He walked slowly toward me, like I would bolt at any second. He didn’t look at me with hate anymore. After the way I treated him and his brothers, he had every reason to hate me. Now, he just looked sad.
“For what it’s worth, I would have traded places with her in an instant. I never would have stayed if I thought you would get dragged into our shit.”
“I know.”
Not knowing what else to say, I turned and walked out of the garage. It didn’t really feel like I’d resolved anything, but I didn’t feel so filled with hate either. It would take me a long time to look at Josh and not see Natalie bleeding out on the floor of the barn, but hopefully with time, I could move past it. Carter was right, living with this hate wasn’t good for Brody.
2
Josh
“What was that?” Carly asked as she walked out of the office with Alessa running behind her. Her hand rested on her big belly and she looked tired.
I blew out a breath, still not sure what brought all that on. “He came to talk.”
“About what?”
I detected a hint of fear or anger in her voice, so I pulled her into me and gave her a hug, rubbing her back. “He said he understood.”
She stepped back, looking up at me in shock. “Are you serious?”
“I know. I don’t understand where it came from either.”
A slight smile lit her face, but she looked more tired than usual. Her days watching Alessa and running the office were wearing on her. On top of that, she was pregnant, due in just another month and a half.
“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”
She huffed out a laugh. “With Alessa?”
I rubbed my hand up and down her arm, concern pinching my face. “You really don’t look so good.”
“It’s just a headache,” she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.
“How about this? I’ll keep Alessa with me and I’ll call someone to come pick her up. Then you can go home and rest for a little bit.”
Relief flooded her face. She must be really hurting. “That sounds—”
Her whole body went rigid, her eyes began to almost shift back and forth at a dizzying speed, and then her whole body started convulsing.
“Carly!” I shouted, catching her just as she started to collapse. I lowered her to the floor, terrified as I watched my wife spasm out of control in front of me. Not knowing what else to do, I started shouting. “Help! Somebody help!”
Her hand flailed up, catching me on the jaw. I grabbed her and tried to pin her down, but every body part was moving. I didn’t know what the hell to do. A wet spot formed beneath her and I slowly looked up at her, swallowing hard. Had her water just broken?
I reached for my phone, realizing that I had left it over by the car earlier after taking a phone call. I glanced back, wondering if I had enough time to run and grab it, or if she would end up hurting herself if I left.
“Somebody help!” I shouted again, tears filling my eyes. I was shaking so bad, watching her convulse on the ground, and I was helpless to do anything for her.
I heard running footsteps and looked up just as Jack ran back through the bay doors, skidding to a stop when he saw Carly on the ground.
“Please help,” I whispered, not able to speak any louder.
He must have heard me, because he rushed over, kneeling down beside me. “Don’t hold her down.”
“But she’s—”
“She’s having a seizure. Just let it work itself out. I’ll call it in.”
I listened distantly as he called for an ambulance. Finally, after what felt like minutes, her body stopped jerking and her whole body relaxed. Jack pressed his fingers to her throat, feeling for a pulse. He nodded slightly, letting me know she was alive.
“We need to turn her on her side,” Jack ordered, starting to pull her body toward him.
“Why?” I asked almost absently. It felt like I was floating above, watching all this happen.
“After a seizure, your muscles relax. We need to make sure her tongue doesn’t slip down and block her airway.”
I helped him shift her to her side, then rested my hand on her belly, waiting to feel something. “I think her water broke.”
He looked at the floor, then bent down and shook his head. “I think she just lost her bladder control. It happens sometimes.”
“So, the baby’s fine?”
He didn’t say anything, his jaw hard as he stared down at Carly. “We’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say.”
I brushed her hair to the side of her face, wishing she would just open her damn eyes, but she stayed completely still.
“Baby, come on. You have to wake up,” I whispered, leaning in to kiss her cheek.
I felt Jack place his hand on my shoulder, giving me a tight squeeze.
“Daddy, what’s wrong with Mommy?”
A tear slid down my face landing on Carly’s cheek. Slowly, I looked up at my little girl and tried to think of something, anything that would be reassuring, but I couldn’t think of a thing.
“You’re momma’s just resting, sweetheart,” Jack said, getting up to walk over to where she stood just a few feet away.
“Why is she resting on the floor?” Alessa asked innocently.
Jack picked her up in his arms and held her to him. “Because she got really tired and she decided she would lay down and take a nap. Isn’t that silly?”
“I would have gotten in my bed,” Alessa giggled.
“Me too, sweetheart, but mommies can be weird sometimes. Come on, let’s go to your daddy’s office and you can show me your toys.”
He glanced down at us and gave me a nod, letting me know he had her. I didn’t want him to leave. I had no idea what to do for Carly, and as the minutes ticked by, I felt even more useless than the minute before. The sirens sounded in the distance. It had to have been at least fifteen minutes, but as I looked up at the clock, it had only been a few minutes since Jack called the ambulance.
