The EMT looked toward them. “Who wants to ride with her on the way to the hospital to answer some questions for us?”
Travis nudged her numb body forward. “You go with her, Katie. I’ll follow in the truck.” To the EMT, he asked, “Georgetown?”
He nodded before guiding Kate into the back of the ambulance and indicating where she should sit. Seeing Chelsea’s pale face and still body made her afraid to touch her.
“Go ahead and talk to her. It might help bring her out of it.”
Kate started a rambling dialogue about some of the things Chelsea cared about, including Princess Jasmine, as the ambulance bounced slowly through the field. The driver was probably trying to avoid the danger of jarring Chelsea by hitting gopher hills and tunnels. Once through the gate, they picked up speed down the driveway and onto the road. Travis would make sure the gate was closed. Her own concern now was her baby getting more advanced medical attention. They were being careful with their precious cargo, which Kate appreciated, but she just wanted to get there.
Before she knew it, they arrived at Georgetown. “It won’t be long now, baby.” Kate said, stroking Chelsea’s forehead, brushing her hair back from the ugly swollen bump. Why was she still unresponsive? How long had she been unconscious?
The back door opened, and Kate scrambled out quickly to let them take care of Chelsea. Suddenly, strong arms were wrapped around her, the familiar scent of Travis’s soap telling her she wasn’t alone anymore.
They followed the stretcher inside and were greeted by two male emergency department staffers. “What’s the patient’s name?” one asked.
“Chelsea Cooper,” Kate answered.
Travis squeezed her hand. She was still so numb she hadn’t realized he was holding it. “Don’t worry, Katie. They’ll take good care of her.” No matter how many times she heard or even said the words, she wouldn’t believe it until Chelsea opened her eyes.
Inside a cubicle, Kate explained what she could about the accident, which was pitifully little. Travis wrapped his arm around her, and they watched as Chelsea was evaluated. He stroked her back, helping to calm her frayed nerves a bit.
Everything happened in a blur. People moved around the hospital bed, but all she could focus on was how still her daughter lay on the gurney.
“Is Chelsea allergic to any medications?”
“None that I know of. She’s never been injured this badly before or had to take anything but ampicillin and Tylenol in the past.” Chelsea’s eyes remained closed, her face pale except for the red bump on her forehead. A nurse checked her blood pressure. “How is she?” Kate asked the physician, only certain she was one by her white coat.
“I’d say she has a concussion, but we’re going to need a CT scan to see if there’s any bleeding or swelling in the brain. We’ll know soon whether she’ll need to be transferred to Lexington.”
Only the worst cases were sent to Lexington. Kate asked if she could kiss her before they took her out. “Sure. We’ll let her stay here until radiology is ready for her.”
The doctor and nurse left, and Kate walked over to the bed. She stroked Chelsea’s hair, careful not to touch the bump. “Chelsea. Open your eyes. Your daddy and I are here.”
Chelsea’s eyelids moved but remained closed. Was that a positive sign? Travis went to the other side of the bed. “It’s Daddy, sunshine. You’re going to be fine. They’re just going to do some scans. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
Kate waited, still stroking Chelsea’s hair.
“She squeezed my hand!” Travis said, smiling at Kate before focusing on Chelsea again. “Do it again, baby.”
Kate glanced at their joined hands and tried to tamp down a moment of envy that Chelsea had given him that sign instead of her. But joy soon won out. Chelsea had responded to a verbal command. This was no time to be jealous. She reached for the nurse’s button. Now if only Chelsea would open her eyes so she’d know she was going to be okay.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chelsea squeezed his hand, giving him the first ray of hope since Katie had whistled for him to stop the truck. Coincidentally, the sound was the same one he’d heard that day when Angus had nearly bucked him off, although he’d become convinced that one had come from Danny. Had his buddy gotten his attention again today, or had it been Katie both times?
“Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, we’re ready to take her to radiology now.” Travis liked the sound of that and didn’t bother to correct the man. He stepped back, releasing Chelsea’s hand with reluctance. Glancing across the gurney at Katie, he saw tears streaming down her face as she let go of Chelsea’s limp hand. He rounded the bed to wrap his arm around her and pull her away to give the nurses the space they needed.
“She’s going to be fine. She squeezed my hand, didn’t she?”
Katie nodded, but remained silent. Together, they watched their baby girl being wheeled away. He hadn’t felt this helpless since he’d found Danny…
But this day wasn’t going to end like that one. Chelsea was young and strong. She’d managed to communicate with him in some small way.
A staff member came in and asked them to follow her to the registration desk to take care of paperwork while they waited. Kate promised to drop off the insurance card later because she hadn’t brought her purse.
After she’d given them what information they asked for, he stood. “Come on. Let’s take a walk. She’s going to be in radiology a little while.” He didn’t think waiting in the cubicle with the screams of another patient fraying their nerves would be the best place right now.
Travis led her through the automatic doors and out the exit. The air was oppressive, but felt better than the chill in the hospital. Removing his arm from around her, he took her hand in his. Katie walked along as if in a trance. He steered her to a bench outside the emergency department’s entrance for her to sit. Worried about her, he watched her fidget with a loose thread on her jeans. She stood after a few moments, looking around as if unsure how she’d gotten here.
Out of the blue, she spun toward him. “If only you hadn’t promised her that horse, none of this would have happened.”
What did she just say?
“It was an accident!” he argued. “Horses are unpredictable. Especially that mean old cuss.”
She squared off with him. “She’s never ridden Angus before. Never even wanted to. It wasn’t until she thought she had to prove she was capable of taking on a more spirited horse that she tried to ride Angus. She wanted to prove something to me this morning. Why’d you have to make that promise anyway? Why couldn’t you have told her it wasn’t a good idea after we talked the first time, long before her heart was set on it?”
“Hold on a minute. I’m not going to take the blame for something that doesn’t need to have blame attached to it in the first place. All I want to do is make her happy.” Hell, if he wanted to join the blame game, he could point out that Kate was the one who said she’d need to prove herself on a higher caliber horse.
Clenching her fists on her hips, she said, “A parent’s job isn’t to make their kids happy. It’s to set limits and boundaries, guidelines that will keep them safe and help them grow into strong adults. You’re her father, not her friend.”
“Maybe if you’d let her experiment with new ideas—and sometimes fail at things—she wouldn’t need to prove anything to you or herself.”
Katie’s eyes opened wide as her jaw dropped, but only for a second before she fired back, “How would you know what I do or don’t do? You’ve only known her a few days.”
“You parent the way your father raised you. Your old man never let you try anything, either, as far as I can tell. And you aren’t able to let Chelsea out of the safe cocoon you’ve placed her in on your farm.” Jeezus, where’d that come from? But her words had cut him, and he needed to unleash some of the anger that had been building in him since he’d found out about Chelsea.
Katie’s chin quivered before she pressed her lips together, narrowi
ng her eyes. “My father did the best he could as a single parent. He brought me up to be a strong, independent woman who was able to expand her family farm’s business and raise a child by herself, too.”
“And you did the best you could to remain that single parent, never giving me the luxury of deciding whether or not I wanted to be a father to my own kid.”
“I said I’m sorry, and I’m trying to rectify it, but you aren’t meeting me halfway. Stop making promises without discussing them with me first. I’m tired of having to be the bad guy when you don’t think things through.”
His gut twisted as she swallowed hard, blinking rapidly. Dammit, why the hell were they tearing each other apart when their daughter should be bringing them together? The anger and bitterness was beginning to eat him alive. They had a helluva rift to mend if they were ever going to be able to move on, whether as a couple and a family or simply parents sharing joint custody. Right now, though, Chelsea needed them to be strong for her—steadfast together and on the same team.
