Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(20)

“Can you put me on with either of them when they’ve assessed for injuries?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes. Let me get them,” Makenna said. She didn’t know how either Patrick or Caden did this kind of thing every day, because just the act of calling 911 had adrenaline flowing through her system until she was shivering. It was more than just the cold, she knew that much for sure. Dread flowing through her, she approached the driver’s side of her father’s truck and could see that the front end was crumpled.

Patrick leaned into her father’s door while Caden stood in the rear driver’s side doorway, a big medic kit opened next to him. She peered in to see Collin, bleeding from the forehead and grimacing. Oh God.

“The dispatcher would like to talk to one of you,” she said.

Patrick held out his hand, and she passed him the phone. He rose and stepped away from the vehicle.

Makenna leaned in and gently touched her father’s arm. The air bags had deployed inside the car. “Daddy, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, peanut. The seatbelt just took the wind out of me. I’ll be fine,” he said, his voice like gravel.

“Hang tight, Collin. I don’t want you to move until we can get your neck immobilized, okay?” Caden asked, snapping off one pair of gloves and putting on another. “Let me check your dad. I’ll be right back.”

Makenna stepped away to let Caden pass and Ian came around from the passenger side. “Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yeah. Shima and I are fine. Collin didn’t have his seat belt on, though,” Ian said, the words not critical, just worried.

As she watched, Caden listened to her father’s heartbeat and took his pulse, and then he unbuttoned her father’s shirt and examined his chest in the dim overhead light.

“How are they?” Patrick asked Caden, phone still pressed to his ear.

“Collin has a mild head injury, a scalp lac, and a probable rib fracture,” Caden said in a calm, confident voice. Makenna’s chest squeezed with worry as Patrick relayed the information to the dispatcher. Caden continued, “Mike has an elevated heart rate and chest pain reproducible on palpitation and movement, which means a possible sternum fracture. At least, that’s what I can tell without more diagnostics.”

God, both of them needed to go to the hospital. Makenna couldn’t believe this was happening. Her brother repeated Caden’s diagnosis.

“EMS is within range,” Patrick said. “I hear the sirens.”

Makenna had just cued in to them, too.

“All right, Mike. Cavalry’s almost here. They’ll get some pain meds in you and you’ll be good as new. Just try to sit still,” Caden said.

“Thanks, son. I’m okay,” her dad said, the strain in his voice belying the words.

Caden snapped off his gloves and moved to the back seat again. As worried as she was about her father and brother, she was also fascinated to see Caden in action—confident, totally in control, rushing in to help without having to be asked. Exactly what he was trained to do.

A few minutes later, two police cars, two ambulances, and a firetruck rumbled into the scene, their red and blue lights circling over everything. As the crews got out of their vehicles, Patrick met up with the police and Caden joined the paramedics as they unloaded stretchers and backboards from the rear of their rig. He was deep in conversation with them, clearly recounting what he’d learned about the men’s conditions.

Makenna leaned into the driver’s seat. “The ambulance is here. Just hang on,” she said.

Her father gave her a tight smile. “Don’t you worry.”

When the paramedics approached the car, Shima cleared out of the back seat, and one of the paramedics went around and took her place, the other leaning in through Collin’s doorway like Caden had done.

Makenna and Ian stepped back too, making space for the crews to do their job. Caden fell in beside her, his gaze running over her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, taking her cheek in his hand. “I know you were asleep when it happened. I tried to stop as gently as I could.”

“I’m fine. Really. What happened?”

Caden frowned. “The damn ice. The second driver tried to pull out of the cross street without sufficient lead time and his back tires caught ice, which stalled him half-way out. So your dad had to swerve to avoid him, but he hit a patch of ice, too, and caught the vehicle’s back quarter panel before going off the road.”

“It was lucky Dad responded so quickly,” Ian said. “I thought for sure we were going to broad-side him.”

Nodding, Caden said, “It could’ve been a lot worse, that’s for sure.”

“It’s bad enough,” Makenna said, her throat going tight.

“Come here,” Caden said, pulling her into his chest. “They’re going to be all right. You’ll see.”

“Thanks to you,” she said, peering up at him. “This would’ve been so much scarier if you weren’t here.”

He shook off the compliment and rubbed her back.

Soon, the two paramedic crews had Dad and Collin loaded onto stretchers. They told Caden where they were going and said the family would have to follow by separate vehicle. As the crews loaded the stretchers into their rigs, Patrick waved Ian and Shima over to the police, who seemed to be asking them questions.