Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (182 page)

“You have five seconds to leave or I will call the police.” Haley reached into her back pocket to grab her phone. Before she could retrieve it, she felt her back slam up against the hard stucco of the side of the house. As Lacey charged her again, she heard tires screeching and a woman screaming down the street.

Her blood ran cold.

“Emily!” Haley yelled as she pushed Lacey off of her and ran down the driveway.

When she got to the sidewalk, all she could see was a car in the middle of the road and Emily’s bike wheel spinning on the ground underneath it.

“Emily!” Haley screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She felt like she was running through water. Like her feet and legs were moving in slow motion.

She finally rounded the front of the car as the driver stepped out. “I didn’t see her. Is she okay? Please, God, she has to be okay!”

Haley skidded to a halt on her bare knees beside Emily’s tiny body. She wasn’t moving but she saw her chest rising and falling under her pink polka dot shirt. “Call an ambulance,” she instructed. “Call 911!”

Mrs. Rice, who ran down from her porch swing and looked to be in shock, pulled out her phone. Haley could hear her giving the details to dispatch.

“I’m here, pretty girl.” Haley leaned down close to her face to make sure that she felt breath coming from her mouth. Thankfully she did. “I’m here.” Haley brushed her light brown hair off her forehead and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She needed to stay calm. For Emily. She couldn’t lose it.

“My baby!” Haley heard Lacey screeching from behind her. She continued her hysterics, and with each plea, they grew louder. “Oh God no! Not my baby! My baby! No!”

Em’s eyes began fluttering open and tears fell down Haley’s cheek in relief. “Everything’s okay, pretty girl,” Haley assured her when Em started trying to look around. “Just lie still. Okay? I’m right here. Just look at me and stay still.”

Emily’s eyes looked heavy, but she kept them trained on Haley. The sounds of sirens from a distance rang out in the air.

“What happened?” Emily struggled to whisper.

“Just a little accident. You fell off your bike and bumped your head so you have to stay still.” Haley tried to sound as soothing and calming as she possibly could.

“A little accident? This animal ran over my baby!” Lacey shrieked. Haley could hear her neighbors trying to calm Lacey down around her.

“What?” Emily looked around with fear in her eyes as she tried to see the commotion.

“It’s nothin’.” Haley shook her head. “You’re fine, baby girl. I’m right here. Just look at me.”

Emily did as Haley had asked and finally help arrived. Her cousin Alex, who was a firefighter paramedic, was first on the scene.

Haley had never been more relieved to see him. He bent down beside Emily and talked to her about school. As he examined her, he asked her questions about which Transformer was the favorite of his son Joey’s, who was Emily’s best friend, how many kids they had in her reading group, and what her teacher’s name was. She answered all of the questions correctly as far as Haley knew, which had to be a good sign.

The police arrived by that point and wanted to question Haley, but there was no way she was leaving Emily’s side.

The paramedics put a backboard beneath her then placed her on a gurney.

As she was being lifted into the ambulance, Alex joked, “If you really wanted to ride in an ambulance, Em, all you had to do was ask.”

Emily smiled weakly as she said in an irritated tone, “Uncle Alex.”

Relief unlike any she’d ever felt washed over Haley at the fact that Emily was alert and even knew when Alex was giving her a hard time.

As soon as her cousin was in the back of the emergency vehicle, he put out his hand to help Haley up. As she was climbing, she heard Lacey screaming that she was going to ride with her baby, “not that whore.” Alex turned to the EMT who was holding the door open and gestured for him to shut it while Lacey screamed from the street.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

HALEY TAPPED HER foot rapidly on the linoleum flooring in the waiting area. She pulled out her phone and looked at it again. Nothing from Eddie.

She’d called him over twenty times. It kept going straight to his voicemail. She knew that reception was spotty at best up at Whisper Lake, but
someone
had to be able to get ahold of him.

It had been over an hour since they’d wheeled Emily through the automatic doors Haley had been staring at…waiting. When they’d arrived at the hospital emergency room, everything had happened so quickly. Doctors and nurses surrounded the gurney Emily’s tiny body lay on. People were shouting orders about tests to be run, reading off stats of her condition. Haley tried to stay with her, holding her hand, but she was pushed aside and instructed to ���wait here.”

