot of sleep so she’ll get better.”

“Okay,” Mackenzie said in a little voice. “Can I give her a kiss? She always gives me a kiss when she tucks me in.”

“Yeah,” Brandon said over the lump in his throat and picked Kenzie up so she could give Ann a kiss on her cheek.

Jason walked to the other side of the bed. He pulled a chair up and sat down. He held Ann’s hand, and whispered into her ear, “You better get better. I’m not kidding, Annie. We need you here. You can do it. You can do anything. I know you can get through think.” Jason squeezed her hand and kissed her.

Jasmine just looked at her friend. Ann had been the first friend she’d made when she came to Troy. All Jasmine could do for her now was be here for the people she loved. Jasmine place her hand on Jason’s shoulder and squeezed.

After a couple of minutes Jason got up, and said, “Hey why we go to the waiting room and give your dad sometime with your mom?”

“Okay,” Mackenzie said in a small voice and grabbed his hand. Brandon nodded a thank you to him as the three of them filed out of the room.

“Hell of a birthday present huh?” Brandon said to Ann as he sat down in the chair Jason had just evacuated, and held her hand. “Anyway, you know we need you here. So take your time to get better and come back to us. I can’t do this without you. What do I know about being a dad? A dad to a feisty little girl at that. I need you to tell me what I’m doing wrong. Dammit Ann, I just need you.” Brandon laid his head on the bed beside Ann and just cried.

Brandon sat like that crying for about ten minutes. He raised his head when he had no more tears. “Well, as much as I hate to leave, I have to. I’ve got a little girl I have to take care of. I love you, always have, always will,” Brandon said and kissed Ann’s cheek. “So don’t leave me.”

It had been a week since Mackenzie’s birthday and the accident, and there was no change. Ann was still in a coma and the doctors had no news for them. All the doctor kept saying was it could go either way, she could wake up or she could stay in a coma for the rest of her life.

Brandon had spending all day at the hospital with her. He would get up every morning fix Mackenzie’s breakfast and lunch, take her to school, and go to the hospital.

Mackenzie hadn’t wanted to go back to school. She wanted to stay with mommy until she got better, but Brandon knew it would be better for her to have some normalcy. They had argued for an hour Sunday night, until Mackenzie finally gave in. She hadn’t spoken to him for a couple of days after that.

Today he and Mackenzie had gone to the hospital for an hour that morning. Afterward he had taken her to Lynn’s for breakfast. He had decided not to stay at the hospital all day. Mackenzie didn’t need to spend all day at a hospital, and he needed to spend time with her. So instead they went fishing.

“Daddy, when’s momma going to wake up?” Mackenzie asked looking at the water holding her fishing pole.

“I don’t know,” Brandon said. He wished he had an answer for her. He wished he had answer for himself.

“Is she going to wake up? I heard the doctor say she might not ever wake up,” Mackenzie said and a small tear ran down her cheek.

Brandon picked her up and just held her for a second. “Mommy’s going to wake, sweetie. She knows we need her so she won’t leave us. She’ll wake up when she is all healed. I promise,” Brandon said and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

‘I hope I’m right. I can’t do this without her, and how am I going to explain this to Kenzie if she doesn’t wake up. How am I going to explain that her momma is never coming home? How am I going to explain… anything?’ Brandon thought.

That evening they went to Jason’s for supper. “Hey, we’re here!” Brandon yelled walking into the house not bothering to knock. “In the kitchen,” Jason yelled back, and Mackenzie ran off to greet her Uncle Jay.

“Hey sweetie,” Jason said giving Mac a hug. “How was your day?”

“Okay, we went to see momma, and ate breakfast at Lynn’s. Miss Pam made me smiley face waffle. And we went fishing. And we’re going to go see momma again before we go home,” Mackenzie replied with a sad smile.

“Sounds like a good day,” Jason said. “Want some BBQ for supper?”

“Your BBQ?” Mackenzie asked.

“Of course, would I feed you anyone else’s?” Jason asked feigning hurt.

“Yay, BBQ,” Mackenzie said grinning.

Brandon walked into the kitchen and Mackenzie turned around and said, “Uncle Jay made BBQ. He has the best BBQ.”

“So I’ve heard,” Brandon said smiling at her. “Well, you better go wash up.” Mackenzie ran to the bathroom.

“So, how are you holding up?” Jason asked when they were alone. “I’m holding,” Brandon said. “Where’s Jasmine? I figured she’d be here.”

“She’ll be here in a few minutes. I didn’t realize that the only thing I had to drink was beer until a few minutes ago so she went to get something.”

“Good, I think Kenzie’s still a little too young for alcohol,” Brandon said with a small smile.

“Jasmine said the same thing,” Jason replied faking confusion. “I don’t get it.”

Jason turned back to the pan where the pork sat and went back to pulling it. “So, any news?”

“Nope, she’s the same,” Brandon said with a sigh. He rubbed his hand across his face. “It’s killing me.”

“I know,” Jason said and at the sound of little feet he changed the subject. “So did y’all catch anything?”

“Yeah, we’ll have to fry ‘em up sometime this week.”

“Hey, I didn’t know you had a cat,” Mackenzie said coming back into the kitchen. Jason laughed, “I don’t know. He belongs to Jasmine.”

“Oh, okay. That’s good cause you’re not a cat person.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason asked turning away from the pulled pork.

“Nothing, you’re just a dog person.”

“No, I’m just an animal person,” Jason said and rolled his eyes at her. He got the reaction he wanted, she laughed. “Ask your dad about all the animals I had growing up?”

“He’s right. He had dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, goats… What else did you have?” Brandon said.

“I think you about covered. No, you forgot the raccoon.”

“I blocked that out.”

“Don’t blame you. Rox didn’t like you.”

“That demon bit me.”

“You shouldn’t have been bothering him.”

“All I did was walk into the yard.”

“Well you shouldn’t have,” Jason said with a shrug.

“Why don’t you have any animals now?” Mackenzie asked. “Well, I’m not home often enough to take care of one. My schedule at the precinct is a little crazy. It would be fair to