Gold Star Chance

by C J Murphy

  Chance winced, as she turned to see Jax jump out of the UTV and to her uncle’s side. Biting the side of her jaw against the pain in her leg, Chance made her way over. She’d wait until they loaded Marty up, then she’d have Ethan look at the knife wound in her leg. She didn’t want Jax to know she was injured. An unconscious uncle was enough to worry about. Right then, she wanted to hold Jax more than anything. She wanted to make a nightmare of a day go away. Later.

  Chapter Twenty

  THE OFF-ROAD VEHICLE was still in motion when Jax jumped out and ran to where her uncle lay on the ground. Tears streamed down her face. He’s alive. That’s all that matters right now. Trying to convince herself that anything else could be fixed, she centered her emotions and looked at him with her paramedic training. A.B.C. Airway, breathing, circulation.

  Sarah was at her side in a minute and put her hand on his wrist at the pulse point. “Ethan, can you give me an assessment?”

  Ethan rattled off the pertinent information and slowly, the vice around Jax’s chest released. Yes, he was unconscious, and that was worrisome at his age. But he was breathing normally, and Sarah told her his pulse was strong. He had a flesh wound in his shoulder, and blood oozed through the bandage. He was alive. She needed to focus on that. She looked to Sarah. “Load and go?”

  Sarah nodded. “Since they don’t know what happened to him, we’ve got to protect his spinal integrity until we know there is no trauma. We can put the spine board in the bed of the UTV and transport him back to the ambulance. We’ve got a chopper landing, so let’s get him out of here.”

  The agreement Jax tried to choke out was drowned by the bile rising in her throat. The rush of hot water in her mouth warned her she was about to throw up. She crawled away from her uncle and heaved into the tall grass at the edge of the path. Briers pierced her palms as her stomach violently emptied. She felt a hand sweep her hair back and hold it, while a cool palm came to rest on her forehead. Zeus whined and tried to get close to her.

  “It’s okay, baby. Let it go.”

  Chance. The voice she’d heard in her dreams was comforting her while the stress left her body along with her stomach contents. When she had nothing left to bring up, she dry heaved while Chance held her. When she’d finished, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sat back on her heels. “Oh my God.”

  Chance encircled Jax with her arms. “I’ve got you. He’s going to be okay. We need to get you both out of here.” Chance took a bottle of water from someone passing by and opened it. Jax drank while Zeus nuzzled under her empty hand, and she gratefully accepted his comfort. She took a large swig, swished it around her mouth, and spat it on the ground. Jax groaned and took another mouthful, only to repeat her earlier action. She handed the bottle back to Chance and wiped her mouth again. When she felt strong enough, she let Chance help her up.

  They stood, and she felt Chance stumble. For the first time, Jax looked up at her. “Are you okay?”

  Chance nodded and took her hand. “I’m okay, just coming down from the adrenaline rush. Come on, we’ll talk at the hospital. I’m going to have to stay for a bit. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

  Jax threw her arms around Chance and let the tears pour out. What little radio traffic she’d heard had terrified her. Only when she’d heard Chance’s voice telling that Marty was alive did she take her first full breath. It had burned in her chest. She knew both her uncle and the woman she was in love with were still alive. “Thank you, Chance. Thank you seems so inadequate for what I feel right now, but I don’t have the words.”

  Chance held her with one arm and pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “No thanks needed, my love. Now go. I’ll see you at the hospital. Call me if you need me to stop by and bring you anything, okay?”

  Jax nodded and squeezed Chance one more time, before she released her to bend and kiss Zeus between the eyes. “Thank you, boy, for making sure both of them came back to me.” She kissed him again. Zeus licked her face, clearing away her tears. She put her arms around his neck and squeezed, before she rose and walked back to where her uncle lay on the backboard.

  “We’re ready to go. I’m guessing you’re going with us?” Sarah’s concern was written all over her face.

