Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Some people are cut from the same cloth that I wouldn’t scrub my ass with.
—Beau to Magnolia
MAGNOLIA
I was laughing, tears literally falling from my eyes as Lysander told a story about a man coming in with a foreign body stuffed up his rectum, when I saw the medivac fly low over the house.
“Whoa, that was close,” Merrill said.
“Ten bucks says I get called into the hospital in the next ten minutes,” Lysander groaned.
I fully understood.
A small-town hospital like the one we were now working at would only have so many people that the hospital could afford. They wouldn’t have an unending supply of radiologists.
What I never expected was to get the same call myself.
“Hello?” I answered my phone after the third ring.
“Magnolia Baker?”
I paused. “That’s me.”
“This is Rainey Tubbs from the hospital. Your new boss?” she said. “I know that you’re not scheduled to work until after the first of the year, but we have a bit of an emergency. We had three traumas come in at once, and we need your help.”
I was already rushing to the bedroom to get changed. “Of course. I can get there…”
“We have officers set to arrive at your house now,” she said. “They were already on the way here and can swing by and pick you up.”
“Don’t send them to my house. Send them to Beau Vanerbilt’s house. That’s where I’ll be,” I said as I shoved my feet into my Crocs and ripped off my t-shirt to put on a bra and the same t-shirt.
By the time I got outside, Merrill was waving Lysander out with a wave of her hand.
“I have both kids,” she said as she saw me head to the door, too. “Love you.”
I blew her a kiss over my shoulder and got into the cruiser that was waiting practically at Beau’s front door.
“Hey,” I said to Gentry as I got inside. “What’s going…”
He took off before I could finish my sentence, but that wasn’t why my voice trailed off. It went quiet due to the two people in the back seat of his cruiser, handcuffed and looking worse for wear.
“What’s going on?” I asked shakily. “Is Beau okay?”
“Beau’s fine,” Gentry silently seethed beside me. “Koen’s not.”
My stomach sank. “Is that who I’m going to the hospital to…”
“No,” he growled. “Koen’s dead. It’s Ida Bell.”
My heart sank all the way to my toes.
“Oh, Gentry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.
He nodded only once, his body stiff and his eyes only on the road.
Likely, he was forcing himself to remain professional when he really wanted to fuck the two people up in the back seat.
The ride was quiet, and we arrived at the hospital in record time.
I got out with a quiet “thanks for the ride.”
Then I went to the surgery floor and got ready.
I’d done this hundreds of times with a teacher, but never on my own.
Sure, there had been several times there’d only been an instructor there to watch and observe, but there’d always been someone with me to make sure I didn’t fuck up.
I should’ve had that person there a few more times as I oriented myself at a new hospital, but that wasn’t available today.
After scrubbing in, I got everything I needed set up, then waited for the patient to arrive.
She did with a flurry, nurses and doctors fluttering around everywhere as they prepped for an emergency surgery.
“…radiologist confirms broken femur, ribs, ulna, clavicle all on the right side. We got Ortho on the way?”
“I’m here.” A doctor walked in looking overly tired. “What do we have?”
Ida Bell got moved to the table beside me, and I got to work, my eyes flicking over her battered and bruised face that had looked so alive yesterday and so broken today.
After talking with the team and deciding what kind of sedation that she would need, the surgery began.
By the time the surgery was over, over eight hours later, I was mentally exhausted and physically drained.
That’d been the worst surgery I’d ever experienced.
I’d participated in emergency surgeries before, but none quite as bad as Ida Bell’s.
There’d been multiple times that they’d lost a pulse on Ida Bell throughout the surgery, and she’d bled out twice as they repaired the multiple injuries that she’d sustained. And as I looked at her bruised and broken body, I wondered how she would ever be the same again.
When I got out of surgery, I found Lysander waiting with a cup of coffee in his hands and a Danish from the coffee shop in town.
My heart gave a pulse of happiness to see someone familiar.
“I let Beau know that you were finishing up, and he went to grab you a snack.” Lysander smiled. “Never seen my brother so smitten in my life. It’s cute.”
You know what was cute? The entire Vanderbilt clan.
I smiled, though it didn’t reach my eyes. “How is he?”
I knew he couldn’t be good. But I hoped that he was okay, despite the terrible circumstances.
Lysander’s small smile fell. “Not good. Koen’s body was retrieved from the truck only about two hours ago.
” He looked horrified, sick to his stomach, and ready to cry all at the same time.
“The sheriff’s deputy who let Seraphina go without a warning is kicking himself.
Both Cain and Seraphina are going to spend the weekend in a jail cell. ”
Thank God.
I wished they would spend the rest of their life, but I knew luck wasn’t going to be on our side. Not with two rich as fuck people being the ones in trouble.
“Good,” I grumbled. “What are the odds that they’ll get out?”
The way his face twisted, he held the same hope as I did.
“Good,” he answered. “Dad already got Seraphina a lawyer, but they don’t think she’ll really need one since she wasn’t the one to cause the accident.
Cain’s got more money than God, so I imagine that he’ll get off with a slap on the wrist. But my brother and his club won’t let that happen if they can help it. ”
I had a quick thought that I should slip him something that’d stop his heart, that wouldn’t be able to be detected in an autopsy but quickly dismissed it. I couldn’t kill a man.
Not even if he deserved it.
The man had done unthinkable things to my sister, forced her to think her only escape was suicide. He’d taken away everything and forced her to make that impossible decision that stole her away from me. But, even then, I couldn’t do it.
“Where are they?” I asked.
Instead of answering, he jerked his head toward the long length of the hallway.
He walked me to a room that said “bereavement family room” off to the side of the surgery waiting room and I felt tears well in my throat at the sight of so many people.
Beau was the first one to me, pulling me into his arms and burying his face in my neck.
“Beau, I’m so sorry.”
His breath hitched.
He squeezed me tighter. “Did she make it?
“Nobody’s been to talk to you yet?” I gasped.
Surely someone had. Right?
“No one,” Boone croaked.
I pulled out of Beau’s hold and took Boone’s hand. “I’m sure that the doctor will be able to tell you more when he gets in here, but she’s alive. She’s going to make it.”
Boone’s shoulders slumped in relief.
Nettie came at me like a battering ram, throwing her arms around my shoulder. “Thank you for helping save her.”
“I didn’t do what the doctors did, but you’re welcome anyway.” I patted her on the back. “She’s going to be okay. She’ll be hurting for a while yet, but they expect her to make a full recovery.”
At least physically.
Mentally? That was a completely different story.