Smooth Irish (Book 2 of the Weldon Series) (31 page)

“Nan!” he yelled, starting to run.

“Help me! Help me! Oh my baby!”

Jackson stumbled sure that Amy’s cries rang in his
head. Then he thought it was Nan calling to him. He had to find
her. Turning to look, he saw a woman, trapped beneath several
boards. She was heavily pregnant. He turned to her and lifted the
board off of her legs to see her right leg rotated too far to the
left. “I’m here. Just hold on.”

“The baby! Oh God, the baby is coming!”

“It’s okay.” Jackson checked her pulse as he kneeled
down to help her. Her pulse was too rapid and weak, as was her
respirations. His hands shook. She was in serious trouble. Failure
seemed to loom over his shoulder and he shook it away. “What’s your
name?”

“Angela.” She grabbed his hand, her dark eyes
imploring him. “I’m going to die. Please don’t let me die.”

“You’re not going to die, Angela, but you’ve got to
help me. I need you to breathe deep for me, like they taught you in
Lamaze. Slow and steady. Can you do that?”

She nodded, her face deathly pale against the dark
cloud of her hair.

“Now I need for you to lay back. We have to put your
head lower than your feet; and I have to look at your leg.
Okay?”

Jackson’s heart twisted. God, she didn’t look like
Amy, but their cries were the same. Jackson called out for someone
to help him, but the area seemed eerily silent. The wind whirled
about them and he noticed for the first time that a light rain was
falling. The sound of sirens wailed from far away. He forced
himself to shut out everything and focus on the woman.

She breathed as he asked, and he ran a quick
assessment of her condition. Her uterine contractions were less
than one minute apart, but her vital signs were screaming
shock.

Just then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked
up to see Nan next to him.

“Are you all right?” he asked, taking in her ragged
appearance. Surface cuts lined her right cheek and her forehead was
bruised.

“I’m fine. What can I do to help?”

Relief flooded Jackson. Relief that Nan was unharmed
and relief that he had the help he would need to save this woman.
He silently thanked God as he turned to Angela. “She’s about to
have the baby. Get her to breathe, but don’t let her push yet. I
need to examine her leg.”

Nan immediately spoke to Angela and Jackson lifted
the woman’s dress to examine her. Her leg lay with her knee rotated
almost forty-five degrees to the inside. A large hematoma covered
her upper thigh and grew by the second. The pulses lower on her leg
were almost non- existent. He didn’t hesitate to act as his
instincts kicked in. Ripping off his belt, he threaded it under the
woman’s thigh forming a tourniquet that he tightened immediately.
Then he took three pieces of wood from the ground and splinted the
woman’s leg straight, using strips from his shirt to tie her leg in
place. If what he suspected had happened, she could die if her leg
moved the wrong way.

He looked up to see Nan helping Angela. Now he had
to see about the baby.

“Scissors?” he asked Nan.

She slipped them from her pocket. As she leaned his
way, she whispered. “How is she?”

Not good, he silently mouthed the words, where only
Nan could see. “We need a stretcher, IV of D5W, and an OR set up
with a damn good surgeon. I think bone fragments have nicked her
femoral artery.”

“I’ll go get help.”

Jackson cut away Angela’s underwear. The baby had
almost completely crowned.

“Don’t leave yet, Nan. The baby is coming. Put
pressure on her femoral artery above the tourniquet.”

Nan did as instructed, and Jackson turned his
attention to the woman. “Angela, this is very important. Whatever
you do, whatever you feel, do not bear down. Your little angel is
coming and she’s doing just fine. You need to unbutton your shirt
so that you can hold her next to your body when she gets here.
She’s going to need your warmth.”

Jackson prayed. If the woman pushed to deliver the
baby, depending on how badly her femoral artery was leaking, there
might not be any way he could save her.

He looked at Nan. “Do you have anything
sterile?”

“Several packages of gauze in my left pocket.”

Reaching in, he found the gauze, a couple of packets
of alcohol wipes. Quickly using one wipe on his hands, Jackson
wrapped his fingers with some of the gauze and slid his fingers
alongside the baby’s head. He was able to help work the baby’s
shoulder out and the baby popped like a cork, rewarding Jackson’s
efforts with a robust cry.

