Chapter 53
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Gaines
I send Eloise another text message. It’s a repeat of the one I sent her thirty minutes ago.
Gaines: Please call me. It’s important.
I stand at the entrance to the ED and wait for a response from her. Nothing comes.
“Dammit,” I swear. “Please call me.”
“Why call when I’m right here?”
I glance to my left to find Evan heading toward me. I don’t offer a greeting. I just stare at him.
“What is it?” His face goes ashen. “What’s happened?”
I can’t fucking explain it to him or anyone because I am barred by law. I’m standing in the middle of a hellish situation that I can’t clearly see my way out of.
If that’s not bad enough, Logan rounds the corner in a sprint, headed toward the ambulance bay.
Jordan Whitman is hot on his heels. Striped red and orange socks are his accessories for tonight.
“Incoming,” Jordan yells to Evan. “Cardiac arrest. Twenty-three-year-old female. She fell down the steps at a subway stop. Trauma to her head and ankle.”
Jesus.
“You’re not on duty,” Evan reminds me. “You don’t have to be the hero at every turn.”
He’s right. I’m here to check on a patient in the CCU and to figure out what I need to say to Eloise to guarantee we have a future.
I step back when I see what’s coming my way.
Jordan is standing on the bottom rail of the stretcher performing chest compressions. Logan has a hand on the woman’s head as the EMTs hurriedly steer the stretcher toward its destination in what I imagine is a trauma room.
I get a glimpse of an open white sweater and a pink bra beneath it. A long mane of brown hair is matted with blood. When the patient’s lifeless hand falls off the stretcher to hang off the side, I’m on my knees.
A thin silver band circles her thumb, and the diamond bracelet I bought her is wrapped around her wrist.
A panicked growl erupts from somewhere deep inside me as I watch them wheel my beautiful Eloise past me.
I try to push past Evan to get into trauma room one. He struggles to hold me back. Logan rushes at me. He joins in to help Evan by placing a shoulder against my chest.
“I need in there,” I protest. “I need to help.”
Logan pats my cheek to get me to look at him.
“They got her heart beating again before they brought her in. She arrested again in the ambulance bay, but she’s stable now.
Dr. Whitman is in there with her. I’m going back in to evaluate her head wound and her ankle.
The good news is that her pupils are reactive, Gaines. ”
I scrub both hands over my face. “Let me in.”
“Jordan is one of the best,” Evan reminds me. “He’ll figure out what caused this. He’ll determine if it’s related to her heart.”
I pull on my hair. “I need you to listen to me.”
Both men step closer to me. Evan lowers his voice. “I called her cousin. They are on their way here, now. You need to get out to that waiting room to tell them what’s going on.”
“I can do that,” Logan offers. “Gaines isn’t in any shape…”
“I’ll handle it,” I growl at him.
His gaze catches mine. This is all too fucking familiar. The two of us in an ED. Someone who doesn’t deserve it is facing death.
His jaw stiffens. “You love her.”
I hang my head. “I fucked it up so bad with her.”
He taps the back of my neck the way he always did when we were kids. “There is never a fuck up that’s so bad that we can’t come back from it.”
Those words hit hard.
I glance up at him and make a decision that could impact the rest of my life. “Tell Jordan she’s at risk for CPVT.”
Evan pats my shoulder. “Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia? You think that’s what caused her to collapse?”
I nod. “I think there’s a very good chance that’s what caused this.”
“That’s hereditary,” Evan points out. “Have one of her parents been diagnosed?”
I shrug and answer honestly. “I have no idea.”
Logan and Evan exchange glances. “A sibling?”
I look straight into Logan’s eyes. “Trust me. Tell Jordan. I realize she can’t be tested right now, but there are treatments until she can be. He’ll understand.”
“I’ll tell him now,” Logan assures me. “We’ll get her through this, Gaines.”
A repeat of what happened the last time we faced down death together can’t happen. I won’t allow it.
“Wait.” He slides his hand into the pocket of his pants. He flashes me a small zip-top bag. “These are Eloise’s things. I think you need to be the one holding onto them. She had a purse with her, too. I’ll go get it.”
I greedily take the bag and cradle it against my chest.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to save your girl,” Logan promises.
“I need her.” My voice breaks. “I’m going to marry her.”
“You will,” he assures me. “You will.”