by Risk, Mona
Please, please let Melissa be safe.
“On the right.”
Luc’s voice prickled her heart as he seized her hand and squeezed it.
Her head swiveled to the right. She saw the car.
The Cadillac hunkered on the side, hood pitched into the ditch, its left bumper smashed against the trunk of a tree.
“Melissa.” The scream shot out of Olivia’s lungs. “Luc, stop.” But he’d already slowed to a crawl and turned off the engine.
Olivia leaped out of the car and ran to the Cadillac, slipping and sliding on the icy surface. Luc pulled her up against him and held her elbow, forcing her to a steady pace until they reached the driver’s side. She peered in through the glass. Melissa was slouched against the window.
Luc jerked the door handle and pulled with all his strength. “It’s stuck.”
“Luc, do something, please.” She pummeled on the glass, her eyes fixed on her daughter’s head.
“Call 911. I’ll go in from the other door,” he said, as he circled the car.
She punched the number and asked for help, while following Luc to the other side of the car. He picked up a stone and smashed the window on the passenger side. Taking off his raincoat, he wrapped a sleeve around his fist, reached inside and slipped the lock up. He opened the door, swiped the broken glass away and slid inside the car.
Olivia bent over him to look at Melissa. “Oh my God.”
“Melissa?” Luc called. “She’s unconscious.”
Olivia thought her own heart was about to stop.
Luc took Melissa’s hand and felt for a pulse. “She’s alive, but she’s squashed between the door and the airbag. Move out of the way, Olivia.”
Tears streamed down Olivia’s cheeks as Luc unsnapped the seatbelt and edged her daughter away from the airbag to the passenger seat. “Leave her in the car. It’s too wet outside. The ambulance will be here any minute.”
“Sit beside her. You are soaked. I wish I had a stethoscope.”
“A stethoscope? Doc always keeps an emergency medical kit and a flashlight in his trunk.”
Luc left for a minute and returned with the items. Olivia wrapped the pressure cuff around Melissa’s arm, plugged the stethoscope in her ears and listened. “90 over 50. Her BP is way too low.”
“To be expected when she’s in shock.” He moved the flashlight over Melissa’s face and paused, illuminating the left side of her head. “The air bag protected her from the worst of the impact, but her head must have hit the side window.”
Olivia followed the beam of light, touched a spot on her daughter’s left temple and froze. She rubbed her fingers together. “Luc, she’s bleeding. Oh God.”
A siren pierced the silence of the road. Police cars and EMS squads surrounded them. Olivia got out of the car.
“I am Dr. Luc from CUH and this is Dr. Crane, the girl’s mother.” In a few words he explained the situation to one of the paramedics while the other two laid Melissa on a wooden board and immobilized her cervical spine with a neck brace. After moving her onto a stretcher, they rolled her into the ambulance.
“You better go with them, Olivia. I will follow and see you at the hospital.” He turned to one of the paramedics. “Can Dr. Crane ride with her daughter?”
“Go ahead, Dr. Crane,” the man said as he held the door open for her.
The familiar antiseptic smells soothed her. She sat in the ambulance watching while the paramedics measured Melissa’s vitals. “Is her blood pressure still low?”
“Yes.” A paramedic put an oxygen mask over Melissa’s nose, swabbed the bruise on her temple and applied a pressure dressing. Another set up an IV drip and then placed patches on her chest for an electrocardiogram.
Melissa’s irregular breathing twittered out of her open lips while her chest rose and slumped.
“Darling, can you hear me? It’s Mom.”
Melissa’s eyelashes fluttered and she stirred, inhaling deeply.
“Darling?”
“She’s coming around,” the paramedic said.
Now that they were on their way to the hospital, Olivia’s erratic pulse resumed a normal speed.
“Mom...scared...eyes.” Melissa’s voice was barely audible.
Eyes? What did she mean? Were her eyes hurting?
“I’m here, sweetheart. Don’t be scared. Everything will be fine.”