  Jax took a deep breath and climbed into the bed of the side-by-side. “I am. Let’s get him out of here.” She looked back at Chance, kissed her fingers, then slapped the plexiglass that separated the cab from the bed to let the driver know they were ready to move. She reached down and held her uncle’s hand.

  “He’s going to be okay, Jax,” Sarah reassured her. “I found a lump on his head. How he got it is a mystery. I’m guessing that’s the source of his unconsciousness. Vitals are all good, and I’ve got a line going. The monitor shows a steady heart rate and the bleeding on his shoulder is controlled. There’s a chopper available, but I think he’s stable enough for an ambulance ride to Garrett. Ethan told me the other guy in the cabin might not make it. I don’t want you to think Marty isn’t more important, but I want those bastards to pay for what they did. The best way to make sure he lives to see a courtroom is to fly him out.”

  Jax understood Sarah’s need to explain, but it wasn’t necessary. Her own clinical mind had triaged the patients with an experienced view of her surroundings. The other man was critical; Uncle Marty didn’t seem to be. Forty minutes later, they pulled into the emergency room, where they were met by a few nurses and a doctor who ushered them into the treatment area.

  Sarah looked at Jax. “They’re going to need his information, Jax. I promise, I’ll stay with him and come get you as soon as I can. I promise, I won’t leave him.”

  Jax could do little more than nod.

  “Jax, he’s going to be okay. Call Maggie and give her the heads up that they are okay. I think Chance said she was calling your mom.”

  Jax pushed both hands into her hair and pushed it back from her face. “Yeah, I should do that. Thanks, Sarah.” She made her way to the reception desk and started to give her uncle’s medical history and personal information. When she’d completed that, she called Maggie. The phone rang only once.

  “Hey, Maggie, it’s Jax. Chance found him, and we’ve got him at the emergency room.”

  “Oh, Jax. I’m so happy to hear that. I know your mom will be too. You need to call her as soon as you have an update on him. She’s been worried sick about both of you.”

  Jax tried to keep from saying anything insulting. Her mother had never worried about anything but her reputation. To try and believe that it would be any different now would be impossible, even if it were true. “I’ll call her. I just wanted to let you know it was over.”

  “And Chance?”

  “She was walking and talking when I left. I assume she’s the same as when I left her. To tell you the truth, I was so focused on Uncle Marty, I really didn’t get a chance to check her over. We needed to get him out of there. I’m sure she’ll be on her way to the hospital as soon as things settle down there.”

  “How are you, honey?”

  “Me? I didn’t have anything happen to me. I wasn’t anywhere near what happened.”

  “I know you were listening to the traffic. Only hearing half of what was going on and not being able to see it for yourself creates a completely different kind of terror. Not to mention how close you and your Uncle Marty are.”

  Jax took a few seconds and let her feelings surface. “I was terrified I might lose both of them. Uncle Marty is far from being a young man. I’ll lose him someday in the near future. I know that’s inevitable. The thought of losing Chance before we’ve had decades together scared me more than anything I’ve ever felt.”

  “The difference between you and Faith is, when the time came, you were able to let Chance do her job. That’s why I have no trouble seeing you two together for the long haul. As much as I worry about her, to hold her back would kill her spirit and put out the fire that drives her. I beg her to be careful. What I don’t do is ask her to bleed for m
e. That’s what it would be, Jax. It would involve cutting out part of her soul. When she was in the burn ward, I prayed for her to live. I’m pretty sure she was praying to die. I asked her to fight, to fight with everything she had to come back to us and she did. That’s why I don’t ask her to quit. She’s already been to the gates of hell, walked through them, and put the damn place out.”

  Jax rubbed her arm at the chill that rushed over her. “I wish I’d known. I’d have been there.”

  “I have no doubt you would have, and she’d have fought just as hard to come back to you.”

  They said nothing for a few moments, Jax leaned against a wall trying to absorb everything. “I probably need to go get an update and call Mom. She’ll have a million questions about her older brother.”

  “Honey, she may not say it to you, but she’s just as concerned about her daughter. It could have been you they took. It scared her.”

