“I’ll go get someone,” Libby said, walking off toward the receptiondesk.
“I’ll come with you,” my mom offered. “She needs to see someone fromobstetrics.”
They both disappeared around the corner and I sat wringing my hands in my lap. My leg bounced up and down with nerves, and I couldn’t make it stop. My eyes kept going to the door I knew led to the triage area, and I willed the doctor to walk through and tell me the man I’d loved all my life was going to be okay. I felt a hand on my leg and I turned to see that Grace had sat down next tome.
“You really love him, don’t you?” she said quietly, her eyes fixed on thefloor.
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “I do…more thananything.”
“And he loves you,” she said, a statement rather than a question. Her eyes met mine and I nodded. “Well he must—he risked his life to save you,” she said with asigh.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my head dropping into my hands. “He went in there for me and I wasn’t even in the stables. It’s my fault he’s inhere.”
“No Savannah, it’s not your fault, that’s not what I meant. It was an accident sweetheart.” She sighed and pulled my hands away from my face, forcing me to look at her. “I’m so sorry I’ve been so awful to you. I’ve been selfish.” She shook her head and stood up, pacing in front of me. “I saw you as a threat, someone who would take Josh away from me. After everything he’s been through…” She trailedoff.
Frowning, I looked up at her. “Josh has had lots of girlfriends, why am I anydifferent?”
“Because it’s you Savannah.” She smiled. “You’re different than the others. I’ve always known he liked you, I guess I just never realized how much.” Her hands covered her mouth as she tried to hold back a sob. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and looked at me. “He’s got pictures of you beside his bed, did you knowthat?”
I nodded as fresh tears slipped down my cheeks. “Oh God, Grace, I can’t losehim.”
She came over, kneeling in front of me. “He’s a fighter Savannah, always has been. You’re not going to lose him.” I closed my eyes as sobs racked my body. I was desperate to believe her, but the longer we waited with no news, the more my hope diminished. I felt her arms go around me and we clung to each other, both of uscrying.
We heard the main doors to the emergency department open and looked up as Robert rushed in. “Grace!” he shouted as he ran over to us. Seeing our tears, his facepaled.
Grace let go of me and took hold of his hand. “We’re waiting for the doctor to come speak to us. All we know is that he has a head injury and he wasn’t conscious when they brought himin.”
Relief flooded his face and he flopped down into one of the waiting room chairs. “I thought you were going to tell me…” He shook his head, dragging his hand down his face. He turned to me. “Savannah darlin’, are you okay? What happened? Why were you thereGrace?”
“There was a fire in the stable. Josh thought I was inside and went in to get me, but I was at the cottage with Grace,” I told him, my eyes flicking toGrace’s.
“Thank God you weren’t in there,” he said, his eyes dropping to my bump. “Why were you at the cottage Grace?” he askedagain.
“She left something last night and just stopped by to pick it up,” I said quickly before Grace could speak. I didn’t see the point in telling him why she had really been there. It seemed like the fire had forced her to look at how she had been behaving, and she appeared to be regretting her actions from the past few weeks. Grace caught my eye and gave me a grateful smile. Robert nodded, missing the silent conversation Grace and I were having. Just then, Libby and my mom appeared with adoctor.
The doctor checked me over, checking my blood pressure and pulse. Although he checked the baby’s heartbeat with his stethoscope, he wanted me to go upstairs to maternity so they could scan the baby as a precaution. I told him once I knew Josh was okay, I’d head up there, but for time being, I was staying put. I wasn’t worried about the baby because I was getting plenty of movement, and told him so. He seemed happy with my answer, telling me to speak to reception if anything changed, and they would page him to come backdownstairs.
We’d been waiting what seemed like hours for some news on Josh and we still hadn’t been allowed to see my dad, Brody, or Mason, although we knew they were okay. Finally, after another half an hour of waiting, my dad and Mason appeared, and apart from looking exhausted, they weren’t hurt. I watched as Libby threw herself at Mason, clinging to him and sobbing, and my mom embraced my dad, kissing him on thelips.
“Where’s Brody?” she asked in apanic.
“He’s fine, he’s with the girl he rescued,” my dad toldher.
“What girl?” she asked in confusion, and he shrugged hisshoulders.
“There was a girl about Libby’s age hiding in the stables. When Brody and Josh went in to find Savannah, they found her. She’s stable but unconscious.” I’d forgotten I’d seen him carrying someone out. Just then the door to triage flung open and we all turned to see one of the doctors standing in front of us. I felt Grace reach for my hand and squeeze ittightly.
“Are you the family of Josh Miller?” he asked, looking at Grace and Robert and then at myparents.
“We’re his parents,” Robert replied, steppingforward.
He nodded and gestured for them to sit down. Grace was still holding my hand and she guided me to sit down next to her. “I’m Dr. Green. I’ve been with Josh since he was brought in and he’s stable, but critical. It was touch and go for a while. He’s suffering from severe smoke inhalation and he’s still unconscious. We’ve intubated him to give his lungs a chance to recover, so at the moment the machines are breathing for him.” I gasped and Grace put her arm around me. My mom sat the other side of me, her hand on my leg. “The wound to his head wasn’t as bad as we first thought, and it’s only superficial, so we aren’t too worried about that. The main concern is his breathing, and the smokeinhalation.”
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked, my voicebreaking.
“We’re doing everything we can for him. We’ll keep him intubated overnight, and we don’t know yet when he’ll wakeup.”
“Can we see him?” Grace asked, her voiceshaking.