“I have to agree with him,” I said. “I’m not sure it’s going to create the impression of a reputable, reliable practice with a name like that.”
“PT Superheroes?” he suggested hopefully. “I think kids will love that.”
“And adults will think it’s a pediatric practice only,” Chris said. “We’ll have to keep thinking.”
“I like both,” Adi offered.
Hunter smirked at us before pretending to dust off his hands. “My work here is done then. Adi’s a patient and it’s all about what they think, right?”
“Right.” Chris rolled his eyes at his friend before giving his attention back to Adi. “How’s that arm feeling? You’ve managed to hold the pose for a couple of minutes, which is fantastic, but let’s not push it.”
She nodded and pushed back to sit on her knees, eyes shining with excitement. “That felt good. What’s next?”
“Hunter’s going to show you some new stretches to cool off with. I’d like you to keep doing them at home after you’ve done your exercises.”
“I will,” she promised. “Am I getting new exercises too?”
“Yep.” He grinned and lifted the tablet in his hand, tapping the screen with his thumb. “I’m going to print out your new homework before you leave and I’ve already emailed it to your mom. A few more weeks of these and you’ll be good as new.”
Clapping her hands as she stood up, she turned toward Hunter and bounced on the balls of her feet. “I’m ready.”
“Great, so am I.” He led her to the cabinet with all the equipment in it and started rummaging around for something.
Chris and I watched in silence as he handed over a small weight and demonstrated what he wanted her to do with it. Once they were immersed in their exercises, I fished my phone out of my pocket and showed Chris the email I’d received from the lawyer earlier.
Anxiety pinged around my chest at the mere thought of what he was reading. “Our first court date is in a month.”
He scanned the contents of the message, his eyes narrowing when he got to the end. “Is this really the earliest date they could get? It hardly seems fair that you have to wait that long for this bullshit.”
I sighed. “Part of me would’ve liked to have it heard tomorrow, but I’m also glad we’re going to have some time to prepare.”
“I suppose that’s true. What do you need from me?” He handed my phone back. “I’ll speak to Howard about it as well, but is there anything I can do to help you?”
“You’ve done more than enough already.” I looked up into his eyes, wishing I could just fall into his arms and stay there until the court case was done. “Howard mentioned again that he might need you and Hunter to give evidence about the day of the accident, but he says we’re not there yet.”
“We’ll be ready when he is,” he said before leaning over to drop a kiss on top of my head. “I hate that you’re going to have to live with this hanging over your head for another month, but try not to stress too much about it. Okay?”
I laughed but the sound came out bitter and dry. “Yeah. That’s about as easy as telling an orange not to be orange.”
He slung his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close for just a few moments. “I know, but you’ll drive yourself crazy if you spend the next month worrying. Craig’s not going to be successful with his case. He’s got no chance.”
“I’d like to believe that, but I just don’t know.” I hated the uncertainty winding its way around each of my vital organs in turn. “Even Howard says we can’t be a hundred-percent sure what the court is going to say. Craig is still her father, despite the fact that he’s never acted like it.”
My voice cracked, prompting Chris to drag me into his office. Once we were out of sight, he pulled me fully into his arms and crushed me to his chest.
“We’re going to fight it, April. He might be her father, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get anything he’s asking for. The truth is on your side, remember?”
I released a shuddering breath and tried to blink back my tears. “I know. I just hate this so much. I feel like I’m stuck in a singular kind of hell and there’s no way out until this nightmare is over.”
He hugged me closer. “Are you sure you don’t want me to see if we can get the court date moved up?”
“No. The only thing worse than waiting would be going and losing because we didn’t take the time to prepare properly.”
There were no good scenarios that came from rushing to court. I wanted this fight to be over more than anything, but I also kind of wished the court date would never come. If Craig got unsupervised visits with Adi, I didn’t know what I would do. But if he got custody? I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it.
I leaned into Chris’s chest and took a few deep, calming breaths. Getting through this wasn’t going to be easy, but at least I had him. And Hunter and Katie and even Luna and Cyrus.
My support system was strong and so was I. I just needed to let them support me. If I was going to get through this case, I’d need all the support I could get. Luna had pointed out to me that they were all there for me and that I just needed to let them be. She claimed that people who accepted help from those who loved them were stronger than those who tried to go at it themselves.
Since Chris had come into my life, I felt like I’d allowed him and everyone else to give me a lot more help and support than I should have been comfortable with. But the last few months had warranted accepting a little help.
Adi’s accident seemed to have been the trigger for a chain of events that had irrevocably changed me. I didn’t feel weaker for that change though. I just felt different.
On the other hand, I doubted any parent could go through what I had and be facing a lawsuit for sole custody and come out unscathed. My baby being so badly injured that she needed months of therapy and still wasn’t completely back to normal would’ve been way worse than bad enough by itself. But this?
It was enough to drive anyone a little insane.
Being enveloped by Chris’s powerful arms and rich scent helped me calm down enough that it no longer felt like I was about to hyperventilate. When he let me go, there was a brief moment of panic before his gaze caught on mine.
