Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(21)
Patrick joined her and Caden. “You four go ahead to the hospital. I’ll finish up here and one of these guys will give me a lift home to get my car when we’re done.”
“Okay,” Caden said. The two men shook.
“Thanks for everything, Caden. It means a lot,” Patrick said. “Keep me posted.”
“We will. Wish I could’ve done more,” he said.
When Ian, Shima, and Caden had given statements, they loaded up into Caden’s Jeep and made the quiet drive to the hospital. Shima sat next to Makenna, concern radiating off of her, and it touched her to know how deeply concerned Shima was for her brother. She really cared.
But getting to the hospital didn’t give them any answers, because while Dad and Collin were being evaluated, all the rest of them could do was wait. Within an hour, Patrick had come, but they still hadn’t heard from anyone in the emergency department beyond filling out some forms on both the James men’s behalves.
Caden was a godsend through it all. Grabbing coffee for all of them. Staying close to Makenna’s side. Holding her hand. Explaining to everyone what was likely happening to Dad and Collin respectively so they’d all understand why it was taking so long—the scans they both required were probably part of the hold-up.
This would’ve been so much harder if Caden hadn’t been there. More than that, it felt like he belonged there. As part of the James clan. At her side.
“Mike and Collin James family,” called a woman’s voice.
They all stood at once, her and Patrick going fastest to join the woman near the doors to the ER.
“I can only allow one person back for each patient,” she said.
Makenna turned to Ian. “Do you mind if I go with Patrick?”
“No,” Ian said. “Just text me when you know more.”
Giving Caden a quick hug and a kiss, Makenna agreed. She gave Shima a nod, too. “Will let you all know as soon as we can.” And then she was rushing to her father and youngest brother’s sides, heart in her throat to know that they were going to be okay. She couldn’t lose any of these men that she loved. Not her father, not her brothers, and not Caden.
Because the pain of it would absolutely shatter her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
It was morning before they got home. Turned out Makenna’s dad didn’t have a sternum fracture; he was just badly bruised—which was good news. Collin did have a broken rib, but his head scans had been clear and the scalp lac didn’t include any injury to the bone beneath. When they got back to the James house, everyone helped get Mike and Collin settled before falling into bed.
“You were my hero last night, you know that?” Makenna said, half asleep next to Caden in her small bed. Even exhausted she was so damn beautiful, with the morning light bringing out all the shades of red in her hair.
Caden shook his head. He’d never be comfortable with that word. Hero. Because he was always questioning if he’d done enough, been good enough. Heroes were brave and fearless, neither of which described his anxiety-ridden ass. He knew himself well enough to know that was true. “I was…just doing my job. It’s what I do.”
“That doesn’t make it any less heroic,” she said, rolling closer so that her chin rested on his bare chest. Makenna traced her finger over his rose tattoo. “People live because you get up and go to work, Caden. That’s…that’s amazing.”
There was truth in what she said, but it still made him uncomfortable to think about it that way. He always thought of it more as a debt owed, as paying back the universe for what someone had done for him. And not just anyone, but David Talbot. That was the name of the paramedic who had first arrived on the scene of his family’s accident fourteen years before. That was the name of the man who’d saved Caden’s life and pulled him back from the brink of madness.
Their car had flipped into an irrigation ditch that ran along the side of a country road, making it so that passing cars couldn’t see it in the darkness. For hours, Caden had been pinned upside down in the back seat, his head wedged between the front center console and passenger seat, his shoulder dislocated, something stabbing him in the side.
He’d called out his family’s names for a long time, but no one ever answered. He’d screamed for help every time the lights of a passing car flickered through the gloom, but no one ever came. Caden had passed in and out of consciousness for hours until he could no longer distinguish reality from nightmare. By the time a long-haul trucker finally stopped in the early light of morning, Caden hadn’t responded to the man’s calls to see if everyone was all right because he hadn’t believed the voice was real.
His mind hadn’t stopped playing tricks on him ever since.
“I’m just glad I could help,” he finally said, leaning up to kiss Makenna on the forehead. He ran his fingers through her soft hair. He never had tired of playing with it, and didn’t think he ever would. “Let’s get some sleep.”
Makenna kissed his chest and pressed herself tight along the side of his body, her head on his shoulder. They fell asleep quickly, but the combination of the accident and the anxiety caused by the overheard conversations had twisted his subconscious into knots that played out in some of the worst nightmares he’d had in years.
They all started out the same—with his father losing control of the car and it flipping in a series of crushing, body-bruising jolts until it finally landed upside down, the impact throwing Caden’s body so hard that he became pinned in place, unable to move.