Her Kind of Trouble (Harlequin Superromance) (7 page)

“I don’t have any of those details, I’m afraid.”

“Okay. Thanks.” He set the phone down, his mind racing. He needed to get to the hospital. Now. He turned, only to find Vivian standing there, a frown on her face.

God. He’d completely forgotten she was here.

“Is everything okay?”

“Lola’s been in an accident. She’s critical and they’re operating on her.” He scooped up her bag and handed it to her. “Sorry. I need to go.”

“Of course.”

He yanked open the drawer where he kept his car keys and swore when he saw the empty space they should have occupied. Of course, his car was in the workshop. He’d dropped it off after leaving Sam’s party. Why on earth had he decided he had to get the issue with the ignition checked out
this
week?

“What’s wrong?”

“I dropped the Audi off at my mechanic’s this afternoon.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. Taxi. He needed to grab a cab. He had no idea how much cash he had in his wallet, but if he had to, he’d get the driver to swing past an ATM on the way.

“I’ll drive you. Where do you need to be?” she said without hesitation.

He glanced at her, relief warring with guilt. “You don’t need to do that.”

Not after the way he’d pissed her off.

“Do you need to grab anything?” she asked, reaching into her bag to palm her car keys.

He stared at her, but she simply stared back at him, signaling her willingness to do this for him.

“Thanks,” he said, and he spun on his heel to grab his wallet and coat.

* * *

“W
HAT
’
S
THE
BEST
way to get to that side of town?” Vivian asked as she pulled away from the curb.

Seth shoved his seat belt into the clasp, a fierce frown on his face as he considered her question. She could feel the anxiety coming off him in waves.

“Take Burke Road to the Monash, then take the Stephensons Road exit,” he said.

She nodded, picturing the route in her mind. Putting her foot down, she concentrated on cutting through the early-evening traffic.

For as long as she lived, she would not forget the way the color had drained from his face when he took the call from the hospital. One minute they’d been squabbling and wrestling over her bag, the next he’d been as still as a statue, his whole being focused on the words coming down the phone line. Then he’d started to ask questions, and she’d understood that something terrible had happened.

“Did they say anything else?” she asked. “How did it happen? How is the baby?”

“I only know what I told you.”

She glanced at him. He scanned the road ahead restlessly, his body leaning forward as though he could will the car to go faster.

“Does she have family you need to contact?”

He shook his head. “Not here. She’s English.”

“Do they know about the baby?” She slipped in front of a hatchback before darting into the left lane.

“Yes. I think they were planning to visit sometime soon.”

He pulled out his phone then, and she listened to his end of the conversation as he spoke to someone whom she guessed was Lola’s housemate. It was clear that the other woman didn’t know much more than Seth, and he spent five minutes reassuring her that he would let her know what was going on the moment he heard anything before ending the call.

“At least the traffic’s not too bad,” she said as she squeaked through an amber light.

“Yeah.”

Neither of them spoke again until they’d exited the freeway, then Seth used the map function on his phone to direct her to the hospital. She dropped him at the entrance, barely catching his urgent “thanks” before he raced into the building.

She parked, then pulled out her phone and called her sister, passing on the information.

“Oh, God. How horrible. Keep us in the loop, okay, Viv? And if there’s anything we can do, let us know.”

“I will.” Vivian locked her car and made her way to the entrance, glancing around as she entered the vast lobby. She had no idea where Seth might have gone or what department would be looking after Lola, but she approached the information desk and threw herself on the mercy of the attendant.

She was directed to the waiting area in the emergency department, and she followed the signs until she found a low-ceilinged space filled with bank after bank of seating full of people in various stages of dull-eyed boredom or muted distress.

Seth was talking to the woman at the counter, his expression tense as he listened. Vivian found a couple of seats near the corner and reserved one with her bag before sitting in the other. When Seth turned from the counter, she lifted her hand.

“Seth. Over here.”

