Riser waved Ethan off and sat there holding his side, his mind going right back to Laney and her determined doe-brown eyes and full mouth.
How could he have gone so long without noticing her?
And what the hell was he doing, just sitting here instead of ensuring the hospital took care of her kid?
Chapter Two
“Mommy, it hurts,” Lily cried, clutching her stomach.
Deep tendrils of worry curled around Laney’s heart, but she wouldn’t let her daughter know she was concerned. She rocked her back and forth, trying to comfort her. The harsh light in the hospital emergency room cast dark shadows on Lily’s sweet face, making her hollowed-out cheekbones look even starker. Her tiny mouth, usually turned up in a smile, was pulled back in a grimace that had been there for hours.
Please, God, help my baby. Please, don’t let anything happen to her.
An emergency had called the doctor away right after they were wheeled into a curtained area in the room. A full hour had passed since then. Dreadful sounding beeps and alarms continued to blast all around them. The off-white curtains hid the source of the noise, which only made everything seem even worse.
If it hadn’t been for Riser’s intervention, ordering the doctors around like they were his toys, Laney would still be sitting out in the waiting room. She had already been there for hours and hours by then, holding the lined trash can a nurse had given her for her daughter to throw up in while they waited.
But whatever magic Riser had managed to create an hour ago had disappeared with the man himself. Whoever was stitching him up needed to hurry the hell up, so he could get back in here and make things happen before it was too late.
Lily bent forward, convulsing in her arms, and Laney snatched the trash can up off the floor by the bed and held it up, even though there was nothing left for her daughter to throw up. Lily dry-heaved, her fever so high it burned Laney’s palms when she touched her forehead, her cheeks. “Hold on, sweetie, the doctor will be back in just a minute. “
She knew Lily couldn’t respond; she was too busy heaving, every little sound tearing at Laney’s heart. Dammit, what the hell was taking so long?
She kept scanning the curtains for shadows hinting at the approach of a nurse or doctor. If someone didn’t come in here soon, she was going to have to step out from around that curtain and drag them in. Sheer desperation would force her to act.
She knew the laws by heart. Had learned them the hard way. The hospital couldn’t deny Lily healthcare just because she didn’t have insurance, though it seemed they were intent on doing just that. Not on her watch. If worse came to worse, she’d steal a scalpel and hold it to the doctor’s back.
If something happened to Lily, Laney would have no reason to go on living. None.
She was getting treatment for her baby.
“Mommy’s going to be right back, sweetheart. I’m going to get the nurse, okay?” Laney eased off the bed, and her daughter immediately curled into a tiny ball, shivering and shaking.
Clenching her jaw, Laney forced herself to turn away, even when every single cell in her body was screaming at her to stay. She wouldn’t be any help cowering in here. Taking a deep breath, she ripped the curtain back hard enough that the metal rungs on the pole holding it up shrieked.
The first person she saw was Riser. He was slowly limping down the hallway, checking every curtained-off quadrant as he passed it.
A surge of hope had Laney running for him. She hadn’t touched a man in months, but she didn’t care. She latched on to Riser, her nails digging into his forearm. “There was some kind of emergency, and they haven’t come back yet. She’s getting worse. Please help us.”
Riser’s big, calloused hand covered hers, and although Laney expected him to forcibly remove her from his arm, he gave her a reassuring squeeze instead. “Go to your daughter. I’ll be back in just a second.”
“Thank you, I swear I’ll pay you back. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Not necessary, Laney.” The gentle understanding in Riser’s eyes was nearly her undoing. The already viselike, invisible grip around her throat squeezed tighter, and she had to fight back the tears. This man was a fierce warrior—she’d seen his type often enough in her life to know that—but tonight he was fighting for her. For Lily.
