Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-16 (Gansett Island Series)

by Marie Force

  Ashleigh kissed his cheek. “I love you, too.”

  Blaine picked her up and held her in one arm, while reaching out to Tiffany with his other hand.

  “With the power vested in me by the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” Frank said, “it is my honor to declare you husband and wife. Blaine, you may kiss your bride.”

  He transferred Ashleigh to Maddie before he placed both hands on Tiffany’s face and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. “Love you so much, baby.”

  “Love you more.”

  Smiling, he shook his head. “No way.”

  “Ladies and gentleman,” Judge McCarthy said, “I give you Chief and Mrs. Blaine Taylor.”

  The small gathering clapped and cheered as they turned to face them. They received hugs and kisses and congratulations from everyone, including Blaine’s mom, who wore a wide smile when she greeted her new daughter-in-law.

  After they’d had a chance to say hello to everyone, Blaine extended his arm to her.

  Tiffany curled her fingers around the crook of his elbow. She glanced at Maddie to make sure she had Ashleigh. Maddie held hands with Ashleigh and Mac had Thomas.

  “Go,” Maddie said, waving her hand. “I’ve got her.”

  “Thank you.”

  As Blaine led her back toward the car, Ned hurried on ahead of them to get the door.

  “Oh my God,” Tiffany said. “Guess what we forgot?”

  “What?” Blaine asked.

  “A photographer! We won’t have any pictures.”

  He pointed. “Look, honey.”

  How had she missed Grace, Stephanie and Jenny, armed with cameras? “Where did you guys come from?”

  “We’ve been here the whole time,” Stephanie said. “You only had eyes for him.”

  “Can you blame me?” Tiffany asked. “Look at him.”

  Her friends laughed and took more pictures as they got into Ned’s fancy car. Once he had them settled in the backseat, Ned went around to hold the passenger door for Francine.

  Through the open window, they heard Mac say, “Let’s party!”

  As Ned pulled away from the group, he turned the radio up, and the sound of Big Band music filled the car and gave the newlyweds some privacy.

  Blaine put his arm around her and leaned in for another kiss. “Hey there, Mrs. T, you’re looking exceptionally gorgeous today. That dress… Wow. A-maz-ing.”

  “Same to you.” She flattened her hand on his chest. “It was amazing and wonderful and very us. Thank you for all you did to make it happen so quickly. And the rings! How did you pull that off?”

  “I put my sisters on the job. How’d they do?”

  “Incredible.”

  “I told them exactly what I wanted, and they came back with something even better than I’d pictured. And they had a blast spending my money.”

  “It’s too much.”

  “It’s nowhere near enough.”

  “I feel so lucky and so blessed to have your rings on my finger.”

  “I feel so lucky and so blessed to have the rest of my life to love you and Ashleigh.”

  “Thank you for what you did for her and for making sure we weren’t interrupted by any unwelcome guests.”

  “After his performance this morning, I was leaving nothing to chance on that front.” With his finger on her chin, he said, “Nothing but happy thoughts today.”

  “And every day.”

  Blaine smiled, nodded in agreement and kissed her all the way to Maddie’s house.

  Ned took the long way around the island.

  David and Daisy arrived to chaos at Maddie’s house. People were running around with food and chairs, and out on the lawn a band was setting up under the direction of Evan McCarthy. Apparently, the bride and groom were on their way.

  “What can we do to help?” Daisy asked Grant McCarthy as he went by carrying two huge bags of ice.

  “Ask Maddie,” he said with a good-natured grin. “She’s the drill sergeant out on the deck, barking orders at everyone.”

  They followed him to the deck, where Maddie was, in fact, shouting orders to everyone within earshot.

  “Give me something to do,” Daisy said when Maddie took a break to breathe.

  She thrust Hailey into Daisy’s arms, said, “Baby duty, please,” and took off down the stairs to where tables and chairs had been arranged on the lawn.