Alex had been called on another accident, but he’d assured Haley that Emily was in good hands. She’d tried to go back to see her girl several times, but that was not happening. This place was like Fort Knox.

“I don’t know. I’ve been here for an hour. I’m so bored.” Lacey spoke loudly on her cell phone beside Haley.

“Ma’am, this is the last time I will warn you. You cannot use your cell phone in here.” The nurse at the front desk stood and pointed out the door. “Take it outside. If it happens again, you will be asked to leave.”

Maybe Fort Knox wasn’t so bad after all
.

Lacey huffed and puffed like The Big Bad Wolf but finally did take her call outside. As she stepped out through the sliding doors, she passed Chelle, who had been on her cell and was hurriedly coming back inside.

Sitting beside Haley, Chelle spoke in a calming voice she was sure she used on patients when they were in labor. “Okay, Jason just got ahold of the contractor Eddie was meeting with. He said Eddie left half an hour ago, so hopefully he’ll be here soon. Riley is at the house in case he goes straight home without checking his messages. You should really let me take care of those.”

Haley looked down at her knees, which were covered in dry blood and had bits of asphalt embedded in them. She waved her hand dismissively and shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Chelle’s phone rang and she held up her finger to Haley, heading back outside.

Haley stood and paced the floor. She felt like she was going to come out of her skin. She couldn’t sit still. She had to
do
something.

The sliding door opened and her mom, Krista, Jessie, Katie, Amber, and Becca all walked through it. Lacey, unfortunately, was right behind them.

Her mom pulled Haley into her arms. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry. We came as soon as we heard.”

Haley felt like she was hugging an octopus as her sisters also got in on the hug. There were arms everywhere.

Krista’s voice rose above everyone asking if Haley was okay. “We were at the swap meet. As soon as I got the voicemail, we rushed here doing ninety all the way. Anything you need, we’re here.”

Haley nodded her head against her mom’s shoulder, thankful for the support. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lacey sitting back down in the plastic waiting room chair, rolling her eyes with disgust.

“Parents of Emily Thomas,” a doctor Haley didn’t recognize in a white lab coat and slacks called out. He was looking down at a chart he held in his hands as he stepped through the automatic doors they had taken Emily through.

“I’m her mother!” Lacey pushed through Haley and her sisters and rushed to the doctor.

“I can take you back now.” He turned to head back through the doors.

“Excuse me,” Haley spoke up. “Um, she was left in my care. Can I go see her?”

The doctor looked between Lacey and Haley before stating, “Immediate family only. Sorry.”

Watching in disbelief Haley began shaking as the doors shut behind the doctor’s and Lacey’s retreating backs.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to bust through those doors and get to Emily.

As Haley turned to her mom, tears began pouring down her cheeks. “Mom, I need to see her. What if she’s scared? What if she doesn’t know what’s going on? I need to see her, Mom!”

“I know, Sweetie,” her mom said, pulling her back into her arms and patting her back. “I know.”

“I just heard Emily was down here. I let Jamie know. She’s assisting in surgery. She’ll be down soon.” Haley turned and saw Vickey, who was a head nurse at the hospital and a family friend, speaking very fast. “Is she okay? I called down but got put on hold,” Vickey asked, the frustration seeping through her voice.

“I don’t know,” Haley sobbed. “They won’t let me see her.”

“What?” Vickey snapped, her brow furrowing.

Haley’s mom quickly explained. “A doctor came out looking for Emily’s parents. Lacey stood up and told him she was her mother and he took her back there. When Haley tried to go with them, he said immediate family only.”

Vickey had started shaking her head in disgust from the moment the name ‘Lacey’ had left her mom’s lips. Stepping forward, she hastily grasped Haley’s wrist. “Mother my ass.
You
are that little girl’s family.”

Haley jogged behind Vickey, who was walking double-time, to keep up. When they came to the doors, Vickey pulled out a card she wore around her neck and flashed it in front of a screen. The electric doors opened and they were down the hall and in Emily’s room before Haley could blink.