“She’s an angel, just as I thought.” He laid the
baby on Angela’s chest and quickly clamped the chord by squeezing
it between the scissors’ handles and tying them closed with
gauze.

“My baby. Thank God. You saved her.” Angela wrapped
the baby in her shirt, hugging her squirming little girl very
close.

Jackson knew the woman had to be in excruciating
pain, yet the simple joy that lay in her eyes curled around his
soul. He took over applying the pressure on the woman’s artery from
Nan. “Get help fast.”

Nan dashed to the hospital. Only then did Jackson
see other people about. Some were hurt, and others were helping,
everyone worked together. Nan came back in record time with a team
of emergency specialists, and Jackson stood back to let them take
over. They didn’t question his diagnosis, but went with it and
immediately began treating Angela for blood loss and shock. Within
moments they were rushing her and her newborn baby into the
hospital.

Nan turned to Jackson, her heart so full of love she
thought she’d explode. He looked like hell and he'd never looked
better. Sand had blasted him. He had tiny bleeding cuts everywhere.
Seeing him alive was all she cared about. But seeing him with
Angela had shown her a lot about the man she loved. He could hammer
nails, strum a guitar, or pick up trash for a living; she didn’t
care. Because in the past twenty-four hours, she’d seen the depths
of his heart and knew without a doubt, he was the man for her.

Now that they’d done their best to save Angela, she
needed to tend to him.

She gently laid her arm on his shoulder. “You’re
hurt, Jack. You’re in shock.”

He winced and looked dazed. “Huh?”

“I said you’re hurt. You’re limping and your left
shoulder is drooping. Let me look,” she demanded, pulling back the
collar of his shirt. His left clavicle was an angry black and blue
and grossly swollen. She wrapped her arm around him. “Come on. I’m
taking you to the ER.”

“I can’t, have to look for the injured.”

“That’s my job. The hospital has every available
staff person out searching and the emergency squads are here now.”
She pointed to the slew of fire trucks, police cars, and
ambulances. “It’s a miracle, but so far there are only minor
injuries. Angela was the worst I’ve seen. And you’re next on the
list. If you argue, I’m just going to have to get a med team from
the hospital to come and cart you in, too.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Nan led him into the hospital. He didn’t
put up too much of a fight. She suspected it was because he was a
little disoriented. She hated that she had to leave him in the ER,
but she had her job to do.

Hours later, the search for injured ended and she
came back to the ER to track Jackson down. He’d been admitted to
the hospital with a broken clavicle and a fractured tibia. She
found him strung up like a mummy and sound asleep. She called his
family to let them know where he was then sat with him, and
listened to the news. They were reporting today as a miracle. The
tornado had caused extensive damage, but no lives were lost. Thank,
God. When her eyes drooped, she decided to go home and take a
shower, telling the nursing staff to call her when Jackson
woke.

She hurried through her shower, grabbed a quick
drive-through sandwich, and then made one stop before heading back
to the hospital. Her worries that he’d be all alone and in pain
were misplaced. She heard the laughter of men’s voices all the way
down the hall and saw the flustered face of a pretty young nurse as
she escaped Jackson’s room.

She knew why the minute she quietly ducked in the
open door. Not only were the Weldon brothers in Jackson’s room, but
the whole construction crew had parked their hard bodies
everywhere. Jackson lay strung up with orthopedic pulleys and ropes
supporting the casts on his leg and arm.

In the middle of the room, a sandy haired giant
stood telling a story. His weathered hands and crinkled green eyes
were as big as Texas as he embellished his words with movement. “I
swear to you. I’ve never seen the like in all my life. Everybody
who had any sense was dropping into a ditch, but not Wild Jack.
Man, he decides to pussyfoot it to the hospital.”

“I wasn’t pussyfooting. Somebody had to warn them
about the damn tornado.”

“Looked like pussyfooting to me. Anyways, one minute
he was on the ground and the next he was in the air riding that
damn tornado like old Pecos Bill. Only instead of a horse, he had
this damn piece of plywood in his hands, and he was windsurfing
upside down. Looked like a clip from a James Bond flick. I thought
he was a goner for sure. I came looking for him at the ER so I
could pay my last respects.”

“Thanks for the sentiment,” Jackson muttered.

