Page 98 of Everlasting Love

Fire lances my leg, and I close my eyes for a moment while listening to Violet talk to someone through the Bluetooth speakers, and I think … maybe I shouldn’t have worn shorts today.

35

VIOLET

Oh my God,he’s passed out. My hands shake on the steering wheel, and I grip it tighter, turning my knuckles white. He has to be okay. The universe wouldn’t be so cruel as to steal him away from us now. I glance up at the sky and ask, “You wouldn’t do that to me and Jas, would you? You’re not that sadistic?” Looking forward again, I spot the hospital entrance just ahead.Thank fuck!

“Mommy, why are we at the hospital?”

With my heart pounding, I glance over my shoulder. “The snake bit Daddy. He needs help.” I daren’t tell her how bad it is, I don’t need a full-on meltdown at this point because I may just join her. The blood in my veins races too fast and my skin is too tight as I pull up to the emergency doors. I’m not sure how I’m managing to drive in a straight line with the amount my body’s shaking. Two nurses come running out immediately with a gurney and I don’t know how they’re going to manage to get Shane out of the car and onto the bed—he’s twice their size.

“Is he going to be okay?” I glance at my daughter. Her tear-streaked face and worry-filled eyes break my heart.

“He’ll be fine. The doctors will give him some medicine, and he’ll be all better.”I hope.I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to him. He has my heart and soul. He and Jas are my entire world. He’s our rock. Our safe place.

I shut down the negative thoughts and focus on one step at a time.

Step one: Get him the help he needs.

I climb out of the car and greet the nurses, leaving my sobbing daughter inside but Shane has to be the priority right now. I explain where we were and the type of snake that bit him. I point to the location of the bite on his calf and try to calculate the amount of time that passed since he was struck. “It’s probably close to two hours since he was bitten. We walked a trail back to the car for almost an hour, then I wrapped his calf and drove here, which was another forty minutes.”

“We’ll take it from here.” They glance at each other before maneuvering him expertly out of the car and onto the gurney, communicating their movements with each other efficiently. No time is wasted. “You can park your car and come inside!” one of them calls to me as they wheel the man who owns my heart away.

Tears trail down my cheeks as I watch him disappear through the doors, feeling completely and utterly helpless. He has to be okay. There’s no way he can survive a bomb blast to be taken out by a reptile, right? I shake out my hands and quickly climb back into the car to find a parking spot.

“Mommy. Where’s Daddy?” Jas’s tiny voice breaks through the fog of worry that’s quickly taking over and suffocating my rational thought process.

“He’s with the nurses. They’re going to take care of him for us.” I find a spot and park, then twist in my seat to facemy daughter. “He’ll be okay.” I hope I haven’t just lied to my daughter. I promised myself I would always be upfront and honest with her after I lied to her about her father.

I carry Jas into the emergency area and head straight to the desk trying to tamp down my panic so I don’t set Jas off. “Hi, uhm, Shane Sutton was just brought in with a rattlesnake bite. Where can we go to be with him?”

“Are you family?”

“He’s my daddy,” Jasmine cries.

The woman behind the desk looks at Jasmine with sympathy. “Well, we’d better get you to your daddy then.” She points to a set of doors to the right. “Go through those doors and follow the red arrows on the floor. They’ll take you to another desk and a waiting room.” She smiles softly at us.

“Thank you.”

I turn to the right and push through the doors with Jasmine wrapped around me, crying her little eyes out. When I arrive at the next desk, I explain again and we’re told we need to wait in the waiting room until a nurse comes to get us. We could be here for hours before we know what’s going on and as well-behaved as Jasmine is I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be here.

I dial Mom and she answers on the third ring. “Are you enjoying your afternoon in the sunshine?” I can hear the smile in her voice and it causes a flood of tears to escape. “Violet? What’s wrong?”

Shudders rack my body. “Sh-Sh-Shane’s been bitten by a rattlesnake. I’m at the emergency department.”

She gasps. “Oh my gosh. Which hospital? Lloyd and I will come right away.”

I sob into the phone. “Mercy Vale.”

“Hold tight. We’ll be there shortly.” She disconnects the call, and I stand with Jas still in my arms.

We’re as bad as each other, both crying, and I absently think to myself that I should be holding it together better for my daughter. I pace laps around the waiting area, soothing Jasmine with long strokes from the top of her head down her back and repeating the process over and over. The activity helps to calm her as well as me. I draw my phone out of my pocket and quickly text Quinn with one hand.

Me

Shane’s been bitten by a rattlesnake

Tell me he’s going to be okay

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