Page 51 of Ever After All

I glanced over, and he must’ve seen the look on my face. “I got it,” he said swiftly.

My hands were shaking as he took the IV needle from me. I knew what I should do was turn and walk straight away. I was trembling all over. But I couldn’t. I stepped to the side of Wyatt’s stretcher. They already had an oxygen mask on him. My eyes landed on a scrape on his hand, a tear in his jeans, and a small bandage on his forehead.

“What’s the status?” If this crew noticed my wobbly voice, it didn’t slow them down.

“Unconscious when we arrived. Came to within a minute or so. We’ve already contacted his family. I assume they’ll be here any minute. We did the initial concussion checks, but when we moved him to adjust his leg, which is broken, he passed out from the pain. It’s a clean break. We just need to get it set.”

“We should do a scan for any internal bleeding,” I croaked.

Dr. Jackson appeared at my side. “I’ll handle this, Rosie.”

“Dr. Jackson, I am?—”

He put a hand on my shoulder. “His vitals are stable. We need to set the break.”

“I need you to do a scan,” I pressed with adrenaline nudging the panicky feeling inside higher and higher. I was on the verge of creating a scene.

“We will. I need you to let me handle this. You can stay on duty, but you need to stay at the desk, or monitor anyone who is currently stable. That’s it,” he said firmly.

I was frozen in place. Dr. Jackson called a name, and someone appeared at my side and literally led me away from Wyatt.

A while later, I sort of came out of my fog. I was sitting on a chair inside the nurses’ station. Everything else was carrying on around me. The phone was ringing, monitors beeping, and one of the nurses was typing and talking to someone on the phone.

I looked around, catching the eye of Harry, one of the nurses on duty. “He’s fine,” he said.

“How long has it been since I sat down here?”

He moved his hand back and forth. “Fifteen minutes, give or take. They’ve had time to do the X-ray and the scan you demanded. Dr. Jackson probably did that just as a favor to you.”

Dr. Jackson’s voice came from the other side of the desk. “Not as a favor to Rosie. You never know what might happen whenever someone’s hit by a moving vehicle. We’re going to get him prepped to set the break. He should be done in about an hour. He doesn’t need full anesthesia for this, but we’re going to sedate him.” Dr. Jackson held my eyes as I began to stand. “You are not to come in until he’s in the recovery room.” With that, he hurried off.

I sat back down. “How’s the motorcyclist?” I asked.

Harry replied, “Just a little banged up. He feels terrible. There were some witnesses. Apparently, Wyatt just walked into traffic while texting on his phone.”

“Oh my God. Are you serious?”

“That’s what the cop said,” another nurse chimed in as she spun away from her computer.

“He just texted me right before my shift started. Oh my God,” I muttered. I was dumbfounded. “I can’t just sit here. I have to do something.”

Harry caught me by the elbow as I stood from my chair. “How about you just check on things? Please do not check on Wyatt or the motorcyclist.”

I knew he was right on that, but it drove me crazy not to check on Wyatt. It was a relief to have something to focus on, though. I chatted with the parents of the little boy, who was very upset about his diabetes because he hated shots. Our chest pain patient was being monitored, but he likely had a panic attack. Many people confuse those for a heart attack, so that wasn’t anything unusual, but a single dose of anxiety medication had eliminated all of his chest pains and distress and his vitals were stable.

I was still distraught and concerned about Wyatt, but I felt a little steadier. I was returning to the nurses’ station when I saw Cassie walking in. When her eyes landed on me, she smiled. She had her baby in a little sling across her chest.

She stopped at the desk. “I’m so glad you’re here. I wanted to come in and thank everyone. I figured you might not all be on duty, but—” She let out a quick sigh. “I’m doing much better. I feel mostly normal now, and Danny is doing great.”

We collectively cooed over the baby, and she delivered us a tray of pastries from Spill the Beans Café. “I figure those are popular anytime,” she explained.

I was still restless and needed something to do. I lingered over the baby and walked with Cassie toward the entrance. When we stopped by the doors, she glanced over at me. I didn’t know what she saw in my eyes, but she offered, “It’ll be okay.”

“It will?” My voice lilted up.

“One way or another. By the way, I heard you got married in Vegas.” Her eyes twinkled with her smile. “Congratulations.”

A few minutes later, Dr. Jackson tapped me on the shoulder where I was organizing our supply room because I was restless. I spun around. “What is it? How is he?”

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