Chapter 23
Blaine got the call about the collapse of the McCarthys’ barn and headed to the public safety building to provide coverage while the fire department worked the scene.
He’d barely had time to pour a cup of coffee when Duke from the tattoo shop came in, looking terrified. He had colorful ink that stopped right below his jawline, long dark blond hair, brown eyes and a goatee.
“What’s up, Duke?”
“There was a woman and baby next door to me. I went over to check on them, and they’re gone. She was there yesterday after the ferries stopped running, and now she’s gone. They’re gone.”
“They’re at my house.”
“What?”
“I picked them up last night. The roof blew off and she was afraid, so she decided to walk into town.”
“In a hurricane?” Duke asked, incredulous. “With a baby?”
“She had no TV, and her cell phone had died. She didn’t know a storm was coming until it was here.”
“Huh.” Duke ran his hand through his rain-soaked hair. “She’s at your place, you said.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Okay, then.”
“How’d you get here with all the roads closed?”
“I rode my bike,” he said, referring to his vintage Harley-Davidson.
Blaine raised a brow. “In a hurricane?”
“I was worried about her. And the baby. I saw them over there the last week or so, and then they were gone.”
“It was good of you to check on her. I’ll let her know you did.”
“Oh, um… Tell her if she needs anything, I’m next door.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Did you, um, catch her name?”
“McKenzie, and the baby is Jax.”
“Thank you.”
“Thanks for coming in, Duke.”
“No problem.”
After Duke left, Blaine got sucked into what seemed like a thousand things over the next few hours.
They got calls about trees down, cars crushed, boats aground, power out, sand covering the roads by the beaches.
The list went on and on, but other than the collapse of the barn in North Harbor, he hadn’t heard of any other serious injuries and was hoping their luck would hold until the storm had finally moved on from Gansett.
Owen got a call from Daisy Lawrence, letting him know his brother Jeff had been brought to the clinic in critical condition. David had asked her to notify Jeff’s family.
“I’ll be right there,” Owen said, wondering how Jeff had gotten critically injured.
“What is it?” Laura asked.
“Jeff got hurt somehow. He’s in the clinic. They said…”
She crossed the room to him. “What did they say?”
“He’s in critical condition.”
“What happened?”
“Daisy didn’t say. She just said David asked her to call me.”
“You need to tell the others.”
“Yeah, right. Okay.”
Laura took his phone from him.
“Don’t tell my mom. Not yet.”
“I won’t.”
While he stood over her shoulder watching, she sent a text to Julia, Katie, Cindy, John and Josh, letting them know Jeff had been injured and that Owen was heading to the clinic to check on him.
She also told them they’d decided not to tell Sarah, since there was nothing she could do from afar but worry.
“Should we tell Steph, too?” As the Lawry’s stepsibling, she’d become part of their family since Sarah married Charlie.
“Yes, of course,” Owen said. “Thank you.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Laura said after she’d texted Stephanie and handed his phone back to him. “He’s young and strong.”
Owen nodded, but his heart was in his throat.
“Call me if you need anything.” She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Go to your brother. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” As he went downstairs, he thought about how his siblings would look to him to guide them through whatever level of crisis this turned out to be, and he had the time it took to walk to the clinic to get himself together to be strong for them.
He battled the wind and rain as he walked through the deserted downtown area.
It was so strange for there to be no ferries in port, no cars on the streets, no people anywhere.
The sidewalk and street were littered with sand, seaweed, shells and other debris that had washed ashore overnight.
He was relieved to see that the storm drains seemed to be keeping up with the massive influx of water, and other than a few large puddles, there didn’t seem to be much flooding.
Thinking about water and drainage was better than wondering what he was going to hear about his youngest sibling at the clinic.
Jeff had come so far from the hellish years of drug abuse that had been capped by a suicide attempt when he was a teen.
Like all the Lawry siblings, growing up with their asshole father had left a mark on Jeff, who’d been stuck at home by himself after the others had moved out.
They’d done what they could for him, but they couldn’t protect him from being the sole focus of the general’s attention.
The suicide attempt had blown the lid off the entire situation, with their grandparents finally learning the truth about their home life and intervening to get Jeff out of there.
They’d saved his life by moving him to Florida, where he got the treatment he needed to overcome the addiction and the intensive therapy that had helped to restore his mental health.
