Page 52 of Wrath's Nightingale
“I need an update on a patient. Millie Jackson.”
“Sure, let me pull up her chart.”
I watch impatiently as she taps on the keys.
“It looks like Miss Jackson is in room 312. She just finished a CAT scan.”
I didn’t wait for the nurse to finish. As soon as she says the room number, I’m off. I practically sprint down the hall to the stairs. I don’t want to wait for the elevator. I take the stairs two at a time. The three flights take no time at all, and I quickly find her room. The doctor is coming out when I get there.
He looks a little shocked to see me, then smiles.
“She’s awake and asking for you. We just got her back in the room, and I was headed to find you.”
“Can you give me a quick update?”
“She has a grade two concussion. Her left leg is broken in two places. She’ll have a cast for six to eight weeks up to her hip, then physical therapy. Her right wrist is sprained. We put twelve stitches in the back of her head. And she has two bruised ribs.”
“Thanks, doc,” I say as I pass him and enter the room.
Millie is laying on the bed. Her eyes are closed. She looks so pale. I hurry to her side and take her hand. When I touch her, green eyes open and gaze up at me.
“Wade.”
With great care, I gather her into my arms.
Millie
Iregain consciousness a few times while they run tests on me. Finally, I’ve been placed in a room. The doctor comes in to tell me about my injuries. They’re not bad considering the fall I took. I know things could be worse. What I really want is Wrath.
After the doctor checks my vitals again, he leaves with the promise of getting Wrath and updating my family. My eyes are so heavy, they instantly close when he leaves the room. I don’t know how long I slept when I feel a presence in the room. I open my eyes to see my husband standing over me.
“Wade.”
He bends down and carefully gathers me into his arms. His face is buried in hair.
“Nightingale, you scared the hell out of me.”
“I scared the hell out of me.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Yes, but can we wait for my family?”
“Of course, baby. Then you won’t have to repeat the story.”
Wrath takes out his phone and sends a quick group text to let everyone know where my room is. Wrath releases me thenmoves the bed and adjusts my pillows so I can sit up. He then takes a seat on the side of my bed.
“Are you in pain?”
“They gave me good meds.”
“That’s a good thing.”
A few minutes later, the room was full of people. I know we only have a few minutes like this before they made some of them leave. After a round of gentle hugs, everyone quiets down and turns to me.
“I thought I heard someone a few times on the trail, but never saw anyone. By the time I got to the pass, I thought maybe I was imagining things. We were a few hundred yards into the canopy when I heard crashing.
“It was a bear. It came running down the mountain and onto the trail. The horse spooked and took off. He stumbled at some point, and I lost my seat and took a tumble down the incline. I’ve never seen a bear act like that. It came running down the side of the mountain like someone was chasing it.”