Away (2 page)

“I need you to calm down. You’re going to be okay. The cops are going to help get you out.”

“NO! I need out of here. I need out now!” I yelled through the glass.

He pulled on the door handle with no luck. When he walked over to the other side and tried to open the passenger door, he motioned for me to unlock the door. I reached over, opened it for him, and got my first close look at him. A belt with a large, western-style buckle looped through his body-hugging jeans. Pearl snaps decorated the center of his shirt and all he was missing was the cowboy hat. Without question, a country boy had come to my rescue.

He looked around and then bent down, leaning halfway into the car. “Hi there,” he said, with a smile on his slightly scruffy face. His short, wavy, light brown hair was blowing in the breeze.

“Hi,” I replied quietly, focused on the gorgeous green eyes that stared into mine. They were dark and so exquisite, reminding me of emerald stones you would see showcased at a jewelry store.

“I saw the whole thing happen from across the street. Your tire blew, and you hit the tree. You seriously need to stay calm, okay.”

“I just want out of the car. Can you please help me?” I knew I was begging, but the enclosed space was beginning to suffocate me.

“Alright.” He nodded his head. “Let’s get you out then. I need you to climb over your console and come out this way. Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah... I... I can do that,” I said, my voice hitching. Reaching for his hands, I grabbed on tightly as I slowly swung each leg over the console. I let out a sigh of relief as he effortlessly picked me up. With one quick swoop, I was out of the car and held close in this helpful stranger’s arms, and for a split second, I felt safe and calm.

“See, you’re out, and you’re okay. What’s your name, Sweetheart?” He continued to hold me tightly against his chest.

I let out a deep breath. “It’s Cassandra. My name is Cassandra. At least I can still remember my name.” I tried to reassure myself.

“Cassandra, that’s a great thing.” He cocked his head to the side, allowing me to see his face more clearly. His eyes were even brighter in the sun. “Mine’s Jason. I’m the town’s knight in shining armor,” he said, his lips curling to the side as he kept a strong hold on me.

“Thanks for the rescue, Jason.” I smiled back at him. “I have a splitting headache right now though,” I said, closing my eyes and hoping the tension in my forehead would ease.

“No, no, no. Don’t close your eyes. You need to stay awake. You hit your head hard. In fact, here.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and put it on my lap. “Press that firmly against your forehead. It’ll help stop the bleeding.”

I studied the handkerchief for a moment. He barely knew me, yet he treated me as if I were his best friend who’d just been in an accident.

“It’s clean, Cassandra. I promise,” he said.

“No, it’s not that. I’ve just never met someone so helpful to a complete stranger before.”

“I don’t know where you’re from, but that’s how we do things around here. But, it’s not every day that I get to help out a pretty girl like you.”

“Does the town pay you to say that?”

“I wouldn’t need to be paid to tell you that,” he whispered against my ear.

“Thanks.” My cheeks warmed instantly. I kept my eyes forward, and knew that if I continued looking at him that I would melt through his arms. He was gorgeous, helpful, and sweet. Talk about a trifecta. I wish I had come here two months ago before I found myself in this predicament.

He gently set me down on the sidewalk and sat close to me until the ambulance and police arrived. A guy had never treated me as if I were something fragile that needed protection, and had certainly never taken care of me unless taking me out to a fancy dinner counted. I thought of myself as a strong girl, but this fragile, helpless Cassandra was emerging more frequently, and it was all too foreign to me. Navigating the new roads, both literally and physically, left me feeling uncertain because running away was an entirely new concept to me.

“Please, I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m just a little sore,” I tried to convince the EMT.

“Ma’am, we need to check you out. At least get in the back so we can bandage up your head wound, and look you over.” The older EMT reached for my hand before I could tuck it behind me.

“No, really, I’m fine.”

“Cassandra, they need to check you out,” Jason said.

Before I could beg, I cupped my mouth with my hand, ran over to the side of the street, and released all the contents of my breakfast, right in front of everyone. I dropped to my knees, both half-embarrassed, and half-relieved to be feeling slightly better. A hanky appeared at my left side, and I knew it was Jason being helpful again. I grabbed the now-used hanky and wiped my mouth before taking in a deep breath and lifting my head. He knelt beside me and placed his hand lightly on my back.

“I don’t think you want this back,” I said, contemplating whether
I
even wanted to be touching it.

“Well, you’re right about that. You can keep it,” he said, a soft laugh escaping him. “But you’re going to the hospital now. You could have a concussion, Cassandra. They need to check you out.”

Feeling even more defeated, I gave in and stood. “I can walk to the ambulance.” I gazed at the grass I had ruined, and clenched my fists, angry that they were taking me where I didn’t want to go to yet.

“I know you can. I just want to be here to catch you in case you fall,” he said quietly.

I couldn’t help but feel the knots growing in my stomach. He was my ‘knight in shining armor’, and I was dismissing him out of anger over my need to go to the hospital. Some grateful girl I was.

He walked the short distance to the back of the ambulance with me, keeping his hands close as if he were putting a protective shield around me.

“Thanks for your help, Jason,” I said. He raised his hand to wave goodbye, keeping his eyes on me as they closed the ambulance doors. I wasn’t in the mood to go with them, and wished he were going with me. The warmth of his touch was comforting compared to the cold feeling of the ambulance.

