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But they didn’t have a defibrillator.
Her mother’s heart wasn’t beating and they didn’t have a defibrillator.
Darby’s own heart hurt, wanted to burst from the pressure inside it.
No, her mother couldn’t die.
Please, God, please don’t take her. I need my Momma. I didn’t know how much, but I need her in my life.
“I have a pulse, Darby. I have a pulse,” Blake practically shouted, sounding almost as relieved as the feeling washing over Darby.
Her mother sputtered, sucked in a ragged breath.
Darby kissed her forehead. “Breathe, Momma, take another breath. I need you to take another breath.”
Darby thanked God when she felt the light breath from her mother’s nostril blow against her skin. “She’s breathing. Oh, Blake, she’s breathing.”
He nodded, easing his compressions. She checked her mother’s breathing while he checked her heart-rate.
“Respirations are ten.”
“Pulse is fifty-six,” he said, at almost the same time.
Too low, but a big improvement over not at all.
Please, Momma, hang in there. Just keep breathing.
The whir of a helicopter could be heard in the distance, and Darby’s inner sigh of relief shook her entire body.
“Pulse is fifty-two,” Blake said. “Thank God the helicopter is here.”
Her mother’s eyes fluttered open; she looked at her. Her lips moved, softly speaking, but Darby couldn’t make out what she said.
She leaned forward. “What is it, Momma? I’m here.”
“Home.” Was the only word Darby could make out. “Home.”
The flight paramedic rushed into the house, took a quick history from Blake and Darby, while another paramedic put in an IV and administered medication.
“There’s only room for one of you to ride in the copter with us.”
Darby wanted to go with her mother, but glanced toward her father. He looked ill himself, as if little of his lifeblood pulsed through his pale body.
“Go with her,” he said, his voice rumbling with emotion. “Go with her and take care of her for me.”
Darby nodded, wanting to hug him, but knowing the paramedic wouldn’t wait for her.
“I’ll drive your father to the hospital, Darby,” Blake said.
“Or he can ride with Rosy and I,” Jim spoke up from where he stood next to their father.
Darby didn’t wait to see how they worked out the logistics of who was riding with whom. She rushed out of the house, staying next to the stretcher that carried her mother, and with each step she took her prayers grew more and more fervent.
They’d gotten her mother’s heart restarted, but had they been too late? Had she suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen? Would her heart be strong enough to keep beating?
Torn in a thousand directions, Blake laced his hands with Darby’s, knowing she wouldn’t stay seated on the waiting room sofa for long. She’d paced almost non-stop. But he wanted her to know that no matter what had happened between them the night before, this morning he was here for her. He hated what she was going through, and wished he could take away her worries. He gave her a gentle squeeze.
Her gaze dropped to their hands. Surprising him, she scooted closer and laid her head against his shoulder.