“I’m here for you, April. Anytime. Day or night.” He planted a kiss on the tip of my nose before gesturing to the door. “But they’re bound to be finishing up any moment now. Let’s go see how those last exercises went.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, taking another beat to get my emotions under control before I followed him out. Adi knew something was going on but I still didn’t want her seeing me as close to tears as I was every time I thought about the court date.
As we walked out of the office, a nurse came running into the room and looked around wildly until her gaze landed on Chris. “Doctor Matthews? We need you down in ER right away. Everyone else is already busy but there’s a man who’s just come in and he can’t wait.”
“What happened?” Chris barked, immediately jumping into action. “Who’s with him now?”
“He was in motorcycle accident and he wasn’t wearing a helmet. I left Nurse Rhonda with him, but she said to hurry. He’s in real bad shape.”
“I’m right behind you,” he said before shooting me an apologetic smile. “Hunter and I will review Adi’s progress when I get back. I’ll give you a call later.”
I nodded but I was feeling strangely numb. The words “motorcycle accident” and “wasn’t wearing a helmet” had thrown me right back to that moment when I’d gotten the call about Adi.
Blood drained from my cheeks, and my hands trembled, but I couldn’t let him see how upset I was. Someone else needed him the same way we had that day. I didn’t want him to be worried about me when his focus had to be on them.
“Go,” I said. “We’ll talk later.”
He ran out with the nurse and Hunter took off after them. There was a bad feeling in my stomach as I watched them go. Without really knowing why, I held my ha
nd out to Adi and nodded toward the door.
“Let’s go, baby. I think we might be needed downstairs.”
Chapter 31
CHRIS
Hunter was only steps behind me when I ran into the ER. My shoes squeaked on the floors when I took the final corner and spotted the nurse waving frantically at me.
She was standing next to a gurney with a bloodied mess of a man lying on it. All I could see at first was his torn-up leathers and matted dark hair.
“He’s in bad shape, Doctor Matthews,” the nurse said when I skidded to a halt beside her. “We tried pulling Doctor Kelso away from his patient, but they’re rushing to surgery.”
“Do we know his name?” I asked, glancing up at her. “Or any other details about him? Allergy bracelet, organ donor card? Anything?”
She shook her head. “The paramedics searched his pockets. They said they didn’t find anything.”
I cursed under my breath but nodded my acknowledgment of what she’d said. “Let’s get him hooked up.”
Machines were beeping wildly in the ER and all the closed rooms were taken, leaving us to rush our patient to an area separated from the screaming, crying, general chaos by only a privacy curtain.
Allowing it all to fade into the background, I took my first good look at the man. He was a big guy and there was something vaguely familiar about him. His face was pretty messed up, but I noticed Hunter growing pale when the patient tried to turn his head up toward him.
At this new angle, I was only barely able to make out the few inches of his skin that wasn’t battered, bloody, and swollen. My heart kicked into overdrive in my chest.
Craig.
“Get April,” I said to Hunter while getting Craig connected to a beside monitor to measure his vital signs. “We need to know if he’s got a DNR.”
From the looks of things, chances were good that we were going to need to resuscitate him within the next few minutes. While I determined which one of his injuries to attend to first and started stabilizing him, Hunter yanked open the curtain and, to my surprise, stopped dead in his tracks.
“April, could you come here for a minute?” he asked urgently. “Rhonda will stay with Adi. It’s important.”
Frowning as I nodded at the nurse to go, I turned slightly and saw April and Adi had followed us after we’d left the PT rooms. April was as white as a sheet, clearly already having figured out who the patient was.
The gurney was too far away and too high for Adi to be able to see her father, but I repositioned my body to block her view anyway. As I stemmed yet another bleed, I sensed April’s trembling body next to mine.
“Is it him?” she asked, her voice tight with fear.
“Yeah. Do you know if he has a living will or anything else that would prevent us from working on him? The paramedics couldn’t find anything.”
She stiffened. “Not that I know of. He’s allergic to bees, but Chris…”
I gave her a sharp look. Without her having to say a thing, I knew what that “but Chris” was about. This man had made her life hell on more than one occasion. He was taking her to court and trying to take her daughter away from her out of jealousy and spite.
Given the seriousness and extent of his injuries, there was a very good chance he might not make it anyway. No one would look twice at his case if I just didn’t quite give it my all.
The erratic beeping of the monitors told me I still had the opportunity to save his life—maybe if I was lucky. Or I could give April what she wanted more than anything in the world. Peace.
If he didn’t make it, the court case was over. He’d never bother her or injure their daughter again. They’d be free to become my family and none of us would ever have to worry about the piece of shit again.
I could save Adi from a possibly protracted court battle, countless hours of therapists, and court-mandated lackeys trying to get into her head. She wouldn’t have to go to sleep wondering why her mom was crying or wake up terrified of having to spend the weekend with a father she didn’t even really know.