“Look, Katie, this is no time for us to be going at each other. Let’s go back inside.” She took several breaths before her body relaxed somewhat, but then she began to shake. He cupped her cheek. Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away. “We’re both beyond worried about Chelsea.” Travis reached for her hand. “Let’s go back inside and wait.”
She shook her head. “You go ahead. Give me a few minutes, then I’ll join you.”
Travis wasn’t going to leave her out here by herself, not in this state of mind. He took her hand again, and she didn’t resist. “I’ll walk with you.”
An unspoken truce opened up between them, and they walked in silence until he couldn’t stand being away any longer. “I don’t know about you, but it feels like they’ve had long enough to do the scans.”
She glanced at her phone. “It’s only been fifteen minutes.”
“Well, I want to be there when they bring her back.”
She nodded. “Me, too.”
In unison, they turned around and started back across the parking lot toward the entrance. “She’s going to be all right, Katie.” He squeezed her hand as if his words would make it so. Chelsea had to be okay.
Dammit, Katie’s right. He’d started all this with his grandiose gesture to try and instantly win his daughter’s love and by not consulting with Katie about such a major decision in their daughter’s life. In the future, he needed to think before he acted, to discuss things with Katie before making any more promises. God, he had a lot to learn.
His phone vibrated in his pocket near the emergency department’s entrance, and he pulled it out.
JACKSON: There’s been an accident.
Was the man psychic now? “You go on. I need to let Jackson know I won’t be back today after all.”
Katie nodded and went inside while Travis texted.
TRAVIS: Yeah. Don’t know when I can get back. Waiting for word from the doctor.
JACKSON: What r u talking about?
Wait. Jackson couldn’t be aware of Chelsea’s accident. So what was he talking about?
TRAVIS: Chelsea had a fall. Head injury. What accident r u talking about?
JACKSON: Sorry. She okay?
TRAVIS: Unconscious. Waiting on brain scans.
JACKSON: Shit, man. Never mind me.
Now he was starting to worry.
TRAVIS: What the hell’s going on down there?
It was almost a minute before Jackson responded.
JACKSON: I’m a jackass.
Enough of this… Travis called Jackson, and he answered right away. “What happened?”
“Nothing, really. You have more important stuff to deal with now. We’ll talk later.”
“If you don’t tell me within the next five seconds who’s been injured, you’re fired.”
Jackson’s laugh was long and hearty because he knew Travis would never get rid of him. “Yeah, well, you might want to fire me regardless.”
Travis didn’t have time for this bullshit. Raking his fingers through his hair, he counted down, “Three, two…”
“Okay, I pushed too hard. Trying to get us back on schedule before the summer break, and I—”
“Last we talked you were ahead of schedule.”
“I didn’t want to worry you or have you hurrying back here before you were ready. You had more important stuff to do up there. But…I screwed up.”
Jackson never messed up. “Who got hurt?”
“Luckily me and not someone else. Not too bad. I’m fine so keep your focus on Chelsea.”
Jackson was injured? “How badly?”
He sighed. “Doctor says I’m going to be laid up at least six weeks. I doubt it’ll be more than three.”
Weeks? “What kind of injury?”
“Besides my wounded pride, I fractured my left fibula. Just a stress fracture. Won’t require surgery.”
Six weeks, hell. The bones of a forty-two-year old didn’t heal as quickly as those of a younger man. He could be out for months given the type of work he did.
“What happened?”
“Misjudged the height when I jumped down to help Smitty lift a joist.”
If Travis had been down there, the crew wouldn’t have fallen behind schedule and Jackson wouldn’t have been losing sleep and pushing push so hard doing both their jobs.
Travis stared up at the hospital building where his little girl lay unconscious. He had responsibilities to Jackson and his crew, but also to his daughter. How could he be in two places at the same time?
