Chapter 6
—Reed—
Time glitched as Eric flanked me through the hospital emergency entrance. I found myself standing mute at the reception desk, staring at the receptionist through the safety glass panel as if she already knew why I was here. So I didn’t have to say it aloud.
Mercifully, Eric cleared his throat. “Kasey Quinn was brought in by ambulance recently. Can we be admitted to see her, please?”
Frantic tapping on the PC keyboard combined with the general sounds of illness and injuries behind us in the waiting room set my already frayed nerves on a knife’s edge.
The receptionist straightened, then addressed Eric. “Unfortunately, sir, you cannot see her right now. They’ve already taken her into the operating room for emergency surgery.”
My heart burned with the rising bile, and my voice came out gritty. “What surgery?”
I received a head shake. “I’m sorry, you’ll need to save your investigation until after the patient is in recovery.”
“The patient is my girlfriend,” I ground out. “I need to see her.”
I forced my balled fists to release and wiggled out my fingers, trying to shake off some of the agitation.
The receptionist’s expression softened. “I’m so sorry. You’d best to go up to the ICU and wait for an update there. Can I have your names please? I’ll let the department know you’re on your way up.”
While minor, the progress gave me hope. “Reed Gatlin. Constable.”
“Constable Eric Locklear,” Eric added.
After one last smile from the receptionist and a promise that she would let the ICU know of our pending arrival, I strode from the emergency room, thankful to leave the god-awful waiting area behind us.
My relief was short-lived. The main entrance of Gallie Hospital bustled with people rushing in and out. Thankfully, two cops in uniform striding into the building with pinched expressions parted the sea of people ahead of us.
“Elevator or stairs?” Eric asked.
“Stairs.” I had to keep walking rather than stand idle. Moving meant progress toward my girl.
I was uncharacteristically out of breath when we arrived on the second floor. The corridor stretched out before us, desolate and foreboding despite being well lit with late afternoon sunshine filtering through the windows.
“Constables Gatlin and Locklear?”
My attention shifted to the nurse coming out of the nurses’ station.
“That’s us,” Eric stated.
I cleared my throat, yet it failed to relieve the invisible squeeze in my throat. “I’m— we’re here for Kasey Quinn.”
The nurse’s expression softened. “She’s currently in the OR. You won’t be able to see her until she’s stabilized and in recovery. It could be some time. Let’s get you settled in the support room.”
My personal phone came to life, ringing non-stop in my pocket while I ignored it. It demanded attention, the sound stark and jolting in contrast to the silent ward, though my focus remained locked on the nurse as she led us to the family support room.
“Is she okay?” I asked as we passed her and entered the florally furnished room.
The reassurance I explicitly sought didn’t come. “They’re doing all they can, but I unfortunately don’t have the details. I’m unaware of the extent of her injuries.”
Another phone call went ignored in my pocket as crushing helplessness bore down. So tight in my chest—refusing to release no matter how hard I tried to inhale a deep breath. We seemed poised and strung up, waiting to hear more, no matter how grim. And worst of all, there was no mention of the life I had no idea about this morning. No hint about…
“Apparently there was a baby…?” I murmured.
The nurse’s hand found my forearm and squeezed. “You’re her partner?”
I nodded while steeling my jaw. Unable to hold the nurse’s eyes, my attention dropped to her name badge. Louise.
Louise cleared her throat. “Kasey was pregnant at the time she was brought in.”
My gut bottomed out, pulling my heart with it. “Was?”
She nodded. “They delivered the baby by emergency c-section, then rushed it to the neonatal ICU. Unfortunately, that’s all I know. I don’t know the gender, the gestation, or even if the baby has survived. I’m so sorry.”
My knees buckled without warning for a second time this afternoon, sending me stumbling to the nearest chair. It protested under my weight as I threw myself into it.
She had a fucking baby without ever mentioning being pregnant. All the past months and she never said a goddamn word. Never hinted. Never so much as—
When my phone came to life again, Eric muttered, “Let me answer it, Gats. Seems important,” then shoved me to the side to gain access into my pants pocket.
Mercifully, the shrill ringtone ceased, and Eric’s low tone filled the background. It gave me something other than the ringing in my ears to focus on.
“Can I get you coffee?” Louise offered from my side, setting a comforting hand on my upper back.
Numb yet feeling it all—every sensation that tore strips off my soul—I shook my head. “How long’s she been in surgery?”
“Not long.”
I scrubbed both hands up and down my face. “How much longer?”
“I’m sorry, I honestly don’t know. It could be hours, depending on her injuries,” Louise softly explained.
“Gats,” Eric interjected.
My head felt heavy and burdened as I slowly looked up, and the world took a lethargic second to catch up.
“That was Simone.”
Eric’s words had me on my feet in an instant. I reached for him to steady myself through the head spin, clutching his arm as soon as it extended.
“Fuck! I forgot to call her.”
I wanted to cry, to be angry, to be left alone but be comforted all at the same time, yet no emotion penetrated the detached void I’d become locked in.
“It’s okay. I’ve filled her in. She’s on her way.”
The weight of responsibility became heavier. I’d let Simone down. Fuck, she must have been out of her mind with worry. Guilt bore down and turned my stomach, forcing me to sit my ass down to catch my breath again.
