NICE GIRL TO LOVE (THE COMPLETE THREE-BOOK COLLECTION)(69)

He planned to do nothing of the sort.

With every intention of showing her just how poorly he followed orders when he was this turned on, he leaned over to nuzzle her neck. But came to a halt when he saw her go completely still.

“What’s the matter?” He pulled back to study the distress in her eyes.

Without a word, she quickly passed the phone to him.

Frowning, Brian took the receiver. “Hello?”

“Brian, it’s Connor. You have to come to the hospital right now. Skylar had a seizure.”





CHAPTER SIXTEEN


“OH THANK GOODNESS BRIAN, there you are.” Brian rushed over to meet Becky’s mother halfway in the crowded ER waiting room. “Skylar’s getting a brain MRI done right now. They’re going to let us know when they have her in the ICU. Until then, we just have to wait here.” Her words were tumbling out, frantic. “I was scared out of my wits the entire time, Brian. The past few hours have been a blur. I’ve been calling your cell phone and Abby’s nonstop since it happened.”

Brian cursed. “I know, I’m so sorry, Jean. We just saw all the missed calls. Abby and I both had our phones on silent throughout the prom and neither of us switched it back.”

“No, it’s okay. That’s what I figured, which is why I called Connor after we got here. I found his phone number on Skylar’s cell—luckily, he had Abby’s home phone number.”

“How long ago did this happen? Why are they only getting her into an MRI now?”

“Well, she was with the surgeon before that; they had to reattach her severed finger first.”

“Her what?” Brian almost throttled the poor woman on the spot. “I thought she had a seizure. Connor didn’t mention anything about a severed finger.”

“Sh-she had a seizure while she was helping get dinner ready.” Jean’s voice trembled as her eyes filled with traumatized tears. “Skylar was just slicing up some tomato wedges for the salad and the next thing we knew, she started convulsing.” She shut her eyes, her shaking hands gesturing raggedly as she spoke. “We had no clue what to do. She dropped to the ground and the convulsions hit her whole body. But her hand was still curled shut over the knife, almost like it was frozen; I was afraid for Beck to go near her. That’s when her skull started hitting the floor so hard...” A broken cry slashed through her words. “By the time George and I were able to restrain her, there was just blood everywhere, we didn’t even realize that her finger—”

Brian grabbed her hands and did his best to comfort her. “Jean, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. So, so sorry.” While he’d seen his fair share of seizures with Beth, they never got any less distressing to watch. “I’m sure you were all terrified.” His eyes widened with worry. “How’s Becky holding up?”

At the mention of her daughter, Jean’s eyes opened back up with pride, and wonder. “Can you believe she was the most calm out of all of us? There I was, a basket case and she didn’t even hesitate. The second we got the knife out of Skylar’s hand, Becky just grabbed on and didn’t let go of her, telling her everything was going to be alright. Heck, she sounded so sure, she even got me to calm down. When Skylar finally stopped seizing and started coming to, Becky just kept on talking to her and distracting her until the ambulance came.”

Brian shook his head in pure admiration. “That’s one hell of a little girl you raised. My daughter’s lucky to have such an amazing best friend.” Scrubbing his hands over his face, he gave Jean a wary glance. “I know we’ve talked about the possibility…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it, didn’t even want to think about Skylar having Huntington’s like her mother. This seizure was Skylar’s first positive symptom…and five years before Beth had had her first symptom. Brian clenched his jaw to keep the anger at the injustice of it all bottled up inside. “If you’d prefer Skylar and Becky not—”

“You can just stop right there Brian Sullivan,” interrupted Jean sternly. “Even if heaven forbid, all of our worst fears were to come true, the girls would never allow us to separate them. Becky and I have talked about this at length and she thinks of Skylar as family, and so do we. We’re not turning our backs on family, no matter how scary things get.”

A flood of emotions clogged Brian’s throat, burned the back of his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered roughly. He didn’t know what else to say, couldn’t seem to form any other words, couldn’t seem find his footing at all.

And then a small, cool hand slid into his, anchored him.

Abby squeezed his hand in hers. “We’re going to get through this together, Brian. All of us.”

“Is the family of Skylar Sullivan here?” called out a far-too-young-looking intern with a clipboard and none of the answers they were seeking for sure.

“Yes.” Brian gripped Abby’s hand harder. “I’m Skylar’s father.”

“I can escort you back to see her and the attending physician on her case.” The young man looked over at Jean and Abby. “I’m afraid we can only allow one family member in since it’s after hours but the rest of you can come on back to the ICU waiting area if you want. There isn’t all that much room to sit, however.”