I heard Jack shut the office door just as the paramedics rushed in and took over, pushing me out of the way as they checked over my wife. There was nothing I could do for her. There was no bullet to take for her, no threat to take out. I was useless.
“Eric picked up Alessa and brought her back to his house,” Jack said as he walked through the ER doors.
I nodded to him, running my hand over my mouth as I paced the ER floor. This was what it was like for Jack when he lost Natalie. I was paying for her death now.
“I should have done better,” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“Josh, you did everything you were supposed to.”
“No, I mean…” My voice shook as I looked up at him. “I should have done better for you and Natalie. If it weren’t for me, Natalie would still be here.”
“Josh—”
“God’s punishing me now. He’s taking Carly and my baby from me.”
Jack gripped onto my arms and shook me slightly. “That is not what’s happening. It was a seizure. We don’t know anything else yet. You need to calm down and wait to hear what the doctor says.”
“Like we did for Natalie?” I retorted. “That didn’t turn out so well for you.”
I watched his throat bob as he swallowed. “You’re right. It didn’t turn out for her, but these are different circumstances. Natalie had severe internal injuries. As far as we know, Carly could have just had a seizure. We just have to wait and see.”
The ER doors opened and my brothers came pouring in, all rushing over to me while yelling over each other.
“Just shut up,” Jack said, holding up his hands to quiet them. If they thought it was weird that Jack was standing beside me, they didn’t say anything.
“She just…started seizing. I didn’t know what was happening.”
“Have you heard anything yet?” Eric asked.
“Nothing. She woke up a little on the way over, but she was disoriented. They had to run some tests.”
“What about the baby?
” Joe asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
I knew they wanted to ask more questions, but I didn’t have any answers. I sat down, ending the conversation. We waited for another half hour, all of us pacing around the waiting room at one point or another. I looked up as Eric swore.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t get ahold of Derek.”
“He’s probably out on a job.”
He shook his head. “I tried calling him at work. The line’s been disconnected.”
I looked up at him sharply. “What do you mean? The lines can’t be disconnected. Did you try Sebastian?”
“Yeah,” he said, slumping in the chair beside me. “I can’t get ahold of anyone.”
I didn’t really have the mental capacity to figure out where the hell Derek was right now, but it also gave me something else to think about. “What about that friend of Sebastian’s…the cop?”
“Sean,” he said after a minute. “I don’t have his number, but I can probably get it through the department.”
“Ask Jack to find out,” I nodded toward where Jack was leaning up against the wall.
“Are you sure he’ll help?”
I stared at Jack for a moment. I could see the torment on his face, what he must be feeling being back here in the ER waiting for news again. This time wasn’t about his wife, but it had to be bringing up painful memories.
“Yeah, he’ll help.”
“What happened between you two? Why did he hate you yesterday, but today he’s asking me to pick up Alessa and says he has to get to the hospital to be with you?”
I rubbed my forehead, still trying to figure out what that was about. “I don’t know. He…just showed up this morning. He said he understood it wasn’t my fault, and that he wasn’t ready to be friends, but he was trying to move past it.”
“Well, that’s big of him,” Eric grumbled, slumping in his chair.
“It is big of him. If it weren’t for me—”
“No,” he cut me off. “I’ve watched you beat yourself up too long over this, and I’m through with it. What happened was not your fault. You didn’t ask to give up seven years of your life over something that had nothing to do with you. And Carly didn’t drag you into her life. It just happened. And what happened with Natalie was a terrible tragedy, but you no more caused it than you threw those beams on top of her.”
I didn’t know what to say. I knew my brothers supported me, but deep down, I thought for sure that they only took my side because I was their brother.
“Mr. Cortell?”
“Yes,” all of us turned and answered at the same time. The doctor looked at us strangely. “Carly’s husband?”
“That’s me. What did you find? Is she okay?”
“Mr. Cortell, please slow down. Your wife appears to be fine, as does your child.”
My shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank God. Do you know what caused the seizure?”
“We don’t. We’ve run tests, but haven’t found anything conclusive.”
I shook my head, not understanding. “What do you mean? She had a seizure. There has to be a reason for it.”
“A lot of seizures are unexplainable. It could be anything from stress to hormones to an underlying cause that hasn’t presented itself yet. You said right before it happened she had a headache.”
“Yeah, and she was looking really run down.”
He nodded. “Did she get frequent headaches?”
“No. In fact, it was just recently, maybe the last day or two that she even seemed affected by the pregnancy. She’s always on the move.”
“There could be absolutely nothing to worry about, Mr. Cortell, but we’ll run some more tests.”
“What kind of tests?”
