Black Flag (Racing on the Edge) (43 page)

It seemed everyone was
waiting to see when I’d break. The problem, I already had.

“The baby is in
distress but the heartbeat is steady. The ultrasound indicates everything is
stable. Originally, we thought the baby was seventeen weeks but after this last
ultrasound an hour ago, the baby is measuring at eighteen weeks, two days. This
is good news. The heart and lungs are developing nicely. I’ve asked someone
from Obstetrics to come down and talk to you guys in the morning, well, later
this morning.”

I used the wall to
steady myself as he continued. “From what we can tell, and from what Sway has
told us the times she’s been lucid, Darrin found her in the stairwell. They got
into a disagreement and he pushed her down the stairs. She doesn’t remember
anything after that.” He glared down at her chart. “She has a broken arm that
we’ve put in a cast, along with a broken hand. The ribs we can’t do anything
about
beside
keeping her comfortable. It’s a good
thing the baby is small or the kicks could hurt her. She lost a considerable
amount of blood from the laceration to her scalp that required nineteen
stitches. Sway has also suffered from a condition called placenta abruption.
Usually this is not caused from a fall, but it’s hard to say. Placenta
abruption is where the placenta begins to separate from the uterus. There are
three stages to this and in Sway’s case it’s fairly mild but is serious enough
that it needs to be monitored closely. She will be on bed rest the remainder of
her pregnancy.”

I groaned aloud, she
was going to hate this. I could already hear the complaints but welcomed them
if it meant she would be all right.

“I think
it’s
best she stays in the hospital for at least three
weeks, maybe longer. After that, we will see how the baby is doing and assess
the situation from there. We will be performing daily ultrasounds to monitor
the baby’s lung development, and whether or not premature delivery is
necessary. Sway recently began having contractions so we have administered a
drug called magnesium to slow the contractions down and try to prevent the
cervix from dilating. The goal is to get Sway to at least thirty-two weeks when
the baby’s lungs are mature. Right now, if the baby was delivered, the chance
of survival is minimal.”

I swallowed over the
lump in my throat. “So they are both okay?” my voice was hoarse and broke with
each word despite my attempts for them not to.

“Yes, they are both
stable for now.” He told me. “We’ll be monitoring both of them closely.”

You know, as a race car
driver, I hated to lose control. It was a sign of weakness in my mind.

But I also knew there
were times when all I did was lose control and everything I knew got away from
me and my world crumbled. No matter what I tried to do to hold on, I fell,
hard.

“What about the uh
...
other test?” I still couldn’t even say
the word.

Dr. Clayton nodded. His
face was grim as he looked over the chart. “The test was inconclusive. No
traces of DNA were found
...
” he looked up at me,
his eyes narrowing, gauging and judging.

My entire body was
trembling, waiting; tears once again fell from my eyes. I stared back at him
fearing the worst, hoping he didn’t say the words.

“Are you sure you’re
okay Mr. Riley?” the doctor’s voice brought me back as he surveyed my
appearance. Scratches covered my face, my lip was swollen and my nose was most
certainly broken. Bloodshot eyes, a body cracked, bruised and broken beneath
the surface silently begging him.

“I don’t think she was
raped,” I flinched at the word. “
but
I do believe that
if your sister hadn’t found her when she did
...
that
it was his intention as it does appear that’s what he started to do but then
abruptly stopped. Maybe, we don’t really know.” The doctor shook his head. “Ms.
Reins is sleeping right now but I can let you back there for a few moments. Can
you handle this?”

I only nodded. The
truth was
,
I couldn’t handle any of this. I was beyond
handling anything anymore.

Without Sway by my
side, I was helpless and hearing the truth about what happened to her was like
a knife ripping through my already broken heart. I let this happen. I didn’t
take the threats seriously in Summerville when I had my chance. I pushed him to
her. This happened because I allowed it to so like I said, I had no control and
I was beyond handling anything right now.

I followed Dr. Clayton
to her room and my heart sank as I took in her appearance. It was like walking
into a nightmare, the eye of a hurricane, the hurricane I caused. I brought her
into this mess. I knew I shouldn’t have wanted her, but I did and now look at
what happened. My hands shook violently, palms sweaty and my stomach churning
as I entered the room, nothing around me in focus, only her.

I touched her hand
softly, noticing all the abrasions, bruises and how swollen her entire arm was.
It was evident she’d been through something horrible.

How could I have let
this happen to her? How could I have let this happen to my child?

Dr. Clayton placed his
hands on my shoulders when I sat next to her. “Mr. Riley, you need to be strong
for her, she needs you to be strong for her and that baby.” My head fell
forward, sensing my breakdown; he left the room, closing the door behind him.

I didn’t want to be
like this, but I couldn’t help it, not when it came to
Sway
.

I kissed her hand and
told her I loved her. I didn’t know what else to say. I knew she could probably
hear me, but I didn’t know what to say. What do you say in this type of
situation? At a loss for words, I quietly sat there, staring at her, wondering
if everything would be okay. I couldn’t lose her.

I wanted so badly to
have that happy ever after she wanted and I wanted the chance to give it to
her.

Fuel Pump – Emma

Why is it when
something bad happens, time slows down creeping along unbearably slow. Jameson
had been in Sway’s room for the last three hours and I doubted he would leave
anytime soon. The one time the doctor asked him to step out for a moment so he
could perform an exam on her; he went apeshit and threw a chair through a
window.

I looked around the
small waiting room where our family was gathered. Aiden was on the ground
sleeping at my feet. Spencer was lying on the floor watching TV with his head
in Alley’s lap and my mother was knitting (she knits when she is nervous). I’m
not sure who the scarf is for though, considering it spanned across the entire
waiting room. I glanced across the hall to see dad, on his cell phone with
Phillip, pacing back and forth.