We would be free to live our lives without ever really thinking about him again. All of that, and all I had to do to get it was be a little slower than normal.
“I’m not saying you have to do anything,” she murmured before looking up and catching my gaze. “Just don’t be too hard on yourself if this patient doesn’t pull through.”
April turned on her heels, marching out with her head held high and shoulders squared. My brows lifted as Hunter walked back to the gurney. “Did you hear all that?”
“Yep,” he said. “Can’t say I blame her. Hell, I’ve been itching to put him in a state like this myself. I know you have too.”
“It’s been a dream for a while now.” I motioned to Rhonda to close the curtain when she came back to us after saying goodbye to Adi.
“What can I do?” she asked.
I barked orders at her and Hunter for God only knew how long after that. With every injury we found and got temporarily sorted out, something else would come out of the woodwork.
“He’s going to need brain surgery,” I said eventually after shaving half of his head clean to get a good look at what was going on inside it. “There’s a decent bleed. Heart’s still thready, too.”
The next moment, his monitor went completely haywire. I snapped my gaze up to see his blood pressure spiking again. Rhonda jumped into action instantly, filling a syringe and passing it to me.
Hunter arched an eyebrow at me. “What’re you going to do, boss?”
I rolled my eyes and inserted the plunger into Craig’s IV line. Almost immediately, the monitors started slowing down and Rhonda let out a relieved breath. “That was a close one. Let me call up to surgery and find out if they’ve got an operating room available for him. He won’t be with us much longer if he keeps misbehaving.”
It was a phrase I knew many people had thought about him in his life—Hunter, myself, and April being prime examples of such people—but it was quite literal now. There wasn’t much time if something kept going wrong every time we got another issue fixed.
Rhonda drew the curtain aside and disappeared from the room just as Craig started seizing. Once again, the monitors blared, and this time, the built-in alarms went off too.
Hunter and I made eye contact over the man crashing on the gurney between us. He lifted a ginger brow at me again.
“It’s now or never. Maybe. Maybe you’ll get a second chance to make your decision in a few minutes either way, but you never know. What’s it going to be?”
I dragged in a breath. It was like time slowed down in our little corner of the ER. So much depended on this moment.
My earlier thoughts about the peace of mind April would have if Craig wasn’t around to bug her came rushing back. But I also tried to envision a future in which I had to look Adi in the eye on a daily basis and live with the knowledge that I hadn’t done everything in my power to save her father.
I just didn’t know if I could live that way. Unfortunately, I also didn’t know if April could live with the constant threat of having him looming over every move she made.
The wild beeping continued while I stood there trying to decide what to do. Hunter waited for me to act with no judgment in his eyes or demeanor. He knew the possible implications of this decision, and he trusted me to make the call.
Whatever that call might end up being, I knew he would have my back.
The next thing we knew, the erratic beeping suddenly ceased and was replaced with one flat noise. For all intents and purposes, right in that moment, Craig was gone, and all of April’s problems—and a fair share of my own—were gone with him.
“We need a crash cart in here,” I shouted before turning to rip the privacy curtain open.
April and Adi stood against the wall at the other side of the hallway, their gazes riveted to me. My mouth tightened when I met April’s eyes, but the cart I’d called for was already being barreled toward me.
“Paddles,” I
snapped at the nurse who’d run the cart in.
She handed them over in the blink of an eye and told me when they were charged. For the next grueling minutes, there was no telling what would happen.
“They’re waiting for him in surgery,” Rhonda yelled as she hung up the phone at the nurses’ station and came racing back to us.
“We’ll send him up as soon as we can.” I kept working him over, uncertain whether those few seconds that had passed before I acted would change the outcome of the effort I was putting in now.
“Clear,” I ordered, watching as both Hunter and Rhonda stepped back. Pressing the paddles onto his chest, I kept my eyes on the monitor as they administered the potentially life-saving shock he needed.
A few more seconds passed before, just as suddenly as it’d stopped, his pulse came back. Sweat dripped from my brow, and regret already swirled around in my stomach, but I knew I’d done the right thing. I had made an oath to do no harm, and I had kept that oath today, as difficult as it had been.
“Let’s get him up to surgery,” I said to Rhonda, accepting a paper towel from Hunter as I unplugged the monitor from the socket above the gurney. “It’s going to need to be done fast. We might lose him again on the way. There’s a lot of damage.”
She nodded just as one of the surgical interns came running around the corner. There was panic in his eyes, but his voice and general demeanor were confident. “Doc sent me down here to get him. Is he ready?”
“Ready,” I confirmed before giving him a quick rundown about what we knew on the way to the elevator. They wheeled the gurney in with assurances to keep me updated throughout his surgery. Then the doors slid closed in my face and Craig was out of my hands for now.
For better or worse, I’d saved his life. I had done the right thing.
Now I had to face the consequences of that decision.
Chapter 32
APRIL
Katie arrived at the hospital confused. The parking lot in front of the emergency room was packed, but thankfully, the security guard knew her car and let her idle in a loading zone.
She’s Mine Now Page 20
