Page 31 of Forever His This Christmas

“Miss Branson,” she heard and turned to find Jazz there with her father.

“Where’s Abby?” she asked, seeing the bloodstains on David’s clothes.

“She’s inside,” David answered, and the nurse buzzed her through. He started to go in after her but changed his mind, not wanting to leave Jazz alone or for her to see Abby like that. He got the attention of the nurse who’d been asking him questions about Abby and motioned towards Lisa. She nodded and moved over to her as the doors shut.

“Lisa Branson?” the nurse asked her, and she nodded, unable to speak through her fear. “I’m Danielle, we have Abigail right over here,” she added moving her through the space towards the bay. “I’ll warn you, she has a lot of cuts and scrapes, but she’s been coming around.”

“Abby,” she said as they reached the bay. She caught her first glimpse of her daughter, and a cry stuck in her throat as she moved over to her side. “Oh baby…”

“I’m Dr. Jefferson,” the man checking the chart across from her said and she nodded not taking her eyes off Abby. “We need to take Abby up for an x-ray of her leg and we’d like to do a CT to check for head injuries. We’ve been monitoring her since she arrived, and her vitals are good. I can’t guarantee anything but she’s strong. She’s been regaining consciousness for longer periods each time.”

“Okay…is there…she’s allergic to morphine,” she managed to tell them as her mind began to work again.

“That’s very good to know. Miss Branson, I know this is difficult, but we do need to know about Abby’s medical history. Danielle can stay with you while we take Abby for tests, help get that information,” he said gently, and she nodded letting Danielle lead her to a quiet room to fill out the paperwork.

Time didn’t seem to move once she finished it, and her heart ached remembering how fragile Abby looked lying in the bed. She paced up and down the row in the waiting area Danielle showed her to, as she went to check on Abby. She couldn’t begin to breathe again as fear surrounded her and she sat down on the edge of a seat burying her face in her hands.

“Lisa,” she heard as a hand settled onto her shoulder.

She looked up to find Danielle there holding a cup of steaming tea and a smile. “Abby?”

“She’s being settled into a room. Let’s go see her,” Danielle replied handing the tea over. “It’s chamomile, we keep a secret stash of it behind the desk.”

“Thank you,” she managed to get out letting the warmth flow from it to her hands as they moved down the hallway. She saw Abby through the window and the cast on her leg hurt her heart. The doctor came out of the room, and she tensed, not sure if she wanted to know what he had to say.

“How is she?” she asked anyway, needing to know even if she didn’t want to.

“Very resilient, the CT showed no signs of significant trauma, there’s some inflammation but it’s expected. Her leg is broken but it’s a clean break, six to eight weeks in the cast should suffice. We’ve found no other broken bones and no internal injuries. We’re keeping her here for at least twenty-four hours of observation once she fully wakes to make sure nothing crops up, but she should come around soon.”

“She’s going to be okay?” she asked, almost not believing it.

“I see no reason why she won’t have a full recovery. You can go see her. She might still come in and out of consciousness but it’s her body’s way of trying to recover.”

She nodded, feeling the tears she’d held at bay for the last two hours since she heard the news slam into her at full force. She made it into the room and sat the tea down on the table, pulling a chair over to the side of Abby’s bed as she lifted her hand and held onto it tightly. She tried to fight the tears away, but they won, and she lowered her head to the mattress and let them come.

“Mom…” she heard sometime later, and she lifted her head finding Abby’s eyes open and full of pain. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t—don’t apologize for this sweetie. I should never have told you about the argument. It wasn’t fair to put that on you,” she said through her tears and happiness that she was awake.

“I didn’t want them to be mad at you. I didn’t see the car…”

“Shh, it’s okay sweetie. It’s okay Abby. It doesn’t matter, none of it does, just that you’re okay,” she assured her kissing her forehead as the nurse came into the room to check on them.

A bit later, she heard a knock on the door and moved over, finding Jazz and David there. She gave Jazz a smile, letting her run over to Abby and watched the two hug. It brought a new onslaught of tears to her, and she stepped out into the hallway to keep Abby from seeing them. She turned to face the wall as theytook over and she leaned against it trying to stop from losing it entirely.

“Lisa, I am so sorry,” David said putting a hand on her back and she turned back towards him shaking her head. “I should have gone after her sooner when I saw how upset she was…”

“Don’t,” she told him before taking a step closer and hugging him. “Thank you for saving her. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.”

“I didn’t do anything Lisa,” he replied when she stepped back.

“The paramedics told the doctor you stayed with her, wrapped her up to keep her warm and stopped the blood from her head—if you hadn’t, she might not be here.”

“If I hadn’t jumped to conclusions, she wouldn’t have been at my house yelling at me either.”

“What?”

“Abby came over to yell at me. She told me what you didn’t, what you shouldn’t have had to, about how you got pregnant with her and why you hid her away.”

---