3. Maisie
Chapter 3
Maisie
T he sound of Audra’s giggles wakes me. Muscle memory has me shifting to get up and get her — the weight, soreness and tightness in my breasts tell me she hasn’t nursed in a minute — and the amount of aches that light up in my body confuses the shit out of me.
What the fuck happened?
In a blink, the memory of the deer in the road comes back and my eyes fly open. Breath gusting out of me in a gasp, I sit up in a rush, my ribs and back protesting at the sudden movement.
Where the fuck am I?
The slow and steady beep of the monitor to my right answers the question for me. The hospital. I’m in the hospital.
Where the fuck is my daughter?
“No, you dumbass, the Velcro pieces go on the bottom. You’ve got it backward.”
I twist to the right, toward the voices. There’s a curtain closed around my bed, but I can hear movement beyond it. I swing my legs off the bed, the movement pulls on my muscles, and I groan. I feel like I got hit by a fucking Mac truck and then left on the side of the road for dead.
I reach out a hand as far as I can and snag the curtain from my sitting position on the bed. After pulling it back, my heartbeat climbs into my throat.
There are two men in this room. Two very large, very tattooed, very bearded men. “Who the fuck are you?” I bite out, adrenaline giving me the strength to ignore the pain in my body as I shoot out of bed and dart forward where they’re leaning over Audra who’s lying on a table naked. The IV line pulls me up short before I can reach my daughter. The line that’s tugging in my left hand and tethering me inches from being able to reach her.
They whip their heads in my direction. Bearded dude number one has his hand resting on Audra’s tummy so she doesn’t roll off the table. I reach for my left hand, intent on ripping the IV out, when one of them starts talking.
“Hey, Maisie — Hey, now, don’t do that. You’re safe. I’m Rhett Calhoun. This is my brother Jedd. Our brother, Harlan, is the sheriff. You took a pretty hard knock to the head when you ran off the road last night. You’re safe, I promise. You’re in the hospital here in Everette, Idaho. How about you sit back down?” His voice is incredibly soft, but the mention of his brother being the head cop in this town is enough to send terror rushing through me. He takes a step toward me, and I instinctively step back, fighting off the flinch that wants to curl my shoulders.
I need to go. I need to go right now.
“I’m fine.” I grit out between clenched teeth at the pain in my head at my sudden movements.
Sweat beads along my hairline and my hands start to shake from the adrenaline and shock .
Audra coos behind the bearded behemoths, and I lock my eyes on my daughter.
Shit. What kind of mother am I?
“Is she okay? What did the doctor say about Audra?”
The one with his hand on my girl glances back, as if checking that she’s okay before turning back to me. “Doctor said she was right as rain except a couple of bruises. We were just trying to change her diaper.” He offers me a sheepish smile. “But we couldn’t get it right.” He turns back to Audra and sweeps her up in his arms, her cute little tushy resting on his forearm. The sudden movement makes her belly laugh come out, and it eases some of the tension in my shoulders.
He passes her to me with the diaper. Once her butt is covered with it, I sit back on the bed and hug her to me. Her hands find my hair and start to tug.
Oh god. Thank god she’s okay. My eyes sting at the thought of her being seriously hurt.
Fuck. I should have pulled off and just slept in the camper, lumpy mattress be damned.
I press my face to her head and take a deep breath of my daughter, the smell of her familiar baby shampoo a comfort beyond words.
“She’s really okay?” I ask, my voice watery from the tears I’m fighting off.
Jedd nods. “The doc should be able to come in and let you know the details of what all they checked out on her. Let me just call them in.” He reaches to the bedside and picks up a remote before pressing the call button on it.
Hospitals, like cops, freak me out. I’ve been in enough of them to know that they’re a minefield waiting to happen. One wrong word means a world of pain, and in my panic, I start to hyperventilate .
Rhett steps forward. “Hey, now. You’re safe. Your girl is safe. You’re okay. Take a deep breath.” I can barely hear him through the rushing in my ears. “Why don’t you let us take her —” Whatever he was about to say is cut off by my guttural growl.
