Chapter 19
March arrivedand the weather warmed up. Spring was officially around the corner, but it was already in the air. I’d pulled out my shorts and it was the perfect Saturday to walk along the beach. Pearce had the weekend off, so we called Terri and Justin to see if they wanted to head out to the beach for the day.
We watched a group of guys kitesurfing, as the wind was strong that day. It was awesome to see how much speed they could pick up and then watch them as they flipped and turned.
We left the beach late in the afternoon and drove up to Awendaw to grab some fried seafood at a local restaurant. It was dark as we followed Terri and Justin home in Justin’s Range Rover. We’d taken separate cars because Justin was on call and needed a vehicle in case he got called in to the hospital.
As we were driving, I saw a deer jump out of the woods in front of Justin’s car. He swerved to miss it but there was an eighteen-wheeler in the lane next to him. I screamed as his car hit the truck and careened back into his lane, then spun out of control and rolled off the highway down an embankment, coming to a crash against a huge pine tree. It was deja vu all over again.
I couldn’t stop screaming, “Terri, Justin!”
Pearce slammed on his brakes and had to swerve to miss getting hit himself. We finally spun out but were unharmed.
“Alexia! Are you okay? Lexi, answer me now!”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I cried. “Are you?”
“I’m fine. I have to get to them. Call 911 stat. Tell them exactly what happened. Use my phone and tell them to track us by GPS. Tell them who I am. Follow me now because I’m going to need your help.”
We bolted out of the car, and he grabbed one of those proverbial medical bags that all doctors must have secreted away somewhere. I called 911 as we ran to the Range Rover.
“Fuck! It’s too dark. I can’t see anything. Lex, can you turn on the flashlight on my phone?”
I did as he asked and, in the meantime, the 911 operator was on the line.
“I need your location,” the operator said.
“I don’t know it. We’re somewhere between Awendaw and Mount Pleasant. Use the GPS tracking on my phone.”
“Hey, Lex, can you shine the light over here?” He pointed to a dark area down the embankment. I did as he asked, and Pearce was able to get to the door handle, but it was locked.
He slammed his hands on the roof. “It’s locked from the inside. Lex, go back to my trunk and get the jack or tire iron and bring the beach towels.”
I grabbed as many things as my arms could carry. When I returned, he wrapped the jack in the towel, broke through the window, reached in, and unlocked the door. He called to both Justin and Terri but got no response. When the door opened, the light came on and there was blood everywhere. It was bad and I almost went down.
“Lex, hand me that kit.”
I passed him everything and watched him go to work. He did a quick assessment of Justin and moved to Terri. He called out to me that Terri wasn’t breathing, and he needed assistance in performing something. He put a small slit in her neck, inserted a tube, and air started moving in. Then he checked both of them for bleeding. Justin had blood pumping out of his abdomen and Pearce stuck his hand straight into his belly and tried to get it to stop.
“Lexi, I need you to move in closer. I can’t see a fucking thing and I need that light on Justin or he’s gonna bleed out.”
He looked up at me and the look in his eyes made me want to crumble.
Dear God, please help this man save his brother.
I moved right next to him, and even though I thought I was going to pass out, and still wonder how I didn’t, I held that light exactly where he needed it.
“I’m right here with you, Pearce. You just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
I shined that light on Justin and Pearce slid his fingers inside of him and seconds later the blood stopped pumping out. “I got it,” he called. “Now, babe, I can’t move. I’m locked here until the paramedics arrive. You gotta check Terri’s breathing. I’ll help you with whatever needs to be done, okay?”
“On it, Doc.”
I moved to the other side of the Range Rover on autopilot and looked at the tube and reported back to Pearce that the air was still flowing.
“Lex, lift up her eyelids and shine the light into them. Tell me what happens to her pupils.”
“They got smaller.”
“Both of them?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
“Now what?”
“I want you to see if she’s bleeding anywhere like Justin was. If it’s blood that’s just coming from a wound, it’s okay. If it’s pumping or spurting out, that’s not good. That’s what you need to look for.”
