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“You’re going to be okay.” I hold our positions as the crew unloads their bag and stretcher. Something in my chest loosens at the sight of a familiar petite brunette and her partner climbing from the rig. Caiti is in good hands with my friends Cami and Nathan.
“Are them doctors?”
I almost forgot about the little one pressed into my shoulder. The flashing lights captured her attention enough for her hiccups to subside.
“They’re paramedics. They’re here to help your mom,” I answer without looking over. Is it just me, or are they taking a damn eternity to get over here?
A small palm caresses my stubbled cheek and turns my face. I swallow hard as her eyes lock onto mine, unable to deny the likeness staring me in the face. Not in her eyes. Those are purely her mother’s. Round, and dark, and like the last time I saw them prior to today, filled with life.
“Does Momma need fixing?”
“We’re going to take her to the hospital and find out.”
“I don’t…need…a hospital,” Caiti interjects.
“Stubborn woman,” I mutter. She’s not the first to fight medical treatment, and she sure as shit won’t be the last.
My friends reach us. Cami schools her questioning glance on her approach.
“Hi. I’m Cami. Tell me what’s going on today?” She crouches beside Caiti. Nathan follows with a bag of supplies. He gives me a nod but remains engaged in the task at hand, removing items for checking vitals.
I help Caiti shift into a more upright position beside me.
“I just arrived from a long drive and started getting this weird pain in my chest over my heart,” Caiti says.
“Has this happened before today?” Cami jots something down on a tablet.
“Sometimes my heart races, but I usually ignore it. It doesn’t normally hurt,” Caiti answers.
I reject the desire to cut her a sharp glance. She should know better than most never to ignore heart symptoms if the rumor of how her husband died is true.
“Have you been under a lot of stress lately? Anything more than usual?” Cami asks in a gentle tone.
Caiti shifts to allow Nathan to apply a blood pressure cuff. “A little. I probably haven’t been taking care of myself as much as I should.”
A sense of pride washes over me at watching my friends work. Even I can feel their calming presence as they take vitals and history, and I’m not the one with the emergency. Though as much as I try to ignore, I do care something for the woman in pain, even if she isn’t mine to care for.
Lord knows enough exists on my plate as it is. The last thing I need is another person under my watch. The little girl chooses that moment to wiggle in a sudden reminder that I don’t have a choice about making room on my plate. And I’m guessing the two come as a pair.
“Her heart rate’s come down from one-seventy-five to one-twenty,” Nathan remarks. “Blood pressure is 140/95.”
“It’s best to get checked out. Make sure everything is okay. We can take you and get an EKG on the way,” Cami relays to Caiti.
“I don’t…I think I shouldn’t…” Caiti stumbles over her thoughts through choppy breaths. “I’m probably fine.”
She whips her gaze between the three adult faces. The fear etched into her features is distressing. If she’s searching for someone to agree with her, I doubt she’ll find it here.
“Caiti, let them take you. Your heart isn’t anything to mess with,” I add.
“But I wasn’t planning on staying,” she pleads, the notes of fear infiltrating her tone. “Who’s going to watch Ophelia?”
I assume that’s the name of the little girl. Of my daughter.
Ophelia.
“Do you have family in town?” Cami’s question wrenches me back to the present and out of my thoughts. Nathan busies himself with packing up their supplies.
Caiti runs her palms flat over her thighs. “Just my sister, Evie. But she doesn’t know I’m here.”
I’m shocked at her admission. What is she doing here if not planning to see her sister-in-law? It wasn’t a coincidence she ended up at my doorstep? I thought she had an emergency and stopped at the first place she recognized. Now it sounds more like she drove here to see me. The pressure in my temples tempts me to squeeze my eyes shut. I feel like I’m still dreaming.
“Rhett’s Evie?” Nathan pauses his tasks with a cock of his head.
“Do you know her?” Caiti asks.
I nudge Caiti with my elbow to ease the tension. “Arrow Creek is a small town. Everyone knows everyone around here.”
“She’s a friend of mine. I can call her to meet us there if you’d like,” Cami offers.
“No!” Caiti’s mounting fear is palpable. “I don’t want her to know I’m here.”
What is she hiding? The number of questions I have rises the longer we sit here.
“Are you sure? I’m sure she’d love to help with Ophelia.” Cami places a light hand on the crook of Caiti’s arm and tries again.
“I’ve got her,” I interject brusquely.
Something rubs me wrong about calling in Evie to keep an eye on presumably my daughter. Forget the fact I found out about her existence ten minutes ago, and Caiti hasn’t officially introduced her as such. I’d be either blind or feigning ignorance to fail to notice the resemblance, and I’d be downright stupid to shirk any fatherhood responsibilities. I’m nothing like my biological father.
Caiti attacks her lower lip with indecision, frozen like a nervous fawn. I’ve seen firsthand what grief can do to a person, but this… this is something else entirely.
“I’ve got her.” I dip my gaze to lock on hers. “Let them take you, and we’ll follow right behind.”
“I don’t know…” Her furrowed brow exposes her mounting tension.
“I’m not giving you a choice. You aren’t getting back in your car and leaving until you get checked out. Simple as that.” I swipe her forgotten keys from beside us, emphasizing the motion.
My theft doesn’t go unnoticed.
“You can’t keep me here.” Caiti breaks my heart with the undercurrent of fear. I take Ophelia with me as I stand.
“If only for your daughter, you’re going.”