Melissa’s fingers twitched as if she were trying to raise her hand, then her eyes widened in panic. “Mom. Can’t move.”
Olivia covered her daughter’s hand with a warm embrace. “I know, sweetheart. We’re in the ambulance. They’ve restrained you until a doctor can check you.”
“Don’t leave me, Mom.”
Tears pooled in Olivia’s eyes as she heard the wobbly voice.
“Never, baby. I promise. You’ll be fine. I love you, darling. You’re all I have.”
Anxiety and regret twisted Olivia’s guts. She’d caused the accident. By hiding the truth for years, choosing the wrong words to inform Melissa and then wallowing in self-pity, she’d almost killed her daughter.
How could she ever forgive herself? How could she make up for her lack of judgment?
When Melissa recovered, she’d tell her everything. Every detail. Would that be enough to repair the damage?
What if Melissa wanted to meet her father?
Olivia studied her daughter’s features.
I’ll go with you, my darling. I’ll face him again, if that’s what you want.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The trip to the hospital lasted an eternity. Finally, the ambulance stopped at the emergency entrance. Olivia walked beside the stretcher as the paramedics wheeled Melissa to a cubicle. The medical staff cut through Melissa’s sodden clothes and removed them, and then dressed her in a blue and white striped gown and proceeded with a series of tests.
“Mom, it hurts.” Melissa fingered her temple and head.
Her complaint broke Olivia’s heart. “You’ll get better soon.” Olivia tried to project a conviction she was far from feeling.
The ER attending physician examined Melissa. As he touched her stomach, her scream of pain hit Olivia like a punch in the face. She knew something was wrong before the doctor said, “I’ll order CAT scans on the head and body.”
“How about her eyes?”
“No problem there.”
Luc arrived soon after Melissa’s gurney had been wheeled out of ER. “How is she feeling?”
“Her head hurts.”
“A concussion?”
“Probably. And her stomach area is sore. I hope there’s no internal bleeding.” Olivia linked her hands and twisted her fingers.
“No need to panic. We’ll know after the CAT scans.”
Olivia turned to look at Luc. “Thank you.” He’d been at her side every minute like a loving husband, even after she’d pushed him away.
“Do not even mention it.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if she has serious injuries.”
“She is young and healthy. She will recover soon. And everything will go back to normal.”
“What is normal in this case?”
“I don’t know, Olivia. It can be whatever you decide to make it. Don’t rush into any decisions now.” He scanned her soaked clothes and wet hair, then opened a cabinet and rummaged through plastic wraps containing scrubs. He pulled out two packets and handed her one. “We better change or we will catch pneumonia.”
He closed the privacy curtain and stepped out. She followed his advice, changed and dried her hair with a towel. When he came back garbed in scrubs, he appraised her with a smile. Faint amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Cute. I have not seen you in one of these since your med school days.”
She looked down at herself and then stared at him. “Oh.”
Her mind leapt to the day she’d first met him, the French resident coming for a fellowship in the U.S. She winced at the reminder of a time she’d spent years trying to forget. What a was
te.
Was it too late to make up? Too late to be happy? She had to dedicate every hour of her time to Melissa from now on. Would Luc stay and help them? After she’d pushed him away again?
He glanced at his watch. “Call Marianna. She must be out of her mind with worry by now.”
“You’re right.” Her pulse still pinging through her veins, she nodded. Amazing Luc. Even in the middle of chaos, he thought about everyone. She dialed her home number and reassured her mother.
“Dr. Crane?” The ER attending physician stood at the cubicle entrance.
“Yes? How’s Melissa?”
“She has a light concussion. Nothing too serious. We’ll monitor her. It will heal with time.” Olivia exhaled with relief. “But the CAT scan showed internal bleeding. We need to operate immediately on the spleen. I’ve already called the surgeon.”
The blood drained from Olivia’s face, and air clogged in her throat. She fisted her hands and forced herself to calm down. “Doctor, may I be present during the operation?”
