Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) (30 page)

Everything ramped into high speed. Laken watched the grim faces around her, fear tangible in the air.

Michael was an island of calm, and his mother and Gordon were remarkable, too.

The sound of chopper blades moved closer, and Laken went to Michael. “What can I do?”

He cast her a grateful glance. “Bridger wants me on the chopper with them. We need to get Ruby and Gordon and Mom to Austin as quickly as possible. Can you coordinate that?”

“I’m on it.” She started to turn away, but Michael grabbed her arm.

“You’ve been amazing. Thank you for sorting out the airlift situation.”

“Happy to help.” She hesitated. “How bad is it, Michael?”

He grimaced and spoke where only she could hear. “It’s not good. She’s bleeding more heavily, and that’s dangerous for both her and the baby. If the placenta detaches…” He glanced toward the chopper sound. “Thank God Jackson has expensive toys. Time is critical now, every second.”

“I understand. I’ll let you go.”

He nodded, but didn’t leave. “Will you come, Laken? Would you be there with us?”

“Do you want me to?”

His dark eyes were haunted. “It would mean a lot.”

“Then I will. My car won’t hold all of them, but I’ll figure out whose can.”

“Ask anyone here—all of them will want to help. Jackson’s piloting the chopper, but Mackey might—” He looked over her head. “He just walked in. He’ll know who’s got the right vehicles.”

The noise level changed as two men charged in the front door with a stretcher and made their way up the stairs. “That’s Tank Patton and Ian’s foreman Billy. Tank’s in law enforcement and Billy has volunteer fireman training.”

The tension level ratcheted as the seriousness of the situation sank in.

“I gotta go,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She rose and kissed his cheek.

He smiled at her, his eyes somber. “Thank you.” He squeezed her hand. “Look, Laken—”

She was so afraid he was going to say something too serious. “You go on now. Help your brother.”

He looked at her. “I love you. I know you don’t want to hear it, but…you’re it for me.”

Her chest wasn’t quite as tight as before, hearing his declaration. If she could believe in anyone, it would be Michael, but… “Michael, I—”

His eyes were so sad as he waited for a response she couldn’t give. Disappointment darkened his face. Before he could speak, the stretcher bearers started down the stairs with Ian on one side and Bridger holding up an IV bag at the head.

As the procession passed, hands reached out to touch Scarlett and pat Ian, murmurs of encouragement uttered as they descended.

Ian looked around for a second, and she saw his eyes, stark with fear yet determined. “See some of you in Austin,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”

“Hang in there, Ian.”

“Scarlett, we love you.”

“We’re praying for you.” Those sentiments were echoed over and over.

Ian’s gaze caught his brother’s.

Michael nodded and made his way toward them.

He never looked back.

Ian prayed every second of the flight, which seemed to take hours. He only stopped long enough to lean toward Bridger, whose expression was grim when Scarlett couldn’t see him, though he kept up a calm humor to her face.

“I’m not going to be separated from her. These docs won’t know us.”

Bridger nodded. “I’ll talk to them. But you know the first priority has to be Scarlett and the baby.”

“I know, damn it, but she needs me with her.”

“I agree, and in your place…” Bridger shook his head. “I’ll make it happen somehow, but just—things are going to happen fast, Ian. There won’t be time for discussions.”

Ian’s jaw hardened. “I understand, but—”

Michael looked over. “Laken just texted me that they’re all en route and on Highway 290 now. She’s reached out to her friends for any medical connections. She’s got the name of a doc in the ER she says is solid, and he’s on duty tonight. Name is Jake Cameron. Her friend is trying to get in touch with him.”

“Your girl is really something,” Bridger said.

Michael’s expression said volumes. “Yeah, she is. Problem is, she doesn’t really trust anyone. I told her I love her, and all it does is scare her.”

“You’re wrong,” Scarlett said in a faint voice. “It’s what she feels for you that scares her.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve got eyes,” she said. “She looks at you like you’re the last drink of water before the desert. But something’s holding her back.”

Michael looked over at Ian. “Her father abandoned them when she was just a kid.”

Ian’s eyebrows rose.

Michael spoke before he could. “She insists that it doesn’t matter, that she’s long over it.”

Ian shook his head. “She’s lying to herself. Trust me, it matters.”

“Yeah.” Michael exhaled. “Well, I’m trying to take comfort that you and Scarlett got past something similar.” He looked down at Scarlett. “Got any advice?”

She started to smile when abruptly her face twisted. Ian saw her grab for his brother’s hand while she was squeezing Ian’s, too, and he was grateful not to be alone in this.

The air stung with tension.

Ian leaned closer. “Breathe, sweetheart. Pant with me like this.” He demonstrated, and gamely she followed.

When the contraction was over, he looked at Bridger, who used his fingers to flash a five.

The contractions were speeding up.

Scarlett exhaled as the pain eased, then opened her eyes. She glanced at Bridger. “So when do we get to the part where I can yell at Ian?”

Soft laughter greeted her, and Ian bent to kiss her. “You’re really something, you know that?” He stroked her forehead. “I love you so damn much.”

She smiled up at him, her face white with strain, the dark circles beneath her eyes terrifying. She seemed to be fading away before his eyes, but she squeezed his hand and let go of his brother to touch Ian and stroke his face. “Thank you for being here.”

“Try and make me leave.” He kissed her fingers and held on.

They felt it when the chopper began to descend. They heard Jackson speaking into his headset, but the helicopter noise drowned out his words.

Ian knew she was as terrified as he was, so he put every bit of faith he possessed into his expression. “We can do this, New York.”