Nan gasped and thought she was going to faint. How
close had she come to permanently losing him?

“Nan, is that you?”

The men in the room parted, leaving her a direct
path to him. She didn’t hesitate to go to his side.

"The man's personal TLC technician has arrived,
boys," James said. The men laughed and Nan blushed.

Jared shook his head. "Some men have all the luck.
He gets to ride a tornado and then he gets to kiss the prettiest
girl east of Kansas. All of us want to know how he managed this
little miracle. So tell us, Nan, what was it about my sorry looking
brother that captured you?"

All the men watched her as if she had the answer to
Jeopardy's final question and their futures rested on being
right.

"Smooth," she said, and they all frowned. All except
Jesse. Jesse laughed.

"So he's a smooth talker." Jesse said.

"Ah," James said.
"
That
kind of
smooth."

"He's a Weldon that means he's smooth in be--"
Jared's last word ended in a whoosh of air as Jesse poked him hard,
and Jackson tossed a pillow in his face.

"Ignore him guys. He jumped into the gene pool when
the lifeguard wasn't looking." James punched his twin brother on
the shoulder. "I was supposed to be the only one born."

The men laughed. Nan's cheeks heated, but she had to
laugh, too.

Alexi walked in, carrying a wrapped up bundle and
Jesse leaped to his feet to help her. Nan caught her breath, a tiny
corner of her heart unsure how Jackson would react.

"Time's up fellows. I've got somebody I want to see,
my Godson."

If a face could launch a thousand ships then the
look Jackson centered on the bundle Jesse handed him could oust a
thousand men. Nan wasn’t exactly sure how, but in seconds the room
cleared, except for family.

Baby Jake in the crook of Jackson's good arm had his
rapt attention and vice-versa. "Hey, little fellow. Sorry it's
taken me so long to see you. I'll make up for it. Just as soon as
you're ready, we'll skim rocks across the creek and I'll teach you
how to ride. There's nothing like a ride on a good motorcy--"

"Ahem, bicycle," Alexi interjected.

"Bicycle then." Jackson rolled his eyes then winked
at Alexi. "Dirt bike maybe?"

"We'll see. In about thirty years."

Baby Jake let loose a wail as if that verdict
displeased him. "He's a Weldon all right," Jackson said. "You did a
good job, Alexi."

"Amen to that," James said. "Uh, bro. I hate to
barge in but I'm waiting to hold my little nephew."

"Me, too," Jared added.

"Me first," Jesse said, reaching over and lifting
Jake away from Jackson. "There's a football in the gift shop I want
him to see." Jesse stood and carried Jake to the door. "You boys
coming to see him kick? Alexi says he's a star player."

James and Jared jumped up and headed out the door.
Alexi laughed. "I'd better keep an eye on that crew. That boy is
going to be spoiled so bad that--"

"Don’t worry. He'll soon have to have a cousin to
absorb some of that attention." Nan rubbed her stomach.

Alexi's eyes boggled. "You mean…that--"

"We're pregnant," Jackson said. "But don't tell
anybody until we can make it official."

"Oh, oh, oh," Alexi said. "This is great. I love you
both." She hugged Nan, laughing. Hugged Jackson and dashed out the
door.

"Our secret is out," Nan said. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Jackson patted the bed. "Come here,
sugar."

“I brought you something,” she said handing him a
box.

He smiled, reaching for her with his good arm. “All
I want is you.”

Her heart fluttered as she put the huge box in his
lap. “Then open the box.” She kissed him and stepped back.

He opened it slowly, taking out her little black
book. "Is this what I think it is?”

“Yeah, figured you'd need something to read while
you're out of commission."

He groaned. "I'm strung up like a turkey and you
give me your fantasies to read? Hell, sugar, are you trying to kill
me?"

“Only with pleasure. Now finish opening your
present.”

He pulled out the house plans next. She’d taken a
minute to label the rooms, for the baby, for them, and filled in
the names of different plants she wanted to have in her garden.
Tears filled his eyes, then he sat up, shocked. “You’re giving
Shakespeare a bedroom? Nan honey, uh, I don’t think that—”

She laughed. “That’s just until we fill it with
someone else. Like a brother or sister for this little one.” She
patted her stomach. “Now finish your present.”