“An EEG, a CT scan, and MRI…I don’t want you to worry. We’ll cover all our bases.”
“And what if you don’t find anything?”
“Then we’ll put her on seizure medication.”
“Wait, how can you put her on medication if you don’t know what caused the seizure?”
He paused, like he was about to tell me something bad. “Without the medication, her chances of having another seizure in the next two years are around forty to fifty percent, or even higher. With this medication, we can reduce that by maybe thirty percent.”
“So, if she doesn’t take the medication, she’s more likely to relapse?”
“Yes.”
“What about the baby?”
“It’s completely safe for your baby.”
I nodded, trying to take it all in. It made sense to give her the medication, but how was I supposed to make a decision on this? It was happening to her, and I knew nothing about medication.
“We’ll also have to take away her driver’s license.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, confused as to what the hell that had to do with anything.
“It’s procedure after a seizure. She won’t be able to drive again until she can pass the tests necessary and have a neurologist sign off on her driving again. I’m sorry, but that’s the way this works. You can go back in a little bit to see your wife.”
He turned and walked away, leaving me with so many questions. I turned to Will. “Can you get Charlie down here? I want a second opinion.”
He nodded, but looked hesitant. “Charlie’s not a neurologist, Josh. I doubt she’ll be able to give you the answers you want.”
“Just do it, and call Antonio.” I turned and walked away, getting away from everyone. I didn’t know what to think about any of it. I headed outside, staring out at the darkening sky. A rain storm was coming in, giving me a massive headache. I rubbed at my temples, trying to relieve the pressure. It was all too much.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood out there before Charlie showed up.
“Josh?”
I turned to see Charlie walking toward me.
“Hey, are you doing okay?”
I laughed slightly. “My wife had a seizure in front of me.” I shook my head slightly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.”
She nodded. “They’re hard to witness.”
“What are the chances that she’ll have another seizure?”
“Honestly, I can’t tell you that. I looked at her chart, but I agree with the doctor. There’s nothing to indicate what caused it. All we can hope is that one of the other tests will show something.”
“Like what?”
“Epilepsy is most common.”
“But she’s never had anything like that.”
“Not that you know of. We need to talk to Antonio and get a family history.”
“Her dad had cancer, but as far as I know, he never had any seizures.”
She nodded. “Well, epilepsy can start at any stage in life, but it could be from something else also. Did she hit her head recently or—”
“No,” I said in frustration. “The doctor already asked all this.”
“I understand, but it doesn’t hurt to think it over again. It’s possible this was just a one time seizure.”
“So, this might not happen again?”
“It’s possible,” she nodded.
“What happens now?”
“They’ll run more tests and try to find the cause.”
“What’s this about them taking away her license?” I asked. “She wasn’t driving when it happened.”
“But if she was driving and she had another, she would lose all control of the car.”
“But you’re asking a woman like Carly to give up her independence over something she didn’t even cause. You said it yourself, this could be a one time thing.”
“It could, but do you want to take that chance?”
“Wait, so people can get drunk and drive their cars, and kill as many people as they want, but because my wife had a seizure one time, they’ll take away her license and she’ll have to jump through all these hoops just to get it back?”
“Josh,” Jack’s voice barked at me from the
doorway of the hospital. He walked out to me, anger etched on his face. “You weren’t responsible for Natalie’s death, but if you let your wife get behind the wheel and she has a seizure and kills someone else, you will be responsible for that person’s death. How many people are you willing to kill so your wife can drive a fucking car?”
He glared at me as he walked away, heading back into the hospital when I expected him to leave. Fuck, I didn’t know how I was going to tell Carly this. She valued her independence more than anything, and now it was going to be taken from her.
3
Jack
God, I was so fucking pissed. Hearing Josh whine about Carly not being able to drive really set me off. It wasn’t just my own anger issues coming out. As an officer of the law, it really pissed me off when people skirted the law for their own reasons. Having a seizure was a serious issue, and if he let her get behind the wheel, who knows what could happen.
I paced the waiting room, not wanting to leave, but finding it more and more difficult to stay. I wanted to be here with Josh through this, even if he was currently pissing me off. I knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of the news. But that was also the reason I needed to go. I could feel my emotions getting out of hand. With every second I stayed, I felt like snapping at someone just to let off some steam.
“Fucking asshole won’t answer his phone,” Robert muttered to Will.
“Screw him. If he won’t answer the phone, that’s on him.”
“Yeah, and that’s really gonna help Josh,” Robert retorted.
I stopped pacing and joined in the conversation. “Who’s not answering?”
Will looked at me warily. “Antonio. We’re trying to get ahold of him for Josh.”
I shook my head in disgust. It figured the asshole would be too concerned with himself to pick up the goddamn phone when someone called.
Robert sighed. “I guess I can run out there.”
Drawing Dead: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck) Page 2