He seemed surprised to see her, confirming as much when he sat. “You didn’t need to stay.”

“I’m not going to let you wait on your own.”

He glanced at her. “Thanks.”

There was a world of meaning in the single word, and she knew he was thinking of the reason she’d been at his house. She didn’t owe him anything, but she could hardly abandon him, either. He was family, Sort of.

“Did they tell you anything?”

“Yeah.” He breathed out through his nose, clearly affected by whatever he’d heard. “She was on foot, heading to her car at the supermarket, when someone backed into her. She’s got multiple internal injuries, head injuries....”

Vivian’s clutched her knees. This was so awful.

“Did they say anything about the baby?”

“Just that they’re operating.” A muscle jumped in his jaw and he blinked rapidly. Despite all the stupid things he’d said about her, she couldn’t stop herself from resting a hand on his shoulder.

They sat in silence until her phone beeped with a text message. She checked and saw it was from her sister.

“I called Jodie so they’d know what was going on, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Was that her now?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll call her. Fill them in on where we’re at.”

He moved off to make the call and she watched him pace as he spoke to her sister. He’d been barefoot when he answered the door, and he’d shoved on a pair of old Converse sneakers before racing out to her car. His hair stood on end from where he’d been raking it with his fingers, and his big body was tense, his movements edgy.

She wished there was something more she could say or do, but knew there wasn’t. This was a waiting game, pure and simple. If Lola died, if the baby died... Vivian didn’t even want to think about what that would do to Seth. It was too painful to contemplate. Too huge a loss.

The row of seats rocked as Seth dropped down beside her.

“She wanted to come wait with us but I told her there wasn’t much point at the moment.”

He braced his elbows on his widespread knees, and stared blindly at his phone, his head lowered. She set her bag on the floor and wondered how long it would be before they heard anything.

After an hour, she went to get them both coffees. She bought muffins, too, even though she knew Seth probably wouldn’t eat. She certainly wasn’t hungry, but lunch had been a long time ago, and he needed to keep his energy levels up.

“So, how did you and Lola meet?” she asked as she handed over the coffee and muffin.

“She was a regular at the bar.”

“Must be handy owning your own pickup joint.”

His mouth curled slightly at her dig. “Believe it or not, I try to keep my work and personal lives separate.”

“So what happened with Lola? You slip on the floor and accidentally fall into her vagina or something?”

He almost smiled again before taking a swallow of coffee. “God, this is awful.”

“I know. But we’re both going to drink it anyway. It’s part of the whole waiting-room ambience.”

He tore off a chunk of the muffin and chewed on it. “She seduced me. And I didn’t have the good sense to say no.”

“That hot, huh?”

“Yeah. Blonde. Great legs. Great...you know. Your basic male fantasy.”

“Hard to turn down.”

“Apparently. I’m not sure I tried too hard, to be honest.”

“That surprises me.”

He shot her a dry look. Good. If she could distract him, feed him and help the time pass, she’d probably done all she could.

“When did you find out she was pregnant?”

“About six months ago. We’d stopped seeing each other, but she came into the bar one afternoon to talk to me. Just handed me the pregnancy test and told me that I was going to be a father.”

“Wow. That must have been more than a little surreal.” She’d never really thought about it before, but it occurred to her that men—some men anyway—must secretly dread getting a visit like that. At least as a woman the realization that you were pregnant came in stages—suspicion and maybe symptoms, followed by confirmation. Men just got cold-called with the news.

“It was.”

They were silent as they sipped their awful coffees.

“It wasn’t a disaster, though,” Seth said, surprising her. “I mean, it was a surprise. And obviously it’s not ideal that we’re not together, and that she’s so much younger. But after I got my head around it, I realized it wasn’t the end of the world. That I could do this.”

“Be a parent, you mean?”

He glanced at her. “Yeah. I figured I maybe wouldn’t suck at it too badly.”