No one had left since
we arrived besides when Jameson and Spencer decided to make matters worse. I
was in a desperate need of a shower and a decent meal. I could tell everyone
else was too and don’t even get me started on the need for a change of clothes.

Good god, I’ve been
wearing the same shirt since yesterday. That has
never
happened before.
I felt disgusting.

I nudged Aiden with my
foot and he jumped up as if I’d kicked him.

“What’s wrong? Did the
police come for me?” he asked startled, looking around at everyone as he wiped
the drool from his chin.

“
Shhh
...
nothing’s
wrong.” I rubbed his
shoulder and then smacked it when I realized how retarded he was being. “No the
police didn’t come for you. I was just thinking that maybe we should leave for
a little while
...
get cleaned up. We have
to be at the track in two hours. We should also get some real food besides
cookies from the vending machine.” I quipped throwing an empty bag of Oreos at
him.

He sighed squinting
slightly, as he looked around the room, his eyes narrowing at my mom who’d just
given him a piece of her mind last night.

They didn’t approve of
us getting married after only being together less than six months. I still
blamed Charlie but I knew we should have waited.

My mom said something
along the lines of
“That’s not fair. I wanted to plan my daughter’s
wedding!”
and my dad’s reaction was somewhere along the lines of,
“You’re
a fucking idiot.”

“Is Jameson still with
her?” Aiden asked, getting up to sit in the chair beside me.

“He won’t leave.” I
said. “I can’t blame him though.”

“I don’t either.” His
eyes glistened as he placed his hand on my cheek and I knew what he meant by
that. “What time is it?” he stood shaking the cookie crumbs from his shirt.

“It’s almost seven in
the morning. I’m going to call up to her room and see if Jameson wants us to
bring him back anything.”

Of course, he didn’t
want anything. I hadn’t seen him eat since we got here, surely he must be
hungry by now. I decided I was getting him something anyways.

I felt bad for him. I
knew firsthand how much Jameson loved her. A sad or hurt Sway, equaled a really
sad or hurt Jameson. And it has always been that way, even when they were
younger. Those two always had a lunar pull to one another, like gravity.

We returned about an
hour later after showering, changing and managed to grab some food. I brought
back a breakfast burrito for Jameson, hoping he’d eat it and knowing he
wouldn’t.

Aiden and I walked up
to the second floor where the trauma center was located. As we entered Sway’s
room, I was shocked at Jameson’s sullen appearance. He hadn’t showered; the
blood from the fight still covered his arms, hands and face. It was obvious he
hadn’t eaten or drank anything and I was beginning to wonder if he had even
slept as dark circles had formed under his bloodshot eyes. His hair was even
more of a mess then usual looking like it needed its own zip code and he’d been
wearing the same clothes since the race, which I found repulsive.

I handed him the food
and some fresh clothes. He denied the food but stepped into the bathroom to
change his clothes, thank god; he actually smelled.

I looked at Sway and
she did seem to look better. The color of her skin was returning to normal at
least. I watched the monitor for the baby for a moment; the heartbeat remained
steady.

“Any change?” Aiden
asked the doctor when he entered the room. Before he could answer the bathroom
door opened, and we both looked over at Jameson.

Dr. Clayton frowned at
his appearance. Jameson ignored our glances shuffling toward the empty chair
beside Sway.

“The last ultrasound
showed the bleeding has stopped but she’s still having contractions. We will
need to continue with the magnesium until they stop. She is dilated to a two
but that’s all right
...
there’s no thinning of
the cervix and that’s even better.”

Though the doctor’s
words were hopeful, my brother didn’t seem to hear any of it. And I knew what
that meant, he blamed himself again.

Fuel pump – Jameson

Dr. Clayton left the
room leaving Emma, Aiden and I alone with Sway as she slept.

Aiden bent down and
kissed Sway on the forehead before walking out. No one wanted to see her like
this. I didn’t blame them. I didn’t want to either but I had to be with her.

Sway’s head had gauze
wrapped around it, her hair matted with blood. Both eyes were swollen, deep
shades of black, green and blue. Her upper lip cracked, swollen with faint
purple bruises across her cheek. All of it left me seeing red again every time
I looked at it. A thick white blanket hid the rest of her body, but I knew the
bruises that covered her entire body from the fall and the fight. She had been
through something horrible, and I wasn’t there to protect her.

“Did the police
question Aiden?” I asked Emma as she gently held Sway’s hand and said a prayer
for her.

“Yeah,” she snorted
rolling her eyes, “About three hours ago. I thought he was going to die from a
heart attack by the time they were done with him. He was all sweaty and shaking
...
pathetic.”

I just shook my head as
eyes drifted back to Sway.

Needing some air, I
left Emma in the room alone with Sway for a few minutes to speak with my dad. I
took notice of the time and knew I needed to leave in less than an hour.

When dad saw me come
out, he motioned for me to come over to where he was standing at the nurse’s
station. He was talking on his cell phone with Marcus I assumed.

Alley was standing
beside him on her Blackberry. Noticing me, she smiled hesitantly and looked
away when the person on the other line began talking.

“You need to get back
to the track. Kyle will be here in a few minutes to pick up you and Aiden.
Spencer is already there with the rest of the crew.” Dad said in my direction.
I looked up and nodded. “I have to meet with Phillip, thanks to you.” He turned
his attention toward his phone again. “All right Marcus, yes that sounds good.
Um
...
I don’t know. Call
Alley on that part. I will have Jameson get with you to release a statement
later this afternoon.” He raised an eyebrow.