Waiting for Her Soldier Read Online Free PDF Page B

extra decadent. I opened the bottle of ketchup and poured some of it out on the plate. I took a few delicious bites, but soon I wasn’t hungry anymore. No matter how good the food was, I couldn’t think of eating right now, not with my stomach tied up in such tight knots. I forced myself to eat a bit more, knowing that otherwise I’d be starving later, but there was no way I was finishing this meal. I simply had too much on my mind right now.
    I waved to the waitress to bring over my check and take away the leftover food. I tipped her generously, thankful for the quick service and the good meal, even if on the surface it looked like I hadn’t enjoyed it. After exiting the diner I sprinted through the rain back to my car. I couldn’t think of anything to do besides driving back to the hospital and waiting out the surgery, so I started the car and headed back in that direction.

CHAPTER 14
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    Hours and hours passed by as I waited in the drab waiting room, sitting on a cheap, uncomfortable chair as I paged through dozens of US Weekly magazines, idly reading celebrity gossip. The words hardly made sense to me, the pictures barely caught my attention. A young starlet charged with a DUI. Aging actor cheating on his young wife with a cast member in the blockbuster movie he was filming. Reality TV stars fighting with one another. These were the people we idolized, while our soldiers were practically forgotten. It made me sick just thinking about it.
    After a couple hours I put the magazines down for good. I walked around the hospital hallways, tired of sitting in the chair for so long. I found a vending machine and bought a Diet Coke. Back in the waiting area I sipped the Coke and watched the small TV in the upper left-hand corner of the room. A daytime talk show was playing, with the sound on mute. I shifted in the chair every couple of minutes, unable to find a comfortable position, each extra minute I waited feeling longer than the last. Then I felt my eyes getting heavy and before I knew it…
    I woke to find the head receptionist gently shaking me, trying to rouse me from my mid-afternoon slumber. I blinked my eyes, rubbing them with my index fingers as I yawned.
    “Wake up, honey. Sgt. Henderson is going to be coming out of surgery in the next fifteen minutes.”
    Suddenly, I was wide awake. The receptionist knew she had my attention.
    “He’s been assigned to room 1095. That’s up on the 10th floor, as I’m sure you realize.”
    “Is he ok?” I asked excitedly, anxious for answers. “How did it go?”
    “I’m not really qualified to say, honey. But the doctor will be with you shortly and he can answer your questions. I’ll page him and he can take you up to see your husband.”
    I smiled slightly to myself. I’d forgotten that all these hospital employees were under the impression that Darren and I were husband and wife, but to tell them otherwise was to risk not being able to see him, and that was a risk I just wasn’t willing to take.
    Within minutes Dr. Williams entered the waiting area, looking for a Mrs. Henderson. I grabbed my purse and followed him to the elevator, which we rode to the 10th floor. As soon as the doors closed, I started bombarding him with questions.
    “How is he?”
    “He seems to be doing well, but he’s on a lot of pain medication at the moment, so he’s not entirely lucid. It should be wearing off to some degree over the course of the next few hours.”
    “Did the surgery go well?”
    “Yes, everything went as planned.”
    “Please, be honest with me. Is he going to lose an arm?”
    The Doctor smiled. “Who have you been talking to?” he asked wryly.
    “One of the nurses, a receptionist. They said there can be complications with this procedure and…”
    Dr. Williams cut me off.
    “Not to denigrate any of the other hospital employees, but with respect to this surgery they don’t entirely know all of the facts. Yes, it can be a very complicated procedure, but as