I met Rafe at the same time that I thought I might be losing Matteo. I had gone with Matteo to the ER because he'd been shot. At home, not while on duty. His wife, Marissa, had done it. I had wanted to kill the bitch and probably would have if a bleeding and suffering Nicholas hadn't stopped me.
As soon as we got him to the ER a guy in motorcycle gear rushed in past us. I thought he was real fucking rude but couldn't stop to care since I was busy willing my partner to survive. I just noticed him because he had the blackest hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen on a person before.
They rushed Matteo back to surgery. I was left with nothing to do but sit around the ER waiting for news impatiently while almost losing my fucking mind. Still covered in his blood, I tried my best to keep myself from thinking that he wouldn't pull through. It seemed like it had been more hours than I could count when this doctor in scrubs came from the back through the double doors.
He seemed to float toward me. I couldn't really tell if he was headed my way. He seemed to be walking in slow motion as my heart plummeted to the floor. Tears spilled from my eyes and my body began to tremble and shake. Finally he was standing right in front of me. I stood up even though I felt like I was going to pass out.
As I lifted my face to meet his, through my tears I noticed that it was him, the model in the bike gear. I had the irrational thought that he couldn't be that good of a doctor and that he was going to tell me the last thing I'd want to hear.
"Mrs. Nardozzi?"He asked before starting to speak to me. I didn't correct his error.
My heart beat like a drum in my chest. Just tell me I screamed inside my head. And then he did.
"Your husband pulled through the surgery just fine. I was able to get the bullet out of him and stop the bleeding, he's still in critical condition, but he's stable--"
He stopped talking when we heard a loud screeching voice coming toward us. It was cursing in Italian but I understood every word. Bitch, whore, slut, home wrecker. The words were directed at me.
Matteo's mother was on a rampage and when she reached me and the doctor she slapped me, hard.
I had to steel myself against hurting this woman, the mother of the man I was in love with.
She turned to the doctor and continued in English, "She is not his wife, she is his whore and the reason he is here in the first place."
My voice was hard when I told her that I wasn't the one who shot Matteo.
"No you just defiled his marital bed" she spat.
Marital bed my ass! This woman had no idea what Matteo and I had, that he was planning to leave his wife to be with me. We were going to be married and that wasn't some made up shit by a married dude out to get some pussy from someone other than his wife.
I was actually still wearing the engagement ring that we'd picked out together earlier this year. Caressing it as I sat trying to wait for news had been the only thing keeping me sane.
"Can I see my son? I want to see my son." She was hysterical.
The doctor was taking this all in with calm and professionalism but even that couldn't hide the curious shock in his eyes when she'd slapped me.
"He will want to see me" I told Mrs. Nardozzi certainly.
"Over my dead body" she snapped.
I wanted to tell her that it could be arranged but instead I just took a seat feeling like if he was okay at least I could breathe again. They walked away together.
****
Rafe had been down in the locker room about to get prepared for his shift when he was called to the ER stat. He had rushed over still in his street clothes. He knew what the story was before he was told somehow. Their story wasn't one he hadn't encountered before. He knew when he saw the death grip of the male's hand that was going into surgery on the the hand of the female holding onto him, that the woman wasn't the man's wife. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.
The rock on her finger did throw him for a loop though, so did the man he'd worked on. The patient had opened his eyes after the surgery and the first thing out of his mouth had been the name Nicole.Rafe understood from what he'd been told that the wife's name was Marissa.
He was breaking all kinds of codes not to mention the law to go talk to this woman but he felt he should. He waited until the room had all but emptied and then he'd gone towards her as she sat twisting her ring around her finger.
She was beautiful to him, even covered in tears and blood. Looking at her he could see why his gunshot victim was taken with her, her eyes spoke volumes. He'd never paid much attention to a woman's eyes before, in an unprofessional way, he was usually focused much further down. He was a tits and ass guy.
As soon as he had begun to see small amounts of relief flowing through her, as he had told her about his patient's condition, all hell had broken loose.
Rafe understood every word that the patient's mom had flung at the unflinching girlfriend. He wanted to say something about the woman slapping her too but he knew he would be way out of line.
She'd handled it well but maybe that was because she was a cop, or so he'd been told.
He hated to leave her standing there but the patient's mother was causing a scene. He wanted to get her away from prying eyes and ears.
****
Nicole still sat in the same chair, her head down, as Rafe got ready to leave the floor some hours later, to grab a bite to eat. He didn't know why but he felt himself being pulled towards her. Something in him just told him that he couldn't leave her like that.
He'd gone over to her and touched her softly on her shoulder. He jerked his hand back to make sure they hadn't thrown down rug recently on the ER floor. The jolt that went through him at his touch was very real. It even hurt his hand. He wanted to shake his hand off but she was now looking up at him with tired and red rimmed eyes.
Rafe knew the patient's entire family was now outside his room and in other places of the hospital. He also knew that they were not going to allow her entrance. He had overheard them talking when he went up to check on the patient.
I was surprised at the jolt I felt from the doctor's hand. I didn't know it was him until I looked up into those stormy blue eyes of his. I imagined it was my jacket rubbing against the hard plastic chair that had caused the spark of electricity. I sat up and looked around realizing that I had fallen asleep in the chair and that many hours had passed, as it was now daylight outside.
"You should go home and get some rest" he said to me, using that same thick voice that seemed to calm my nerves instantly before.
I could tell he wasn't trying to be insensitive but it still hurt that I couldn't see Matt.
Tears began running down my face again as I stood. Because, of course he was right I wasn't going to be let into the room. I thanked him with everything in me for saving Matteo and then I left the hospital.
I went home but I couldn't sleep. I took a bath, couldn't eat so I cleaned the house. For three days straight I did nothing but wander around my house. Finally, one day as I was lying on the couch trying to quiet my mind of terrible thoughts I got a call from a number at the hospital.
I was surprised to find that it was the ER doctor calling. He told me to come up to the hospital right away. I flew up there, that's what it felt like.
I entered the hospital room quietly. It was loaded with cards and flowers. Matteo was lying in bed with the TV on; a large part of his chest to his shoulder was bandaged. His short black curly hair was all over the place. I felt like crying again.
"Hey" I spoke, standing just inside the door.
He looked over at me. Surprise registered on his face, in his chocolate brown eyes, and then he was looking down as if it was hard for him to look at me. I felt so much guilt at that moment and I wanted to apologize. I hadn't realized that I had started apologizing and crying when he said loudly to me that it was not my fault.
"This is my fault" he said, barely looking my way.
I just looked at him thinking that he was
suffering from guilt too.
"Matt this isn't your fault" I went over to him and took his face in my hands.
"It is" he argued as tears started to roll down his face.
I leaned over him and kissed them all away but more came and then he pulled his hand out of my grasp.
"I don't want you to come up here to see me, I'll be home in a day or two and we can talk then."
He took my hand and it held it to his face.
