She groaned and opened her lids. “Again?” she asked, her eyes darting around the room. “What happened? I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”
“We got sideswiped by another car.”
Alegria closed her eyes. “I remember.” Her eyes opened wide. “Your parents?”
“Out in the waiting room. They’re both fine.”
She closed her eyes again.
“Get some rest, mon coeur. I’ll be right here.”
He watched her try to shift positions and then give up. “Can I help? Are you uncomfortable?”
“Mantis?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I can’t move my legs.”
He looked over at the nurse, who was typing into a computer. She got up when Alegria spoke and picked up a phone.
A couple of minutes later, the doctor who had spoken to him earlier stood by her bedside and rested his hand on her arm. “How are you doing, Miss Mondreau?”
“She can’t move her legs,” Mantis told him.
He nodded and moved the sheet covering the lower half of her body. “It could be the effects of the anesthesia. You did have an epidural. Let’s see how you feel in another hour.”
Mantis nodded and brushed Alegria’s hair from her forehead.
After telling them he’d check back in, the doctor left and a different nurse came to take Alegria’s vitals. “We’re getting a room ready for her now,” she told him.
“Do you want me to ask Dutch to come back?” he asked her.
She shook her head.
“What about your parents?”
“No,” she murmured.
“Sir, you’ll have to step out for a moment,” said yet another nurse.
Alegria opened her eyes and reached for his hand. “Don’t
go,” she whispered.
“I’ll be right outside. As soon as they’ll let me, I’ll come back in.”
“No!” she pleaded, this time clutching his hand.
“It’s okay,” the nurse murmured. “You can stay.”
Once Alegria was in a regular room on the surgical floor and had fallen asleep, Mantis stepped right outside the door and called Dutch. It went straight to voicemail, so he called Doc to give him an update.
“It’s probably just the epidural,” he told him. “Although the doctor seemed surprised that she couldn’t move her legs.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Doc asked.
Mantis scrubbed his face with his hand. “I’m not sure how to handle this.”