CHAPTER 5
A few hours later Mandy was moved from recovery into a private room and once he knew she was alright he made the kids go home with Keith. He promised them they could see her the next day but mommy was sleeping and would for awhile so they needed to go get some rest.
He quietly entered Mandy’s room and sat next to her bed holding her hand in his. Amazingly enough she looked pretty good. She was pale from the blood loss but there were only a few bruises and scratches from the accident.
He laid his head in the crook of her arm and closed his eyes. So many emotions were running through his head he didn’t know which to listen to first. He didn’t have time to make a decision. He looked up as he felt Mandy move underneath him. "Mandy?"
Mandy looked to Dale. "What happened?"
"It’s ok baby, you’re all right." He asked as he hit the call button for the nurse.
"The kids?"
"They’re ok, Keith took them home. They are a little shaken up but they are fine."
The nurse walked in. "The doctor is on his way in." She took her temp and blood pressure as the doctor walked in.
"How you feeling?"
"Pretty bad."
"Well, we are going to give you some meds to help with the pain, they will also help you sleep. You lost a lot of blood so you are going to feel a little weak for a few days. Get as much rest as you can, your vitals look good." He eyed the chart the nurse gave him. "If all goes well you should be out of here in a couple of days."
"What exactly happened? No one could tell me what was going on?"
The doctor saw the worried look on Dale’s face. "I’m sorry about that." He looked from Dale to Mandy. "You had an ovary rupture and because of that you lost a lot of blood but the EMT’S got you here quick enough that we were able to get the bleeding under control. You did receive a transfusion and a complete hysterectomy had to be done. You are going to be really sore for awhile and like I said before very weak but you’re going to be fine. If you need anything or have any questions just let me or a nurse know."
"Thank you."
The doctor left them alone and Mandy looked at her husband. "What exactly happened? I remember, we were headed home after leaving the mall and the next thing I remember is being put into an ambulance and hearing the kids screaming, I couldn’t get to them. I didn’t know if they were ok or not." She started crying as he sat on the bed and gently pulled her into his arms trying not to hurt her even more.
"It’s ok, everyone’s fine. When the ovary ruptured you blacked out while you were driving, Taylor was able to steer the car out of traffic." He briefly told her the rest of the story, at least what he knew, then sat there just holding her thankful she was fine. He noticed her eyes getting heavy. "The meds kicking in?"
"Yeah."
"Go to sleep baby. I’m right here."
"Go home."
"What?"
"The kids have to be scared to death, please, please go home to them. They need you."
"Baby, I don’t want to leave you."
"I know but Taylor needs you more right now."
Dale sighed, he knew she was right. "Ok, but I will be back first thing in the morning."
She smiled at him. "Ok, give my love to the kids. I love you."
"I love you too baby." He kissed her before grabbing his jacket and heading out. Lexie and Steve were still in the waiting room as he headed to the elevator. "Guys? I thought you left?"
"I wanted to make sure she was ok." Lexie said obviously still very worried.
"Go on in, she’s making me go home to the kids. She’s getting tired but she would love to see you."
"Babe, I’m going to walk Dale out, take your time, I’ll be in the car. Give Mandy my love." Steve said as he and Dale walked to the elevator. "How you doing?"
Dale took a deep breath as the door closed behind them. "I don’t know, I mean I’m thrilled they are ok but I don’t think it’s set in just how close I came to losing them."
"How’s the whole thing with Taylor going?" Steve asked hoping he could take Dale’s mind off the wreck.
"Pretty bad before today. I need to talk to her about it but she was so scared earlier that she was apologizing for everything under the sun." He looked to the ground. "She’s had a pretty bad week."
"How is everyone adapting to going to school? Belle any better."
"Not really, I miss them horribly on the weekends and Mandy says Belle just mopes around the house on weekends instead of playing or whatever, she‘s still getting into trouble in school. I don’t want to take them away from school but I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this, luckily there are only a few races left but then we start all over in Feb. We are discussing a few different options that have potential for next season, so I guess we‘ll see."