“Hurry, please.” Laney rushed back to Lily without a backward glance, instinctively knowing Riser was a man who would keep his word. Lily lay exactly where she’d left her, shaking in a tight ball. Laney silently prayed as she slipped into the bed again and offered her daughter whatever comfort she could. It felt like hours passed while they lay curled up on that bed, waiting, still waiting, but logic told her it had only been minutes. Riser returned with a different doctor in green scrubs who mumbled out a quick apology, “Sorry, miss, gunshot wound.”
First, he flipped through the papers on his clipboard. “Panels show an elevated white blood cell count….” Then he tipped her daughter back and began gently probing her stomach. As soon as he got to Lily’s right side, she cried out in pain. Riser took a step forward, and Laney buried her face in her daughter’s neck. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
“Nurse, prep the OR, stat.”
The old nurse who’d basically ignored them before ran to the charge station a few feet away and started barking out commands.
“OR? As in operating room?” All the blood in her legs and arms rushed to her heart with a giant swoosh.
“Yes, she’s got appendicitis. If we don’t get it out now, it might rupture.”
“Rupture, as in burst?” Laney’s education had stopped in high school, and she didn’t know diddly-squat about medical terms, but she knew that sounded serious.
“Yes, and if it bursts, she’ll go into shock and possibly die.” The doctor held his stethoscope to Lily’s chest and listened intently.
Die? Die? How could he say that, so calmly, in front of Lily herself?
They’d have to do it. They’d have to go through with the surgery, of course they would, but she’d never planned on anything like this when she’d run…
Riser put his hand on her shoulder and Laney jerked away. Too much pressure. Too much like Mark.
“I don’t care what you have to do, you save her.” Laney searched the doctor’s expression for an ounce of hope.
He said, without hesitation, “Every surgery has its risks, but this is one I’ve done many times. Your daughter should be fine.”
The nurse rushed in with a gurney. “Ready.”
Laney pushed the sweaty bangs back off her daughter’s forehead. “Sweet pea, the doctor’s going to take really good care of you. We’re going to another room, okay?” Her daughter kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut and nodded. Laney clutched her tiny hand as the nurse transferred Lily to the gurney. “Mommy’s going to be here with you for as long as I can.” Lily clutched her hand, her tiny fingers wrapping around two of Laney’s. Panic squeezed her insides.
“Excuse me.” The nurse snapped up the metal sides on the bed, working quickly—everything was happening so fast now—and got behind the gurney to push it out of the curtained-off area.
Laney ran right alongside them, holding on to her daughter for as long as she could. “I love you, sweetie. It’s going to be okay.”
She only hoped it wasn’t a lie.
Chapter Three
After sending Ethan home, Riser collapsed into yet another wobbly, plastic chair in the corner of the tiny curtained-off room Laney had just left. The movement pulled his stitches, and he grabbed his side. Shit. He’d have to remember to move slower the next few days. His side burned like a mother, and weariness weighted his feet like ten tons of concrete. His head was a throbbing sledgehammer going full force in his brain, and his mouth felt like the desert. Typical for the amount of blood he’d lost.
Why the hell had he opened his mouth? If he’d minded his own business, he could be home right now, laid back on the couch, nursing a beer and watching a rerun of X-Men.
And he’d be alone.
For some reason, the thought wasn’t as appealing as it had been an hour ago. Maybe it was because he was a workaholic , adrenaline junkie who didn’t know how to take a day off. But maybe the thought of abandoning Laney to the overworked and hardhearted doctors in this hospital sat in his stomach like a stone. He’d never be able to look himself in the mirror if he pretended like he hadn’t seen her crying over her child. Like he hadn’t seen the quiet desperation in her face.
The last time he’d gotten distracted on a mission, his charge, Caroline Cotter, had been kidnapped not twenty feet from where he’d stood guard at her bedroom door. They’d captured Jack Mankel, the man who’d kidnapped Caroline, but Caroline herself was still missing.
They’d searched every location tied to Mankel from every single scrap of evidence collected over the years, but his team had turned up absolutely no new leads. That hard fact ate at him constantly, keeping him awake at night when there was nothing to distract him from his failure to protect his charge.