Travis had invested every ounce of his time and energy into his business for the past decade. When deployments were expected, he simply cut back on the number of projects they were involved in, and Jackson managed to keep things running smoothly in his absence. Until this time. He hadn’t accounted for taking any time away because he never took time off. But for the first time since he’d started the company, he had other priorities. Chelsea and Katie had to come first.
“Listen, Travis, this is nothing but an inconvenience. We’re within a couple days of finishing up this job. I can bark orders sitting as well as standing.”
Jackson and Travis led by example, not by telling everyone else what to do. Both were hands-on.
“As soon as I know Chelsea’s out of the woods, I’ll get down there. In the meantime, let me see if Clint or one of Dad’s foremen can spare some time to help out a few days this week.”
“Sure. I’ll do what I can, but we both know how important it is to have boots on the ground at a site. Clint knows how things should be run.”
“And by the time we start the new job after the crew’s vacation, I’ll be back there full-time.” Hell, there he went making promises again. He knew nothing of the sort. Everything hinged on Chelsea’s condition and building a future with her.
“You just worry about your little girl. I’ll be fine.”
“Anybody there to help you out at home?”
Jackson chuffed. “I haven’t had anyone taking care of me in a long time. No plans to start now.”
Travis wondered if maybe Emmy or Shania could check in on him. They had mobile careers that could be done anywhere. He’d think about that later. Right now, though, he needed to get back inside. “Keep me posted, Jackson. And I’ll call Clint next chance I get.”
They said goodbye, and Travis went back inside the emergency department to wait with Katie for news about Chelsea’s condition.
Talk about one screwed up day. Whenever life settled down, he had some thinking to do about his future.
* * *
Kate’s body had grown numb, along with her mind. Chelsea had only been in radiology twenty-five minutes according to her phone, but it seemed like a lifetime.
“Any news?”
She shook her head when Travis came back into the cubicle and took a seat on the opposite side of where Chelsea’s bed would be, whenever she returned. “What do you think is taking so long?”
“Hard to say. The Emergency Departmen
t is pretty busy, so there might just be—”
Before he finished, someone poked his head between the curtains. “Is anyone here willing to claim one Chelsea Cooper?”
She heard Chelsea giggle before she saw her smiling face as the bed was wheeled between her and Travis. She was awake! Kate and Travis both jumped up to greet her before the aide could even put the brake on the gurney.
“Mom, Daddy, I wanna be a radiology tech like Noah when I grow up.”
Kate released a nervous laugh as some of the pent-up anxiety was expelled hearing Chelsea had returned to the medical field again in her job aspirations. “You can be whatever you set your mind to, sweetie. More important, though, how do you feel?”
She furrowed her brows. “My head is killing me.” She reached up to touch the bandage on her forehead. “What happened?”
“I’ll leave you folks alone. Chelsea, y’all take care and no more stupid horse tricks.”
Chelsea grinned at the young man with the Kentucky-blue spiked hair. “Don’t worry! I learned my lesson. Bye, Noah! Thank you!”
“Yes, thanks for taking such good care of her,” Travis said.
Kate thanked him as well, but couldn’t take her eyes off Chelsea. She couldn’t believe she’d been seriously injured barely two hours ago and now was smiling and happy. While she seemed to be back to normal, Kate would wait for reassurance from the doctor that there weren’t any hidden issues to keep Chelsea from a full recovery.
“You scared twenty years off our lives, young lady. What were you thinking to go out riding Angus, and without a helmet?”
Kate wasn’t ready to chastise her. “Travis, we’ll talk about it later.” She was thrilled Chelsea appeared to be okay.
Chelsea grew contrite at Travis’s words, though, not meeting either of their gazes. “I don’t really remember much. At breakfast, I got mad and wanted to show Mom I was ready for a more challenging horse.”
“And how’d that work out for you?” he asked.
Why was Travis being so hard on her? Okay, Kate was upset about the accident, too. All three of them shouldered some of the blame for what had happened.
Kate's Secret (Bluegrass Spirits Book 2) Page 37
