Short Rides (Rough Riders #14.5)(49)

“We will. But we’ve gotta get you to a hospital.”


Her entire body shuddered with cold. Those swirling black and white spots were back. Her head felt like it was beneath a waterfall.


Yet she heard Katie crying. Hysterical I-want-my-Mama shrieks. Then Piper joined in. Keely needed to get to her children to calm them down, but she couldn’t even move.


Rough-skinned hands stroked her face. “Stay still. Stay with me baby girl.”


She opened her mouth but nothing came out.


“Caro, get the girls out of here,” her dad said sharply.


The distressed cries of her daughters vanished.


Keely fell into a state of nothingness until the pain came again and her entire body convulsed from the power of it.


Voices rose and fell around her. She tried to concentrate on just one to pull her out of the void. Her dad’s was the loudest.


“You are stayin’ here,” he snapped. “I’m ridin’ in the ambulance with her.”


“But Carson that doesn’t make sense. She needs me—”


“Right now those little girls need you more. And sugar, you’re close to hysterical. That ain’t gonna help her. Jack’s gonna need someone to calm him down and you’re in no shape to do it.”


“And you are?” she demanded.


“I have to be.”


Loud noises, activity and more voices surrounded her. Then the world went black as Keely slipped into unconsciousness.


All Knocked Up: Chapter Five


After the phone call from Carson, Jack kept the speedometer at one hundred miles per hour as he drove from Rapid City to Spearfish. And Cam must’ve pulled some strings because no one stopped him.


He’d contacted Doc Monroe but she’d already gone to the hospital in Spearfish to consult on Keely’s behalf. Then he’d talked to Keely’s mom to make sure Piper and Katie were taken care of. Keely’s sisters-in-law were on their way to take over so Carolyn could go to the hospital.


He glared at the dashboard clock. It’d been forty-five minutes since he’d received the call and he was still ten miles from Spearfish.


If anything happened to Keely he’d...


No. Don’t go there. Just drive.


Everything became a blur until he arrived at the hospital.


He ran through the emergency room doors.


The nurse said, “Can I help you?”


“Keely Donohue. Arrived via ambulance from Sundance?”


She pointed to the door marked Stairs. “They can help you on the third floor.”


He scaled the stairs two at a time. Before he reached the receptionist’s desk, Carson approached him.


“How is she? Where is she?”


“They’re prepping her for emergency surgery.”


Jack had to brace his hand against the wall to keep his knees from buckling. “I want to be with her. I need to be with her.”


“You can’t be. Believe me, I asked.”


Bullshit. The next medical person he saw would be taking him to Keely. “What happened?”


“She stood up, blood rushed out and she passed out. The EMTs didn’t say much on the ride here.” Carson cleared his throat. “Let’s go to the surgical waiting area. Maybe they’ll have more news.”


The waiting room was empty, giving Jack room to pace. He went through a checklist of a dozen things he should’ve done. And two dozen things he shouldn’t have done. Like get her pregnant again. It’d seemed funny and surreal, three pregnancies in three years. But he wasn’t laughing about it now.


If she dies, it’s your fault.


“God.” He wanted to punch the f*cking wall.


“Jack. Take it easy. You look like you’re gonna pass out.”


“That’s because I can’t f*cking breathe until I know if she’s all right.”


A nurse in scrubs came into the room and Jack immediately loomed over her. “I want to see my goddamned wife. Take me to her now.”


“Sir. Calm down.”


“I will. Just as soon as someone tells me what’s going on.”


“The doctor will be out here to talk to you at some point.”


At some point? Why were they being so vague about where Keely was? “Not good enough. I want answers now.”


“Hold it together, son,” Carson warned.


Jack set his hands on the nurse’s shoulders. “I swear to Christ if something’s happened to her and you people are—”


“Sir. Let me go or I’ll have security remove you from the premises.”


Shit. He hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed her. He stepped back, embarrassed as well as angry. “Sorry.”


But she’d already stormed off.


Then Carson was in his face. “This ain’t helpin’ anyone, least of all you. So sit the hell down and shut the f*ck up.”


Harsh words. Jack’s response was just as harsh. “And you’d sit in the corner like a f*cking lap dog if Carolyn was behind those goddamned doors?”