I nod and squeeze his fingers. “My left arm, it hurts but not bad.”
“We’ll help with that. Anything else?”
“I’m scared.”
His eyes soften. “I know you are and it might be difficult but I want you to stay calm. We’re working as quickly as we can to get you out so we can check you over.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, tears forming in my eyes. What I just told him is the truth. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. But not for me. For the baby boy growing in my stomach.
Even with all the sounds around me, I don’t miss Nik’s voice calling out my name, yelling at people to let him through.
“She’s mine. I need to see her!” he shouts.
Carter looks behind him and back to me.
“My Nik,” I explain and he nods his understanding.
“She’s over here!” Carter calls over to him.
In a flash, Carter’s face is replaced with Nik’s.
“Ash, talk to me. I heard it and I didn’t…” His voice cracks as he trails off, not finishing what he was going to say. I know what he was thinking, though. He didn’t know if I was alive after hearing me get into an accident.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, my voice becoming stronger, slowly coming back to me. Maybe it was the shock that had set in causing me not to be able to talk but I feel it getting clearer, less groggy.
Nik folds my hand in his and leans through the window, kissing the back of it. “I’m not going anywhere. They’re going to take good care of you. Just stay with me, okay? Promise you’ll stay with me. I can’t lose you, Ashley. You hear me? Stay with me.”
I nod. “I’m here.”
He blows out a breath at the sound of my voice. “Yeah. You’re here. Thank fuck.”
“I’m okay, Nik.”
Nik’s head drops as he tries to get control of his emotions but his hold on me never wavers.
A hand hits Nik’s shoulder to get his attention. “Sir, we need you to step aside so we can do our job.”
He reluctantly tears his eyes away from me. “Be careful. She’s pregnant and she’s…” his voice breaks, “she’s important to me.”
“We will,” he promises.
“They’re going to take care of you, Ash. I’ll be right here the entire time, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know, babe. Let them do their job.”
Reluctantly, he steps aside. From the right side, a fireman appears just as another does on my left. I didn’t even notice the large truck my car was pinned against had been removed. Maybe that’s why Carter was keeping my attention? So that I wouldn’t see what was happening around me.
Once the fireman is finished clearing the way, a woman steps up next to me.
“Ma’am, my name is Sarah. We’re here to take good care of you. But first, I need you to hold still so we can assess your injuries before moving you.”
“Okay. Just… my baby.”
“We’ll be extra cautious.”
Before long, I have a fabric brace secured around my neck and my vitals are being taken. My oxygen level and blood pressure are normal, thankfully. I feel like I’ve answered a million questions about my health history, what hurts, and what I remember from the accident. I’ve been asked what time of day it is, what day of the week, my name and where I work. She cleans up the side of my head and lets me know that the bleeding has stopped and I am very lucky.
“Before I can move you from here, we need to make sure there is nothing extensive we haven’t identified, like a spinal cord injury. Now that your legs are free, how do they feel?”
“They hurt a little.”
“That’s understandable.” She places a hand down by my feet. “Can you tip your foot up and touch my hand?” I do as instructed and she nods in encouragement. “Good. Now can you push my hand down?” Again, I follow the instructions and do as she asks. “All right. That’s great, Ashley. One more time. Can you do both feet together? Both up and down.”
After passing those tests, she sits back on her heels. “Have you noticed any change with the baby? Have you noticed if you’re bleeding between your legs?”
I place a hand on my stomach and shake my head. “No. Nothing different. Right at first I had a bit of cramping but it’s gone away.”
“This is all excellent news, Ashley. We’re going to move you from the car, okay? If at any point, the pain increases and we need to stop, you tell us.”
“Okay.”
Together, two paramedics, Carter from earlier, and Sarah, move me out of the car and onto a bed that’s on the ground next to me. With extreme care, they lay me down flat and strap me onto the bed before raising it up.
“How are you doing, Ashley? Any new pain or discomfort?”
“I’m good.”
As they’re moving me to, I assume, the ambulance, Nik appears at my side, his face looming over top of me, looking beyond terrified. He doesn’t hide his emotions well at all.
“I’m here,” he says urgently.
I lick my lips and do my best to reassure him. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.” Nik nods rapidly but he doesn’t seem convinced of his words.
“Babe? I promise, I’m fine. The paramedics checked me out. Bumps and bruises.”
He leans his forehead against mine, kisses me once, then pulls back. “Sorry. It’s just that I have never been more scared in my life. I really thought I’d lost you both,” he admits, his eyes wet with tears.
“Sir, we need to take her to the hospital to have them check her over. You’re welcome to follow us,” Carter tells Nik.
“I can’t ride with her?”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
He doesn’t look happy about it but he agrees. “I’ll be right behind you,” he assures me, as if I expected any differently.
Sarah climbs into the ambulance with me. Once the doors are closed, she gets to work, continuing to monitor me and checking me over.
“He’s very protective,” Sarah murmurs after looking out the back window.
“Yeah,” I agree, warmth spreading through my chest.
