Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(47)
“Galen had an accident,” she confessed. In that instant my legs folded underneath me and I collapsed to the floor. I knew something was wrong, I just knew it. I could feel it in my heart and soul that something terrible had happened. My heart was in agony and I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening to me again. What did I do in life to deserve this? Did I not suffer enough with Carson? I already lost him, and now something bad had happened to Galen. Jenna fell to the floor with me and took me in her arms, rocking me and trying hard to soothe me. Nothing was going to help me at this point.
“What happened?” I cried desperately. “He left to get me some nausea medicine but obviously he never came back. Please tell me he’s okay, Jenna. I have to know he’s okay!” I yelled.
Jenna took a deep breath and grabbed my hands. “He was in a motorcycle accident, Ducky. I’m not going to lie, he’s not doing well. When we found out I tried like crazy to call, but you never answered. Brady and I drove down as soon as we heard.”
“I have to go to him, NOW! I can’t lose him you hear me!” I demanded forcefully. Jenna nodded and began to cry while I shot to my feet and ran to our bedroom to change clothes quickly, and to grab some things for the hospital. When Jenna saw me coming she pulled out her keys and began to walk out the door. “Let’s go, you can tell me everything on the way,” I suggested hastily.
“What do you want to know?” Jenna asked as we got into the car.
“Just start from the beginning.”
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to hear all the details, but I had to know what to expect. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before starting to explain. “According to the witnesses, a car pulled out in front of Galen while he was riding down the road.”
“Did the dumb ass not see him? What happened to the other driver?”
My throat tightened up, and with all of the emotions swirling around in my body I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. All I know was that the anger was pretty dominant at that moment. Jenna shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but I think the driver may have been drinking. Hopefully, we’ll find out something soon. The police came in and took the driver away. Once we got into town I heard all I needed to hear and then came straight to you. Brady and Elizabeth are there waiting for you at the hospital.”
Tensing up in the seat, I knew the worst part of the news was about to be said. Jenna took a quick glance at me, but then turned back to the road. Her hands were shaking on the wheel, and when I saw her reaction my world came to a complete halt. She was afraid, afraid to tell me. “Oh my God,” I whispered. “Is he going to die, Jenna? Please tell me it’s not that bad.” She lost it in that moment and broke down into tears.
“I don’t know, Kori,” she said, the sound of fear evident in her voice. “He’s had some severe injuries and we won’t know the outcome of them yet. Before I left they were taking him back to do emergency surgery on him.”
Shaking my head, I doubled over in despair. “This is all my fault. He wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t for me.” Jenna was shaking her head in disagreement, but I knew it was the truth. “What kind of injuries are we talking about?” I questioned.
“I don’t know all of the fancy terms the doctor used, but it looks like he suffered from a moderate head injury. The procedure they were about to perform on him was to help relieve the pressure from around his skull and to remove the blood clots that were forming. That’s all I heard before I left.”
Brain injuries were not taken lightly, and there were so many things that could go wrong with any number of repercussions. He might wake up and not even know who the hell I was. I could only pray that that didn’t happen. “You know the complications of head injuries, right?” I asked Jenna.
“I know, Ducky, and that’s where we need to have faith. I’m going to be right beside you the whole time,” she claimed whole-heartedly. She squeezed my hand and held it the rest of the trip. The hospital had finally come into view, which happened to be the same hospital where my Carson died, and the same hospital where my Galen was fighting for his life.
Chapter Nineteen
Again I was stuck in an elevator that took a million years to get anywhere. Once Jenna parked the car, I raced into the hospital only to end up slowed down by that damn thing. Pacing around in the confines of the metal box, Jenna sighed. “We’re here, Kori, but you need to calm down. You’re not going to help Galen by being reckless and frantic.” I stopped the pacing to stare fixedly at the shiny metal doors. I knew that hospital like the back of my hand. When Carson worked there, I visited him often and had gotten to know plenty of the staff there well.
When the elevator doors opened I saw Brady pacing down the hall. It seemed I wasn’t the only one pacing around there. Jenna and I both ran toward him, only to see his ashen face and tear-stained cheeks. Brady hugged me and began to silently cry. I held onto him, sobbing with him. “We didn’t know where you were. We tried calling you until Jenna decided she’d had enough and left to go searching.”
“I was at home, asleep. I’d been sick and had no clue what was going on,” I cried. “My phone was dead when I got up.” Brady let me go and then Elizabeth, Galen’s mother, tackled me in her arms.