Ellie couldn’t get through the small partition wearing her fleecy jacket so she took it off, wincing at the angle her shoulder had to be in as she somehow managed to squeeze through the gap, falling onto the central console.
She got to her feet and held Sam’s head upright. ‘Logan, how’s the baby?’
‘He’s doing all right. But we need to get him out of this vehicle. With all this oxygen on board we don’t want to be in here if this thing goes up.’
She froze. Of course. The ambulance would be carrying oxygen tanks. That was very bad. But she didn’t have enough hands. She needed to keep Sam’s airway open.
Outside she could hear yelling, and someone, somewhere, was crying. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. ‘Do we have any cervical collars back there?’
There was a pause, then. ‘No. This is neonatal transport, not a traditional ambulance.’
‘Damn.’ She twisted and turned, trying to look through the windows to see if there was anyone about who could help them. There were people. People clambering from their vehicles, others standing on the roadside, their hands clapped over their mouths in utter shock. One or two were on their phones, hopefully calling for help. At least no one was taking pictures. Yet.
Ellie banged on the window to get their attention. ‘We need help in here!’
* * *
Logan held baby Bailey in his arms and glanced at the small hole Ellie had crawled through to get into the front of the vehicle. If he wanted to get off this ambulance then he would have to fit through it, too. There was no other way off. And he needed the tank of oxygen in front of him so he could keep administering oxygen to his patient.
He knew that ambulances always carried a stock of oxygen tanks in another compartment. There could be three or more full tanks of oxygen elsewhere, just waiting for something terrible to happen.
Technically, because the back of the vehicle had taken the brunt of the impact and the engine was at the front, the likelihood of an explosion was low, but he didn’t want to take any chances at all.
He stuck his head through the gap to the driver. ‘Hey, I never got your name.’
‘Mick.’
‘Hi, Mick. I need you to do something for me.’
‘Anything.’
‘I need you to take the baby. I’ll pass him through, and then his oxygen. Support his head. I’ve wrapped him in blankets, so we shouldn’t have to worry about his temperature, but I need you to take him and then get out of this vehicle. I’ll follow after you.’
‘All right.’
Mick held out his hands for the baby and gently took him in his arms, adjusting his grip until he felt comfortable, and then he took hold of the oxygen tank as that came through, too.
‘Now, get out and get as far away from this vehicle as you can. Do you hear me?’
‘Yes. But what do I do if there’s a problem?’
‘I’ll be right behind you—don’t worry.’
‘Okay.’ Mick pushed open the driver’s door, letting in the sounds of the outside world, and clambered out.
Logan peered at Ellie. ‘How’s she doing?’
‘I’m not sure. There’s a crack on the glass here. I think she hit her head pretty hard.’ Her voice had a tremor. ‘There’s blood in her ear canal.’
That wasn’t good. ‘Is she still breathing?’
‘Yes. But her colour isn’t good and her heart-rate is dropping.’
Damn. ‘I’m coming through.’
He struggled out of his jacket, tossing it behind him, and then began to try and pull himself through the small partition. It was a very tight squeeze. Not meant for him.
He thought at one point that he was going to get stuck, and that he’d have the humiliating experience of needing a fire crew to cut him free, but he finally made it through, tumbling onto the central console the way Ellie had.
‘We need to get out of here,’ he said.
She looked at him over her shoulder. ‘You go. Take care of Bailey. I’ll look after his mother.’
There was no way he was leaving her behind. ‘This thing could blow up, Ellie. There are oxygen tanks!’
‘I can’t leave her, Logan! She’ll die if I don’t maintain her airway.’
He couldn’t believe she was going to disobey him! Or that she was willing to risk her life like this! ‘And you could die if you don’t get off this vehicle!’
‘I’m not leaving!’
‘Then let’s swap places.’
She shook her head. ‘No. You have a child. Rachel’s already lost one parent—don’t let her lose another! And Bailey needs you. If something goes wrong with him before another ambulance crew gets here he’ll need you and your expertise—not me and mine. This way makes sense. We’ll be okay. They’ll be here soon.’
Her words struck home. Exactly as she’d intended them to. Ellie always had cut to the chase. And it hurt because it was the truth. He couldn’t leave Rachel an orphan. But that didn’t make this any easier. His wife had died in a car accident and he’d had to leave her behind, and now here he was being forced to make the same choice with Ellie.
‘And what if this thing blows before they get here?’
She gave him a nervous smile. ‘Let’s hope that it doesn’t.’
He stared at her, trying to work her out. What she was doing was either incredibly brave and self-sacrificing or incredibly stupid. He wasn’t sure which one he wanted it to be. The idea that he could stand by on the side of the road and watch this ambulance go up in flames was not a pretty one. He’d lost his wife that way. To lose Ellie too would be...
Beside her, he noticed a small fire extinguisher and grabbed it. ‘I’m going to drench the electrics and the engine, just in case.’
‘Do what you have to—but do it quick.’
He didn’t want to leave her, but he knew he had to check on Bailey. ‘Stay safe, Ellie.’
