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Chapter Forty-One
Terry
There was mass confusion at the hospital. I did my best to stay with the EMTs as they wheeled Mia in. She was oddly calm. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I found her in that alley, but it wasn’t what I found. Mia held on tightly to me. Her eyes had scanned the streets like a frightened deer up until the ambulance door was closed.
I couldn’t figure out how I had let this happened. How she had gotten away from me long enough for him to get his hands on her was a mystery to me. She was a fast runner. Had she lost me on purpose? The thought kept crossing my mind. Seeing her in my head, weaving in and out of people, her legs pumping and moving faster as they pounded the pavement.
She lost me.
He found her.
I had failed her.
Those were the only thoughts that went through my head. It was my job to keep her safe. That is why they sent her home with me, because she would be safe. But that proved to be wrong.
I stole away and called Ally. She was understanding—she didn’t scold me or curse me out the way I had expected her to. She just sounded almost as defeated as I felt. Had she realized, too, that no matter what we did to keep Mia safe, Chad would find a way? I wished I had been in that alley with her. I wished I had been there to grab him by the neck and throw him off her. I wish I had been able to take my fist and pummel his face until he was unrecognizable.
But that hadn’t happened. He’d gotten to her. And from what she told the police, he had taken some long metal object and pummeled her ankle. Now she likely had a broken ankle. No other injuries, though. This time, he hadn’t hit or punched her like I had thought he might if he got time with her again. This time, it was just her ankle. He mentioned her company, so Mia had reasoned with the ambulance driver that this was about taking something away from her. Making her feel like she was less of a woman, less of a businesswoman, because he took away her ability to wear the one thing that she was designing and selling.
My heart ached for her. I wanted to hold her and feel her body against mine. For some reason, I felt like I needed the comfort just as much as she did.
They were wheeling her to a bed in the emergency room. The EMTs transferred her into the hospital bed, giving her vital signs to the doctors who had rushed over to attend to her injuries. Mia’s vitals were fine, I heard them say. I let out a sigh of relief and hurried over to where she lay. I stayed on the outskirts of everything, hoping that allowed me to remain with her. I wasn’t family, so I feared they might throw me out.
“Page ortho,” I heard someone yell from my perch at the foot of her bed.
“Are you family?” one of the nurses asked. She turned to me, getting ready to dismiss me, when Mia’s voice rang out above the commotion.
“No! He stays!” All eyes shot over to her. “Please. He stays.”
“Okay, ma’am,” another nurse said, then turned to the first. “Get me ten milligrams of diazepam.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s just a little Valium. Just to calm her down. It’ll help us examine her better.”
I nodded. Mia’s hazel eyes were wild and darting everywhere, not landing on any one spot for very long. She looked like she might be hanging on by just a thread.
“And, sir,” she said, turning her attention back to me, “you can stay here, but please stay out of the way.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
She nodded and turned her attention back to Mia.
The ortho doctor that had been requested was now at Mia’s bedside.
“Hi, Mia. I’m Dr. Weston and I’ll be taking care of you today. Please just lie back and let me examine your ankle.” Mia nodded, her eyes wide. “This may hurt a little bit,” she warned her.
I wanted to reach out and hold her hand while she went through this pain. The whole way here, the EMTs had allowed me to hold her hand. She hadn’t let go from the minute her hand met mine. It was comfort—for both of us. Right now, I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn’t get in the way, not if I wanted to stay.
“Ow!” Mia shouted as the doctor manipulated her ankle.
“Sorry, but I had to.” She turned her attention away from Mia and began speaking to the doctors who were standing around her. The only words I understood were fracture and x-ray. Both of which I had figured were coming at some point.
The medical staff tending to Mia backed away all at once, almost as if they were in on some sort of choreographed dance. Her bed was then wheeled away from the small space.
“Sir, she’ll be right back,” someone said, addressing me. “We just need to get some pictures, and we’ll be right back with her.”
“Okay, thank you.”
