Evin's Fight (Southern Charmers Book 3) by Ahren Sanders (inspirational books for women .TXT) 📕

“But down here,” he lasers in on her foot, “this indicates a ruptured Achilles.”

Dante sways and Ryanne goes white. Bile rises in my throat.

“Do we know what happened?” Dr. Rexwell glances around.

“I think Poppy will have to answer that. None of us could get anything out of her last night.”

“I’ll need to talk to her before consulting on surgery.”

“Are you doing the surgery?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Are you the best?”

“Considered top three in the country on sports injuries.”

“I’ll be checking that out.” I pin him, not backing down. “If it’s not to my liking, she gets the best.”

His lips curve, and he stares hard. “I’ve taken on bigger challenges, now’s the time to be frank.”

“That’s expected.”

“You need to know she may never dance again on a professional stage. The recuperation period is long and hard. Her body is strong, but she’s facing an uphill battle.”

A shriek comes from Poppy’s room, and I’m moving, Dante and Ryanne on my heels.

She’s sitting up, the sheet tossed to the side, staring at her leg. Her eyes are wide and panicked. “It wasn’t a nightmare?”

“Baby, you’re going to be fine. This is a top doctor in the country in injuries.” I slide in carefully beside her as Rexwell comes close and introduces himself.

He asks questions, and she fills in the blanks of her night and when the pain started.

“Anything happen to make your ankle vulnerable?” he asks, and her gaze darts to mine, filling with anguish.

It hits her at the same time a fiery rage explodes inside.

Fucking Tasha. Her trip was perfectly planned. Dante picks up on it, his fury fueling.

“Pips?” he grinds out.

“I tripped over a woman’s foot,” Poppy answers mournfully.

Dr. Rexwell nods, making notes and asking about the rest of the night.

“My educated guess is you tripped, aggravating your ankle, but no apparent discomfort. The internal irritation picked up while you danced. It began in the ankle, moved to the heel and Achilles. You kept going, and your muscles tried but couldn’t support it.”

Dante’s eyes meet mine, and he knows. Tasha triggered this. I kiss across her head to try to not give in to his fury.

Poppy quivers, remaining quiet, and clutching tight while Rexwell explains his plans for more tests before surgery.

“Mrs. Graham, I’m need you to stand and try to put weight on your right leg.”

She nods, and I swing off the bed, holding her waist to ease her up. She balances well at first, but the slightest pressure on her right sends her toppling into my side.

The Dr. crouches down, cupping her calf and easing her foot to the floor. “Let’s do toe, ball, heel. You should know that pretty well.” He grins up at her. “Don’t force it, but give me as much as you can and tell me the instant you feel pain. Not pressure, but pain.”

She does as he instructs and gets her heel to the floor, barely shifting her weight before she hisses. “There.”

“Do you feel this?” His fingers dig into her calf.

She nods.

“What about this?” He repeats the same with the sides and back of her knee.

“Yes.” The muscles in her forehead strain.

“Bear with me.” He releases her leg, pulling a marker out of his pocket and marking her skin.

“You done yet?” I grate out.

“You did great. Let’s get you back in bed.”

She leans in, relying on me to get her situated.

“We’re going to use those marks today for isolation points in our scans. I’ll put in the orders now, and a nurse will be in with the schedule. We’ll also get you something for the pain.”

“Ryanne, will you help me to the bathroom?” Poppy asks.

“I’ll do it.”

“Actually, I’d like to speak to you once more in the hallway.” The tone in his voice sends a chill down my spine.

“We got this, Evin,” Dante assures me.

I don’t have it in me to protest, so I head out of the room and back to where Poppy’s images are hanging.

He puts his paperwork down, takes off his glasses, and rubs his eyes before looking back at me. “Do you know if Miss Malone was planning to have children?”

My body jerks with the brunt of his question. “What the fuck? Is this surgery dangerous for her to have kids?”

“No, but Miss—”

“It’s Mrs. Graham. Poppy is my wife.”

“I apologize. Her insurance paperwork indicates she’s single. It listed you as an emergency contact.”

“I’ll get it handled, but what the hell does it have to do with her having children?”

“It’s standard to conduct a series of tests when admitted, especially when it’s a work-related injury.”

“If you’re looking for alcohol or drugs, it’s a waste of your time.”

“She was clean of any substance. However, there are other tests as well, one of them being a pregnancy test. Her initial labs showed escalated levels of the HCG hormone in her blood.”

The news hits me full force and I stumble back, my heart hammering. “She’s pregnant?”

His expression remains indifferent, but the flicker in his eye is my answer. “She may have been. The baseline levels were compatible with early stages. Depending on her cycle, she would have most likely realized a late period soon if the pregnancy was viable. Unfortunately, we will never know. The labs from this morning show a decline in HCG levels.”

“Fuck me.”

“I’m sorry we can’t be more specific. The levels alerted us, but the premature timing doesn’t allow for us to make that call one-hundred percent.”

“The fall made her body reject the pregnancy?”

“It could be the fall, or it could be Mother Nature. We will never know.”

“I don’t want her to know.”

He quirks his eyebrows. “No?”

“Not yet. Especially since it’s hypothetical. Her mind needs to be focused on the surgery. She has enough devastation to deal with. When I think the time is right, I’ll break the news.”

Which may be never. I refrain from saying out loud.

“Poppy is my patient, and under obligation, I must be upfront about her medical status.”

“I get that,” my voice vibrates with rising anger. “You also have an obligation to her mental status, and right now,