Jeff had recently graduated from college with honors and had fallen in love with Kelsey over the summer. His life was just starting. A sob erupted from Owen’s chest. Please let him be okay.
When Owen walked through the automatic doors to the clinic, Mac was the first person he saw. He looked rough and had a nasty cut on his face. “What’re you hearing?” Owen asked.
“Nothing yet.” Mac ran his hands through soaking-wet hair. “We just got them here a few minutes ago.”
“What happened?”
“They were at Kelsey’s place in the barn, and it collapsed. Took us an hour and a half to get to them. A beam had come down on top of them.”
“Oh my God,” Owen said on a long exhale. “Were they conscious?”
“Kelsey was.”
The implications hit Owen like a ton of bricks. He didn’t know what to do with himself as he stood there processing the information and feeling helpless to do anything for his youngest sibling.
Julia and Katie came running into the clinic and hugged Owen.
“How is he?” Julia asked.
“Don’t know yet.”
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Katie said over her shoulder as she headed for the double doors that led to the exam rooms. She worked as a nurse practitioner at the clinic.
Cindy arrived with Jace, Johnny with Niall, and their stepsister, Stephanie, and her husband, Grant. Josh called, asking for an update Owen didn’t have. “I’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything. We’re not telling Mom for now.”
“If it’s bad,” Josh said, “get her home.”
“I will.”
“Tell him…” Josh sounded like he was crying. “Tell him I love him.”
“We will. The others are all here. We’ll take care of him.”
“Thanks, O, for always holding us together.”
“I just wish I could do something.”
“You’re doing it, just by being there for the rest of us.”
Owen feared losing control of his emotions. “I’ll keep you posted. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Cindy and Johnny went right to Owen. He knew they were looking for reassurances that he couldn’t give them, so he held them close, giving and taking the support they all needed.
Maddie McCarthy arrived and hugged her husband. “I came as soon as Mom and Ned could get there to stay with the kids. How are they?”
“We don’t know,” Mac said, putting an arm around his wife.
“Should we call Kelsey’s parents?”
“Let’s ask her what she wants us to do when we see her.”
“You’re bleeding,” Maddie said.
“It’s nothing.”
An anxious hour passed before David Lawrence came to talk to them, bringing Katie with him. Owen, Mac, Maddie and the other Lawry siblings swarmed him.
“How are they?” Mac asked.
“Kelsey has a badly broken arm that’ll require surgery.
Jeff’s pelvis was broken, and we’re concerned about internal bleeding, lumbar involvement that can lead to further complications, blood clots, among other things.
We’ve got him stabilized for the moment, but we need to get him to a level-one trauma center as soon as the helicopters can fly again. ”
“When will that be?” Julia asked, her eyes wide with fear.
“It could be tomorrow.”
Owen moaned at hearing that news. “David…”
“We’ll do everything we can to keep him stable, but I won’t lie to you. We’re in no way equipped for injuries of this magnitude.”
Julia let out a cry of distress.
Cindy hugged her as they wept.
“What about his spine?” Julia asked.
“From what we can tell from the X-rays, it appears his hips and pelvis bore the brunt of what landed on him. But we won’t know anything for sure without further testing that we can’t do here.”
The weight of despair sat on Owen’s chest like a cement block. They could lose Jeff because they couldn’t get him off the island for the care he needed.
“Should we call Mom?” Johnny asked.
“No,” Owen said without hesitation. “She can’t get here, so there’s no point in calling her.” He felt very strongly that was the right thing to do, but who knew what the right thing was in a situation like this?
“I agree with Owen,” Katie said. “There’s nothing she can do except panic, and that won’t change the outcome for Jeff.”
“Will you stay with him, Katie?” Cindy asked tearfully.
“Of course, and I’ll keep you posted.”
“What can we do for him?” Julia asked.
“Pray,” Katie said.
Piper was at the front desk when Laura came downstairs with the kids, which was a comical sight to behold as she tried to keep three little ones from falling. Jack had been called into work before dawn and had promised to check in with her later. She couldn’t wait.
Last night had been… spectacular. That was the only word she could think of to describe it.
She went to the stairs in case one of the kids tripped and looked up to say good morning to Laura. That’s when she noticed her friend’s pinched expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Owen’s brother Jeff was badly injured when a roof fell on him.”
“Oh no.” She picked up Jo while Laura reached for Jon. “Where was he?”