  “All those years I spent out in California and never once did she express any concern for my safety. I move back here to a sleepy little county in West Virginia and all hell breaks loose.”

  Maggie laughed. “I’m betting that no matter where you were, she worried. Your mom was always wrapped tightly within herself. It was hard for her to let anything shine out of that hard exterior. Trust me, I remember a young lady who was very different. Someday, I’ll tell you all about her. I love you, Jax, for who you are and because you love my daughter exactly the way she is. Call me with an update if you get the time.”

  Jax felt her heart swell with Maggie’s declaration. Strange how less than a gallon bucketful of time with the woman made Jax feel like she’d missed out on an ocean’s worth. “Love you too, Maggie. Tell Dee not to worry either.”

  “Easier said than done, but I’ll try.”

  They hung up as Sarah opened the door that separated the waiting room from the treatment area and beckoned her in.

  “Jax, this is Dr. Amy Halston. She’s the attending physician tonight.” Sarah pointed to a woman standing in scrubs. “Amy, this is Jax St. Claire, Martin Hendricks’s niece.”

  The tall slender woman reached for Jax’s hand. “Sorry to meet you under these circumstances. I hear you’re a paramedic that I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting.”

  “Nice to meet you, Dr. Halston. Trust me, I’d rather meet you any other way than this. How is he?”

  Dr. Halston put one hand in her pocket and waved her toward a treatment area. “He’s come around once or twice. Not really coherent or orientated at this point. His eyes have opened a time or two to verbal commands, which is a good sign. We’re sending him up for a CT. His vitals are stable, and fortunately, the bullet only grazed that shoulder. He’ll have an impressive scar to show for it. I don’t expect any lasting deficiencies. I wasn’t able to find anything more than a variety of abrasions. He’s obviously been through the wringer. As long as nothing serious shows up on the scans, we’ll keep him a day or two for observation. It’s all precautionary due to his age. After that we’ll send him home with instructions to rest. Trauma like this is more difficult to recover from at his age. The good thing is it’s not impossible.”

  “He’s always been one of the strongest men I’ve ever known, despite his stature. No major health issues beyond some night blindness.” Jax ran her hands through her hair.

  “Well then, I’d say some rest and a little less action, and he’ll be right as rain. They’re just readying him for transport to the scan. Do you have any questions for me?”

  Jax shook her head. “Not until we get the scan, I guess.”

  “He’s responding and moving all his extremities with stimuli. I think he took a pretty good knock on the head. Likely a concussion, and you know what those can do.” Dr. Halston signed a clipboard for the transport team. “You can either wait out in the reception area for him or there’s a waiting room upstairs. Likely, he’ll go straight to a room after the scan. I’ll see him there once the radiologist reads it.”

  Jax stood by Sarah. “I’ll go with him, if that’s okay. If he comes to, I want to be there. Will I be able to make a phone call from there?”

  “Yes, there’s a phone in the room if you don’t have a cell phone.” Dr. Halston walked with them to the elevator.

  “Thank you, Dr. Halston.”

  She smiled. “Call me Amy. I’m not big on formalities. I heard you’re a doctor of a different kind.” Amy winked. “And any person special to Chance Fitzsimmons has to be good people.

  Jax laughed. “Thank you, Amy.”

  The elevator carried Jax and Sarah up to the radiology floor with the transport team. Her uncle lay on the gurney looking frail and, to Jax, very much his age for the first time.

  Sarah squeezed her hand. “He’s going to be okay.”

  Jax stared at the pale form under the starched, white sheets. “From your lips to God’s ears.” Sarah left to check on Kenny’s condition and promised to be back.

  Pale grey walls were closing in on Jax after twenty minutes of wearing a path from the seats to the window, waiting for Marty to return. With great trepidation, she called her mother. The dread in her stomach threatened to expel the cold coffee she’d forced down. The phone rang only once, before the clipped tones of her mother’s exaggerated posh accent came across the line.

  “Well?”

