Later on that evening, Cord and his station had brought in a medical aid patient and he stood at the nurse’s station, waiting for the paramedics to finish up so he could clear the rig. But he was mostly looking for Alix, as this was his third trip to the hospital during that shift and he’d already seen her twice. He looked forward to the medical aid calls these days just so he could see her lovely face. It always made his day.
As he stood at the nurse’s station and chatted with an older African-American nurse he had known for years, he caught sight of Alix as she emerged from a corridor with a couple of men in suits. One man in particular was handsome and Cord felt territorial testosterone seizures coming on as he watched Alix interact with the two men. She was so fluid and lovely to watch. His eyes must have narrowed or he must have otherwise given a signal that he was mentally chest beating, because the nurse he was speaking with turned to see what had his attention. She grinned as she turned back to her computer monitor.
“There she is, Cord,” the woman teased. “Go get her, honey. Don’t let those men take her away from you.”
Cord didn’t take his eyes off the trio. “Hmmm,” he grunted. “I’m bigger than they are. I can take them.”
The nurse laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about them too much,” she said. “They’re pharmaceutical reps. They come around here a lot.”
Cord glanced at the woman, giving her a wry expression. “They better not come around her a lot, if you get my drift. Make sure they know that, okay?”
The nurse was still giggling, shaking her head. “She’s only got eyes for you. Don’t worry so much.” Before he could respond, she glanced up at him. “How’s she been feeling, by the way?”
Cord tore his eyes off the pair of men and looked at the nurse. “Fine, I guess. Why do you ask?”
The nurse shrugged. “She seems like she’s been under the weather for the past few days,” she said. “She was sick in the bathroom both yesterday and today.”
“Sick how?”
“Vomiting. She actually had to leave a patient this morning because she was sick. I tried to get her to go home but she says she’s fine.”
His brow furrowed. “I didn’t know anything about that,” he said. “But I’ve also been on a double shift. I haven’t been home in a couple of days.”
“It’s probably just the flu.”
He appeared upset as he began to move in Alix’s direction. “Then what in the hell is she doing here?”
It was a rhetorical question. Cord made his way over to Alix as she was winding down her conversation with the suits. She saw him coming out of the corner of her eye, smiled at him, and then politely excused herself from the two sales reps.
“Hi, baby,” she said, her eyes twinkling wearily at him. “Back again?”
He nodded, leaning down to kiss her and making sure the suits saw it. “What’s this I hear you’ve been sick?”
Her smile faded. “I’m okay,” she said quietly. “Don’t worry about me.”
He looked at her as if she had just made a ridiculous statement. “Of course I’m going to worry about you,” he snapped without force. “What’s the matter?”
Alix glanced around, looking rather hesitant. “Well….”
“Well what?”
She paused a moment, hesitantly, before grasping his arm. “Come back to my office for a second.”
Cord had his radio with him so he let her pull him back to her office, tucked back in one of the multitude of corridors. She had a nice window view. As she closed the door, the radio chattered at Cord and he responded.
“I need to clear the rig, honey,” he said. “What’s up?”
“This will just take a minute,” she said, gingerly rubbing her belly. “You haven’t really been home so I haven’t had a chance to talk to you about this.”
“About what?”
She gazed up at him, his strong features and handsome face, and her stomach was all in knots. As he stood there looking at her expectantly, she suddenly ducked for the trash can, picked it up, and puked right into it. Startled, Cord put his hand on her back as she ended up dry heaving.
“Oh, honey,” he said sympathetically. “You need to go home. How long has this been going on?”
Alix sat the trash can down, struggling to catch her breath. Her entire face was pasty-pale as she reached for the box of tissues to wipe her mouth off.
“A couple of days,” she said. “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”
“Why would you say that?”
She looked at him, then. She sighed heavily. “Because it’s not the flu,” she said. “It’s morning sickness. I’m pregnant.”
His reaction was instantaneous. “You are?” His eyebrows flew up and the color drained from his face. “Oh… my God, you’re pregnant?”
She couldn’t tell if he was happy or angry. “Yes,” she said, sounding weary and defeated. “I had the lab do a test this morning and it came back positive, so I’m seeing the OB/GYN later today.”
Cord stood there and stared at her, shocked to the bone. But with his next breath, he was throwing his arms around her and lifting her off the ground, hugging her so tightly that she grunted.
“Oh, my God,” he gasped again. “Are you serious? A baby?”
Alix was coming to figure out that he was happy about it. “Yes,” she winced when he squeezed too hard. “Baby, put me down, please. My stomach can’t take this.”
He set her down immediately. “I’m so sorry,” he said, concerned. “Did I hurt you?”
She grinned weakly, patting his cheek. “No,” she said. “But you need to be mindful of my belly. Next time you do that, I might puke all over your shoulder.”
He laughed, happily, his big hands on her arms. Then he just stared at her, slowly shaking his head. “I can’t even tell you how happy I am right now,” he said hoarsely. “I just feel like… like the luckiest man in the world. Really? A baby?”
She couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm. “Really,” she confirmed. “A baby.”