A little smile in her eyes. “I think I’ve earned being called Sweetgrass by now.”

He smiled back, but before he could speak, the chopper settled, and the doors opened immediately.

Then it was all noise and motion and racing to keep up.

Michael, Bridger and Jackson stared at each other where they stood sentry on both sides of the hallway just outside the ER.

“I thought Ian was going to deck that resident,” Bridger observed.

“Yeah, I heard them call for security. Landing in jail is not what he needs to be doing right now.”

“The doc seemed solid,” Jackson observed. “Glad he let Ian glove and gown in the end.”

“Michael?”

He turned. “Ellie?”

Laken’s friend approached and hugged him. “Is Laken here yet?”

“Nope. They’re still on the road.”

She looked up at Bridger and Jackson, extended a hand as her husband Wyatt approached. “Hi, I’m Ellie Preston, I’m a friend of Laken’s and Michael’s. This is my husband Wyatt.”

“This is Bridger Calhoun. He’s a paramedic and fire chief in Sweetgrass. And this is Jackson Gallagher, who flew us here in his helicopter.”

“Glad to meet you,” Wyatt said, shaking hands, as well. He turned to Michael. “So how is your brother’s wife and their baby?”

Michael gave them a brief synopsis. “Thank you for the connection to Jake Cameron. I thought we were going to be gathering up bail money for Ian when the resident was telling him he had to leave. Scarlett needs him.”

“Jake’s a good guy.” Wyatt looked at Bridger. “I think his wife’s sister is working at the café in Sweetgrass.”

Bridger looked surprised. “The new girl? Chrissy?”

“Yeah.”

Bridger chuckled. “Small world.” Then he looked back at the closed doors. “Sure would like to be in there. It’s the hard part of the work I do. We bring them in, but we seldom know how it turns out.” He looked at Michael and scrubbed his face. “I couldn’t let Ian or Scarlett know how serious the situation was. She could have bled out. You were great back there. If you hadn’t had the presence of mind to elevate her legs…”

Michael shrugged and looked toward the doors. Silence settled over them.

“Could I get you some coffee?” Wyatt asked.

“I could go for some,” Bridger responded.

“Me, too,” Jackson replied.

“Michael?”

“I’d like that. Thanks.”

Wyatt took orders and left.

“Ava and Tom are on their way. Sylvie and Gabe are out of town. Her mother passed away, did you know that?” Ellie said.

“I didn’t. I’m sorry to hear it.” Though he had a hard time caring right now, he began asking Ellie questions about her children, but he couldn’t quit looking toward those doors.

“I’ll stop chattering,” Ellie said.

“No, it’s okay, I just—they’re really good people. This has to come out okay. The whole town will take it so hard if anything bad happens.” Then somehow his antennae felt her before he saw her, and he glanced at the outer doorway just as Laken entered.

“Excuse me.” He didn’t give a damn what anyone thought, including Laken. He needed to be with her. He strode to her, grabbed on tight and kissed her thoroughly.

Then he held on.

She trembled. Leaned back. “Is it bad? Has something happened?”

He shook his head. “No—no, I just—we cut it close, really close. And we’re not hearing anything.”

He saw the others filing in. “That’s just between us, okay?”

She nodded and turned with him.

Gordon, his mom, Ruby, Arnie, Penny, Veronica and Rissa gathered around, their faces worried.

“Mackey let us out at the door. He’s parking Jackson’s Range Rover. James has all the kids at his place. Harley and Melba are helping out, and Celia’s there, too,” Rissa said.

Michael found he could still grin. “Harley babysitting…kinda boggles the mind.”

“What can you tell us, Michael?” his mother asked.

He noticed that she was leaning into Gordon, who had his hand around her waist.

Before he could say anything, Bridger and Jackson emerged, arrowing straight for their wives.

“How is my granddaughter?” Ruby asked Michael, looking years older.

“She’s got a great doctor, Ruby.” He found a smile for her. “We thought we might have to get you to start baking a cake with a file in it when a resident tried to tell Ian he couldn’t be with her.”

A chuckle ran through the group. Ruby smiled past her worry. “He’s generally a reasonable man, but the boy does know how to use his fists when he needs to.”

Mackey strolled up. “He used them on me enough when we were growing up.”

Everyone was trying…but no one was in a mood to laugh.

“So what do we know?” Penny asked.

Bridger recited the facts but once again pulled his punches as much as possible without understating that the situation was serious.

Ava and Tom Sinclair walked in then, and Ellie and Wyatt greeted them. Laken performed introductions, and as was typical of Ellie the Earth Mother, she began taking orders and producing tissues and settling people for comfort.

Michael tried to settle, but he needed to pace. He had done a lot of waiting in his life and usually was considered extremely patient—but he couldn’t manage patience right now. He turned to his mother. “I’m going outside, Mom. I won’t be far.”

“Do you want me to come?”

“No, I’m okay.” She looked so worried. “It’s going to be all right. I just—”

She nodded, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t convinced, and she shouldn’t be.

He wasn’t convinced himself.

He fled out the doors and across the drive just out front, staring across at the busy city street and ready to jump out of his skin.

“I won’t ask if you’re okay,” Laken said from behind him. “I know you’re not, but can I do anything?”

Abruptly, his temper flared. “Like get me some coffee, you mean?”

She looked wary. “Is that what you want?”

That tore it. “Did Jackson offer you a job? Were you ever going to tell me about it or just reject it out of hand, so you wouldn’t have to consider moving to Sweetgrass?”