Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (32 page)

  “Gabriel.”  I said to him.

  Still he didn’t look down at me.

  “Gabriel Luca Maldonado Junior, look at me.”  I
demanded.

  My throat felt as if I was rubbing a barbed spike up and
down my throat, but I ignored it and concentrated on Gabe.

  His eyes snapped to mine so fast that my head spun. 
He looked scary.

  Swallowing past a lump in my throat, I held his eyes and
grated.  “This isn’t accomplishing anything.  Let’s go see how your
daughter is doing.”

  Giving a sharp nod, he shrugged off Max’s arms like they
were tiny irritants, and walked towards the nurse’s station.  I nodded at
Max to follow, and he walked off abruptly with a scowl in Sidney’s
direction.  Turning slowly, I regarded Sidney.  She was wearing a cat
ate the canary smile.  As the officer’s closed in, having heard enough, I
asked her a question.

  “Are you stupid?”

  She only thought she accomplished something, but really,
she just made this all the more easy.  Turning in disgust, I didn’t wait
for her response.  Gabe and Max had disappeared.

  Great. 

Ω  

I was sitting on a gurney in the minor ER when Cheyenne came
through the room. 

  “What the hell is going on?”  She yelled at me.

  She knew everyone here, so no one questioned her when she
picked up my chart and started scanning it.  She was in her last few
months of nursing school, and knew what she was doing.  She was also
massively pregnant. 

  “A vocal hemorrhage?  Really Ember?”  She asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders.  It wasn’t as if I planned to
do this.  I didn’t know that such a thing was even possible.

  “Alright, they released you.  So where did they move
Cora to?”  She asked.

  I shrugged.  I had no clue.  I hadn’t seen Gabe
in a little over two hours.  I didn’t even think he knew that anything was
wrong with me.  Not that I would’ve told him right now.  He needed to
be with his daughter.  Not down here worrying about me, too.

  Cheyenne went to the nearest computer and started
typing. 

  “Third floor.  That’s not the ICU floor, so it looks
like she’s more stable than we originally thought.  Let’s go.”  She
said.

  Gathering my strength, I walked with Cheyenne to the
elevators, and then rode them up to the third floor.  My throat was
throbbing like a son of a bitch.

  Sam arrived about twenty minutes after Gabe and Max went to
see Cora.  I was telling him what was going on in more detail when blood
started to leak out of my mouth after I coughed.  I didn’t even realize
that it was happening until Sam’s face went sheet white and he called for a
doctor.

  That’s when I was told I’d had a vocal cord
hemorrhage.  Sam settled down once he found out it wasn’t life
threatening, and I sent him off to make sure Gabe was doing okay.  I also
threatened his manhood if he told Gabe about my voice before I did.  He
must’ve taken it to heart because Gabriel hadn’t made an appearance yet.

  We arrived on the floor, and walked up silently to the
nursing station.  Cheyenne must’ve been on this floor during her schooling
too because she started talking about the woman’s cats, and I was getting very
impatient.  Walking away, I wandered around until I heard low murmured
voices.  Peeking around the corner, I saw Gabe, Max, and Sam talking in
low quiet tones.  I leaned my face against the cool tile and listened.

  “What do you want us to do?”  Sam asked.

  “Take her home with you.  I think I need to be alone
for a while.”  Gabe said.

  I knew immediately he was talking about me.  Fuck
that.  I marched right on up to Gabe’s back, and saw Sam and Max’s mouths
twitch.

  “I will not go home and leave you here.  I will stay
here, with you!”  I ground out.

  Oops.  Too late, I forgot about my throat. 
Shards of agony shot through my throat again, I started coughing, and everyone
knows once you start it doesn’t stop until it wants to stop.  Gabe was
staring at me waiting for me to get myself under control when suddenly his eyes
widened.  He snatched me up into his arms so fast that my neck whipped
back with the force.  Blood dribbled out of the corner of my mouth, and
then I knew what made him react so badly.  I pinched my eyes closed, and
counted down from twenty to get my mind off the feeling of fire ants biting my
throat.  Slowly it dialed down to a more manageable notch, and I opened my
eyes. 

