Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 82

Theo POV

The day went by in a blur. I washed and attended to Bethany, changing her drip. Robson stopped by, and later that day, Dad popped in. He brought take-away with him, knowing he might not have eaten, and he was right. I had a little, only what Robson brought in with him. I was too consumed in caring for Bethany, and all else seemed to fade away.

We sat at a table near the bed, so I could still see Bethany and eat together.

'She is holding on well. We won't know there is any brain damage until she wakes up. It appears not only did the roll cage stop her from being crushed, but Bethany had pulled the seat belt tighter in an attempt to reduce the movement her body would have in the accident. She had been taught well by her Dad that she would be in a lot worse mess if not for those two little factors.

'I hear you, Dad. It was more of a harness than a normal seat belt. I think if it had been my vehicle, she would not have survived!

'I am trying, Dad, I really am. I hear you; the what-ifs keep coming to my head, and yes, I should be more grateful for the what-is. Thankfully, she had her head about her when under pressure, thankful that the vehicle was geared up to survive this sort of hit, and now knowing who Bob is, I understand the extreme measures he took to protect himself in the car. We should have taken more precautions; even Bob was confused by some of the things that had happened. Do we have a traitor in our group? Or something else? Could it all just be a coincidence? They knew our habit of playing the game; anyone who knew us knew, and Mother's birthday party was on f******k, in all places. We were open to being hit that day, but for some reason, we did not have extra security, or if we did, where did it go? I am waiting to hear from Scott to replace out more. My mind won't stop till I have more answers. Look at her Dad, what did she do to deserve all this?' I fought against my emotions, and tears helped no one. Dad patted me on the back. 'You are going through grief, Son; everyone does the rewinds and tries to fight the why. Let it all out, and let's work on fixing what we have and not work on what should have been. As a doctor, you know this, but your heart is trying to lead. Now get some rest. Bethany does not need you to be too tired to help her when she wakes up. Leave Bob to work this out and me to be her doctor, and you be there as her man. Can you do that? Let the rest go?' Dad tried to convince me just to be here. Will my mind let the rest go? 'I will try, Dad.' We embraced each other for a while, and then Dad let go, cleaned up the dinner mess, and left to go home.

The next two days were the same. Robson, Dad, and Bob all came to visit at some point. I changed Bethany's sheets, redressed her, and body-washed her, refusing to allow anyone else in the room to tend to her. If Robson was struggling with missing his two main doctors, he never said or showed it.

Bethany's swelling on her face had gone down a lot. The black-blue was starting to have yellow on it, all the signs of healing, yet here she lay, on a bed with machines that kept her breathing rhythmically, that seemed to be like clockwork, and the beeping of the heart monitor, all a reminder that we were keeping her alive and that sound started to annoy me. Then I woke from my nightmare of her screams, which were the last sound of her voice that I had in my head, mixed with the sounds in this room combined, had made the nightmare even worse, and it is the nightmares that made the sound in this room a reminder of that night, of the crash I heard over the phone. Let go, Dad has said, and during the day, I fight to do just that, but at night, when sleep is found, the nightmare returns, and it plays some horrific games in my head and fills me with guilt.

I dragged myself to the bathroom and grabbed a shower. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a shadow of myself; my eyes were dark from not having enough sleep, and I had not shaved in days; deciding today was the day that all changes; today, I am going forward and being the strong man I know I am, and will be ready for my girlfriend. She won't want to see me like that. I grab my razor and clean the growth away. There is not much I can do about the dark eyes, but it is time to put on the positive attitude you tell all your patients' families to have, time to be what you tell all of them to be. It is time to put what was done behind me; I cannot change it. It is time to get Bethany back and stop wallowing in self-regret.

Leaving the bathroom, I headed to the kitchen and made some breakfast. I sat near Bethany and ate it all, like a starving man, and drank two cups of coffee before I returned the dishes, rinsed them, and put them in the dishwasher. I cleaned up the kitchen, gathered the things I needed to give my girl a wash and change, and headed back to bed.

I turned on the television to watch her favorite sports news. She would need this news for Sunday sports day. Our team game is over for the season, but I know she loves basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. On the television is ice hockey, something I could have improved at, but I loved to watch the skill they have running around on ice as if it were normal ground. I stopped and watched for a moment and smiled at some goal reply. Yep, it takes some skill to do that.

I talked to Bethany as I washed her gently, being careful around her wounds. I have removed the bandages and will re-bandage them when I am done. They look good, no infections.

I am discussing this Sunday's sports day, who is playing, and who we would prefer to watch. A great game of baseball is on, too, and I am not sure if I have ever heard her discuss baseball, though she does have a poster of a pitcher in her portfolio.

'She would prefer ice hockey as it is getting towards the finals. Baseball is only just starting.' Bob's voice came from behind me. I turned to look at Bob and smiled. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with no clue he was a police commissioner, and I was glad of that. I preferred keeping him as Bob. Then, I did something I had yet to think I would do. 'Would you like to continue brushing her hair as I make us a coffee?' I offered. I thought I would be selfish and want to keep her all to myself, but looking at Bob at that moment, I knew I could not do that. Bob's face changed to one of surprise and then a smile.

'Love to. I have brought some bacon and egg burgers on my way in; I can see you have shaved; good on you, lad!'

I did not tell him I had already eaten. I made the coffee and went to sit at the table. Bob placed the burgers and napkins on the table. Bob finished her hair and kissed her on the head before joining me at the table.

'Scott had lost a few men to tranquilizers that night. If you are wondering why so few were protecting Bethany, we have arrested the gang, all of them, including the boss overseas, who happened to be here when the k********g went down, and we are now piecing the last few bits together. By the end of the week, we shall have over one hundred men and women arrested and charged with various offenses. Including over fifteen police officers of various ranks. The group we thought was just the women's club is so much more than that. The married woman's club was just where it all began!

'How so?' I was intrigued now.

'Four women and four men in college got married by the same man in Vegas, and the following year, they went back to do it again, enjoying the hype of being the bride; this was when the Vegas man suggested the fake marriage stuff, so Wendy knew when we got married that she was already married, and so did the other three. They then started to get others involved, and it grew from just being a bride to blackmail and all sorts of other crimes, till bigger fish decided to take the bait, and here we are now, where murder and extortion and most of this is just funding men to be in high places, like the congressman and some mercenary groups.

This one action by Bethany filled in a lot of gaps. It sped up the capture of other crime lords and a money laundering ring, using the weddings to cover it all up, which we have been trying to get for a long time. The original ladies that started that side of it kept records, and that is what the icing on the cake was. Plus, the cave had a lot of juicy information when we went back inside!