vaccinations she will have to have now to ensure she’s protected. The spleen helps filter blood but it’s a vital part of the immune system.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Finn asked, and his voice was dulled, like he was trying to contain his emotions and succeeding.
The doctor hesitated. “We don’t need to think about those things just yet. She’ll be in the hospital for a few more weeks so we can keep an eye on her. Usually, after a splenectomy—the removal of the spleen—we send patients home after a week, and they’re to return if certain symptoms develop, but because of the other issues, we’ll need to monitor her.”
“I want to know,” Finn growled, this time sounding like he was rapidly losing patience.
Finn was like that, I thought fondly. Impatient and cautious, wanting to know all the risks before he stepped into any fight.
“Some patients can develop a certain kind of infection called OPSI. It can occur years after surgery,” the other woman explained, her voice soaring to a high pitch that had me wondering what my husband was doing to her to make her sound like that. “It has a high fatality rate.”
Finn released a muttered expletive and I heard his shoes tap against the floor as he began to pace.
“It should be me, Aidan,” he ground out. “I should be the one dealing with this shit.”
Oh, it was Aidan Sr. The head of the Five Points, and a man who was like a father to Finn.
It made sense why the doctor was scared. I was scared of Aidan, and I knew he liked me.
The man made the term ‘loose cannon’ seem like a friendly warning. I was half certain Aidan was a lunatic so it was no wonder the doctor was pissing herself.
“That’s a worst-case scenario, sir,” the doctor informed him, sympathy coating her words. “We have plenty to be grateful for.” She swallowed. Audibly. “I was her surgeon and I saw the bullet’s trajectory. If there was ever a good way of coming out of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, your wife found it. Clean entry and exit. No fractures to the ribs, just slight fissures on the lower ribcage. No nicks to any organs—just the spleen. God was certainly on her side.”
“He works for the righteous,” came Aidan’s voice, and I opened my eyes at that.
Of all the things anyone could say, that was the most stupid of them all.
“It was good luck, Aidan,” I rasped. Or, at least, I tried to—because no one in this room was righteous, certainly not Aidan O'Donnelly! My tongue was thick though, and the words didn’t seem to form normally.
“Aoife!” Finn cried and my blurry eyes managed to focus as I looked at him and saw he had, of all things, a beard.
A beard?
Jesus.
How long had I been out?
He ran to my side and grabbed my hand. Pressing it to his lips, he whispered, “Baby, what do you need?”
“Water,” I half-whimpered, wishing it hadn’t hurt so much for him to bestow that kiss to my knuckles.
The doctor bustled to my side and she pressed an ice chip to my mouth. “You’re fine, Aoife,” she said soothingly—but her eyes were cold. I remembered what somebody had said the last time I’d been awake and wondered if it had been her.
They didn’t like me because my husband was a Five Points man.
Well, tough shit.
The older woman, somewhere in her fifties, studied me then Finn as he squeezed my fingers again. Though a frown flickered over her brow, I saw that her eyes weren’t cold, actually. Just scared.
I couldn’t blame her.
Not when Aidan O'Donnelly was in the room, and with a rep as large and notorious as the state itself.
Hell, maybe they were scared of him in other parts of the States too, but never having left New York, I wouldn’t know. Considering I’d seen the man in action, I wouldn’t put it past him.
When the ice had melted and my tongue felt less like a swollen hamster lolling around in my mouth, I whispered, “Stop scaring the doctors, Aidan.”
A snort brayed from behind the doctor and Aidan strolled up, looking a lot smarter than Finn. He peered at me. “Scaring people is what I do best, Aoife. Figured you’d know that, being a Hell’s Kitchen girl.”
The other woman whimpered, and I shot her a look. “His bark’s worse than his bite,” I tried to offer, but it wasn’t working. Her skin was whiter than mine—which was saying something. I made