Heartburn: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World) by Tarrah Anders (100 best novels of all time TXT) 📕

He whips around and steps to the EMT. “We need to put her back in the ambulance and take her somewhere else. I cannot have my wife treated by these two children?”

“Sir, I’m not understanding. Dr. Quinn is one of the best doctors at this hospital. Your wife is in excellent hands.” The EMT shakes his head.

“Mr. Mason, we will treat your wife with the utmost of care just as we do with every other patient who comes into this ER.” Rogan tries to reassure him.

“Please dad, just put aside your hatred for once and let us treat her. I want nothing to happen to her, just as you don’t. But I’m afraid if you take her to another hospital, she may not make it.”

“What do you mean?” he takes a step toward me and asks with concern etched on his face.

“The next hospital is over an hour away. We don’t know the extent of her injuries, but she’s here, so let us treat her.” I plead with him.

My dad looks between us and takes a deep breath with his hands on his hips.

“I want to be updated every step of the way.” He points at me, “every step of the way, you think you can understand that young lady?”

“I will.” I promise him as we grab the chart from the EMT and wheel her back through the double doors for staff only.

I stop and ask one of the residents to show my father the waiting area, then catch up to Rogan.

“We need to get her into X-ray and see if there are any immediate concerns to tend to,” Rogan looks at me. “I want you to sit out on this.”

“No.” I admonish.

“This is your family, whether or not you are getting along with them, you shouldn’t be involved in this case.”

“I promised him, Rogan. You heard that. We will work on her together; we will update him as we can together.”

“Can you keep your head on straight?”

“I’ve managed to do a lot with my head on straight, don’t question this.” I pin him with a stare.

“Very well,” he breathes out and then his eyes soften. “We’ll make sure that she’s okay, you know that right?”

“There’s no other way.” I say.

Then we get to work. After an hour, I walk into the waiting room to brief my dad on the findings so far. I see him speaking to a police officer and I halt my movements as I wait for them to pause.

“The other vehicle hit us, my foot mistakes the break for the gas pedal and I felt a dip, then it felt like we were flying. I saw the windshield shatter, go dark, and that’s it, until I was stumbling out of the car. My wife, she’s back there with our daughter and the doctor. She’s a nurse, she’s helping,” he points back towards the doors, and sees me. “That’s my daughter. Anyway, my wife is lying on her side, covered in glass and blood. She’s barely conscious, but she says she’s in pain, but fine. Then once the ambulance comes, she’s out. I tried to keep her talking as much as I could, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open and now, we’re here.”

The police officer looks over to me and I recognize him as one of the Malone brothers, Grant. He waves me over and I’m a little in shock for everything that we’ve experienced tonight then there was the fact that my dad acknowledged me as his daughter.

“Nurse Mason, I imagine that you are here to update your father?” Grant asks.

I clear my throat and nervously wring my hands in front of me as Grant steps away to give us privacy.

“Yes, well. As we saw when she arrived, there're several lacerations. The majority are superficial, but there are a few deeper cuts, which will be stitched. She has three broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. Her left shin is broken in three places, it’s a compound fracture. We do not need to conduct surgery for a pneumothorax, the collapsed lung, we inserted a needle in her chest to relieve some of the excess air, however we ended up having to insert a chest tube.”

“But she’s going to be okay?” He asks.

“She will have some recovery from the collapsed lung, also from the fractures. But yes, she will be fine.”

“If I would have continued to argue?”

“We wouldn’t have been able to act as fast, excess air would have leaked further and additional complications would have ensued.”

“But she will be okay?” He asks with hope.

“She will be, yes.” I smile.

He rushes into me and embraces me tightly. His hold is firm, and I feel his body shake. “Thank you, thank you.” his muffled cry repeats on my shoulder.

My arms loosely fit around his back, relishing he’s hugging me. Even though it’s likely only because I’m here and someone bringing him good news about his wife, my mother.

I push away and wipe the moisture from my eyes. “I should get back there. If there are any additional updates, I assure that you receive them.” I turn around and begin walking.

“Kindra?” he stops me, and I turn.

“I’m sorry that I discounted you.”

I nod, smile, then turn around.

That’s all I needed to hear from him.

A few hours have passed and I’m exhausted. It’s been a long night and even though I’m thankful for the continuous work to get my mind off of Rogan, it wasn’t the kind that I was hoping for. I changed in the locker room and walk out of the double doors to the entrance of the ER.

My eyes catch on the figure in the corner, slumped against the wall.

Dad?

He looks a little pale, and I see discoloration on his side, where his shirt lifts by the way he’s positioned.

I walk over to him and shake his shoulder.

“Hey Dad, do you need a lift home, want some food?” I ask