“Maybe not,” Jedd says with a light chuckle.
Maybe not is right. I’m not letting my daughter go for anything in the world.
I don’t know these people. I don’t know why they’re in my room, or why they’re holding my daughter.
Trust no one.
I focus on sucking in enough air to fill my starving lungs and the pressure of oxygen deprivation makes my head pound in stereo.
The door behind the men opens and a Black woman in a lab coat who looks to be in her late sixties steps through the door.
“Hello, Ms. Williams. I’m Doctor Aldric. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” I rasp out.
She eyes my room guards before saying, “Clear the room, boys.” She waves them out, and once the door closes behind them, she steps forward toward the bed.
I fight the urge to lean away from her. “I’m just going to check your head. Give me one second.” She bypasses me and goes to a sink to wash her hands before sliding on a pair of gloves. I focus on her quick efficient movements as she steps forward and prods the bump on the side of my scalp that stings like hellfire. I don’t manage to bite back the hiss of breath that shudders from her touch.
“Yeah. That’s going to be tender for a couple of days yet. Do you remember what happened? ”
“Deer in the middle of the road. Tried to swerve, ended up going down the embankment into a ditch.”
“Mmmhmm. Sounds about right. How’s your memory? You know where you are?”
“Idaho.”
She asks me a couple of basic questions about my name and the date before she pulls a penlight out of her pocket. Clicking it on, she shines it into my eyes and makes me follow her finger back and forth. The bright light pricks at my brain like an ice pick.
Audra’s legs are kicking in my lap. Working around the doctor, I stand her up, holding her hands so she can bounce in my lap. Focusing on her babbling is preferable to being poked and prodded.
“She’s a cutie. Pediatrics checked her over when she came in. Other than the slight bruising on her shoulders, she should be fine. If you notice anything out of normal for her, lack of appetite, vomiting, not sleeping, or sleeping more than normal, bring her back in and we’ll look her over again.”
I nod. Thankful for the information. She’s acting like herself right now, and I thank every deity that there is that she’s okay.
“Do you have anyone we can call for you?”
I shake my head. “When can I get out of here?”
I need to figure out the extent of damage to my camper and figure out my next moves.
“We’ll probably keep you here until tonight so we can observe you for a full twenty-four hours. You have a mild concussion, some bruising yourself, and I’d bet some whiplash setting in right about now.”
Audra starts to fuss in my lap, and after a quick glance at the clock, I note that it’s nearly seven in the morning. Time for breakfast for my girlie.
Except I don’t have her food. I don’t even know where the diaper she’s wearing came from.
“Did she eat last night?” I ask the doctor hoping that they know.
She checks a second chart at the end of my bed. “Looks like they tried to give her a bottle at four, but she didn’t want it, so they let her be.”
Yeah. My girlie is hungry.
I glance at the hospital gown, not wanting to hike it up enough to free a boob, but the aches in my shoulder stop me from reaching over to untie the garment.
“Can you — uh — can you untie the back so I can feed her?” I ask the doctor.
“Of course.” She comes to stand behind me and the material of the gown pulls for a second before loosening enough for me to drag it down my shoulder while I position Audra.
“She exclusively breastfed?” Doctor Aldric asks.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Probably why she didn’t want the formula the Calhouns kept trying to push on her.”
“The Calhouns?” I ask. I know they introduced themselves to me when I woke up, but in my panic, I’d already forgotten their last name.
“Yeah. Sheriff Harlan and his brothers. Thick as thieves. He called Jedd — he owns the local mechanic shop —to drag your camper out of the ditch and they all showed up here about six a.m. Speaking of Jedd — he brought your purse and your daughter’s diaper bag.” She points to the corner of the room where our meager belongings are.
“Oh. Okay. ”
My hesitant response urges her to continue. “They’re good boys. A little rambunctious sometimes, lord knows they ran roughshod through this town as teenagers, but good boys nonetheless.”
I nod, because what the hell am I supposed to say to that?
