Beautiful Broken Promises(37)
“I’ll go!” Kate excitedly called out.
“No, Kate. I’ll go first. Mama needs you to help her get better,” Braden said. Kate happily complied and scampered across the room toward Raegan.
I squatted down in front of Braden. “That’s awfully brave of you,” I told him.
“I need to go first to make sure it’s okay for Kate.” He shrugged his shoulders casually.
“You’re a great brother, Braden.” It was hard for me to say that word. I still couldn’t call Raegan Kate’s mother, but I had to remember this was all they knew. I pushed out my clenched fist in his direction. He stared at it in confusion. “When guys agree on something or they respect each other, they bump their fists together.” He reached his closed fist out and lightly tapped mine. “Thank you for protecting her.”
I stood up and ushered him to the doorway. The psychologist was standing in her doorway observing our little talk. She smiled warmly and gestured for him to enter her bright, friendly room. I’d had many victims and their children go in there in the past. The Victims Service Unit offered crisis counseling and sought to make their occupants feel comfortable enough to divulge information.
“Hey, don’t pressure him to talk, okay? He’s real quiet.” She nodded her head with a smile. In that moment, I wished that I knew more about Braden—something I could contribute to give him an easier time. This is why we should have waited for Raegan. “If he seems at all upset or uncomfortable, I want him to come out. Immediately. I also don’t think you’ll get much. As far as I can tell, Raegan kept the whole situation from them.”
“I would never pressure anyone, Mr. Parker,” she responded.
She shut her door, closing her and Braden off from the rest of us, and I felt a pang in my gut. Raegan would want to know her son was in there, and I didn’t like him being separated from the rest of us. I’m not sure where this pack mentality of mine had suddenly come from, but I was feeling like pieces of me were scattered when we weren’t all together. I liked it better when we were all locked away in the hotel room.
“What happened here?” Frank’s wife asked, breaking up my new and scary thoughts. I watched as she pulled a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope out of her bag.
Quickly, I explained everything I knew and then I had to ask, “You carry all this medical stuff around with you?”
“You’d be surprised how many times I’ve had to use these outside of the hospital. Besides, I was just on my way to Lutheran Med for my shift, so I like to keep all my belongings with me.”
“I’m glad you do,” I whispered.
“Can you elevate her legs for me?”
I immediately complied, using my duffel bag to prop her feet up on the couch. It was weird to see someone like this. Raegan was awake, but she wasn’t taking in her surroundings so it was like she wasn’t fully there. I was glad she was at least conscious enough to drink the Gatorade to replenish some of her minerals. I felt dad and Charlie hovering behind me, trying to glance over my shoulder. Kate leaned up against the wall close to the couch, trying to closely observe everyone helping.
I dug around in Raegan’s backpack and pulled out all of the medicine bottles with her name on them. I handed them to the lady next to me, explaining how Raegan had said she missed taking them this morning. As she read the different labels, I didn’t miss the distinct ‘hmmph’ sound she made at a certain bottle.
With a quick twist, she had the top off and poured two white tablets into her wrinkled hand. “Get her to take these, please.”
I gently ran my fingers down the side of Raegan’s face and said, “Hey babe, open up.” I chuckled under my breath because I usually said stuff like that in much more… sensual situations. Her eyes immediately cut to my mine and I swear I saw those beauties roll. “Sorry, not the time for fun,” I laughed again.
She opened her mouth and looked me directly in the eyes. When her tongue pushed forward indicating for me to place the tablets inside her mouth, all I could do was stare back at her blazing green gaze. I quickly gave her the medicine and shook my head to break the spell.
“Her blood pressure is very low, but I don’t think we need to rush her off to the hospital just yet. Especially if she’s already got a prescription. This could just be an instance of not taking her medicine. Just in case, I’m going to call the doctor that prescribed these and then I’ll come back and check out what’s under that bandage,” Frank’s wife explained. Without waiting for my response, she vacated the room.