  Jax took a deep breath and put her hand on her stomach to calm the butterflies. You’re not ten anymore. She can’t ground you. “Hello, Mother. He’s currently undergoing a CAT scan. All his vitals are within acceptable ranges. He hasn’t come around yet.” She went on to clinically lay out his assessment to her mother, using great care to measure her tone.

  “How old is his doctor?” Jacqueline St. Claire requested.

  “About my age. I didn’t ask her for specifics.”

  “Is she married?”

  “What in the hell does that have to do with Uncle Martin’s condition?”

  “From your defensiveness, I take it she’s gay.”

  Jax felt the raw anger raise her blood pressure but answered her mother with a measured tone. “What in the hell, Mother? I have no idea, and even if she is, it’s not relevant to his treatment.”

  “I raised you better than to swear at me. I thought that radar thing all lesbians are supposed to possess would tell you her particular persuasion.”

  “Mother, are you at all interested in his condition, or did I call you by mistake thinking that you give a shit? You can take your homophobic rhetoric and press it between the pages of your well-read Bible. Put it in Leviticus, I know that’s your favorite book of scripture. You’ve quoted the verses at me often enough. Don’t forget to condemn yourself when you eat lobster or wear your cotton polyester blends. I’ll call Dad with the results of Uncle Marty’s scan. If you’re interested in knowing what the diagnosis is, ask him.”

  She pushed the END button. She contemplated turning off her cell phone but thought better of it. Chance might call. She slid the phone in her back pocket and resumed her pacing. Jax looked at the clock and prayed the scan would be almost done. Her cell phone vibrated. Positive it was her mother, she ignored it. The woman hated being hung up on. Jax had done it enough times to know. She took it out of her pocket when it buzzed again. Her mother’s picture appeared on the screen. Frustrated, she sent it directly to voice mail and texted her father. She can go to hell.

  She watched the ellipsis dance up and down. Her father was all thumbs when it came to texting. A sentence containing less than five words would have at least one spelling error and no punctuation. He was seventy, and his lack of technology skill often amused her. When the message came through, she laughed out loud.

  Devils fraid shelltake over

  She shook her head at the spacing issue. Thanks, I needed that. Can you talk?

  The ellipsis went through its stair step scale half a dozen times before the short message popped up.

  I call u

  Jax sat down in the uncomfortable, industrial chair meant to last thro
ugh thousands of hours of abuse. She held her phone to her forehead. She wished Chance were with her. Her phone vibrated and the caller ID indicated it was her father.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Jibber Jack? You all right?”

  The nickname broke her. She let the tears fall. If only he’d have stood up to her mother all those years ago, things between all of them could have been so different. “Not really, Dad. I’m worried about Uncle Marty. I’m also sick and tired of feeling the wrath of your wife for being a lesbian. Why do you think I stayed in California for so long?”

  The silence stretched between them for several uncomfortable seconds before he spoke. “I wish I could go back and speak up for you like I should have, Jax. I’m a retired old cop, who clings to what I have. We missed out on so many years with you, still are. Your mother is a complicated creature. Beautifully complicated, and she still makes my heart race when she looks at me. I’ve spent the last fifty years feeling blessed she picked me. Sins of the past, my dear one. Now, how is Marty?”

  She relayed to him what she’d tried to tell her mother. She looked up to see her uncle being wheeled past the waiting area.

  “Dad, they’re taking him to his room. When I know more, I’ll call you. You need to tell her I won’t answer her calls. If she wants to know anything, she can show up here and ask for herself or wait for you to relay what I tell you. I’ve got to go. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Jibber Jack. Get some sleep if you can. You sound exhausted. Martin will need you.”

  “I’ll sleep sometime. Right now, I need to go.”

  After Martin was transferred into his room, nurses bustled about him going through all the admitting procedures. Amy came in and told her that the scans confirmed Marty had a concussion that would require monitoring.

  At some point, she dozed off until she heard him moan. She shot across the room to his bedside. “Uncle Marty, can you open your eyes for me?”

  Slowly, pale-green eyes, so much like her own, met hers. “Hey, kitten. You okay?”