Cord pulled her into his arms again, only this time, much more gently. “Oh, honey,” he murmured, kissing her head repeatedly. “I’m so thrilled about this, I just can’t tell you.”
Alix gave in to his hug, his comfort, taking satisfaction in it like nothing she had ever experienced before. It brought tears to her eyes and she snuggled against him, letting herself get swept up with his power and warmth.
“Good,” she murmured. “I’ve suspected for a week or two but I guess I didn’t want to admit it. When the nausea started coming on, I figured I’d better face facts.”
He released her from the hug but his arms were still around her. “What time is your doctor’s appointment this afternoon?”
“Four.”
“I’ll be here.”
She smiled weakly at him. “You don’t have to,” she said. “It’s not a big deal. He’s just going to examine me and give me a due date.”
“Like I said, I’ll be here.”
She chuckled, seeing there was no dissuading the man. Putting her hands on his cheeks, she stroked his face affectionately.
“We’ve already got five kids between us,” she said. “Looks like we’re going to have an even half-dozen.”
He just grinned like a fool. “Maybe it’ll be a girl.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I just want a healthy baby, but I’d love to have a girl. I don’t have one, in case you didn’t realize that.”
She laughed, patted his cheek, and kissed him. “I did, in fact, realize that,” she said as she released him and opened her office door. “So now if you see me duck for the trash can, you’ll know why. But keep it to yourself, okay? I just started this job and now I’m pregnant… I’m not sure how my new colleagues are going receive the news.”
He grew serious. “I don’t give a damn how they receive the news,” he said. “This isn’t their decision or their choice.”
He was starting
to get worked up and she shushed him, her gentle hands to his face, her fingers across his lips.
“It’s okay,” she assured him “Don’t get upset about it. I’ll all work out.”
He was genuinely angry. “You’ll tell me if someone gives you a bad time about this, right?”
She nodded patiently, holding his hand as she led him out of her office and into the corridor. “Of course I will.”
“I mean it, Alix. If anyone hassles you about this, they’re going to have to deal with me.”
She continued to nod patiently and steadily, pausing to kiss him before they made the turn that led out into the emergency department.
“See you back here at four,” she said, trying to get his mind off his frustration. “Go tell your buddies what I told you but tell them to keep it to themselves for a while, okay?”
He was successfully diverted. “Okay,” he said, the lure of telling his fellow firemen the good news bringing the smile back to his face. He bent down and kissed her again. “I love you. See you in a bit.”
Alix watched him walk out into the emergency room, his proud stride and powerful body. The man made her heart flutter just to look at him. But that warm and wonderful thought was cut short as she had to rush back into her office for the trash can again.
* * *
Cord didn’t make it for her doctor’s appointment but Alix suspected it was because he was on a call. The man would have come unless it had been utterly impossible for him to get away. So she had a consultation with Dr. Sutton, an OB/GYN who had come to her highly recommended, and Dr. Sutton did an ultrasound that revealed a viable pregnancy. Based on his calculations, Alix’s due date was June 4, which meant she was about eight weeks along. When she got out of Dr. Sutton’s office, she called Cord’s cell phone but it went straight to voice mail, so she left a teasing message that would make him crazy until he called her back.
Grinning, she went back to work in the emergency department, reviewing the chart of a kid who had been in a car accident and consulting with the orthopedic surgeon. When she was finished with the consultation, she walked up to the nurse’s station with some lab paperwork in her hand and noticed that both television sets were turned to a news channel. Glancing up, the first thing she saw was a building on fire. Upon closer inspection, it was a church with a very tall steeple. Curious, Alix tried to hear what the newscaster was saying.
“What’s happening?” she asked the half-dozen nurses who were crowded around the nursing station.
The African-American nurse who knew Cord was the first to speak. “The Tabernacle Church is on fire,” she said. “Apparently, it’s been burning for a while. Part of the roof has caved in and….”
The phone rang, interrupting her. The nurse answered the phone and after a few quick words, hung up the receiver. She turned to the group behind her, including Alix.
“That was city fire,” she said. “They’re sending over some injuries and want us to be prepared. Burns, trauma, that kind of thing.”
“Did they say how many?” Alix asked.
The woman shook her head. “No,” she replied. “But there must be quite a few if they’re calling ahead.”
Alix had been through that kind of drill before, especially in Los Angeles. She snapped her fingers because she was the only doctor in the emergency room at that point.
“Let’s get rolling, folks,” she said as the group started to move. “We’ll set up triage right here in front of the nurse’s station and tag accordingly. Has everyone been through something like this before?”
A couple of the younger nurses shook their heads, looking rather wide-eyed. Alix mainly focused on them.
“You’ve been trained in the S.T.A.R.T. system, right?” she asked. “Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment?”
When the women nodded, she continued. “We’ll tag according to the severity of injury,” she said. “Black for morgue, red for immediate, yellow for delayed, and green for minor. Do we have a stash of triage tags?”
The African-American nurse was already pulling out the box of tags. Alix pointed at her. “Grace, you meet the ambulances as soon as they pull in and start tagging,” she said, grabbing the head nurse. “Deb, you coordinate them as they come in to the E.R. I have a feeling I’ll be tied up, so it’s up to you and Grace to coordinate, okay? Also, someone call Dr. Philby and Dr. Potts off their break. They must be in the cafeteria because that’s where I saw them heading. And someone call the department head and tell him to get in here. We’re going to be full.”