The attending physician shook his head. “No way. You’re her mother.” He was right. But she’d promised Melissa she’d be with her. All the time.
Luc touched her arm. “Olivia, I will attend the surgery. And I will tell you every detail.”
“Thank you, Luc.”
“Nope,” the ER doctor interfered. “This is not a teaching hospital. Other than the surgical staff assigned, no one else is allowed to be present. You’ll be informed as soon as the surgery is finished.”
“Can I at least see her now?” Her self-control in shreds, Olivia crossed her arms around herself, fighting tears.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Crane. They’ve already taken her to the OR,” the ER physician said as he left the cubicle.
“It’s my fault.” She slumped against the wall and sobbed, headless of Luc and the nurses passing by outside the curtain. “If she has any permanent damage, I’ll have caused it.” Her child was suffering. But there was nothing a loving mother could do at the moment, except hope and pray.
Luc dragged around the privacy curtain and pulled her against his chest. “Hopefully, there will be no permanent damage. You have to believe it.” His heart bled for the woman he loved and her daughter. He brushed away the hair mussing Olivia’s face and wiped her tears with his fingers. “Chérie, you are not helping her by torturing yourself.”
She sniffled against his shoulder. He handed her a tissue.
“We cannot stay here any longer. Let’s go to the waiting room.” A hand on her back, he led her out of the ER cubicle toward the surgery department. He wanted to give her time to collect herself, move around, walk, do something. Anything was better than this collapse. “I think we can use some coffee.”
She’d stopped crying, but she walked past the vending machine like a robot that had been set to perform only one task at a time.
The waiting room was deserted at that hour of the night. She drooped on the sofa and stared straight ahead. He shook his head, unsure how to treat her depression. Maybe because he was too emotionally close to her, too involved in her problems. His lips twitched into a grimace. He left her and raced to the vending machine, bought two cups of coffee and came back in record time. She was still in the same position, her gaze fixed on the wall.
He set the Styrofoam cups on the wooden cocktail table and sat on the sofa next to her. Hit by an image of his past, he frowned and studied her.
Like him years ago, Olivia had been clobbered with a real blow. The pain he’d experienced when he met his little son in a hospital bed clubbed him again, a recurrent nightmare he’d erased only by his unrelenting advocacy of the truth. He heard his own words strangled by emotion, “I am your Papa.” The adorable toddler, a small, pale copy of his father, had looked blankly at him and closed his eyes. And never spoke to him.
“I understand your pain, Olivia. Not as a psychiatrist but as a father. You daughter is alive. Be grateful she is alive. And she is going to make it. My son died two hours after I met him.”
Olivia finally turned toward him and acknowledged his presence. “I’m sorry, Luc.” She bit her lip, anxiety wrinkling her beautiful face. “When we were in the ambulance, she asked me not to leave her. She still wants me after what I told her.”
“Of course, she wants you. You are the mother she has always loved and will continue to love.”
“I have to make up for my mistakes. If she wants to see her father, I will take her to him.”
Luc rubbed his chin, not sure it was a good idea. He’d met Jeremy Rutherford twice and resented the bastard’s lack of remorse for his violent and sexual misconduct. Luc suddenly realized that all his campaign for the truth could not justify exposing the love of his life to her horrific first boyfriend. “Why would you do that?”
“But Luc, you’ve been telling me for the past two months that I had to tell Melissa the truth. Are you having second thoughts now?”
“No, of course not.”
“Well, she wants to meet her father.”
Luc scowled, his heart pinched with a fierce protectiveness toward Olivia. Maybe the same protectiveness she felt toward Melissa. No, he said to himself. Not the same one. “No,” he repeated in a loud voice. “There must be a better solution.”
“Really? I’d like to hear it.”
He relaxed. In a way, discussing Jeremy had taken Olivia’s mind away from her anxiety about the crash and her daughter’s surgery. At least for the moment. Keep her talking and arguing. “What if Jeremy does not want to see her?”