“Harlan had to run to the station, but he’s probably going to have some questions for you to file his report. You try to get some rest, and I’ll be back in to check on you in a little bit. Dial zero-zero-one on the phone for the cafeteria to order breakfast. Call if you need help or want one of the nurses to watch your girl there while you rest.”
I lean back in the bed after she leaves and switch Audra to my other breast. By the time she’s done eating, she’s almost asleep and while that’s not normal for her, I don’t know how much sleep she got last night. She’ll probably nap for a bit — which doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
After tucking her into my side, my own eyes start to get heavy. I yank one of the pillows from behind my head and tuck it between the bedrail and my daughter’s back so she doesn’t roll over and hug her to my chest.
The second we’re both situated and my head hits my pillow, I’m out like a light.
“You’re hogging the baby, Duke. Hand her over, it’s my turn to hold her.”
“You got to hold her for an hour, I just got this baby and I’m damned if I’m not getting me some snuggles.”
“Would both of you shut up? You’re gonna wake her up.”
The gruff whispers pull me from sleep. Instead of being confused this time though, I remember exactly where I am and what happened. My eyes blink their way open, the lights in the hospital room dim enough that the light doesn’t send a shard of glass through my brain.
I’m in a different room now, and there are more men than last time.
Did they go out and duplicate while I was passed out or something?
The warm weight of Audra isn’t at my side anymore, and I piece together that these men, these ferocious-looking bearded men are fighting over who gets to hold my six-month-old — for baby snuggles. If I wasn’t so fucking wrecked, it would almost be funny.
Lifting my head, the motion pings something in my neck and I groan. Fuck that hurts.
A warm finger brushes my knuckle and startles me enough that I turn to look at the offender. He has dark, messy, wavy hair, bright hazel eyes, and enough hair on his face to hide most of his features.
Good goddamn, he’s handsome.
“Hey, Ms. Williams. I’m Harlan Calhoun — Sheriff of Everette. How’re you feeling?”
Shit. Fuck. Dammit. This is not good. Any attraction I feel evaporates in a second.
“Fine,” I croak, my eyes looking around the dim room for which of these men have my daughter. A cop by my bedside is never a good thing — trust me — been there, done that.
Harlan tracks my gaze and says, “Duke. Maisie is awake, give her her daughter.”
Duke steps forward with my girl. Someone got her dressed in a purple onesie with leopard print leggings and she’s yanking and tugging at the guy’s beard while babbling .
Duke carefully unhooks her fingers from his facial hair and sets her down on my lap, waiting until I get her in my grip before letting go.
“What time is it?” I ask.
“A little after six in the evening,” Harlan says, his voice soft.
Holy shit. I slept almost eleven hours. Why the hell do I still feel so tired?
I start to sit up, but Harlan holds his hand up. “Hang on.” He reaches forward toward the bed, and I flinch back away from him.
Fuck. Flinching away from him is only going to make him suspicious, but having law enforcement — and not just any law enforcement, but the town big guns — in my hospital room is nerve-wracking.
“Has she eaten?” I ask the room, unable to meet Harlan’s gaze.
“Yep. We fed her about ten when she woke up, she nibbled on some baby cereal, ate more at one and then dinner at five. I hope you don’t mind, but I let myself into your camper to grab some stuff for her and you,” one of the men says.
“Who are you?” I ask, already having forgotten his name.
He tips an imaginary hat. “Jedd Calhoun, ma’am. At your service.”
I nod. The kindness in his tone making my face hot and eyes watery. He’s the one who towed my camper.
“How’s my rig?” I ask, holding my breath. I need the camper. Whatever is wrong needs to be fixable so I can keep moving. Keep us safe.
“Erm,” he hedges, looking to his brother sitting next to me .
“You feeling up to some questions?” Harlan asks, pulling my gaze away from his brothers. Now that I know they’re brothers, I can see the resemblance. All of them have heads of dark hair. All of them have similar builds and features. But the one sitting next to me is the scariest.
I glance over at Harlan, his intense stare searing.
The sooner I answer his questions, the sooner they’ll let me out of this room.
Just get it done, Maisie, and then put this place in your rearview.