Caroline was locked up God knew where, suffering God knew what. And it was his fault. Why the hell had he been joking around with Ethan that night? He’d let his guard down, let his attention slacken, and he’d never heard a sound.
But he’d heard Laney crying, and he’d be damned if he’d leave her to fend for herself. No, he wouldn’t fail to protect someone else through his inattention.
There was something about Laney—something he’d noticed for the first time tonight. It didn’t have anything to do with her looks; she wore the same T-shirt and shorts she always wore when she was at work. Her brown hair was pulled back in the same sloppy ponytail, and there wasn’t even a dusting of makeup on her face. But styled hair and make up was just window dressing. There was something more about Laney—her doe-brown eyes had become the eyes of a fierce predator as she fought for her child, and that had hooked him.
Truthfully, he’d felt something the moment her hands had touched his arm in the hallway: an unexpected spark of heat. As far as he knew she wasn’t married, and part of him wanted to follow up on that spark to see if there was fire.
“Excuse me, sir, but Ms. Smith forgot to sign the HIPAA regulation forms when she checked her daughter in.” A nurse, her name tag said Margaret, could have doubled for a school principal tapping a ruler in hand. She stood just inside the curtain, tapping her foot.
“Smith?” Riser echoed.
Margaret huffed her impatience and shoved a chart under his nose, forcing him to either take it or get smacked in the chin.
“Yes, the woman you’ve been sitting with didn’t fill out all the paperwork. She signed it here—Ms. Jane Smith. She also left out her date of birth, Social Security number, and all the necessary insurance information.” The stalwart woman crossed her arms over a less than generous bosom. “We have to have this information in order for her daughter to stay in this hospital.”
“Look, lady—” Riser looked from the piece of paper to Margaret’s pissed-off expression, fully intending to shove the chart right back at her, but he spied Laney’s tattered purse next to the bed. Maybe he could help out after all. He could do her this small favor, so she wouldn’t have to worry about her daughter getting stuck in a closet for a hospital room after her surgery. “Fine. Give me one minute.”
“You’ve got five. I was halfway through charting her daughter when I saw her obvious inability to follow simple directions and complete a simple form.” Undaunted by Riser’s glare, Margaret wagged a weathered finger in his face and stormed off in a swoosh of curtains and squeaky Keds.
It was time for that lady to retire. Either that or take a long vacation in hell with her father.
The name thing was weird, but Laney could very well be a nickname. He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t filled the rest of the form out—she’d been so desperate and frightened… She’d been focused on getting her child help as quickly as possible.
Riser pulled Laney’s purse out and dug through a cluster of suckers, wipes and Kleenex, a small coloring book and crayons, and a pint-size bottle of juice. Her tattered black wallet was tucked away at the very bottom.
She’d never mentioned having a daughter before, but it was obvious she was packed for baby battle. He’d thought most females carried around a purse full of makeup and hair spray. Laney was ready to take on a kindergarten class.
Riser set the clipboard down in his lap and unsnapped her wallet, which looked like it was on a starvation diet. She had two cards. An emergency medical card stating she was highly allergic to penicillin and peanuts and a driver’s license. Neither of which said Jane Smith.
Right next to a picture of her with platinum blonde hair, cut into a cute bob, was the name Laney Browder.
Riser shifted, trying to get comfortable, but the burning inside didn’t budge. He propped up her ID and quickly copied down all of her information. He put the cards back in her wallet, right where he found them, and made his way out to the nurse’s station. After taking Margaret’s permanent glare like a good soldier, he handed her the mostly completed chart and shuffled back to the torturous, plastic chair.
How much longer was this going to take? Had something gone wrong with the surgery? Should he have gone with her, offered some kind of support or something? He knew shit about kids, and he probably knew even less about women, but maybe he shouldn’t have let Laney go off by herself.
As far as he knew, Laney had no other family he could summon. He could call the bar, see if Cheri was around to come lend a hand, but for some reason he found himself hesitating.
He didn’t want someone else comforting her.