“That would be great. At least, we’d get rid of him once and for all.”
“Yes, but Melissa will be devastated.”
“For heaven’s sake, Luc, stop being so negative. I’m trying to do the best I can for my daughter, within your sacrosanct boundaries of the truth.”
He couldn’t help smiling at the color that reddened Olivia’s cheek. She was back to her old self. Strong and assertive. And scowling at him.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You look cute when you are upset.”
“Bug off, Luc. I’m really not in a mood for flirting now.” She flipped a wayward strand of hair away from her forehead.
He flexed his fingers, thinking hard and fast. Melissa wanted to know her father, and Olivia was ready to let her meet Jeremy. But Luc couldn’t stand the idea of Olivia, or even Melissa, going to see the abusive salaud, especially after he’d seen interest for Olivia in Jeremy’s eyes. Even though Jeremy was under house arrest in the Rutherford’s mansion, God only knew what could happen during the encounter. Suddenly, Luc hit his forehead. The grandfather.
“I have an idea.”
“What now?” Olivia threw him a dubious look.
“The grandfather.”
“What about him?”
“I think Melissa would be happy to know him. He is family to her. A nice great-grandfather instead of a rotten father who didn’t want her. Suppose you call Tom Rutherford and ask him to come and meet Melissa. He liked her a lot when he saw her. He’s authoritative but courteous. He seemed to be a decent man. Nothing like Jeremy. Besides, he doesn’t approve of his grandson’s behavior.”
“You think he would come all the way here?”
“Maybe we can go and see him. Or meet at the Crisis Center.”
“I’ll go to his house. I feel I have to do that.”
“I will come with you.”
“No, this is a family matter. I’ll go alone.”
He sprang from the sofa. Her high-handed way of shoving him aside wounded him to the core.
“You may not consider me part of your family, Dr. Crane. But you have been part of my life for ten years.” She jerked back, but her widened eyes didn’t intimidate him. “Your own daughter had asked me to be her father at her dance. Your own daughter trusts me more than you do.”
Her lips parted on a gasp as she tilted her head up. “Luc, I do. I swear I trust you more than anyone, but I have to—”
“
You can’t go alone to the Rutherford mansion. Period.” He exhaled, exasperated by her twisted sense of motherly duty. “What if Jeremy is there? Are you ready to face him alone?”
“I’m not afraid of him anymore, now that Melissa knows the truth.”
She squeezed her hands into fists. Luc smiled, not doubting for a second that she’d throw a punch in Jeremy’s face if she had to. “But I’m not ready to let him see you again.” Olivia was the woman he loved, and he owed her his protection, whether she wanted it or not.
“Dr. Crane?” A man in green scrubs entered the waiting room.
Olivia bolted from her seat at the same time Luc spun around.
“Yes?” she asked in a whisper.
“I’m Dr. Sloan. The surgery went well. We glued the spleen to stop the bleeding. Your daughter is in recovery.”
Olivia’s sigh of relief echoed Luc’s. “Thank you, doctor. When can I see her?”
“In an hour. I don’t expect complications. In a week we’ll start therapy.”
“Thank you.” She nodded, and he left as a police officer entered the room, a paper bag in his hand.
“Mrs. Crane? Ma’am, I’m Officer Santino. May I ask you some questions about the accident?” The policeman didn’t wait for an invitation to drop in a chair.
Olivia remained standing, visibly taken aback by the man’s curt tone. Luc waved to the sofa. “We have a few minutes before Dr. Crane visits her daughter in recovery.”
“Are you a rela—”
“A friend of the family, Dr. Toulon-Chatel,” Luc said, returning the man’s cold stare.
“Mrs. Crane, we found this purse in the car. Is it your daughter’s?” The policeman handed her the brown leather pouch.
“Yes.”
“How old is the girl?”
“Sixteen.”
“Good. She’s over driving age. Although if she were my daughter I wouldn’t have allowed her to drive at night in such a foul weather.”
