Chapter 23 #2
“At Kelsey’s in North Harbor. She’s hurt, too, but not as badly as he is. Owen just called. They need to get Jeff to a level-one trauma center, but the helicopters can’t fly yet.”
“Oh God,” Piper said.
“David and Vic are doing everything they can for him, but they’re not equipped for something like this.”
“What can I do?”
“I came down to make breakfast for the guests.”
“I’ll do that. Go relax with the kids in the sitting room. I’ll take care of the guests.”
“Thank you, Piper. My head is all over the place right now. I can’t focus on anything.”
“I’m sure. I’ve got you covered.”
Laura used her free arm to hug her. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I am, too.” The more time she spent at the Surf, on Gansett and with Laura, the more she felt at home. “I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry.”
Julia sent a text to the number Deacon had called from. This is Deacon’s fiancée, Julia. I wanted to tell him my brother Jeff has been hurt pretty badly…
She wasn’t sure if she would hear from him, but she wanted him to know what was going on.
After she sent the message, she put her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, exhausted from the emotional onslaught of the last two days. If she never lived through another hurricane, that’d be fine with her.
All she could think about was Jeff, so grievously injured that the doctor was worried about him surviving until they could get him off the island, which wasn’t going to happen any time soon with the storm still sitting on top of them.
That also meant that Deacon couldn’t come home yet either.
She wanted to wail from the agony of it all.
Her phone rang, and she pounced on the call from the same unknown number that Deacon had called from before. “Hey.”
“What happened to Jeff?”
Julia shared what she knew. “It’s bad, Deacon. They aren’t saying much more than that, and with no one flying and no boats… There’s no way to get him to Providence.”
“I can talk to Joe about coming back into port so we can get him there.”
“It’s not safe yet for you guys to come back.”
“Let me check with Joe. It might be okay.”
“Deacon, please don’t do anything dangerous. The storm is still bad.”
“I’ll call you back after I talk to Joe. If there’s anything we can do, we’ll do it.”
“I miss you so much, it’s crazy.”
“I miss you just as much. Hang in there, love. The storm will be over soon, and things can get back to normal.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll call you back.”
“Okay.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
The line went dead, and Julia got up to ask the woman working at the clinic’s reception desk if she could speak to Katie.
“I’ll get her for you.”
“Thank you.”
Katie came out a few minutes later. The disturbed look on her sister’s face took Julia right back to the time in their lives they tried very hard not to ever think about. Julia hadn’t seen that expression on her sister’s face in a long time and would like to never see it again.
“How is he?”
“Not good. His blood pressure is very low, and he still hasn’t regained consciousness, which might be for the best. He’d be in a lot of pain, and there’s not a lot we can do about that without narcotics.” What she left unsaid was that as a recovering addict, his pain needed to be carefully managed.
That news hit Julia like a punch. “I talked to Deacon. He said they might be able to get back here with one of the ferries to transport Jeff to the mainland. He’s talking to Joe about it now.”
“I don’t think that would work. The seas are still so rough, and he needs to be kept as still as possible, so we don’t compound his injuries.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“It was nice of him to offer that, though. I’d spoken with David about whether the Coast Guard might be able to transport him, but he said the same thing. He’s too fragile for a rigorous trip like that would be. We have to wait for a helicopter.”
“Could he die?”
“It’s possible, Jule. I won’t lie to you guys. He’s in very bad shape.”
“Can I see him?”
“It might be too much for you.”
Julia appreciated that Katie was always so protective of her. “He’s my baby brother. I want to see him.”
“Come with me.”
“Let me just tell Deacon that the doctors don’t want him on a boat.” She sent the text to the number Deacon was using. Dr. Lawrence says he’s too unstable for a rough boat ride but thank you for trying.
Julia sent the text and then followed Katie through the double doors that led to the exam rooms. Jeff was in the last one on the left, the largest of them all.
The first thing Julia noticed was that his face was devoid of all color.
Even his lips looked like they’d been bleached.
He was attached to a bunch of beeping machines, and David Lawrence stood by his bed, watching the monitors with a worried look on his face.
“Oh,” Julia said on a cry. “Oh my God.”
Katie was there to hold her up. “He’s fighting hard to stay with us,” she whispered.
Julia moved closer to her brother and placed her hand on top of his, noting how cold he felt.
“Jeff, sweetie, it’s me, Julia. We’re all here, and we love you so much.
We need you to hang in there, okay?” She bent over the bed to kiss his forehead and stroke his hair.
“Don’t you give up. Please don’t give up. Kelsey needs you. We all need you.”
When she stood upright, she turned to hug Katie, who was also in tears. “Could I see Kelsey?”
“Sure. Right this way.”
Kelsey was across the hall in a smaller room.
Outside the curtain, Katie said, “Kelsey, it’s Katie and Julia. May we come in?”
“Yes, please.”
Victoria was working on a computer next to Kelsey’s bed.
Kelsey had her injured arm propped on a pillow. It was purple with painful-looking bruises.
“How are you doing?” Julia asked.
She’d met her brother’s girlfriend a few times at dinners at their mother’s home and loved her for Jeff.
“All I care about is Jeff, and no one will tell me anything,” Kelsey said with tears streaming down her face. “Please tell me how he is.”
Katie exchanged silent communication with Victoria and then sat gingerly on the edge of Kelsey’s bed. “He’s in very serious condition with a broken pelvis and other injuries.”
Kelsey gasped. “He’ll be all right, though, won’t he?”
“We hope so. The thing is… He needs to be transported to the mainland, but we have no way to get him there with the storm.”
“There has to be something we can do!”
“We’re doing all we can for him here until the storm lets up enough to allow a chopper to come pick him up,” Katie said.
“How long will that be?” Kelsey’s gaze darted between Katie and Julia. She seemed to hope one of Jeff’s older sisters would have the answers she needed.
“We just don’t know,” Katie said with a sigh. “In the meantime, is there anyone we can call for you?”
Kelsey seemed to think about that for a minute. “I suppose I should call my parents. They’re probably frantic that they can’t reach me, and they’ll find out about this soon enough.”
Julia held up her phone. “I can make the call for you.”
“Does your mom know?” Kelsey asked.
Katie shook her head. “We’ve decided not to tell her because there’s nothing she can do from Italy, and she’d be frantic.”
“I love this island,” Kelsey said tearfully. “I truly do. But right now? I hate it.”
“We understand completely,” Katie said.