I scrubbed my hands over my face while Louise hovered close.
“When can we get an update?” I asked.
“We won’t have one until the surgery is done,” she explained. “The surgeon will be here once Kasey is stable and in recovery. That’s when you’ll get updates and have your questions answered. I’ll get you that coffee I mentioned. Both of you.”
Too tired and distracted to protest, I nodded with resignation over the fact that we’d get coffee whether we wanted it or not, then looked to Eric.
He stood with his back to me, staring out the window, appearing to be deep in thought.
“You don’t need to stay, man.”
His eyes met mine over his shoulder. “Yeah, I do.”
I nodded without trying to convince him otherwise. I had his back, and he had mine. Always.
~
A long haze of time later, Simone arrived at the ICU family room in a tizzy, all wide-eyed and wild blonde hair. She hated hospitals thanks to her past, and I was fucking grateful that she’d even managed to set foot through the front doors.
I rose and pulled her against me, securing her in my hold and squeezing for the longest time.
Her arms held around my waist as she murmured against my uniform shirt, “I need answers, Reed.”
My arms refused to loosen. “Same, darlin’. The nurse can’t tell us much other than Kase is in emergency surgery after a motorcycle hit her car on the outskirts of town.”
“I passed the crash site.” A sharp shudder ran through her body.
“Has it been cleared?”
“Not completely. Only one lane is open. What else do you know?”
“Nothing aside from…” I cut off and swallowed thickly, fighting to get my emotions in check.
Simone pulled back and looked up at me with tear-brimming hazel eyes. “Aside from what?”
I forced down the lump in my throat, yet my question still came out thick and gritty. “Did you know she was pregnant?”
Simone’s chin jerked, and her wide eyes blinked in disbelief. “Pregnant? Kasey?”
That reaction was my answer.
I detached her fingernails from my forearms, then held her hands. “Kase was pregnant. So you really didn’t know?”
Simone shook her head adamantly. “I didn’t. She would have told me if she was. Are you sure? She can’t have been far along because she wasn’t showing at all.”
I inclined my head toward the nurses’ station. “Louise confirmed it.”
“I had no idea,” Simone whispered, pressing her fingertips to her mouth.
“Are you sure she never said anything?” I pressed, feeling my chest growing tight with resentment.
Simone shook her head. “She would have told me, Reed. She’s had a couple of scares before, and I was literally in the room while she peed on a pregnancy test. I’m positive she would have called me immediately if she even suspected it.”
I saw further questions working their way around her head and steadied myself for the ultimate next one.
“How far along was she?”
I gulped around hard-hitting emotion. “I don’t know. All I know is that the baby has been transferred to the neonatal ICU.”
Simone shook her head again. “Sorry, that’s impossible. She had no bump when we video called yesterday. She was trying on new clothes and showing me. There’s just no way…”
“That’s what I thought too. We video call frequently. She’d been complaining of bloating for a while, but she thought it was to do with dairy…” I let those words hang in the air.
Fuck, was that pregnancy related?
Simone’s face scrunched before another dreaded question came. “When can we see her?
“I don’t know, darlin’.”
I wished I knew more about what was happening. I wished I could see her with my own eyes for reassurance that she was going to be okay.
Simone sat heavily in the seat beside mine as Eric tossed the magazine he was reading onto the side table and released a heavy sigh.
“You don’t have to be here, Eric. I appreciate you bringing me in, but you can go if you want.”
He met my eyes and shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s actually killing me not knowing more about your baby’s condition.”
I gawked at him for a beat. My baby.
The cynical part of me narrowed his eyes in suspicion. This morning, I was just a guy waiting for his girlfriend to arrive in town, and now I was a father? Excuse me if I had a hard time believing that. But I also didn’t believe that Kasey had been unfaithful. She didn’t throw that vibe, and I’d never had any reason to doubt her. Even now, I still couldn’t bring myself to consider that she’d cheated.
Eric leaning forward and knocking my knee with his fist snapped me from my internal monologue.
“It’s yours, Gats. Don’t doubt your girl, especially when she’s not present to explain. My advice? Take it at face value. Ignore the what ifs and the maybes and be there for your girl and your kid in their time of need. After that…” He spread his hands. “…I guess time will tell.”
I eyed him while nodding slowly. What he said made sense. It would be so fucking stupid to push them away before I had the entire story.
“Okay,” I replied simply, then shifted my attention to Simone bouncing her knee.
“You okay, darlin’?”
She sighed and scratched at the developing rash on her neck. “Hospitals give me hives.”
Feeling sorry for her, I set my hand on her jiggling knee. “Have you let Banks know?”
“No. He’s on a callout at the moment.”
My phone in Eric’s possession came to life. He picked it up and offered it my way. “It’s your mom. You might wanna answer this one yourself, man.”
With a shaky hand, I accepted the phone, answered the call, and pressed it to my ear. “Mom?”
“Hey, hon. Where are you?” Her voice was her professional I’m at work tone, and my heart dropped further.
“Gallie Hospital ICU,” I replied hoarsely. “Kasey was involved in an accident. She’s in surgery at the moment.”
“I know, hon, and I have the baby in the neonatal ICU on level three.”