It’s not incredibly comforting to hear the sirens blaring as they transport me to the hospital. I know I don’t have life-threatening injuries, but the fact that they needed to turn on the sirens and lights makes me nervous. I tell myself it’s standard procedure for peace of mind.
Luckily, it doesn’t take us long to arrive at the hospital. The back doors open and Sarah jumps out of the door and immediately into action, telling the doctors and nurses what she learned about my injuries and accident, what they need to pay attention to and check out more closely.
“Thirty-three-year old female, involved in a three-car motor vehicle accident. She’s in her seventh month of pregnancy.”
“Page OB for emergency consult!” someone calls out and Sarah doesn’t miss a beat before continuing with her evaluation.
“She has lacerations on her left temple, a concussion, her left wrist appears to be possibly broken.” Huh? It does? Maybe it’s from the adrenaline pumping but I didn’t even notice it was in that much pain. Though, they were checking everything over and I do remember feeling a twinge of discomfort when they got to my left arm. I remember telling them it hurt but it certainly didn’t feel broken or anything. I must have shown some level of pain for her to consider the possibility of it being broken. “Does not appear to have other extensive injuries. Legs were trapped under the dash, but she has feeling in them. Airbags deployed. Vitals have remained normal while she’s been with us, breathing regular, though did increase just slightly on the trip here.”
“Got it. Thanks, Sarah,” the woman who I assume is a doctor says. Probably one of the benefits of working in a small town, the paramedics and ER doctors and nurses get to be on a first-name basis.
“Welcome.”
As they’re wheeling me into the emergency room through the ambulance bay, I see Nik running through the parking lot.
Chapter Nineteen
Nikolas
“I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t go back there.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. And don’t call me sir, Mia. We’ve known each other since the third grade.”
“Nik. I’m trying to do my job here. You have to let me do that.”
“Mia, she’s mine. I’m her emergency contact, right? That means I have every right to know what the fuck is going on! She’s also carrying my baby,” I growl, slamming a fist to my chest. “That counts for a helluva lot more than the bullshit family that claims her. Blood doesn’t mean shit.” That’s not necessarily true. Most of her family is great. But Grace? I can’t even think about what she asked Ashley right now. She’s not worth it. Not when the woman I’ve fallen in love with is lying on a hospital bed and Mia won’t let me get to her.
She gives me a funny look, her eyebrows scrunched. “I’m sorry, Nik, I didn’t realize you were her emergency contact for some reason. I must have overlooked it.” Mia looks behind her and back to me.
“Overlooked it? What the hell?”
She huffs. “I was sent out here to talk with you because they knew you were going to be difficult and that I knew you, okay? I know you’re her emergency contact — of course I do. I’m not a moron. But you’re not helping anyone by screaming and hollering at everyone.”
Mia and I have known each other since her twin brother, Brandon, and I became friends. She left Liberty for a short while to go to school to become a nurse but she and her husband moved back, both working for Liberty Regional Health.
“I’ll get an update and if I can bring you back there, I will. But you have got to let the doctors do their jobs. We have other patients from the accident that need our attention as well so give us the space and time we need to take care of everyone and I’ll personally come get you as soon as I hear something.”
“Why aren’t you the one working on her? Aren’t you head nurse or something like that? I don’t want someone straight out of nursing school. You’re the best so you need to go take over,” I plead with her.
“Nik, I promise that everyone who is working on Ashley right now is excellent at their jobs. Now, do you want me to get an update or not?” she asks, her arms crossed over her petite frame. Her size doesn’t match her personality. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and even though I’d feel better knowing she was in the room with Ashley, I’m glad she’s at least here. I also know that she’ll take care of me in the process. Keeping me in the loop.
“Fine. Just… if you see anything off…”
“I’ll step in,” she promises.
So many promises. So many assurances. So many ‘she’s going to be fine’ or ‘she’ll be okay’.
Honestly, if I hear any of those words again, I’ll freak out on someone. I don’t want her to be only fine or okay. I don’t want empty promises and assurances. I want to know for a fact that Ashley and the baby are going to be perfect and healthy and in my arms soon. I want to wake up from this nightmare and go back to thirty minutes ago when she was just on her way to my house with a paper bag full of takeout and a plan to spend the evening together.
None of their words matter until I see Ashley for myself.
It’s not lost on me that I can’t see Ashley until the doctors have done their work.
I know this, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to be in this stupid ass waiting area rather than next to her bed, holding her hand, seeing firsthand that she’s going to walk out of here just as flawless as she always is.
Before Mia walks through the double doors leading to the emergency room, she spins on her heel and tells me something I already know. “Her family needs to be informed. Can you do that?”
“Yeah.”
She gives me a long look, somehow understanding that it’s the last thing I want to do for fear of Grace and Samuel showing up.
As soon as she’s disappeared through the doors, I pull my phone out of my pocket and call the one person I have in my contacts.
“Hey, man. She okay?” Grant answers.