Everyone started moving, including Alix. Confident everything would work like a well-oiled machine, she changed into fresh scrubs and washed her hands, preparing for the onslaught. She also took a couple of antacids because her stomach was starting to lurch again. She didn’t want to have to make a break for a trash can at an inopportune time.
The first ambulances rolled in less than ten minutes later. Alix took the first case, a young man who had fairly serious burns and a crushed sternum. She was focused on her patient and not listening to much of what was going on, but at some point, she began to hear murmurs of injured firefighters. She tried to fight down her anxiety by focusing on her patient, but she was pulled away from the young man. Once she had him stabilized she focused on a firefighter who had his entire right side smashed when part of the roof of the church caved in.
He was badly injured and badly burned, but Alix remained calm and soothing with him, feeling increasingly apprehensive for Cord’s safety. She had every reason to believe he had been fighting the church fire because of the proximity of his station to the blaze, but so far, he hadn’t shown up in the emergency room and for that, she was extremely grateful. As she worked to stabilize the young firefighter whose greatest concern seemed to be if he would have any scars on his face, Dr. Potts, one of the other E.R. doctors, entered her exam.
“Dr. Hendry,” he reached out and pulled her away from her patient. “I need you to come with me.”
Alix left her patient in the hands of a competent nurse and followed Dr. Potts into the main area where the nurse’s station was. All of the exam rooms were full, as was the big open area near the nurse’s station. There was quite a triage going on, like M.A.S.H. surgery, and she faced Dr. Potts, who put his arm around her shoulders.
“I wanted to be the one to tell you that Captain Trevor is here,” he said softly.
It didn’t really register with Alix what he meant. She began to look around. “Where is he?”
“In Exam Two,” Dr. Potts, an older man with a truly gentle manner, was trying to go easy on her. “Let me give you a rundown of his condition before you go in there; he’s got a fractured pelvis, six broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I think he’s also got some internal injuries so we’re having the portable MRI brought down here. He may need surgery, Alix. I’ve already called your partner, Dr. Levenger, and he’s on his way. I wouldn’t expect you to do this.”
Alix stared at the man as his words began to sink in. Her heart began to race and she could feel the tears springing to her eyes, but she fought it. Still, she couldn’t help the abject grief that was tearing at her.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, turning towards Exam Two. “I have to see him.”
“You’ll have to do the surgical consult,” Dr. Potts said. “The sooner we can diagnose, the sooner we can get him into surgery. Dr. Levenger is going straight to surgery to scrub up when he gets here, so you’ll have to do the evaluation. Okay?”
Alix was already moving for the exam room, somewhat unsteadily, nodding her head to Dr. Potts’ question.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Are you all right?” Dr. Potts was following her. “I’ll help you out on this, but I wanted you to know what was going on, Alix. I’m so sorry.”
Alix didn’t acknowledge him. She walked straight into the exam room, ignoring the firefighters crowding around the door, only to see Cord lying on the gurney, covered in filth. He had his turn-out pants on, and his boots, but hi
s clothing had been cut away from the waist up and IVs were running into both arms. His eyes were closed, his body prone, and he looked to Alix as if he were already dead. It was a horrifying sight.
A sob caught in her throat as she went to his bedside, struggling with every ounce of strength she possessed not to break down. Cord’s chart was up on the monitor and she took a moment to examine his stats. His blood pressure was low but his electro-cardiogram was good, so she took some comfort with that. Then she noticed x-rays up on the view plate all along the wall. She paused, looking at an x-ray of Cord’s pelvis, his lungs, his neck and his spine. She could feel Dr. Potts beside her.
“How long has he been here and nobody bothered to tell me?” she hissed.
Dr. Potts tried not to look too contrite. “About twenty minutes,” he said. “You were busy with another patient and I wanted to get Cord stabilized before we told you.”
Alix was furious, mixed in with her grief. She opened her mouth to blast Dr. Potts when Cord’s soft voice interrupted her building tirade.
“Alix?” he murmured.
Her head snapped in his direction, noting his eyes were open and he was looking at her. When their eyes met, he smiled. “Hi, honey.”
Alix went to his bedside but she couldn’t speak. The tears were building up, spilling down her face as she grasped his hand and tried not to fall apart. Finally, she put a hand across her mouth so she wouldn’t break out into gut-busting sobs.
Cord could see her breaking down and he tried to lift a hand to comfort her, but it was fairly impossible with the IV lines. He shushed her. “It’s okay,” he assured her, squeezing her hand. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got the best doctor in Salem on my side, right?”
Alix could only nod her head, so very devastated. “What happened?” she whispered.
Cord sighed, squeezing her hand again as he closed his eyes. They’d given him something for the pain and it was making him very sleepy.
“The roof caved in,” he muttered. “I was too dumb to get out of the way.”
A sob escaped her lips then as she struggled not to openly weep. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “I… I can’t believe this.”
Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 240