She met his gaze. ‘You too, Logan.’
He growled with anger at having to leave her, and he had to force himself from the vehicle. When he got out he gave a brief look around.
There was a solid traffic jam up ahead, after a huge HGV had rammed the back of their ambulance. He couldn’t see the driver, so he assumed he was okay. A mass of people were beginning to gather, at a loss as to what to do.
‘Has anyone got a cervical head collar?’ He knew it was a hopeless request, but if they could get Sam out of the ambulance, and therefore Ellie, too, he’d feel a whole lot better about things.
Everyone just looked blankly at him, and he grimaced as he clambered onto the bonnet of a car to see where Mick had headed with the baby. He saw him—a small figure sitting at the roadside on a patch of grass, cuddling his bundle and adjusting the oxygen mask on Bailey’s face.
Okay. Logan quickly read the fire extinguisher instructions, then popped the bonnet on the ambulance and sprayed the engine with the foam. He couldn’t see any leaking petrol or oil, so that was good, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
He gave the vehicle one last agonised look, then tore himself away, shuffling through the people and the cars until he made it to the verge where Mick sat.
‘How’s he doing?’
‘Okay, I think. He cried a little, but he’s gone back to sleep.’
‘Let me check him.’
And that was when he realised he didn’t have his stethoscope, or anything else he would usually rely on. It was all in the ambulance. He glanced back at the vehicle, his anger rising at the fact that this whole thing had happened and that he’d had to leave Ellie behind. He didn’t want to tear his gaze away, somehow feeling that if he kept staring at the ambulance then Ellie and Sam would be okay.
But he didn’t have any time for anger. Bailey came first. He had to protect his patient.
He laid his ear against Bailey’s chest and held his wristwat
ch in front of his face as he counted heartbeats for ten seconds.
He smiled. Something to feel good about. Bailey was doing well. His rate was the same as it had been before the crash. ‘Pass me the baby.’
Mick handed him over. ‘I ought to try and get people off the road,’ he said. ‘Emergency services will be here soon.’
Logan stared at their crumpled vehicle and at the figures he could see hunched in the front of it. Ellie was still holding Sam’s airway open with her hands.
‘Let’s hope so.’
He didn’t know what he’d feel if things got a lot worse than they already were. Why was Ellie being so careless with her own life? He didn’t know whether to be furious with her or to admire her.
So he chose the latter.
* * *
The second Logan left the ambulance Ellie truly felt the full force of her adrenaline. She was holding Sam’s airway clear with her hands and arms, as she kept her head upright, and they really began to tremble.
She couldn’t quite believe she’d sent him away. But what else could she have done? Left him in the ambulance with Sam? When he was a father to a little girl who needed him? Who would be devastated by the loss of a second parent if anything went wrong?
She hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t.
She whispered her prayers out loud. ‘Please don’t blow up this truck. I’m still in it. And so is this poor woman. And she’s a mother, too. To three babies! If you’re up there, Lord, please look kindly upon us. Haven’t we already been through enough?’
Her words must have brought Sam back to semi-consciousness, because her eyes rolled and she began to mutter, her eyelids flickering.
‘Sam? Hey, Sam. It’s me—Ellie. Remember? We’re still on the ambulance. There’s been an accident, but you’re okay. I just need you to stay still for me.’
‘Baby... Bailey...’
‘He’s all right. He’s fine. And we’re going to be okay, too. But I need you to hold still. Hold still for me, okay?’
But Sam kept trying to move, pushing at her and waving her arms about. Was she being combative because of her head injury? It must be a closed head injury if that was the case. The blood coming from her ear was the only sign.
Ellie struggled to hold on to her, turning her head away so that she didn’t get hit in the face by Sam’s flailing arms.
And then she began to hear sirens.
Oh, thank God!
‘Help’s coming, Sam. They’re nearly here.’
The sound of their approach gave Ellie an extra boost of strength and a feeling of confidence that things were all going to be okay. She trusted in the fact that Logan had sprayed the engine with the fire extinguisher, and she felt sure that he would have told her if the truck was dripping petrol. He would have dragged them out kicking and screaming if necessary. But he hadn’t. So she was taking that as a good sign. The chance of this thing blowing up was low. It had to be.
What had hit them, though? Something big... It had completely crumpled the back of the ambulance and knocked them flying off their feet.
As the sirens got louder she managed a quick glance out of the side mirrors and saw the ambulance crews in their hi-vis clothing making their way closer, their green bags of equipment hoisted over their shoulders.
Thank God!
‘Help’s here, Sam. We’re going to be okay.’
* * *
The paramedics had got Sam out on a back board and loaded her into an ambulance to take her to the very hospital the rest of her family was in—St Richard’s.
Ellie had tried to help as much as she could, but eventually she’d realised she was just getting in the way and so she’d stood back and watched, feeling very strange at the turn of events.
She might have died! An HGV had struck the back of their vehicle and by rights they should have been shunted across the motorway into another lane, or crushed beneath its weight. The driver of the HGV had suffered a cardiac arrest and was now on his way to Theatre to have a blockage removed, from what she’d heard.
