He held out his hand. “Give me your keys. You’re parked behind me, so it’ll be faster to take your truck than mine.”
She dropped her keys into his large palm.
“Now, you just sit here and take some deep breaths while I do something about that food.”
Meredith’s head started spinning again, so she leaned over, arms wrapped around her stomach. “Oh, Lord, let him be okay. Let him be okay. I can’t lose him now.” She repeated the words like a mantra until she started feeling calmer.
After a lot of clanking and clattering, Ward reappeared. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“I think I’m okay to drive.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll probably be out there most of the night—you know how slow things move in the ER. I don’t want you tied up out there with me when you don’t have to be.”
“Do you want me to follow you out there, just to make sure you get there okay?”
She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thanks for the offer, but really, I promise I’ll drive carefully.”
He handed the keys back to her. “You call me when you get there and find out what happened, okay? No matter how late it is.”
“I will.”
“And be sure to let me know if there’s anything I can do.” He walked her to the front door.
“Just pray.”
“I already am.”
Meredith ran to her SUV and was about to punch the accelerator to get to the hospital as fast as she could —then remembered where she was going and why. No point in getting into an accident herself by speeding on the wet roads. With both hands in a death grip around the steering wheel, she headed for the sprawling medical park that surrounded the largest hospital in town.
She prayed the entire way, never getting beyond
Trying to figure out where to park to get to the emergency room frustrated her almost to the point of tears. She eventually found the designated lot and pulled into a space, not caring that her right wheels were over the line.
Her heels tapped on the tile floor in a quick staccato as she half walked, half jogged to the information desk.
“May I help you?” the woman behind the glass asked.
“Yes. I’m here for Major O’Hara. He was in a car accident. I talked to a nurse—” Oh, what had her name been? “Amanda or Abigail or ... Alison! I talked to Nurse Alison, who answered his phone when I called it.”
“And your name is?”
“Meredith Guidry.”
“Please have a seat, Ms. Guidry.”
“But—”
The woman slid the glass closed.
Defeated by worry, Meredith perched on the edge of the nearest chair and dug in her purse for a piece of gum or candy or something. She found a peppermint that had been in there forever and put it in her mouth, tapping her back teeth on its hard surface.
The sitcom on the TV hanging off the wall twenty feet away ended, and another show started. Meredith couldn’t sit still any longer. So she paced.
Surely after so many years and so much time wasted, God wouldn’t take Major away from her like this.
Chapter 26
Major tried to concentrate on what was going on around him, but the shot they’d given him in the ambulance made his stomach woozy and his head feel like it was stuffed with cabbage. He couldn’t move. They had him strapped to a board.
But he needed to get to Ma. She would be frantic when he didn’t show up at the time he said he would. She’d have an episode—and she’d caused so much trouble recently that it might be the last straw. He didn’t want to have to find another place for her to live.
“I need my phone.” He watched as they put another shot of something into his IV.
“Mr. O’Hara, we need to get X-rays of your neck and spine. If those come out okay, we’ll unstrap you from the board. Is there someone we can call for you?”
“My mother—she’s at Beausoleil Pointe Center. She’s expecting me. But if I don’t come—I think I’m going to throw up.”
The medical staff scrambled to turn him onto his side and stuck a plastic tray under the side of his face. After a few long seconds, the wave of nausea abated.
“I’m okay now.” But he wasn’t really. His vision started going dark around the edges. Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a minute, everything would be okay when he opened them again.
Painful pressure on his chest woke him.
“Mr. O’Hara, don’t go to sleep on us now.”
“Won’t.” But the drifting feeling tempted him, because to follow it meant he didn’t have to experience the reality of the severe pain in his left leg or the sharp stabbing in his left side every time he breathed.
“Mr. O’Hara, there’s a Meredith Guidry here to see you.”
“Meredith? Where?”
“Is it okay if she comes back? She said she’s your emergency contact.”
“Yes.” He closed his eyes. He answered yes or no to the nurses’ questions about his medical history. They finally removed the neck brace and back board.
“Major?”
He opened his eyes to the most beautiful sight he’d ever beheld. “Meredith. I love you. Will you marry me?”
Tears dripped from her eyes. “I think that’s something we should probably talk about sometime when you aren’t doped up on morphine.”
“Okay. I need to get out of here. I’ve got to go—get to Ma.” Strong hands pressed his shoulders back against the bed.
“You just need to stay here and let them fix you up.” Meredith’s fingers grazed his forehead, pushing his hair back.
“We need to take him up to get an MRI on his leg before surgery.” A nurse appeared beside Meredith with a plastic bag. “These are his personal effects—his clothes, shoes, wallet, phone ... everything he had on him.”
“Surgery?”
“For the compound fracture in his leg. I’ll take you upstairs to the waiting room near where they’ll be doing the procedure.”
“Thank you.”
Major heard a familiar sounding tune. Ma’s song. It was his phone. Ma was calling. But the sound grew fainter, and the ceiling tiles whizzing by overhead were making him sick to his stomach again.
Meredith wiped the moisture from her face and followed Alison to a different set of elevators than the ones they’d taken Major away in.
“The pain killers they gave him were making him say things that he probably didn’t mean,” Alison said.
“You mean when he asked me to marry him?”
The nurse nodded.
“I told you I’m his boss, but we’re also sort of dating.”
“Oh, so he might have meant it, then.” The elevator doors opened, and Alison motioned Meredith to follow
