Page 120 of Rebel Hawke

The unfamiliar voice carries a heaviness to it, despite trying to sound cheerful. “

“It is.”

“Hi, Wren. My name is Sandy.” Some rustling of papers comes through the line. “I’m a nurse at University Medical Center. Your grandfather was brought in.”

A vise wraps around my chest, tightening. “Oh, my God, is he all right?”

“I don’t have any information on his condition at the moment. You were listed as an emergency contact in his phone, and he was able to ask the emergency room staff to have us call you.”

“I’ll-I’ll be right there.” I end the call, trying to fight the tightness forming in my ribcage. “I—”

Bishop glances over. “Wren, what’s wrong?”

I suck in a wheezing breath, my lungs constricting.

“Wren?”

“My grandfather…”

She slows and pulls over to the side of the road, throws the car into park, and grabs my arm. “Wren, what happened?”

“That was the hospital, my grandfather.”

It’s all I can get out between the sob threatening to crawl up my throat and the pressure around my chest.

“Okay, UMC? I’m taking you there right now.”

I nod and rummage in my purse, looking for my inhaler. The last thing I need right now is an attack when I don’t know what the hell is going on with Gramps.

Bishop throws the car back into gear and pulls out into traffic, speeding away and pulling a U-turn to head back in the opposite direction. “I’ll call the girls when we get there and let them know why we’re not at the fitting.”

“No”—I managed to get out before I take a puff from my inhaler. Holding it in my lungs, I put up a palm to let her knowI have more to say. I release it and take another breath. “You should go. Just…drop me off.”

She snorts. “I’m not leaving you at the hospital. Not with you like this and Jenkins… The dresses can fucking wait.”

They can.

But what about Gramps?

It only takes us five minutes to arrive at the UMC emergency room, but it feels like an eternity by the time I finally climb from the car on unsteady feet, still fighting the tension in my chest.

Bishop grabs my arm and walks me in through the sliding doors to the nurses’ station. “Hi, her grandfather, Jimmy Jenkins, was brought in.”

The nurse seated behind it looks up. “Let me just check on that.” She types up something on her keyboard as I try to get my eyes to focus through the tears. “If you take a seat, I’ll let the nurse handling this case know that you’re here.”

I can’t even manage to respond with more than a nod, my body trembling and an oddly numb sensation overcoming me. “Okay…”

Bishop leads me over to a chair in the waiting area. “Do you need your inhaler again?”

I look over at her and shake my head, trying to breathe deep and slow my heart rate before I really do have a full-on attack and end up in one of the beds here myself. “I’m okay.”

“Wren, if you need it, use it. You’re pregnant now. You can’t be—”

“I know.”

Shit.

I squeeze my eyes closed.

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