  “Well, all righty, then,” Daisy said to Hailey, who offered a gummy, spitty, two-tooth smile in response.

  “Day, Day,” Hailey said.

  “Did she just say Daisy?” David asked, letting the baby grasp his finger in her tight grip.

  “It’s probably just gas.”

  “Sounded like Daisy to me.”

  Daisy snuggled the baby into the crook of her neck and patted her back, hoping she might doze off for her afternoon nap despite the flurry of activity around her.

  “You’re a natural,” David said.

  “You think so?”

  He nodded. “Is it difficult to hold someone else’s baby after what happened to you?”

  “It used to be, but Thomas and Hailey have gotten me over it. I’ve known them all their lives and being around them as often as I am helped to get me past my own loss. But it’s always there. I wonder what he’d be like now, what his interests would be. He’d be almost ten, which is hard to believe.”

  “So you knew he was a boy?”

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t ask her anything else, and for that she was grateful. Even all these years later, it was difficult to think about the baby she’d lost, even if he’d been conceived under less than ideal circumstances. He’d still been hers, the only other person who’d ever been entirely hers.

  People continued to arrive. Luke and Sydney Harris, Patrolman Wyatt and his girlfriend Patty, Sarah and Charlie Grandchamp, along with Owen and Laura, who looked much better than she had the last time Daisy saw her leaving the Surf on a stretcher, and Laura’s brother Shane. Laura seemed pale and drawn but happy to see her friends.

  Adam McCarthy came in with his girlfriend, Abby Callahan, followed by Mason Johns, Dan Torrington and Kara Ballard.

  As everyone came onto the deck, they greeted Daisy and David warmly, and she could feel him relax next to her as it became clear that no one was unhappy to see him there.

  Victoria came out to the deck, hand in hand with a sinfully handsome man who Daisy didn’t recognize. He had shaggy, dark reddish-brown hair, green eyes that were full of the devil and a smile that could stop female traffic. Victoria let out a squeal of pleasure when she saw David, and gave him a hug.

  “This is Shannon O’Grady,” Victoria said. “Shannon, this is my sort-of boss, David Lawrence. Doctor David Lawrence.”

  “Sorta boss,” David said, scoffing, as he shook hands with Shannon. “Good to meet you.”

  “’Tis a pleasure to meet you, too, Doc. Vic speaks highly of you.”

  “Does she now?” David said with an inquisitive glance at Victoria. “Vic?”

  Her sheepish grin was infectious. “I say nice things about you when you’re not listening.”

  “Now that I believe,” David said, laughing.

  As Daisy continued to rock Hailey, she enjoyed the banter between David and Victoria, who clearly adored him. It was nice to know he had real, genuine friends who cared for him—not as much as she did, but enough to give him additional ties to the island she loved.

  “Come on,” Victoria said, tugging on Shannon’s hand. “Let’s get a drink. I’m in the mood to party.”

  “Excellent,” Shannon said, following Victoria down the stairs to where Grant and Adam were minding the bar on the lawn.

  “He’s awfully cute,” Daisy said. “Is it serious between them?”

  “Apparently, she’s just using him for sex.”

  “Seriously?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “I can’t believe she told you that.”

  “She tells me everything,

much to my dismay.”

  “She loves you.”

  “She drives me crazy, but I couldn’t function without her.”

  Daisy turned so David could see Hailey’s face. “Still awake?”

  “Just barely. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve almost got her.”

  Joe came up the stairs and seemed momentarily surprised to see them, but then he recovered. “Hey, guys. How’s it going?”

  “Good,” David said, shaking the hand Joe offered him. “How’s Janey feeling?”

  “Not bad. She’s taking a nap upstairs right now so she’ll be ready when the newlyweds get here. I figured I should wake her up so I can get her downstairs in time.”

  “Is she managing to stay off her feet?”

  “Yes, but with much bitching and complaining,” Joe said, grinning.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “Off I go to get her up.”

  David watched him go with a wistful expression on his face.

