I blinked at her uniform. “You’re a police officer?”
“I am.” Lexie nodded. “It’s going to be okay, Maggie. I’ve got your girl. She’s safe and warm.”
“Don’t let her see me, Lexie,” I said. “It’ll scare her too much.”
“I won’t,” Lexie said, giving my fingers a brisk pat. “She’s in the back seat of the squad car, wrapped in a blanket, and talking to my partner. We’ll be following you to the emergency room. Maggie, is there anyone you’d like me to call?”
“Thomas,” I said, as they put me in the ambulance. “Call Thomas Drake.”
***
I was headed off to X-ray when the entire Drake family descended on the emergency room. Thomas stopped them long enough to speak to me.
“Hey,” I said, still strapped to the backboard. “Sorry about the fuss, y’all.”
To my surprise Thomas was a tad pale, but he smiled and brushed the hair back from my face. “We’ll be right here waiting for you.”
“Please, would you stay with Willow?” I asked him.
“I will. Don’t you worry,” Thomas said soothingly. He gave a nod to the technician and EMTs and they rolled me off.
A short time later, I was returned to the treatment room, sans backboard, and discovered there was a crowd waiting for me: Thomas, Julian, Autumn, Duncan, and Wyatt Hastings. Thomas told me that Willow was sitting in a treatment room across the hall with Lexie Bishop, that the doctors had checked her out, and she was just fine.
I frowned at Wyatt. “Why is Mr. Hastings here?”
“The accident happened in front of Wyatt’s house,” Thomas explained. “He wanted to make sure that you and Willow were alright.”
“Don’t you remember talking to me after the accident?” Wyatt asked with a hint of a smile. “You were a kind of out of it.”
I frowned, wondering what I’d said. “You’re the one who told me to open the door.”
“That’s right.” He nodded.
“You climbed over the car seat to check on me,” I suddenly remembered.
The doctor walked in and nodded respectfully to Thomas. As a matter of fact, the whole staff was moving double-time. I’d never been treated so well at an emergency room in my life. I wondered what was going on.
I’d been very lucky, the ER doctor said with a calm smile. I only had a mild concussion from hitting my head on the window. “A stitch or two will take care of the cut, and the shoulder dislocation isn’t severe. Once we put her left shoulder back in place, she’ll only need to wear a sling for a few weeks.”
“Back in place?” I asked nervously.
“I don’t want her to be in too much pain.” Thomas frowned.
“You leave that to us,” the doctor said, and proceeded to usher everyone out of the room.
“I’m staying,” Thomas announced, and sat in the chair beside the bed.
“You don’t have to,” I began.
“Yes, I do.” He folded his arms across his chest and made himself comfortable.
Once they’d dealt with my shoulder, taken care of the cut at my hairline, and after they’d cleaned up the blood, only then would I let Willow come and see me.
She was fine, and was holding a small teddy bear. She walked back into the room with Lexie. “Hi Mama!”
“Hi baby.” I smiled and held out my right hand to her.
But she didn’t run to me. Instead she stayed where she was. “Lexie said you hurt your shoulder and I shouldn’t jump on the bed.”
“That’s probably true.” I sighed. “Thank you, Lexie, for staying with her all this time.”
“You’re family.” Lexie smiled easily. “It was the least I could do.”
“A nurse gave me a bear!” Willow held it up.
“I hope you said, thank you,” I began as Julian, Duncan and Autumn came back in.
“Mama, did you know that Lexie says, I have two more cousins?” Willow smiled shyly up at her.
“You sure do. We’re everywhere,” Lexie said, placing a hand on Willow’s shoulder. Although she had smiled warmly at Willow, the look she sent to Thomas Drake afterward seemed significant to me.
Maybe it was because she was standing there in her police uniform, I thought. Or maybe it was from the pain medicine they’d whacked me up with before they’d put my shoulder back in place. I squelched down a giggle, and realized I was feeling more than a little strange.
“Morgan, he’s a boy, and three years old,” Willow was saying. “The baby is a girl and her name is…Be—Lynn?”
“Belinda,” Lexie corrected.
“Belinda is six months old,” Willow announced importantly. “Lexie showed me pictures on her phone.”
“I’m happy to see that you’re doing okay,” Lexie nudged Willow toward Julian and Willow happily took his hand. “You’ll need to see about getting some snow tires for that car.”
“Oh no!” I started to sit up. “My car! How bad is it? Is the other driver hurt?”
Thomas eased me back. “The other driver is fine. His truck only had minor damage on the front bumper.”
“My car?” I asked.
“We’ll get it repaired,” Thomas said, “don’t worry.”
“I’m going to head out,” Lexie said, stepping back. “Maggie, I’ll come and check on you in a couple of days.”
“Oh, that’s very kind of you,” I began.
Lexie winked at Willow. “Take care of your mom.”
“I will,” Willow said solemnly.
Lexie flashed a smile. “Be safe, everyone.” And she left.
I was discharged shorty after. By the time the paperwork was done, Autumn and Duncan had gone home. Willow and I were driven back to the Drake estate in Julian’s Range Rover. It hadn’t been easy climbing up into it, but the SUV handled the slippery roads beautifully. Willow exclaimed over the snow—which was still falling—and I wondered how in the world I was going to manage a four-year-old when I was down to one arm.
“Maggie,” Thomas said, laying his hand on my good arm.
I startled. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I was
