Authors: Tessa Dayne
He saw the tail end of the coat as the elevator doors slid closed. Cursing a blue streak, Jonas headed for the stairwell. Taking the steps two at a time, he navigated down the flights, praying he caught Paige before she did anything rash.
Bursting through the doors, he searched the busy lobby futilely for Paige. Groaning, Jonas headed through the turnstile door, stepping out into the snow-filled street. Once outside, he stopped, searching the crowd filled street. Snowflakes fell, covering his hair and shoulders quickly. The wind howled and cut through the sweater he wore. Damn, it was cold.
“Paige!” he yelled, finally spotting her through the crowd of people milling on the sidewalk.
He watched as she stopped and turned to look for
him. He knew she had heard him yell her name. Jonas raised his arm, waving at her, trying to get her attention as he pushed his way toward her. People all around were huddled against the icy wind and his progress was slow.
Putting his head down against the onslaught of the wind, Jonas pushed onward. He had to get to Paige and get her back inside where they could talk. Her getting this upset was not good for her or the baby.
Suddenly, tires squealed, horns blared and screams pierced the air. Jonas pushed his way through the crowd, elbowing man and woman alike to get to the last place he had seen Paige, his heart in his throat.
“She just appeared out of nowhere. I tried to stop…” a man said, his words slurred slightly.
“She wasn’t on the sidewalk…” an anonymous woman in the crowd said.
“I think someone pushed her into the street,” another man said, trying to see into the street.
“Someone call 911.”
Jonas broke through the throng and found himself standing near the center of the road. Lying motionless in the ice and snow was Paige, blood trickling from her mouth.
“NO! Dear God, no!” he cried, falling to his knees in the snow at her side.
He didn’t dare touch her. He was too afraid. Yet, he wanted to assure himself that she was still alive. God, please let her be alive. He had never bargained with God before, but he would now, if it meant Paige’s life.
Chapter Nine
~*~
In the distance, sirens echoed in the night air, getting louder as the emergency vehicles approached. They barely registered in Jonas’s grief filled mind. All he could think of was Paige, lying on the street beside him, unmoving.
“Sir? You need to step away. Let us through.”
Jonas glanced up over his shoulder and found two EMT’s standing behind him, their equipment boxes in hand and a stretcher in tow. He stood, moving aside to allow them to do their jobs. Someone placed a blanket around his shoulders, which he grabbed with cold, numb fingers.
“Sir? Are you all right? Can you tell us what happened here?”
Jonas turned his head and found two police officers standing behind him, their car with flashing red and blue lights illuminating the night sky. He stared at them, a blank look in his eyes.
“I…my fiancée…”
The police officer looked at him closely, registering the blank look in his eyes, the paleness in his features and how badly he was shaking. “I think he’s in shock,” he told his partner. “Question some of the other bystanders. I want to get this one to the hospital. C’mon, Sir. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Jonas shook his head no, trying to return to Paige’s side. He couldn’t leave her. He watched as the medics strapped her to the gurney and then wheeled her to the waiting ambulance.
“C’mon, Mr. Barnett. I’ll take you to the hospital. It’s okay. We will follow the ambulance,” the officer said, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders.
Jonas felt the officer’s arm around his shoulders and heard his voice near his ear, but neither gesture truly registered in his shock-muddled brain. He watched as Paige was loaded into the back of the ambulance. When the doors slammed closed and the ambulance drove off, he seemed to snap out of it.
“My fiancée…I need to get to the hospital,” he said, his teeth chattering.
“We are going right behind them. C’mon…get in the car.”
Jonas slid into the car, the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. The door closed and he leaned his head against the window, the cold glass numbing his cheek. The officer slid behind the wheel and within moments they were following the ambulance. Jonas stared out the window at the snow-covered streets, his mind trying to grasp the night’s events.
How had things gone from so wonderful to devastating in just a few short hours? What had Darren said to Paige to drive her from the safety of the penthouse? He never should have left her.
~
*~
The ambulance pulled into the hospital drive and a flurry of activity around the rear of the vehicle ensued. The gurney was pulled from the back and wheeled into the emergency room, nurses and ER techs rushing to the aid of the ambulance EMT’s, who relayed the status once again of their patient, then moved aside to do the paperwork required. The techs and nurses wheeled the gurney into a private cubicle and pulled the curtain.
~*~
The heat from the car’s heater seeped into his body, warming him. Too bad it couldn’t warm the iciness that had formed around his heart. Seeing Paige lying in the
snow-covered street had been permanently etched into his mind’s eye. She hadn’t moved, even when he had knelt beside her and whispered her name repeatedly. He knew in his heart that she was hurt badly. He didn’t need the EMT’s to tell him her condition. Their actions told him enough. They had gently lifted her head, placing a neck brace around her slender throat. Then they had rolled her onto a backboard before loading her onto the gurney.
