Page 84 of Forgotten Dreams

Deputy Burke rushes over to Carl, side tackling him to get him to stop hitting Peter. His fists are bloody. “Sir,” the woman paramedic says, “can you move your hand?” They look down at my shirt that is covered in blood. I move out of the way to let them treat her, falling on my ass as I take a look around the room. Ten minutes ago, it was a tearful reunion, and now it’s probably going to be the scene of a crime.

I look up, seeing a fireman in front of me, and he holds out his hand to me. “Let’s get you up and in a shirt so you can go with her to the hospital.” I reach out my hand for him, and he pulls me up.

“Is she—” I ask the paramedic beside Sierra.

“I think she’ll be fine.” He smiles at me. “It looks like it went right through.”

“I’m going to have to do a sweep to make sure it’s all good,” the fireman tells me, and I nod at him.

“Her blood pressure is going down,” a frantic voice says from Fiona’s side. “We need to get her out of here before she codes.”

She’s loaded on a stretcher as Carl gets up and walks over to her. “I’m here, Fiona,” he says by her ear. “Don’t fucking leave me again.” He grabs her hand, bringing it to his mouth.

“Sir, you can’t go with them,” one of the officers says to Carl.

“He’ll be okay,” the officer who came in first says. “I’m Deputy Burke.” He looks at Carl. “We are going to have questions for you.”

“I’ll be at the hospital,” Carl replies. “I’ll answer them all there.” Deputy Burke nods at him and then comes over to me.

“We have questions for you as well,” Deputy Burke says to me. “I’m assuming you are going to the hospital.”

“Really nothing to say,” I say to him. “He came in here.” I motion to Peter, who is mumbling on the ground. The officer getting him to sit up as a paramedic checks him out. “He shot them. I’ll answer whatever questions you want, but I’m not leaving her.”

“I’ll come by the hospital when we finish up here,” Deputy Burke relays and walks away.

I run out of the house beside Sierra when I look up and see Theo running toward the house, fear written all over his face. “Fucking shit, Caleb,” he hisses when he spots me and then looks at Sierra. “What happened?”

He stops mid-run when he looks at the female paramedic. “Oh my God, it’s you,” she says at the same time he whispers, “You,” pointing to her and then he shakes his head and turns back to me.

“Meet me at the hospital. Get me a shirt,” I instruct him. “Call Lilah, we’re going to have to call her parents,” I tell him. “My phone is somewhere inside.” I motion with my chin toward the house as I get into the back of the ambulance. I sit on one side while the female paramedic sits on the other side. She keeps looking at Sierra and at the house where Theo just went into. The door shuts and her eyes go back to Sierra as she works on her.

Sierra moans out, and my hand reaches for hers as she moves her head side to side. “Baby,” I say softly, not realizing there are tears now running down my face. “Baby,” I call her again. “I’m here, baby, you’re going to be fine.”

“Burning,” she says, “it burns.” She licks her lips.

“I love you,” I state, letting out a sigh of relief from hearing her voice, “more than anything, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too,” she whispers. “What happened?” she asks, and I look over at the paramedic.

“We’ll get into that later,” I tell her. “You need to save your strength.”

“Okay,” she gives in. “I’m just going to close my eyes, but don’t leave me.” She looks back at me.

“Not for a minute.” I smile at her as she closes her eyes, and I look at the paramedic. “That’s good, right? That she woke up.”

She smiles and nods as I sit with my back against the cold steel side and close my eyes. I open my eyes, and the paramedic hands me a blanket to cover myself up with. I wrap it around my shoulders and look down at her the whole time. We get to the hospital, and they take her out, and I follow, walking into the waiting room and seeing Lilah there with Emmett. Her face is white and streaked with tears when she looks around and finally sees me and rushes to me. “What happened?” she asks.

“You need to call her parents,” I tell her, and she nods.

“I already called them on the way here. They’re on their way. Is she going to be okay?” Lilah asks, putting her hand on her stomach.

“She’s going to be fine,” I assure her. “She has no choice.” I look over to see Carl standing there, looking at the door they just wheeled Fiona in.

I walk away from Lilah, who turns in Emmett’s arms, as I walk to him. “How is she?”

“She coded in the ambulance,” he says, his voice monotone. “If I see him, I’m going to kill him.” He looks over at me. “Have nothing to live for anyway.”

“You have your daughter to get to know,” I remind him, “and her mother to take care of.” He looks at me. “They’re worth it.”

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