  “Are you okay?” Daisy asked.

  “Sure. I’m great.”

  “It’s not a crime to admit that it can be difficult to know she belongs to someone else now.”

  “You don’t want to hear me say that, because it might make you think I’m not thrilled to belong to you now. When I am. Thrilled, that is. To belong to you.”

  “Oh, well, that’s nice to hear.”

  He leaned against the rail that framed the deck. “At times, it’s difficult when the past comes back to smack me in the face, but I haven’t had the urge to go back in time in quite a few weeks now. Rather,” he said, dragging a finger lightly along her forearm, “I find myself looking forward to the future for the first time in a very long time.”

  She was still smiling at him when Maddie returned to claim Hailey, who was now asleep.

  “I don’t know how you do it,” Maddie said as she took the baby from Daisy. “Every time, she gets the unsleepable baby to go to sleep.”

  “She doesn’t look unsleepable to me,” David said with a wink for Daisy.

  “What can I say?” Daisy said, shaking her numb arms back to life. “It’s my special gift.”

  A shout from inside caught their attention.

  “David! David, come quick!” The frantic tone of Joe’s cries had David running inside. “Janey won’t wake up. She won’t wake up!”

  “Call 911,” David said to Owen as he charged past him up the stairs.

  Wild-eyed, Joe grabbed David’s arm and pulled him into the guestroom. “She won’t wake up.”

  Janey’s blonde hair was spread on the pillow. Her face was pale and her lips nearly white.

  As his own heart beat wildly, David checked for a pulse and was relieved to feel the rapid cadence of her heart under his fingers. Her pulse was faster than it should be, he thought, leaning in close to feel the whisper of her breath against his face. Then he pulled the covers off her and gasped at the pool of blood between her legs.

  Instinct told him to deal with Joe, and he spun around just as Joe would’ve passed out from the sight of so much blood. He directed Joe to a chair and pressed his head between his knees. “Breathe.”

  Joe drew in deep breaths mixed with sobs. “Don’t let her die, David. Please don’t let her die.”

  “She’s not going to die,” David said with more confidence than he felt. “But we’ve got to get the baby out right away.”

  Joe looked up at him. “It’s too soon!”

  “I’ll do everything I can for both of them.”

  “What can I do? I’ll do anything.”

  Mason and Victoria came running into the room.

  “Oh shit,” Victoria said when she saw Janey and the blood.

  “We need to get her to the clinic—now,” David said.

  “We can use my SUV,” Mason said. “Let’s go.”

  Joe rallied and stood, heading for the bed. “I’ve got her.” He lifted his unresponsive wife off the bed and headed for the doorway.

  David grabbed the comforter off the bed and stopped Mason before he could follow Joe down the stairs. “Drive as fast as you can. Every minute matters.”

  “Got it.”

  “I’m going with her,” David said to Victoria as they rushed down the stairs. “Be right behind us.”

  “Oh God, David,” Linda McCarthy cried as he ran through the living room. “Please take care of them.”

  “I will.”

  “Ride in front,” David said to Joe as he crawled into the back of Mason’s SUV with Janey and made use of the comforter to raise her hips to control the blood flow. Adrenaline pounded through his system as he went through the possible scenarios of what might’ve happened.

  It seemed most likely this was a case of placental abruption, which often occurred suddenly when the placenta separated from the wall of the uterus. That would explain the heavy bleeding and unresponsiveness. If it was a full abruption, the chances of the baby surviving were almost nil, and Janey’s life would be in grave danger, too.

  They were ill prepared at the clinic for an emergency of this magnitude, but they’d work with what they had. David had never performed a cesarean section on his own but had assisted in plenty of them as a resident, so he knew what to do. Whether or not he could handle any complications he encountered during the procedure remained to be seen. The thought of Janey dying on his watch was unfathomable, so he couldn’t let it happen. No matter what, he had to save her life. And the baby… Joe was right. It was too soon.

  He knocked on the window to the front of the SUV.