“Got it.”
“Lex? Don’t move her. Protect her head, neck, and spine, okay?”
“Okay.”
I ran my hands along her body as best I could without moving her, but I didn’t see any major blood gushing from anywhere.
“Pearce, I think she’s okay. Her leg doesn’t look good though. It looks sort of deformed or something.”
It was lying at an awkward angle that wasn’t normal.
“Agree and I saw that. Lex, you’re doing great, honey.”
“When is that fucking ambulance gonna get here?” I asked, frustrated.
“Soon.”
I held Terri’s hand and squeezed it. I felt tears flowing down my face but wasn’t going to stop for anything.
“Pearce, do you think they’re gonna make it?”
“Babe, this is the golden hour. When critical injuries occur, the first sixty minutes are the most important. You assess and treat the most life-threatening and go from there. That’s what we’re doing.”
“What if we’re missing something?”
“I don’t think we are.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Come over here.”
I ran around the car to him, and he told me to go to the car to make sure the emergency flashers were on. I did and they were. When I was up there, I thought I heard sirens in the distance. I ran back down, and he was still sitting there with his fingers in Justin.
“I think I hear them.”
We just stared at each other in the dim lighting of the wrecked Range Rover. I wanted to wake up from this horrible dream and run my hands through Pearce’s hair and for once be the one to tell him it was going to be fine, and this was all just a horrible nightmare. I found it impossible to tear my eyes away from his and knew in that instant that living without him wasn’t an option.
I blurted out before I lost the nerve, “I’ll marry you, Pearce. You name the day and time and I’ll be there waiting for you. I’ll be there till the end.”
The ambulances finally arrived, and the area swarmed with medics. They shoved me away and I returned to Pearce’s car. I knew I’d have to drive because he’d be riding in the ambulance with Justin. I didn’t think he’d move his hands until they got Justin in the trauma center and then of course Pearce wouldn’t be able to operate because he was a family member.
It all hit me then and I got sick, violently sick. I started shaking from my fingertips to the tips of my toes. The tears poured down my face and I couldn’t seem to get a grip on my emotions. I was breaking down and shivering form the cold. I grabbed one of the beach towels and wrapped it around me, not even noticing it was covered in blood.
It took me a few minutes before I felt an arm around me. I was still shivering so badly I didn’t know what to do with myself.
“Alexia, it’s me, Henry. We got a call from the hospital. Honey, you’re in shock.”
I put my arms around him and just cried. I tried to tell him what happened, but it all came out sounding like Greek.
He tried to calm me down, but I was so upset by the enormity of what had taken place, I was inconsolable.
Susan was there too, and she did her best to help.
Then I heard his voice, Pearce’s voice in my mind, and I remembered how calm he was as he instructed me on how to do everything. I started taking deep calming breaths, and in a little while, my wits slowly returned to me. It took a few more minutes, but I finally got over the hump.
“God, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I got all crazy on you.” I rubbed my hands together, trying to bring some warmth into them.
“Your adrenaline surge had you going, and when it stopped, you experienced the back side of it. I think you’re in shock over all of this. Let’s head to the trauma center now.”
“Pearce’s car?”
“I’ll drive it and you ride with Susan and Ava.”
I nodded numbly and followed them. I rode in the back of their Mercedes sedan and pieced together what had happened. I could hear Ava’s cries from the front of the car.
Susan said in a firm voice, “Ava! Stop it now. Justin is with Pearce. He’s with the most capable trauma surgeon anywhere on the East Coast of the United States. If anyone can save him, Pearce can. Now you need to be strong.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ava cried. “I’m just worried.”
“I know, but Alexia said he got the bleeding stopped and everything else will be fine.”
“What if he has a head injury?” Ava asked.
Susan didn’t say anything for a minute, but I jumped in and said, “Pearce shined the light on their pupils, and he said they were normal. Does that mean anything?”
“Yes, it does,” Susan replied. “That’s a very positive sign.”