As the women came around the corner, Haley saw Emily, who looked so tiny in the center of the huge hospital bed, lying still, looking to the side. When Haley turned to her right to see what she was looking at, she saw Lacey texting on her phone.

What the hell
?

“Hi, sweetie pie,” Haley said as she rushed to her bedside, trying to put on her bravest face.

“Haley!” Emily’s face lit up and her arms reached out to her.

Haley gently hugged her small frame. “How are you feeling?” she asked as she brushed stray hairs that had fallen across her forehead off her face.

“My stomach hurts,” Emily said.

Haley looked up at Vickey, who was reading her chart to see if she had any answers. After a few moments, Vickey’s head rose and she pointed at Haley. “You stay here. If anyone tells you different, you tell them to talk to me. I’m going to find the doctor.”

Haley nodded her head. It would take the entire security team dragging her kicking and screaming to remove Haley from Emily’s side. As Vickey exited the room, Haley noticed her giving Lacey the evil eye. Lacey was too busy looking down at the screen on her phone to pick up on it. Which was a waste because Vickey’s evil eye had been known to make grown men shake in their boots.

Emily reached up her hand for Haley to hold. “Where’s my daddy?” she asked in a quivering voice.

“He’s on his way. He’ll be here any minute.” Haley smiled down at Emily’s pale face.

“Will you stay with me?” Emily squeezed Haley’s hand tight, her eyes filled with fear and trepidation.

“I’m not going anywhere ‘til your dad gets here. I pinky promise.” Haley wrapped her pinky around Emily’s and nodded her head.

“Okay, good,” Emily smiled.

Haley watched as she sunk further back into the bed, her little body visibly relaxing.

“You want to watch TV?” Haley asked, hoping it would keep her distracted until Eddie got here.

“Yeah,” Em spoke weakly.

Haley picked up the remote control and found a movie Em loved. Then Haley situated herself close to Em on the bed so she could hold Em’s hand. With her other hand, she ran her fingers through Em’s hair, something Haley had always loved her own mom doing when she was a little girl.

Now she just had to wait. And not throw up.

* * * * *

EDDIE RACED DOWN the hallway in the brightly lit emergency room. Since he’d jumped out of Riley’s moving truck moments ago as it had pulled up in front of the entrance, he’d already knocked into one nurse and a doctor, and he wasn’t slowing down.

From the moment in his driveway that Riley had told him what had happened, his heart felt like it’d stopped beating. The only thing that would make it start again was seeing Em.

He was so mad at himself for not remembering his phone charger. His mind had been scattered all over the place this past week. This morning, when he’d realized his phone was dead and he didn’t have the charger, he’d almost turned around when he was halfway up to Whisper Lake to go back and get it. But he’d naively thought,
Em’s with Haley. She’ll be fine.

His mistake. She wasn’t fine.

As he raced into the room the nurse at the front had pointed him to, he saw Haley seated half-on, half-off the bed and Emily looking up at her, laughing, and pointing at the TV.

He took in a breath. She was okay. On the way to the hospital, Riley had told him that the doctors had said that Emily was fine. As far as they could tell, she’d sustained some scrapes and bruises and a minor concussion. They were keeping her overnight, but she should be getting released tomorrow. Eddie had heard all those words, but he hadn’t processed them. Because those words hadn’t been as powerful as “Emily got hit by a car.” After he’d heard
those
words, nothing else had really been able to sink in.

But now he saw with his own two eyes that his baby was okay. Under the weight of the indescribable relief he felt, Eddie staggered a few steps backwards. He knocked into the counter that held a sink, and the noise caused Haley and Emily to look over.

“Daddy!” Emily exclaimed.

He rushed towards the bed and Haley quickly got up and moved out of the way. “You scared me, baby girl.” He leaned down and gently put his arms around his daughter’s tiny body. He wanted to squeeze her tight and never let her go. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Emily’s voice sounded shaky, and he realized how harsh his words must have come out.

Trying to show her that he wasn’t mad—at
her
at least—he leaned up and said, “Don’t be sorry, squirt. Just don’t let it happen again. Capisce?”