Now she stood in the hospital corridor, feeling at a loss as to what to do next. Feeling stunned. The enormity of what she’d just survived was sinking in.
‘Ellie!’
She turned at the sound of his voice, feeling a rush of relief, a surge of joy in her heart at seeing Logan again, standing there waiting for her. He looked ruffled and stressed, and his hair was going every which way, as if he’d been constantly running his hands through it. She couldn’t read his expression, and didn’t know whether he was about to tell her off or take her in his arms.
Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘Logan!’
He walked right up to her, his eyes searching hers, looking for...what?
‘I don’t know whether to shout at you or just hold you.’
He stood right in front of her and she looked up at him, tears falling freely. ‘Hold me!’ It was what she needed in that moment more than anything else.
He reached out, pulled her in towards him and clasped her tightly, kissing the top of her head, whispering into her hair. ‘I don’t know what I would have done if I’d have lost you, Ellie Jones.’
She wrapped her arms tight around him, letting her tears sink into his shirt, breathing him in, sinking against him, relishing the familiar form, absorbing him. She’d missed him so much!
‘I was so scared...’ he whispered into her hair, his protective arms still around her.
‘Me, too.’
‘Having to leave you in that ambulance...’
She looked up at him. ‘We were okay. We were all right.’
‘Never have I ever...’ He seemed unable to finish what he wanted to say.
Her heart pounded as he raised his hand as if to stroke her face. Then he hesitated, as if she were forbidden, but his gaze dropped to her lips and she whispered his name, and before she knew what was happening he was pulling her close and kissing her! Kissing her as she’d never been kissed before. Her arms went up around his neck and she surprised herself by kissing him back!
Whether it was just relief at still being alive, she didn’t know, but she did know she needed this. This passion. This life! For so long she’d been trundling along in low gear. Just existing. Not really living. Feeling no highs, no lows. After what had happened with Samuel, and then Daniel, and her business collapsing, she had conditioned herself to be numb. Existing in a state of nothingness.
The accident had been a flare. A wake-up call. A reminder that she was alive. She needed to recognise that fact. Yes, she had put her life at risk, but she’d known it was the right thing to do. Because she hadn’t been able leave that mother alone in that ambulance. She had three babies who depended upon her, and she had known they couldn’t lose their mother the way Rachel had lost hers.
That sort of devastation changed people. Changed who they were. Who they could be. She knew that losing Samuel had changed her, but she’d realised that she still wanted to live. Still wanted to feel and experience life to its fullest. And that meant taking chances. That meant feeling adrenaline. That meant living.
She and Logan had loved one another once. And whether the remnants of that love were still there or not they were exactly what each other needed right now. They’d both felt it ever since they’d met up again at the hospital, and it didn’t matter that she was in the arms of her mentor right now—because right now he wasn’t her mentor. Wasn’t her boss. He was just Logan and she had once loved him.
That meant something.
He meant something.
It was as if he had always been in her life and she’d been on hiatus—waiting for him to come back into it. Seeing him in Neonatal Intensive Care had been a surprise, but it had also been expected, in a way. She’d always known he’d come back—it had been just a matter of time before they ran into each other again. Especially with the new career path s
he had chosen.
They fumbled backwards against the door to an on-call room...pushed it open. The room was empty, not being used, and there was a freshly made bed. He lowered her down upon it, his hands in her hair, on her body, hungry to touch, hungry for her.
It felt good to be in his arms again. It felt so right. This was why it had hurt so much when he had left her to go away to medical school—because she’d felt as if she’d been losing a part of herself.
Only now she was back in his embrace and he felt so good. Tasted so good.
Urgently, they began to peel away each other’s clothes, needing to feel the touch of skin upon skin. The contact of body against body. Heat against heat.
‘Logan—stop.’
He pulled back, breathless. ‘What is it?’
She laughed. ‘Lock the door!’
He smiled and stepped out of his trousers and socks, turning the lock on the door before joining her on the bed.
He looked magnificent. Tall and broad and muscular. Strong. And clearly he wanted her as much as she wanted him right now.
No, not wanted. Needed. She needed him. Perhaps she always had? They’d been apart, but maybe it had always been inevitable that they would find one another again.
His lips caressed the softness of the skin at her throat. The gentleness of his kiss mixed with the heat of him and the hardness of his body was a delicious combination, and she gasped as he entered her, urging him on, pulling him towards her, breathing his name.
Oh, how she had missed this!
When they were younger it had been good between them, but this was on a whole other level.
Perhaps it was because of the accident? The need to celebrate being alive after being so close to death? She didn’t know. And right there and then she didn’t care. All she could think about was the feel of his lips, his hands, his body moving above her. In her.
He felt so good. Everything in her was awakening to his touch. Responding to him as she always had. She’d been asleep too long. Her body was singing with happiness and joy as he stroked and licked and kissed, the heat within her building to an exciting crescendo.
Pregnant by the Single Dad Doc Page 8