  Gabe’s eyes were panic filled.

  “She’s not supposed to be talking.  Dammit
Ember.  You could lose your voice permanently if you keep that up. 
Is that what you want?  All you need are a few days of vocal relaxation,
and it’ll all be fine.  Shut the fuck up already.  How many times do
I have to tell you this?”  Cheyenne grumped.

  I gave her a sheepish look and turned my gaze back towards
Gabe.

  Understanding flashed over his face, and he gave me a soft
kiss on the throat.  Tears threatened to spill over my eyes, but I reined
them in.

  “Did she tell you what’s wrong?”  Gabe asked Cheyenne.

  “Vocal hemorrhage.  Apparently when she was screaming
for you, a blood vessel blew in her vocal cords.”  Sam said. 

  “You really should go home.  I think you need some
rest.  I’ll be fine here by myself.”  Gabe said.

  Shaking my head, I opened my mouth to tell him how it was
when the glare he shot my way snapped it shut.

  “You’re not going to give in, are you?” he asked quietly.

  Shaking my head, I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around
his waist.  Once I got my tears sucked back in, I peeked around his big
body into the room that housed Gabe’s daughter.  Following my line of
sight, Gabe started in on what was going on with her.

 “Cora’s stable.  Apparently, she was in there since
they arrived at the courthouse at eight that morning.  They’re not sure
there will be any lasting brain damage.  Her brain shows activity, but
really, we won’t know until she wakes up.  They’re keeping her sedated for
another twelve hours to make sure everything’s back to normal before they start
waking her up.”  Gabe said pain filled voice.

  “I checked in with Luke.  He was outside when I got to
the ER.  The little bitch tried to get you in contempt of court when you
didn’t show.  Your lawyer was off site for lunch, so when he got back he
didn’t know what happened.  The freakin court reporter and half the
courtroom started yelling at the same time, all trying to tell what happened.
 The dumbass thought she could get away with it, too.  They also have
her in custody for child endangerment.  They think it’ll stick, too. 
Luke was a fountain of information, not that he was telling me this.  He
was talking to another officer.  So he may have more, I just don’t know
what it is yet.”  Cheyenne supplied cheekily.

  All the men stared at her as if she’d grown a second
head.  I was impressed myself.  Sneaking up on a man of Luke’s
caliber was freakin’ awesome!

“I’m fucking dead on my feet.  My vagina bone feels like it’s
been pummeled to death.  Can we go sit down?”  Cheyenne asked Gabe.

  Nodding my head in understanding, I untangled myself from
Gabe and walked into Cora’s room.  She was hooked up to multiple wires,
and machines.  Her body looked swallowed in the large hospital bed. 
The monitors beeped with each beat of her heart.  The lights were turned
down low for her comfort.  Her hair was a beautiful riot of curls, and her
little body was covered under mounds of blankets.  One of Cora’s arms was
thrown up above her head, and it reminded me of Gabe.  This was the
sweetest thing I’d ever seen.

  Reaching forward, I ran my fingers lightly through her
hair.  It was so soft.  Gabe came up behind me and wrapped me up in
his arms.

  “I feel like a failure.  She could have killed
her.”  He said.

  I stretched my arm up and cupped his face with the palm of
my hand, patting it consolingly.  I let my hand drop and then reached into
my pocket for my phone.  I had a lot of stuff to tell him, and since I
couldn’t speak, this was the next best thing.  Sitting down in the chair
that was next to the bed, I started explaining about what I thought of Gabe,
and how he was a wonderful person.

 
Gabriel,

  You are the most wonderful person in the world.  You
have a tender heart, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.  You
care about others.  You save people’s lives.  Never once have I
feared what would happen to me since I met you, I feel safe and loved. 
You are the type of person that your father would be proud of.  It breaks
my heart that Cora wasn’t with you for the last year, but she has you
now.  You will always have her, and she will always have you.  Don’t
beat yourself up over this.  Everything will be okay.  I love you.