Tears welled in his eyes as he remembered placing kisses against her soft throat several hours ago. Had it been just those few short hours ago when they had been so happy? When they had lain in bed, cuddled against each other and murmured words of love.
“Sir?”
Jonas turned to the officer, wishing he were already at the hospital. He needed to see Paige. “Please…call me Jonas.”
“Mr. Barnett…Jonas…can you tell me what happened here tonight?”
“We were at a party being thrown by my fiancée’s boss, Darcy Milian.”
“Were either of you drinking?” the officer asked.
“No! We’re pregnant. I mean, Paige is pregnant.”
“I understand, Jonas. I have three kids of my own. It seems we are as pregnant as our wives are.”
“This is our first,” Jonas said softly.
“Can you tell me what prompted you both to leave the party? Especially you, without a coat?”
“Paige’s ex-boyfriend, Darren Armstrong, was accidentally invited to the party. It was an oversight on Darcy’s part. He and Paige had an altercation. Words were exchanged. She came to find me and Darcy, who promptly went to ask him to leave.”
“And did he?”
“No. He found Paige again. They must have argued. I saw her leaving the penthouse with her coat and I followed her.”
“Did you see this ex-boyfriend? What’s his name again?”
“Darren. Darren Armstrong. And yes, I ran into him as I went after Paige.”
“Did you exchange words?”
Jonas thought back to the exchange he had with Darren, the words ringing in his ears.
“I don’t know what is going on in her head these days. She was never such a lying, deceitful bitch before.”
“We had words,” Jonas said, flexing his hand, remembering how good it had felt to strike Darren. He was not a normally violent man, but Darren had deserved what he had gotten.
“I think you did more than exchange words, Mr. Barnett. Did you fight?” he asked, noticing the scrapes on Jonas’s knuckles.
“I hit him. Yes. He said some very derogatory things about Paige.”
They pulled into the emergency room parking area and parked. The officer turned to Jonas and smiled.
“Let’s get you inside. I want a doctor to look at you. Make sure you are okay.”
“I’m fine, really. I just want to get inside and find my fiancée.”
“Listen Mr. Barnett….Jonas. My wife will kill me if I let anything happen to her favorite scruffy gypsy. Just let the doctor look you over. I’m sure it will be some time before you will be able to get information on your fiancée. Besides, I would like to fill out the accident report and get your statement for the record. I can do that while the doc takes a look at you.”
Jonas nodded slowly. He was feeling a lot warmer, but he couldn’t remember how long he had been out in the bitter cold without a coat. He couldn’t remember how long he had knelt in the snow by Paige’s side. Maybe it was a good idea to see a doctor.
~*~
Jonas settled into the ER cubicle, waiting impatiently for the doctor. While he waited, he answered Officer Gabriel’s questions, reliving the night’s events. The curtain slid aside and they both looked up to find a woman in a white lab coat standing in the doorway.
“Well, I think I have everything,” Officer Gabriel said, closing his notebook.
“Thank you,” Jonas said, nodding toward him.
“And thank you. For, well, you know,” he said, patting his chest pocket.
Jonas smiled. The autograph for his wife was the least he could do. Officer Gabriel had taken care of him when he needed it. He had stayed with him in the pretext of taking his statement, when he already had the information he needed to fill out his report. All to try to take his mind off Paige.
~*~
Jonas was shown to a waiting room outside the ER where he was asked to wait for the on call doctor. Sitting in the hard plastic chair, he dropped his head into his hands, closing his eyes in prayer.
Please God, please let her be okay. I will do whatever you ask of me…just let Paige be okay.
“Mr. Barnett? I‘m Dr. Jacob Gates.”
Jonas looked up and found a doctor, his green scrubs slightly wrinkled and splattered with blood drops. He quickly stood and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans.
“Doctor? How’s my fiancée? How’s Paige?”
“We have some of the initial test results back.”
Jonas watched the doctor’s face. He had gotten good at reading people over the years. And what he was seeing now in the features of the doctor wasn’t good.
“It’s not good, is it?” Jonas asked.
“I’m sorry. No. It’s not good. Miss Harper has severe head trauma, some broken ribs, a broken wrist, lacerations and abrasions and internal bleeding.”
“And the baby?”
“We are doing all we can, but it’s not looking good. Our main concern right now is getting Paige stable enough to take her into surgery.”
“How long do you think before she will be taken in to surgery?” Jonas asked, feeling sick to his stomach.
“We are hoping within the next thirty minutes. I don’t think we will be able to wait much longer than that.”
“I called her family. They are on their way.”
“We will wait as long as we can, but if we have to go in sooner, I need your consent…”
“Consent for what?” Jonas asked, clearly confused.
“I’m sorry to put you through this, but it looks like we might have to make a decision…”