“From the shit show at the restaurant earlier? No. But that doesn’t even hold a candle to what happened after. I’ve got some bad news.”
“Fuck. What now?”
“She was in an accident. I need you to bring Lucy here. Get her parents, too.”
He asks quietly, “Is she…”
“She’s fine, for lack of a better word. Banged up pretty good. They think she’s going to be okay but it wasn’t good. Figured I’d better let them know what happened. Lucy still in town here?”
“Yeah, I think she was heading home but there was an accident… oh, fuck me. She said there was a bad accident in the middle of town and traffic was re-routed because of how bad it was.”
“It wasn’t good,” I tell him, feeling sick to my stomach. “Listen. I need you to call Lucy, okay? Call Ashley’s parents. Tell them to come to Liberty Regional Health. She’s awake and no major injuries but she’s scared and will want her family here.”
“Shit. Yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Lucy will get there first,” he warns me.
“That’s fine. Just as long as Grace keeps her distance. It won’t do Ash any good if I get into a yelling match with her sister.”
“What the hell happened today?”
“Later. I got more important things to worry about now.”
“Right. See you soon. Need anything?”
“Just for Ashley and our son to be more than okay.”
We hang up and I pace around, wondering if I should call my sister, too. I don’t want to worry her or Dean, but I know that if I don’t let them know what happened, I’ll never hear the end of it.
Figuring the phone call to Dean would be quicker, I call him and give him the high level of what happened. “I’ll call Josie. Want us down there?”
“You think you can keep her away?”
“Probably not,” he admits, “but I’ll do my best if that’s what you need.”
“I won’t be good company and honestly, I just want to be in the room with her. I hate this feeling. I’m helpless.”
“Being there is doing more than you realize. Just hang tight and be strong for your girl.”
Before hanging up, he tells me he’s praying for us and he’ll head to the hospital with Josie after bringing baby Jay to his mom’s house.
And I’m back to pacing.
What is taking them so long? If she’s not seriously injured, nothing should take this much time, right? I feel like I’m about to come out of my skin waiting.
The front desk attendant gives me a sympathetic smile that I don’t return. I don’t want her sympathy. I don’t need it.
“She’s going to be fine,” I tell myself then repeat it three more times for good measure.
Just as I’m saying it for the fourth time, the doors to the ER open and Lucy comes charging in with Grace hot on her heels.
“No,” I tell Grace. “Not a fucking chance. Get out of here.”
Lucy places a hand on my arm. “Nik, calm down.”
“You were there while she spewed that fucking garbage. If she hadn’t, then Ashley would have been sitting at the restaurant with you two rather than on the road so some out of control maniac could almost fucking kill her!” I shout, my chest rising and falling. If it were possible, fire would be shooting out of my eyes right now.
Grace, for the first time since I’ve met her, is quiet, not arguing, not defending herself. But she’s also not apologizing or saying it isn’t true.
“Nik,” Lucy pleads. “Let’s focus on Ashley.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” I ask her, redirecting my rage. “Where was your focus on Ashley when this piece of work was telling her she wasn’t fit to be a mother and telling her she wanted to adopt my baby?”
“That’s
not…” Grace says, interrupting me.
“That’s not, what? Accurate? Because unless my girl is a liar, which I know for a fact that she is not, that’s exactly what happened. I don’t give a shit what your misguided intentions were, that shit will not happen again.”
“Nik?” Mia calls my name.
I spin around, completely forgetting about the wicked sister and her little shadow who can’t stand up for the good sister.
“What’s the word?”
“She’s going to be completely fine.”
“Oh, thank God,” I blow out a breath. “And the baby?”
Mia smiles. “Perfectly healthy. No signs of distress.” She clamps both her hands around mine. “It’s nothing short of miraculous, Nik. When we heard about the accident we prepared for the worst.”
Swallowing hard, I choose not to respond to that comment. I can’t let my mind go there. “Can I come back and see her?”
“Yeah. She’s asked to see you, too. The doctor is with her now and can give you a full update.” She looks beyond me and I know that Grace and Lucy have been hanging on her every word. Being the seasoned nurse that she is, she recognizes loved ones waiting for information when she sees them. “I’m sorry, but we can only allow one person to see her at this point and Nik is her emergency contact.”
I want to smirk at them and be smug about the fact that she has me set as her go-to person, but it’s not the time. I have my woman to go see and that takes precedence.
I don’t turn around to see if her sisters are waiting for an invitation to join me, I just follow Mia through the double doors of the emergency room.
Mia directs me through what looks like a war zone, doctors and nurses still hustling around in the wake of a major accident. I was so focused on Ashley and the baby that I hadn’t even thought of the other victims of the accident. I have no idea if the others were injured or even alive. Heartless as it may be, right now I just want to see Ashley and worry about the others later.
“Right through here,” Mia says, pulling aside a curtain just a crack. “Cole was the doctor who treated her,” she explains and the relief I feel knowing that her husband, and my longtime friend, has been caring for Ashley is intense.
Together: A Surprise Pregnancy Romance Page 20
