Chapter 2
She struggled to hold her emotions in check as the EMTs lifted her onto the gurney.
But deep down, she was terrified. Her sore muscles were beginning to make themselves known; she felt as if she’d been pounded by a gorilla.
The EMTs had put a neck brace on her, so she couldn’t see much of her car other than the wheels, which were pointing at the sky.
How had she ended up in a car crash? And why couldn’t she remember anything? The nice-looking guy, Trevor, had called her Bailey. She had to admit the name sounded right.
He’d also claimed she’d known him for years. Years! So why couldn’t she remember? Splaying her hands over her stomach, she fought to remain calm. She was pregnant and equally terrified of losing her baby.
“I’ll get your stuff out of the SUV and follow the ambulance to the hospital.” Trevor’s concerned expression made her fear she was hurt worse than he’d let on. “You’re in good hands. Just try to relax.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, wishing he would ride with her. But then she remembered his dog. “Okay. Thank you.”
“I’ll be there soon. You won’t be alone for long.
” Trevor flashed a reassuring smile as the two EMTs carried her up the steep slope to the waiting ambulance.
Staring up at the sky, she tried to do as Trevor suggested.
She drew deep breaths, regulating the beat of her heart.
Stress was bad for the baby. How she knew that, she had no idea.
Once she was in the ambulance, she tolerated the monitor being attached to her chest along with the IV they placed in her arm. “Are you in pain?” the EMT asked.
“I don’t want anything for pain. Not when it may impact the baby.”
The EMT nodded. “Okay, but if the pain gets too bad, you need to let me know.”
That wasn’t happening, so she didn’t bother to respond. The pain was tolerable. The strange sense of urgency wasn’t. She couldn’t shake the sense there was something important she needed to do.
What was it? Why couldn’t she remember?
The ambulance trip to the hospital seemed slow. She could feel the ambulance moving, though, so she assumed it was just that she was anxious to get there. Her main priority was to make sure her baby was okay. That she wouldn’t deliver her baby prematurely.
She closed her eyes, taking another slow deep breath. The EMT was monitoring her closely, and she hoped that meant her baby was stable too.
From the moment she arrived in the emergency department, though, she was surrounded by medical professionals. Many greeted her by name, and she felt bad she couldn’t respond in kind.
“My baby.” She kept her hands on her belly as if that alone would be enough to protect her daughter. “Please make sure my baby isn’t hurt.”
“We will, don’t worry.” A nurse by the name of Emily smiled reassuringly. “Your vitals are stable, and we’ll get a fetal heart monitor strapped to your abdomen soon.”
“Thank you.” Bailey had to close her eyes against the harsh overhead lights. Her head throbbed, more painful than the rest of her body. The light made her headache ten thousand times worse.
More wires were attached to her body, including the promised fetal heart monitor.
She tried to turn her head, but the neck collar held her back.
She was tempted to rip it away so she could see her baby’s heartbeat for herself, but instead, she tried to remain calm.
Hopefully once they took X-rays, she wouldn’t need it anymore.
“I’m an EMT, and I need to see her. I promised!” A deep male voice reached her ears.
“I know Trevor, he’s my brother-in-law. Give him a minute, okay?” The female voice sounded like Emily’s.
Bailey realized that not being able to remember forced her to use additional senses to navigate her surroundings. She frowned, then relaxed when she saw Trevor’s face leaning over her. When he took her hand, she gripped it tightly, feeling as if he were a buoy in a turbulent sea.
“Hey, Bailey, I wanted you to know I’m here. I have your purse and phone from the car.”
“I’m glad.” She stared up at him for a long moment. Again, she felt there was something important she needed to tell him. “Thank you.”
“Excuse me, I need to take some blood.” One of the nurses nudged Trevor aside. He squeezed her hand, then released her to give the medical staff room to work.
Bailey closed her eyes again, barely feeling the pinprick of the needle. She was oddly comforted by Trevor’s presence. He seemed concerned about her and so incredibly kind.
Too bad she couldn’t remember him.
“We need to get a CT scan,” a male voice said. “I know she’s pregnant, but that’s a risk we’ll need to take.”
