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One second, the sky is a bright blue above me, and then it’s a wave of colors and distortion, the fall registering within my body and shooting anguish through my limbs.
Someone shouting is the last thing I can make out clearly before black erases the other colors, and then I’m gone to the world.
33
LIAM
The call comes from Dad, who heard a ruckus in the fields as the farmhands screamed for anyone to come help.
My cell rang when I was twenty minutes from the house, excited to get home and back in bed with my beautifully sexy, pregnant fiancée … even though no one knows we’re engaged.
It was Dad, practically yelling frantically in my ear that I needed to get to the hospital and not go back to our property. Instantly, my heart was in my stomach as the sole of my boot punched down on the accelerator. I think I broke about five traffic laws getting to the ER, and as I sprinted through the parking lot, my heart had been in my throat.
What the hell happened? It kept running through my head the entire time I raced to be by her side. All Dad knew was that Gabrielle had been slumped over in the fields, bruised and bloodied, while our enormous combine had been running but abandoned. It wasn’t even time for me to pull that machine out yet. Dad had said that a ton of crops had been run straight over.
Worrying about our land, the security cameras, and a culprit is the furthest thing from my mind, however. All I can focus on is that Gabrielle has to be okay, that if anything happens to her or the baby, I’ll scorch the earth looking for someone to punish.
Except the moment I arrive, begging to be let back to whatever room she’s in, the hospital staff informs me she’s having all kinds of testing done and that I have to wait.
Which is how I end up sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair, my head in my hands, heart full of fury as I wait for the doctors to bring her up from all the tests they’re running on her. My family waits with me, scattered in various positions of sitting and standing, or in Dad’s case, pacing.
“She’ll be okay, sweetheart. Gabrielle is strong. She’s already a warrior of a mother and a girlfriend who looks at you like you hung the moon. She’s going to fight through this.” Mom squeezes my shoulder in what is supposed to be a comforting massage, but nothing takes the fear away right now.
“I asked her to be my wife. That’s my wife in there,” I choke out, emotion clogging my windpipe.
“You what?” Alana’s voice is full of tears as her head whips up.
“Weeks ago. We were waiting until I got her a ring, the question just kind of slipped out. I couldn’t wait any longer.” My voice feels flat now, foreign to my ears.
If I lose her, if I lose them, I won’t be able to …
The thought alone paralyzes every limb with fear.
“Your wife is going to be okay.” My mom corrects herself, giving me a small smile.
It’s the only sliver of joy we’ll get today now that my family knows the truth.
“Gabrielle is a fighter.” Cass sniffles, her emotions clearly running down her cheeks.
Evan is the only one manning the restaurant while everyone else closed ranks and came to sit with me and support both of us while this purgatory traps me in its claws. It’s been two hours, and I still don’t have any news, and I haven’t been allowed to see Gabrielle yet.
“She was alert in the car?” I ask Mom and Dad for the millionth time.
Mom’s hand squeezes my shoulder again. “She was awake but definitely out of it, so she must have hit her head.”
“But she kept asking for you, asking about how the baby was.” Dad says this as if it’s supposed to give me some hope.
“And they said they didn’t see any bleeding from between her legs, as far as they could tell,” Cass adds in as if Mom hasn’t mentioned that to me a dozen times.
“I’m going to murder whoever—” Alana cuts herself off at the mention of the incident.
It was clearly an attack, but I can’t let my brain go there, and the family slices her glares for reminding me of it. If I let that fury take me over right now, I won’t be able to focus on Gabrielle and what really matters.
“Are you the family of Gabrielle Murphy?” A woman wearing scrubs appears in the waiting room.
Shooting to my feet, I nearly raise my hand. “She’s my wife.”
Sure, we don’t have the paperwork, but we will soon. And I don’t need that tying me up from hearing about her condition right now.
