Chapter 34 Next of Kin
“Are you just going to stare at that form, or are you going to fill it out?” Terry asked.
“I’ll do it, just shut up.”
Hallie took a deep breath and tried to focus on the paper. She didn’t know much about Luke, so how was she expected to know his work phone number or health insurance number, or who his next of kin was?
From everything Luke had told her, none of his family members were living nearby. His parents and his sister were in Sarkadia. Hallie had no idea how to get in touch with them.
She felt guilty, thinking that she had dragged him into this situation, where he ended up alone in a foreign country, injured, and away from his family. But after all, he was the one who decided to get on that horse in the first place.
Maybe if he had just stayed in the city, he would have been less tempted to perform these feats of derring-do... Hallie suddenly remembered there was one person who knew Luke and who could probably get in touch with his family.
“What’s this?” Terry asked at once as Hallie slid out the business card that was still in her wallet.
“The woman who was looking for Luke the night of the dance, she left me her card. I don’t know if I should—”
“Yes! Call her!” Terry’s eyes were aglow with curiosity. She would probably love to see some sort of scandal unfold if Miss Santer showed up. “Do it, do it, do it!”
“I don’t know. Luke may have been hiding from her for a good reason.”
“This is Luke we’re talking about,” Terry said. “We won’t know for sure until you call her! If you don’t call her, I will.”
Terry made a grab for the business card, but Hallie held it out of her reach.
She got up and walked down the hallway. Thankfully Terry didn’t follow.
The card that read J.D. Santer, and below in smaller letters, ‘I get results’, was both reassuring and intimidating.
There was a good chance that J.D. Santer would know how to contact Luke’s family.
Terry was probably right, Luke was only avoiding that woman for some silly reason. And even if it wasn’t silly, she felt she owed it to his family to at least try to let them know about his condition.
She dialed the number, hoping it would go straight to voicemail. But Santer’s serious voice said hello almost on the same ring.
“Hi, this is Hallie Mathews. We met at the dance when you came by looking for Luke. Well, he’s back in Austin, but he’s had a slight accident, and he’s in the hospital right now. I thought you should know.”
“Which hospital?” Santer asked promptly.
“Redfield.”
“I’m coming right over,” Santer said, and immediately hung up.
Hallie wandered slowly back to the administrator’s desk and handed in the form.
“I know you’ve been waiting a while,” said the woman, looking at her sympathetically, “We have quite a few patients in the ER today, but it shouldn’t be much longer.”
Hallie returned to where Terry was still sitting more or less patiently.
“Well, for better or for worse, someone knows where Luke is.”
“You called her? Nice!” Terry exclaimed.
They waited for another half hour, and finally, the doctor came out. Looking at her calm expression, Hallie thought there was probably nothing terribly wrong.
“Luke is in stable condition now,” the doctor announced.
Hallie felt a strong surge of relief flow through her whole body. She knew she had to act like Luke was her boyfriend, but maybe she was buying into that belief just a little.
“He’s had a bad concussion and a broken rib, a few bruises, but nothing life-threatening.”
“Can I see him?”
“Yes, but keep it short. He needs to rest.”
Hallie was first to reach the door, but Terry and the others were close behind her. She feared Luke would be tired and overwhelmed by their presence, but he actually smiled and tried to lift himself a little higher on the pillow.
“Hey, looks like I’m a popular patient,” he said.
Hallie wanted to tell him off for riding that horse, but she was too relieved to see him awake again.
“Hey, um, we just wanted to say, Luke,” Paul began, “that we’re sorry about what happened. It wasn’t supposed to go down that way.”
“Yeah, we’re sorry,” the others muttered, shuffling awkwardly.
“It’s fine,” Luke said, “It was my choice, and I got on that horse.”
“If I may say so, it was a damn good ride,” Ken remarked, and all of the guys nodded in agreement.
Luke smiled faintly. “Yes, it was.”
“How do you feel?” Hallie asked.
“A little queasy,” he said, “but not too much pain. I think they got me on something strong.”
“What do you all think you’re doing in here?” said a female voice.
A short woman with a proud stature marched into the room. It seemed Miss Santer had not been joking about getting there with all speed.
“Can’t you see he needs some rest?” she continued, shooing everyone out. “This is not the time for a parade of people.”
“Yeah, we should go,” Paul and the other cowboys mumbled as they trickled out of the room.
“Yeah, see you,” Hallie mumbled. She hoped Luke wasn’t going to be too mad at her. He might have figured out that she was the one who called Miss Santer, though at the moment he only looked mildly bothered.
“Good to see you’re alive, Luke,” Miss Santer said. “I’ll come back to see you tomorrow.”
Hallie waved to him as she left the room with Terry and Miss Santer.
“You and I need to talk,” Miss Santer said, staring pointedly at Hallie. “Alone.”
Hallie thought Terry would be disappointed not to find out the latest scoop about Miss Santer, but it seemed she had little choice.
“Right, that’s enough hospital drama for me,” Terry said, “I’ll see you at home, sis.”
Hallie was left alone with Miss Santer in the empty hallway.