“That’s Tyson driving the van!” It must click for a bunch of the brothers what I’m sayin’ ’cause I start to hear a chorus of them calling out to him to stop the van. He looks over and I make eye contact with him. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I think he looked conflicted when he saw me starting to chase after the van. I chase till the end of the road, knowing I can’t run and keep up with a moving vehicle. Screeching tires behind me have me moving out of the way. I see trucks and bikes all heading this way. Ry’s driving Pa’s truck.
Pa yells as the truck slows down, just enough to let me in. “Get the fuck in right now, Shane. We got to go get them!”
“Go! If we get close enough, get over to the driver’s side. Let me yell and get Tyson’s attention. I don’t think he would hurt anyone on purpose. I need to fucking try something. I can’t let her go to who knows where, to have who knows what the fuck done to her.”
Within a couple of minutes, we catch up to the van. I can tell that Tyson’s heading to the logging road that locals take to avoid going through the middle of town. It’s also not paved so he can’t go as fast as he is right now. My breath catches as I start watching the van start to swerve back and forth. He seems to correct it and gets back to driving straight for a couple of blocks but then it gets even more violent with the swerving, as if someone is fighting the driver.
Ry voices the biggest worry at the moment. “They’re gonna fucking roll the van!”
All I can do is watch in horror as the van swerves a couple more times before barely making the turn onto the logging road. The van overcorrects on the gravel road and skids off the road, hitting the edge of the ditch, and flipping onto its roof. It skids on its roof till the front end hits a tree. I don’t even think I wait for the truck to stop before I’m out and running to the van. I hear all sorts of voices around me. Someone shouts to call an ambulance. I’m first to the back doors and I yank them open. All of them in the back are unconscious. I feel Kierstie’s neck and I can tell she’s breathing, but at a strange angle in the back of the van, half on top of one of the twins. Ry and Logan are both next to me within seconds and check both Shandy and Brandy. They’re both breathing. I go to pull Kierstie out but Logan stops me.
“We don’t know the extent of her injuries. Moving her could hurt her worse. If any of them have potential spinal injuries, we could do permanent damage. We need to wait to move any of them till the paramedics get here.” I know he has medical knowledge, but I just want her out. Jon walks around from the front of the van.
“Abel’s dead. I think Tyson shot him. Tyson’s breathing but I think he’s hurt pretty bad. How many ambulances did we call for?”
Someone answers him, but I can’t concentrate on anything but Kierstie, willing her to be okay, our little one too. This can’t be the end of our story. It’s barely just begun.
In what has to be just a few minutes later but feels like an eternity, I hear a chorus of sirens heading in our direction. Within a minute, multiple ambulances and police vehicles show up on scene. Logan takes the lead, talking to the paramedics about his initial assessment of all the individuals involved. One set of paramedics come up to me.
“This your wife, sir?” I nod and inform him of how far along she is with her pregnancy. They make quick work of putting a collar on her and getting her out of the van. When they get her on the stretcher, I see the blood. She’s bleeding vaginally. Both paramedics see this and move even faster if it’s possible. I tell them I’m going with them. Neither of them argue about that, and that worries me even more.
We take off toward the hospital with the sirens blaring. The paramedic who’s back here working on her tells me to talk to her, let her know I’m there. I bend over to get closer to her face.
“Gorgeous, I’m right here. I’m gonna be by your side till you come home. You need to wake up and be okay. I need to see your eyes, your smile and feel your kiss. Love, you’re my world and I need my world to come back to me. I love you and will love you till I take my last breath.” I kiss her hand I’m holding and each of the fingers individually. We pull into the hospital parking lot and a flurry of nurses and doctors come out and whisk her into the emergency room, with me trying to follow. A nurse who reminds me of Pres stops me.
“Sir, you can’t go back there just yet.”
I look at him and beg my case.
“That’s my wife, and she’s pregnant with our baby. She’s alone and—”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t go back there in a few minutes. Give the doctors a chance for the initial assessment of her and the baby. As soon as they do that, I promise I will come get you and bring you back to her.” I nod and go over to the chairs and take a seat. Looking at my hands, I try to scrape some of the dried blood off them. I’m not sure what made me look up, but I see the whole family walking through the doors. I see Pa going up to the desk, most likely to ask about everyone. I try to distract myself with my hands again when someone sits down next to me. I look over and see it’s Grant.
“She’s gonna be okay. She’s too stubborn not to be. I heard Tyson was the driver.” I nod my head.
“Also heard they think he shot Abel. Makes you wonder if when he realized who was in the van, his conscience got the better of him. Heard he’s pretty banged up.”
“I honestly don’t have a clue. I’ve been focused on Kierstie and the baby. As soon as I see the nurse again, he’s gonna let me back with her.”
Grant gives me a one-armed hug.
“You worry about her, and I’ll check on Tyson.” We wait for what feels like forever, but probably is only about twenty minutes. I see the nurse I spoke with earlier come out from the doors to the ER. I stand up and go over to him.
“Can I go see my wife now?” He shakes his head but puts his hand up as I’m about to start talking.
“She’s awake but her water broke and the baby is in some distress. We’re taking her up to have a C-section as we speak. You need to get up to the fourth floor. Go to the desk, tell them who you are. They’ll get you outfitted and take you into the surgery room as soon as they can so you can be with your wife as your baby is born.” I look over at the family and know she’d want her parents up there, if not in the room too. Ma comes over and hugs me.
“You go, son. We’ll be up to that waiting room just as soon as we find out about everyone else. Go make me an Amma.”
I take off in the direction of the elevators. Thankfully, one is open when I get there. I get in and will the thing to move as fast as possible. As soon as it opens on the floor, I get out and practically run to the desk area. An older nurse looks up at me with a kind smile.
“How can I help you, young man?”
“I was told to come up here from the ER ’cause my wife is about to go into an emergency C-section. Her name’s Kierstie Brock.” I see the nurse’s eyes go up at her name and she quickly gets up and comes around the desk.
“Let’s get you dressed and ready. They should be ready for surgery in just a few minutes.” I follow her and she grabs everything I need and tells me what to do and that she’ll come get me in a minute. I also tell her that our family should be up soon and she informs me that they’ve got a good-sized waiting room. I quickly put on the scrubs, bootie things, face mask, and cap thing they gave me. I stand there waiting, almost not breathing, needing to see my heart. My whole world is in that room. I keep trying to tell myself that she’s okay, and the baby is going to be okay. My whole body feels completely unsettled. It feels like forever until the nurse comes back in.
“Let’s get you to your wife. You two are about to become parents. They’re going to have you sit on her left side. They think her right wrist was broken in the accident but aren’t going to do x-rays until after the C-section. Listen to the nurses and you’ll do just fine, son.” She leads me to a door and takes me inside. She points to a stool that’s up near Kierstie’s head.