"Well, let me know if need anything, you know we are here for you guys." Steve said as they reached Dale’s truck.
"Yeah cause you two have all the time in the world with Bryan and Samantha. What are they 3 and 1 now?" Dale laughed.
Steve laughed. "Yeah, it’s amazing how quick it all goes by but I mean it, we’ll manage, give me a call if you need anything."
"I will, thanks." Dale waved goodbye and jumped into his truck. He grabbed his phone and called Teresa on his way back to the house. "Teresa, hey it‘s Dale." He said into the phone.
"Dale, how is Mandy?"
"She is doing pretty good, I am on my way home now, she won’t get out for a couple of days. Can we find someone to qualify and practice so that I can stay here as long as possible."
"Dale why don’t you sit this one out. We can fill the car."
"She will be out of the hospital on Sunday and I know that at this close to the end of the season she’ll kill me if I lose the points by not racing at all. I just don’t want to have to head to the track until Sat night."
"Ok, don’t worry about it I will take care of it."
"Thanks Teresa."
By the time Dale got home the kids were all in bed and Keith met him at the door. "I didn’t expect you home tonight."
"Yeah, she wanted me to be with the kids."
"Well, I just checked on them and the quads are out cold, pretty rough day, but I can here Taylor crying through her door, I was just getting ready to go check on her."
Dale sighed. "I’m going to check in on them, go on to bed."
Keith nodded. "Night."
Dale checked on each of the quads and tucked them in although they were already asleep. He then went to Taylor’s room, he could here her crying still. "Hey Tay."
"Daddy." She sat up and threw herself into his arms. "Where’s mommy?"
"She’s still at the hospital, she has to stay there for a few days but she is going to be fine." He hugged her close to him trying to reassure her. "You want to sleep in mommy’s spot tonight?" She nodded her head into his shoulder. "Ok." He stood taking her with him and carried her to his bedroom putting her down on the bed in Mandy’s spot. "I’ll be right back." He pulled the covers up around her before heading to the bathroom to change clothes. By the time he came back he had to smile. She had curled up on Mandy’s side of the bed and was already fast asleep. He got into bed, kissed her on the cheek and closed his own eyes thankful that this day was over.
Lexie didn’t go to the track with Steve and the kids the following weekend to bounce between the hospital and the house helping Keith with the kids. Taylor went with Dale to the track Sat night. Dale knew she was still scared about the wreck and was feeling guilty about what had happened between them.
Sunday morning after the drivers meeting and before the race, he made them breakfast, then they called Mandy who would be home in time to watch the race from her own bed. After all that Dale sat Taylor down for a heart to heart.
"Taylor, I think we need to talk about what happened before the wreck."
She sat next to him on the couch. "I didn’t mean everything I said, I was just mad. I don’t even know why now." He could hear the tears in her voice.
He smiled. "I know you didn’t. You may not be my biological daughter but you definitely have my temper. I love you so much Taylor, don’t ever think I look at you any differently than the other kids. There isn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do for you. You were my first baby." He hugged her to him.
"I love you daddy."
He held her even closer to him. "Oh Tay." He sighed.
"Did you really deliver me?"
He grinned. "Well, I helped, Teresa actually delivered you and your aunt Taylor helped. I was just kind of moral support for your mamma."
"So that’s how you guys met?"
"Yup, had you decided not to come along that day I may have never met mommy." She looked up at him and he could tell she was scared to say something. "What is it? It’s ok, remember you can tell me anything."
"Can we go to my other dad’s grave sometime? Just so I can see it."
"Of course. If we can’t get there before the season is over, I promise we will go right after, ok. You know your mom has pictures of him still, I know she would love to show them to you. I want you to know who is was, cause he is still part of you, he always will be."
"I would like to see them."
He sat her on the ground and stood. "Grab your stuff we need to get going, we’re late as usual." He laughed. "You want to go play with Macy or do you want to watch the race?"
"Can I watch from the pit?"
"Yeah, we will put you up on the box with Uncle Tony but you still aren’t listening to the scanner." He grinned as they headed down to pit road.