T
HE
ER,
IF
THAT
IS
WHAT
they wanted to call it, was the size of my doctor’s office back home. When I arrived, the only other person there was a spouse dropping off lunch for one of the nurses. I waited in a small room, and when the curtain opened, a lady in brown-colored scrubs walked in. Her curly hair was in a ponytail, and a pendant that read ‘Mom’ swayed from a delicate chain around her neck. She looked to be close to my parents’ age.

“Cassandra Pierce? I’m your nurse, Trish. I’m just going to check a few things before the doctor sees you.” Her voice was gentle and warm, and helped to take away an ounce of the fear that was settling inside me.

“Trish?” I asked after she finished checking my vitals.

“Yes?” Her soft, honey-brown eyes looked down at me.

“I’m pregnant. Well, I was before the accident. I need to know if the baby is okay.” She looked as if I’d just set off a fire alarm. I had to say something though. I was curious and almost too hopeful that, with some small miracle, I was no longer pregnant.

“I’ll get our OB in here so we can check.” Compassion flowed through her soft words. “Everything will be fine, Sweetie. Don’t worry,” she said before walking out of the room.

My heart sank as her words settled in because I didn’t want everything to be fine. I wanted this over with and my freedom back. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I needed to know if my accident happened for a reason and took care of my problem for me. An immense pang of guilt twisted in my stomach. My thoughts ate at me, haunted me. Everything about them and my situation was awful in the worst possible way.

Trish came back with a machine and the doctor. I gulped as I felt my nerves coursing through my body, anxious and anticipating the coming news.

“Hello, Cassandra. I’m Dr. Rich.” He was an older doctor with a comforting smile, thick salt-and-pepper hair, and glasses that emphasized thoughtful eyes. Though he appeared to be the kind of doctor you’d want in a nerve-wracking situation, nothing was going to ease my traumatized nerves.

“Hello, Dr. Rich,” I muttered, ready to get this finished. I was familiar with standard checkups on my lady parts, but something told me this exam would be far different.

“Trish tells me you were in a car accident, and you’re pregnant?”

I nodded, finding the words were too hard to repeat. Saying it out loud once was bad enough.

“Do you know how far along you are, or when your last period was?”

“I haven’t been to the doctor to confirm anything yet. I took a few pregnancy tests at home.” My period had been like clockwork since I had started the pill. “I missed my period last month. It was supposed to start the 25
^th,
but it didn’t.”

“Very well. I’m going to do a quick exam to make sure everything is okay with the baby, and then we’ll get another doctor in here to check you over.” He moved the machine closer and pulled the stirrups out of the end of the bed.

“Trish?” I asked.

“Yes, Cassandra?”

“Can you stay in here with me please?” I was scared to go through this type of exam alone. While she wasn’t my mother, she was someone’s mom, and that was enough for me.

With a small smile and a nod of her head, she stood right by my side. She grabbed hold of my shaking hand as Dr. Rich continued to set up the machine.

The anxiety in my body increased when he placed my feet in the stirrups. “Deep breaths, Sweetie,” Trish whispered, squeezing my hand tighter.

I was trying. God was I trying.

“Okay, we’re all set.” He wheeled his chair closer to the end of the bed. “Because it’s so early in your pregnancy, we’ll have to do a vaginal ultrasound,” he said as he put a condom and gel on the wand that was about to deliver my fate. “Just relax.” He pulled the screen closer to his face while moving the uncomfortable wand around inside.

He squinted at the screen before giving a nod to Trish. I glanced at her, and then Dr. Rich turned the screen around for me to look. I didn’t want to see anything. I just wanted to know if the accident had solved my problem.

“Your baby is fine,” he said, and Trish squeezed my hand even harder. “Your baby is measuring at about 6 1/2 weeks. While it’s a little too early to hear the heartbeat, it’s showing strong at 112 beats per minute.” He pointed to the little dot on the screen.

“See, Sweetie, I told you everything would be okay,” Trish whispered.

My heart sank as I struggled to hold back the stinging tears. This clearly wasn’t the reason I’d gotten into an accident. I closed my eyes as Dr. Rich continued spouting more information that neither my head nor my heart desired to hear. I was back to square one, and even worse than before, I was without a car.

Before I knew it, the wand was out, the screen was gone, and Trish let go of my hand. “Dr. Rich is coming back with some goodies for you, a bottle of prenatal vitamins, and some reading materials about your baby.” She acted as though a baby was the most exciting thing in life.

“Great,” I muttered.

“You don’t seem relieved Cassandra. This is good news,” she said.

“This was unplanned, Trish, very much unplanned,” I confessed.

She took my hand again. “You’ll get through this, Sweetie.”

The problem was that I didn’t want to get through it. I didn’t want this baby. I may have ruined my life right now, but it was also going to ruin my future. As horrible as I was for thinking that, it was the unfortunate truth. I felt nothing but guilty and awful for my honesty.

The second doctor was in and out quickly. He looked over my chart, checked me over from head to toe, and gave me the concussion rundown before speaking to me about filling out paperwork. Once he left, Trish returned.

“Looks like Dr. Montgomery would like you to stay until your blood work comes back. That way, we can keep an eye on you for a bit. I’ll be back to check on you soon.” Putting my chart under her arm, she turned and looked at me with kindness. “No need to be scared. We may be a small hospital, but we have excellent doctors,” she said before leaving.