Page 13 of Accepting Fate
As I start hooking Lily up to a round of fluid to combat the dehydration, a woman is wheeled into the room. Judging by the fact that they are practically twins, it’s a safe assumption, this woman is Lily’s mom.
Her hands fly to her mouth, and she begins to sob. Laura stops her work at the computer and runs over to her.
“You must be Lily’s mama. Lily is alright. She’s just taking a nap. This situation is very stressful, and her body needed to reset. The good news so far is that we don’t see any life-threatening injuries.”
The woman looks between Laura and Lily, frantically. “But- But it stopped. Her heart stopped. Is she going to be okay?” she says through sobs.
“Her heart rate was extremely low when she first got here. We had to double-check at first, but it was there. We are running a bunch of tests, but the good news is her EKG came back good. She was talking a minute ago and smiling,” Laura assures.
Doctor Lance finishes up assessing Lily’s broken bones and walks over to Laura, extending a hand out to the woman, “Hi, I’m Doctor Lance, may I have your name?”
The woman stiffens and grips Grayson’s hand that is resting on her shoulder.
Doctor Lance is the best doctor we have and is extremely intuitive. Stepping back a few feet, he makes his hands visible and kneels, so they are on eye level with each other, “I apologize. I know my words mean nothing to you, but I promise on my own wife and kids that nothing bad will happen to you or your daughter under my watch. I want to make you as comfortable as possible so Laura and” he pauses to point in my direction “Logan will always be in the same room as you when I need to speak with you. Grayson can be there as well if you would like.”
Grayson leans forward and whispers something I can't make out in her ear. Whatever he says works because she nods, “My name is Alana Carson. That is my baby, Lily Carson. We were kidnapped about six months ago. I don’t know. I lost track of time. We didn’t have much food and we were abused every day. One of the men broke Lily’s arm and leg a few weeks ago because we tried to escape. I didn’t think we were going to make it out alive.” Alana breaks into a sob, and I have to turn my face to hide the tears that are collecting in my eyes.
The room is completely silent besides the beeping of the machines.
Doctor Lance clears his throat to compose himself, “Ms. Carson, I am so sorry. My team and I are going to give you every resource we have to make sure you and your daughter walk out of this hospital healthy and free. Lily is stable right now. We need to place a cast on her broken bones, but that will be very painful for her. If the blood work comes back, would you be okay if we gave her a mild painkiller that will make her sleepy so we can set the bones?”
After I compose myself, I turn back to find Alana staring at me. I didn’t notice I grabbed Lily’s hand, but her tiny hand is latched on tightly so there is no way I am moving.
Alana agrees, her eyes not leaving my hand in Lily’s, “I don’t want my baby girl in any more pain. Please do whatever you have to do. Thank you all so much.”
Getting up from his position on the floor, Doctor Lance signals for two more nurses that are waiting in the hall to enter the room with the supplies to set Lily’s bones.
A few minutes go by before my radio rings in my ears. Pressing the button to give them the go-ahead, a nurse notifies me that Lily's labs show severe dehydration but no infection.
Looking at Doctor Lance, “Lily’s labs show severe dehydration but no infection. She is good to go with the medication.”
“That is great news. Logan, can you get her started on that?”
“Yes, sir.” Gently freeing my hand, I signal for another nurse to come stand by Lily’s side. I keep my head down walking past Grayson into the hallway. I have a feeling if my eyes meet his, my composure will break, and I cannot do that right now.
Ducking into the medication room I take a moment to collect myself. Quickly selecting the medication I need, I rush back to the room. I pass by Grayson, who is still at the entrance, and my arm brushes against his. His gaze shifts down to me, and I feel like I’m on fire.
Like the complete idiot I am, I check my arm to make sure I’m not. I know I’m wearing long sleeves under my scrubs tonight, but I feel like I jumped into a damn pit of lava.
When I look up, my eyes meet his and he smiles down at me. Now that things have calmed down a bit, I’m getting my first good look at this man and holy fucking shit he is beautiful.
I’ve seen a lot of hot men in my life but this one.Damn. His shaggy brown hair peeks out from under his baseball cap. His black long sleeve fits snug around his biceps with tattoos peeking under the raised sleeve on his forearms.
This gorgeous man is tall as hell and when I meet his eyes again, I find hypnotizing midnight blues staring back at me. They’re very easy to get lost in.
Focus Logan.
I rush to Lily’s side and get back to work. Double-checking the dosage and medication, then confirming her age and weight out loud with the other nurses, I give Lily the painkiller.
After checking her vitals every few minutes to ensure no reaction, she is in the clear and I step away, letting the other nurses get to work.
The last thing I want to do is be in close proximity to Grayson. Thankfully, Alana needs to be examined, so I focus on her.
Walking over, I squat down in front of her wheelchair and avoid his gaze, “Alana, please let us check you out. We can stay in here, but Lily is safe and getting help. You did a great job protecting her. Let us help you. Please?” Her body sinks further into the chair and nods, her body finally giving into extreme exhaustion. I stand and Laura wheels Alana to the bed next to Lily’s.
I know I need to get to the bottom of what happened, so I have no choice but to look at Grayson. I’m surprised to find him already staring at me.
Signaling for him to follow me into the hallway, I take my gloves off and toss them in the trash as I walk out of the room.