She considered his profile for a beat. He had a strong nose. Forceful. She’d never consciously noticed that about him before.

“You’re a smart guy. You can probably do almost anything if you want it enough.”

“Yeah.” He glanced toward the counter and she knew he was wondering if this conversation was already defunct. If his baby had survived or not. If Lola was still alive.

The next hour crawled. Vivian was checking her emails for the fifth time when a tall, thin man dressed in scrubs entered the waiting area.

“Seth Anderson?” he called out.

Seth looked up, then stood, and the doctor gestured for Seth to join him. He glanced at her.

“I’ll be here,” she said.

He nodded. She watched him disappear around the corner, feeling sick and worried for him.

Not so long ago, she’d wanted to tear him a new one. Now, she just wished she had the power to set his world to rights.

But she didn’t. All she could do was sit here and wait.

* * *

S
ETH
STEPPED
INTO
a small, stark room that was obviously set aside for the delivery of bad news to patients’ loved ones.

Holy shit.

He sat on one side of the table and watched as the surgeon took the other seat. The muffin he’d eaten had congealed into a lump of concrete in his stomach and his mouth was cotton-dry.

“As you know, Ms. Brown was brought in with extensive head and internal injuries. In situations like this where there are potentially two lives at risk, we try to consider the outcome for both mother and child. Especially in such a late-term pregnancy where the fetus is highly viable.”

Seth pressed his back teeth together so firmly they ached. When was this guy going to cut to the chase?

“It was evident to us early on that the baby was alive but in distress, and we decided to deliver her while at the same time working to stabilize Ms. Brown. The baby is small, but she is holding her own. Ms. Brown, however, remains in a critical condition. We have repaired a laceration to her liver and removed a length of ruptured bowel. Both injuries are stable, but the trauma to her head is profound. My colleague, Dr. Conrad, has operated to remove a section of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain. Even so, there has been significant bleeding and swelling, and we’ve been forced to put her into an induced coma to give her body a chance to rally.”

Seth swallowed, trying to keep a track of all the information. “The baby. The baby is okay?” he asked, seizing onto the only piece of positive information the man had passed on.

“She’s a little underweight, but she’s responding well. You can visit her in the neonatal unit shortly.”

“This coma...that’s reversible, right?”

“Yes. But I need to stress to you that she’s suffered profound brain trauma.”

“So, are you saying that she’s going to die?” Because if that was what the guy was getting at, Seth would prefer for him to put it out there rather than hedge his bets with medical mumbo jumbo.

“The next twenty-four hours are critical. But you should know that even if Ms. Brown does survive, she will more than likely have significant mental deficits. I’m not sure what plans you have in place, but it’s highly unlikely that she will be in a position to be the primary caregiver for her child in the near future, if at all.”

Seth sat back. He had that airless feeling again, as though someone had punched him in the solar plexus.

“She’s only twenty-four,” he said stupidly.

As if Lola’s age made a difference to anything.

“I know this is a lot to process. Take as long as you need in here, and if you have any further questions for me, feel free to call.” He handed over his business card before standing.

Seth stared unseeingly at the black words on the square of card.

“Is there anyone we can call for you, Mr. Anderson?”

“What? No. No, I’ve got it covered.”

“Then I’ll speak to you later. Don’t hesitate to make contact if you have any questions.”

Seth had barely finished nodding before the doctor was gone, pulling the door shut behind him. Seth set the card on the table and planted his hands on either side of it.

Lola was teetering on the edge of death.

He had a daughter.

It was unlikely that Lola would ever be a true mother to her child.

He swore, the single word hissing between his teeth. This was...not happening. It was too big. Too much. Too terrible.

He had no idea how long he stared at the table, but the sound of the door handle brought his head up as a nurse appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was in here,” she said, quickly shutting the door again.

It was enough to jolt him from his stupor. He slid the doctor’s card into his pocket and made his way to the waiting area. Vivian came to meet him the moment she spotted him.