  Mason slid it open. “How is she?”

  “Hanging in there. Can you call for a life-flight with neonatal support? And blood. We’re going to need blood. She’s O positive.” That was one of many random things he knew about her after thirteen years with her.

  “Already done, Doc.”

  “Good.”

  “Is she going to be all right, David?” Joe asked.

  “I…I hope so.” He couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Janey wasn’t all right, so he refused to go there. He’d trained for the last decade for situations just like this one. However, being on a remote island when disaster struck hadn’t been part of the training, all of which had occurred in well-equipped, inner-city hospitals. In this case, he’d be relying on instinct as well as training. Janey’s life and the life of her baby were in his hands, and even in the midst of crisis, the irony of that wasn’t lost on him.

  He owed her one. Hell, he probably owed her far more than one. He owed her his very best, and that was what she—and her baby—would get from him.

  Victoria was right behind them when they pulled into the clinic parking lot. She flew out of her car and unlocked the emergency entrance. Mason was right behind her. They ran out a few seconds later with a gurney that they loaded Janey onto. They whisked her inside to prepare her for surgery.

  “Joe,” David said, stopping Joe from running after them. “We’re going to do a C-section and take the baby. If we don’t, we could lose them both. I need you to know… If I can’t stop the bleeding, there’s a chance I may have to perform a hysterectomy. Do you understand?”

  His face white with shock and his white shirt, arms and hands stained with blood, Joe nodded.

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on as soon as I know anything.” David started toward the double doors that led to the exam rooms.

  “David!”

  David spun around to face the man who’d once been his rival and was now his ally in wanting to save the woman they both loved.

  “If it’s a choice, save Janey.” He choked on a sob. “Please save Janey.”

  David nodded and took off running.

  Chapter 16

  In the procedure room, Victoria performed an ultrasound. She pointed to the screen. “Partial abruption, but bleeding out fast.”

  “That’s what I suspected,” David said. “Let’s move.”

  In a matter of seconds, they inserted a catheter, intubated her and started an IV to get anesthesia meds and fluids onboard. “How close is the chopper?” David asked Mason.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “That might be too long for the baby.” A helpless feeling stole over him when he realized they could very well lose the baby before the chopper arrived.

  “I’ll see if they can do better.”

  Victoria swabbed iodine over Janey’s distended belly. “Have you done this before?” she asked, her eyes serious and focused on the patient.

  “Not by myself.”

  “Jesus, David.”

  They took time they didn’t have to scrub and gown up, since the last thing Janey needed on top of everything else was a raging infection.

  Mason returned to the room. “They’re twelve minutes out.”

  “Better. Go to my office. Top drawer of the filing cabinet there’s a consent-for-treatment form. Get Joe to sign it.”

  “It’s not required in an emergency,” Victoria reminded him.

  “I want it,” David said, without including the words just in case.

  “I’m on it,” Mason said.

  Fortunately, a recent blood drive on the island had given them enough on hand to get her through the surgery. If there were no complications, they’d be okay, so he had to see to it there were no complications.

  “Has it been long enough to ensure proper sedation?”

  “I don’t know,” David said, desperately trying to remember the details of his anesthesia rotation. “But we’re out of time. Let’s do it. You’re on the baby. I’ve got Janey. Ready?”

  Victoria nodded, her brown eyes huge over the top of her mask.

  David dragged the scalpel across Janey’s lower abdomen, silently talking himself through the procedure he’d seen done dozens of times. He recited the steps in his mind the way he would have when questioned by an attending physician during residency: Cut skin, cut fascia, separate muscle, cut peritoneum, watch the bladder, cut uterus, deliver baby, clamp and cut cord, retrieve placenta, sew uterus, administer Pitocin and push fluid fast, ensure patient is stabilized, when stable, close the abdomen in reverse order of entry.

  He knew all the steps. However, reciting and doing were two different things, especially when the patient on the table had owned his heart for most of his adult life.

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