  Once I had it all typed out, I handed him my phone. 
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Cora’s hand.  He took the
phone in his other hand, and started reading.  Once he was finished, he
let out a breath and hung his head.  A few minutes passed like this, until
finally he raised his head.  His eyes were shimmering with emotion. 
Taking the phone back, I started a new note.  This one was simple.

  I need ice cream.

  I turned the phone around so he could read it, and he
busted out with a deep belly laugh.

  Smiling, I rested my head on the back of the chair and let
myself drift off to sleep.  This had been one hell of a day.

Ω

Gabe

  It’d been two days now.  Cora still wasn’t
awake.  They stopped giving her the meds that kept her from waking up
nearly twenty four hours ago.  Everyone had been here on and off for the
past two days, hoping to lend a supporting hand.  There was food brought
every time someone entered the door.  Blaine visited quite often with
Justin since he didn’t move much.  Cheyenne dropped in during her clinical
shifts.  Sam and the rest of the guys came in after work, or during
lunch.  All were hoping to see Cora open her eyes, but it hadn’t happened
yet.  They’d removed her intubation tube, now all we were doing was
playing the waiting game. 

 Ember was laying down next to Cora on the hospital bed,
running her fingers through her springy curls.  I could tell when she fell
asleep.  Her passes through Cora’s hair got slower and slower until it
stopped completely resting with her palm curling around the apple of her
cheek.  She was cradling Cora’s head to her chest, and their breathing
seemed to be in harmony.  Turning my attention to the Ranger’s game, I
watched another three innings before I noticed something different.

  Slowly turning my head in Cora and Ember’s direction,
cerulean blue eyes met mine.    They watched me carefully. 
My heart started beating a mile a minute.  Joy surged through my heart.

  “Hey, sweet girl.”  I whispered to her. 

  She continued to study me.  Reaching out, I took her small
hand in mine and rubbed it with my thumb.  Her hand with the IV in it had
a death grip on Ember’s braid, and she brought it up to her mouth and started
sucking on it.

  “Uh oh, big girl.  Better stop doing that before she
finds out.”  I said to her.

  “Too late.  She’s already found out, but she doesn’t
really care.”  Ember said sleepily. 

  I flicked up my eyes to find Ember’s on mine.  Tears
were shimmering in her eyes, threatening to spill over.  I gave her a huge
smile, and continued to talk to Cora.

  The doctor came in a short time later to give her a
thorough exam.  He was very optimistic that since she was responding well
to us, and interacting, that she would recover fully.  He ensured us that
if all went well the next day or so, that we should be home by the weekend.

  Sidney was officially charged with child endangerment, and
the custody case was thrown out.  The judge officially gave me full
custody of Cora, and didn’t approve supervised visits with Sidney.  He
would maintain full custody until the trial was over and her sentence was
served. 

  Ember’s cell rang on the bedside table..  I knew it
was Cheyenne by the ringtone, but I was too confused as to why she would be
calling since she was supposed to be taking her nursing boards today.

  “Cheyenne?  Did you finish already?”  Ember
answered on speakerphone.

  “Sure did.  Sat in a
puddle of amniotic fluid the whole time, but I got that bitch knocked
out!”  Cheyenne said panting.

  Ember’s startled eyes met mine.  “Does Sam know your
water broke?” 

  Her voice quivered for a second, but came back stronger
after a few panting breaths.  “I can’t get a hold of him.  My mom
isn’t answering either, but she has the girls today, so she might be taking a
nap with them.  Could you come get me?  I’m not sure I can
drive.” 

 Gabe was on his feet with phone in hand.  “I’m gonna
send Gabe.  He’s on his way to come get you.  It’s the college,
right?”

  “Yes.  Hurry.”  She panted.

  “She’s at UT Tyler Longview Campus.  She’s probably
waiting for you outside.  Hurry.”  Ember pleaded.