Riser stood and yanked the curtain back, ready to march down the hall, when he caught sight of the old nurse, the one with no bedside manner, staring down at her computer screen with an expression that could melt granite. Another nurse looked over her shoulder, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. Margaret yanked the phone off its cradle and quickly punched in a number. She glanced at Riser and then spun around to avoid his gaze, but not before he saw a trickle of unease in her eyes.
Riser shifted uncomfortably. Something wasn’t right. A woman like that would whack a bear in the face without blinking.
Riser grabbed Laney’s purse and marched down the hall. He didn’t have to go very far, it turned out. She was just around the corner, plastered to a small, narrow window in a pair of double doors. A red sign for Operating Room hung overhead. Riser stopped in his tracks when he noticed her shoulders shaking. Thoughts of the nurse, Margaret, vanished. He sat her purse down on a nearby chair, approached Laney cautiously and nudged her to get her attention. “Laney, is she okay?”
She turned red, watery eyes on him. She looked like she’d been crying the whole time, and he’d been twiddling his thumbs in the empty room being useless.
“I can’t tell anything. They wouldn’t let me go in there with her. No one’s come out. If anything happens to her, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Riser shoved a hand through his hair, fighting back the instinct to take her into his arms to comfort her. Her child was lying in the OR—this wasn’t the right moment to do anything that could be misconstrued as making a move. “I don’t think anyone’s allowed in the OR other than the doctors and nurses. Standard operating procedure. If they’re doing an appendectomy, they’ll be in there for about an hour.” Riser glanced at his watch. “Only been about forty minutes.”
“How do you know that?” she asked breathlessly.
Because he was addicted to watching Grey’s Anatomy. Riser shrugged. “I’m the medic for my team. I’ve got a little bit of knowledge in this area.”
He could sew a severed leg, stitch up a sliced artery, and apply a tourniquet like a pro. And most of time he had to do that sort of medical troubleshooting in a shit-hole situation, sometimes in the middle of a fire fight, not a nice, sterile hospital.
But Laney had a wild look, like she thought maybe they were in there butchering her daughter instead of helpi
ng her. He could tell the irrational fear was taking over her logic. “An appendectomy is a common procedure; kids get it all the time. Hell, one of my best friends got it when he was ten. Had a nice-looking scar from his hip to right below his belly button.”
Laney flinched and covered her mouth, a fresh wave of tears spilling over. Damn, he was a dumb bastard. Laney wasn’t one of his hard-ass teammates; she was a soft-hearted woman. But even more obvious, that girl in the operating room was her entire world. “Shit, Laney, I’m sorry. I was just trying to tell you these things are common, and I’m confident your daughter will be just fine. I have complete faith the doctor will see your daughter through and she’ll be better for it.”
Riser held his breath as Laney wiped her eyes, but she gave him a nod that was full of more gumption and strength than he’d seen in her since they wheeled Lily into the OR. “Thanks, I know you’re trying to help. And I know she’ll be okay. She will,” Laney said the last like an afterthought.
He couldn’t stand here and look at her all broken and sad and scared without doing anything. Careful not to startle her, he slid an arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his uninjured side, tense and waiting on her to shove him away. She deflated like a hot balloon, leaning on him for strength.
And he liked it. A lot.
He liked it enough that he didn’t want to give her a chance to pull away. “Come on, there’re a couple of chairs right behind me. How about we sit down and give the doctors time to work their magic?”
Riser maneuvered Laney, who stayed plastered against him even as they sank down into the chairs. He fought off a flinch from the stabbing pain in his side. He’d be damned if he was gonna let her go for any reason. She was all soft and leaning on him, as if her life depended on it. His teammates would say his hero complex was going into overdrive, but he wasn’t about to psychoanalyze himself. Not right now. He just wanted to savor this moment of closeness, and he wanted to make her feel better. “How come you never mentioned you had a daughter before?”
Brotherhood Protectors: Riser's Resolve: Men of Mercy (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 2