We talked like that the whole way to the trauma center and finally found ourselves pacing in the trauma surgery waiting room. I’d called Terri’s parents to tell them what happened, and they were waiting right along with us.
About three hours later, when our nerves were all but shattered, those automatic doors swung open, and Pearce walked through. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes darted around the room like pinballs until they landed on me. Four long strides later he stood in front of me.
His voice was husky as he wrapped his arms around me and said, “Alexia.”
My heart stopped because I knew with a certainty that it was bad. I tightened my arms around him and asked, “Oh God no. Justin?”
“No, you saved him, sweetheart.” Then he did the craziest thing ever. He swung me around and shouted to everyone in the room, “This woman saved my brother’s life!” Next came the kiss. I wanted to kiss him but needed to hear about Terri first.
I pulled away from him and asked, “Terri?”
“Good too.”
Then he tried for another kiss but I stopped him and leaned my head over to the side to yell at Terri’s parents, “Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Terri is good.” Then I let him kiss me.
When we finally broke apart, I whispered to Pearce, “You know, you’re the one who saved Justin.”
In a very loud voice, so everyone could hear, Pearce disagreed. “Alexia, if you hadn’t held that light for me to see in there, I could never have found that bleeder. It was dark and I couldn’t see what the fuck I was doing. You’re the one who really saved him when it all came down to it. I know how hard it was for you to stand there with blood everywhere, but you did it without having the ground come up and slam you in the face. I’m so proud of you.” By this time, I was laughing and crying and running my hands though his hair. Then he shouted out, “This woman saved my brother’s life!”
Okay, now I was embarrassed. I laughed it off though because the hippo sitting on my chest was gone.
His expression turned dark when he glanced down and noticed I still wore the same clothes and was covered with dried blood.
“For Christ’s sake, why didn’t anyone get you something else to put on? Look at you!” He looked at his parents pointedly and shook his head. Then he grabbed my hand and said, “Come with me.”
He towed me behind him into the surgeons’ lounge and found some scrubs for me to wear. Then we went into another room and a nurse entered and began giving him a hard time about me being in there. He lit into her and raked her over the coals. I’d never heard him speak to anyone like that and it totally shocked me.
He looked at me sheepishly and said, “Sorry about that. I don’t always act the asshat in here, but she pissed me off. Been a little stressed. Come on, babe, I want you to get out of those messy clothes. You look like you’ve been in a scene in a horror movie.”
“I feel like I have.” Even though things were better, my insides still felt like someone was playing ride the roller coaster.
I changed and we joined the others in the waiting room.
Pearce was giving everyone the rundown on both Justin and Terri when both of their respective surgeons came in and spoke to each family separately.
“Do you want to see Terri?” Pearce asked me.
“Is she awake?”
“Not yet.”
“Then I’ll wait. Her mom and dad need to be with her first anyway. They’ve been freaking out in here.”
He pulled me next to him and we sat there for a while. Justin had some fractured ribs and some other internal injuries, along with a broken collarbone and a messed-up shoulder. Pearce assured me he would be fine. He said if they hadn’t been in the Range Rover and if the front and side air bags hadn’t deployed, they wouldn’t be here right now.
Terri was a different story. While her injuries were still considered critical and she was in the ICU, Pearce said she would be okay too. She’d ended up with a collapsed lung and an injured trachea. But her pelvis and right leg had been crushed. They’d patched her up, but she would have to have a couple more surgeries to get her back in working order.
I gave a bit of a snort and Pearce looked at me oddly.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing she’s dating an orthopedic surgeon.”
He just rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, but he’s gonna be out of commission for a while with that separated shoulder of his.”
I focused on his hands again and got fixated on them. I grabbed them and brought them to my chest. The thought of something happening to him made me cringe.
“What?” he asked. He felt me shudder.
“I don’t think I could stand it if something ever happened to you.”
His finger tipped my chin up. “Hey, I feel the same way.”
I loved being in his arms.