Bailey’s eyes shot open. Risk? She didn’t want to do anything that would risk her baby. “No. Please don’t.”
An older man’s face filled her field of vision.
“Ms. Adams, we need to make sure you don’t have any internal bleeding.
That would be far more harmful to the baby than the scan itself.
We’ve estimated you’re thirty weeks along, which means the baby is pretty much developed by now.
And just to be sure, I’ve checked with the OB doctor on call. He’s agreed with our plan.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want anything to harm my baby.”
“I know, but trust me, this is important, or we wouldn’t do it.”
She reluctantly nodded. He had a point about the bleeding.
She couldn’t lose any blood as that would absolutely have a negative impact on the baby.
Moments later, she was rolling through the hallways to the radiology department for a CT scan.
She hadn’t wanted them to remove the fetal monitor, but Emily assured her the baby’s heartbeat was stable and that the OB doctor on call was on the way in from home to examine her.
Both comments brought a measure of comfort.
The scan seemed to take forever. Forced to stay still, she concentrated on taking slow breaths to calm herself.
Her head pounded with every beat of her heart.
The table beneath her moved slowly through the scanner, and despite her discomfort, she was grateful to have this level of medical technology available to her.
That thought made her wonder if she had medical insurance. Surely she had a job? She strained to remember, but that only made her headache worse. After a few minutes, she gave up. Whatever job she had, it seemed logical she’d be granted a couple of days off after being in a car crash.
“Good news,” Emily greeted her when she returned to the ER from radiology. “Your neck and spine have been cleared. We can get rid of that neck collar now.”
“I’m so glad.” The moment the collar was removed, she turned to look at her surroundings.
To her surprise, Trevor and his beautiful K9 were in the corner of the room.
Trevor was seated in a chair, with his dog .
. . What had he said the dog’s name was?
Archie. Archie was stretched out at his feet near what looked like a purse.
Trevor smiled when he saw her glancing over.
“What about internal bleeding?” She studied Emily’s compassionate face. “Have I been cleared that way too?”
“The doctor is reading your scan now. The spinal cord was one of our primary concerns. With internal bleeding a close second,” Emily hastily added. “Your vitals are stable, so that’s a really good sign.”
Satisfied, Bailey closed her eyes and tried to relax. There weren’t as many medical staff hovering around her bedside any longer. Apparently, the worst was over.
Well, except for the fact that there was a giant black hole where her memory should have been. The need to sleep hit hard.
Maybe once she’d gotten some rest, her memory would return.
Trevor had stayed out of the way as promised, but it wasn’t easy to sit there doing nothing while the medical team worked on Bailey.
He reached down to stroke Archie’s fur. He was glad Emily Ross, his brother-in-law Doug Bridge’s sister, was on duty tonight.
Emily and Owen spent a lot of time on the Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue Ranch with their K9 in training, a chocolate lab named Bear.
The puppy was growing by leaps and bounds, a born SAR dog.
Bear loved playing the search game. Of course, Trevor was partial to his Archie, but really, all the K9s on their ranch were amazing.
The rapid yet steady beat of the baby’s heart on the monitor was also reassuring. He silently thanked God for keeping Bailey and her baby safe. The bad car wreck reminded him of the crash that had killed Bailey’s husband, Clark. He’d attended the guy’s funeral seven months ago.
The parallel crashes bothered him, especially when Bailey had mentioned the black truck was behind her. Trevor was torn between staying to support Bailey as promised and returning to the scene of the crash to search for evidence.
Not that he was a cop, like his sister Maya and his two brothers-in-law, Doug Bridges and Griffin Flannery who were federal agents.
When the cops had arrived with the ambulance at the scene, Trevor had mentioned the conversation he’d had with Bailey to Cody police officer Heath Anderson.
Heath had promised to inform his boss, Sergeant Howell, about the suspicious circumstances of the crash.
The Sullivan family had a great relationship with the Cody police department, especially since Doug had uncovered a crooked cop back in January.
In addition, most of the local police departments referred citizens with missing family members or friends to the Sullivan ranch.
Their business had boomed over the past year.
So much so that they were anxiously awaiting Owen and Emily’s addition to the team.
When Bear was ready, they’d be placed in rotation.