“I need to ask you something,” he said in my ear. His voice was low, throaty and smooth. I felt his breath fan my neck and I wanted to straddle him, kiss him, and rip his scrubs off until he was sitting in front of me with nothing on but his beautiful skin.
“What?” I murmured.
“Did you really mean it?”
I was at a loss. “Mean what?”
“That you’d marry me?”
“Ask again and maybe you’ll find out,” I said with a wink.
In one point two seconds, I found myself seated on my butt facing Pearce as he knelt on one knee in front of me. He laced his fingers with mine and looked me boldly in the eyes. My heart started beating something fierce. It thrummed all the way to my throat.
“Alexia Hammond, would you do me the greatest honor and become my wife, my partner in life, and walk side by side with me for the rest of our days here on earth? I love you more than the air I breathe, and without you beside me, I’m only half a man.”
Doubt filled his eyes, a look I was profoundly shocked to see. This man, who lived and breathed confidence in everything he did, was still unsure of my answer. I jerked our clasped hands toward me and kissed his lips.
“Yes, yes, yes! I will marry you, Pearce Middleton.”
I was in his embrace and his lips were on mine and I barely noticed the clapping of everyone taking place in the room. All I wanted to do was to be alone with him. I wanted him all to myself so I could show him with my hands, lips, mouth, and the rest of me just how much he meant to me.
He shifted and abruptly broke our kiss. His eyes smoldered as he looked at me. I was so moved by him my heart pounded and my breath caught in my throat.
“I’ll always remember how you looked this day, right here, for the rest of my life.” Then he leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’m getting you out of here and taking you home. I need to be with you, really with you.”
“Yes! I do too, Pearce.”
He rose to his feet, then pulled me to mine. When we turned, everyone was just staring at us smiling. They all congratulated us, and we made a hasty departure. My face heated because I knew they had a pretty good idea of what we were up to.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Pearce said when I told him, “I want to make love to my future wife, and damn it, Alexia, I can’t wait another minute.”
He hustled me out to the car, and thankfully, he only lived about seven minutes away from the hospital. We were tearing our clothes off as soon as we closed the door to his house. By the time we got to the staircase, we were both naked and he was carrying me up to the bedroom. My legs wrapped around his waist as he kissed me.
“I’m sorry, Alexia, but I need you now, honey. I can’t wait any longer.”
“Same here. I didn’t think we’d ever get here.”
We never made it to the bed. He turned and put my back against the wall and was inside of me in one slick move. I wrapped my hands around his back, beneath his arms, and matched his movements. He swiveled his hips against mine as he thrust into me. My body reeled with the sensation.
“Tell me again,” he groaned. The emotions pouring from his eyes touched my heart and I knew exactly what he wanted and what he needed.
“I want to marry you, Pearce Middleton. I love you so much.”
“Ah, Alexia.”
When the last word left his lips, my orgasm crashed into me, and I cried out for him. He followed right behind me.
When he finally moved away from the wall, it was only to walk the few steps it took to take us to the bed. Pearce just flopped down, with me still wrapped around him and him still inside of me. He rolled on his side and gazed at me. His fingers walked across my brows, down to my cheeks, and across my lips, where he rubbed his thumb back and forth.
He finally said, “I’m the luckiest man who ever lived. Thank you, Alexia.”
I looked down for a minute because his words had stirred me. A gargantuan lump formed in my throat and my eyes quickly filled with water. I hated that this happened to me. I didn’t want to get this emotional, dammit. I just couldn’t help it though.
“What is it, honey?”
“I’m so happy and honored that you fell in love with me.”
He tilted my chin up and asked, “Why do you always look away when you cry?”
“Because I feel foolish.” I put my forehead on his chest.
“Don’t ever feel foolish over anything around me. I love you no matter what. I told you that from the very beginning and I meant it, Alexia. I’m here till the end.”
“I’m the luckiest girl alive. And I do feel honored. Thank you, Pearce, for putting up with me and all my issues. I love you.”