“She’s gonna make it.”
I’m not sure who I’m even telling at this point.
We split into two groups. One, loading up with me and Poppy in the first van. The other, proceeding to the camp to make sure that Ortega’s taken care of and the officials are notified.
I don’t care about anyone or anything else but Poppy.
She doesn’t make it to the hospital.
We make it to the parking lot of the hospital a half hour away from where we found her.
“He’s coming.” She grabs my ear and practically rips it off my head as she pulls me to her face. “Don’t let them see me, Logan.”
The door to the van slides open, and Sam stands there with a shocked expression on his face. “Holy shit, Poppy. You’ve got a baby coming out of you.”
“Go away!” she screams at the top of her lungs. “Sammy don’t look.”
Sam moves, and I take his spot, just in time to catch my son. My beautiful, red-haired son. The son who screams at the top of his lungs while I hold him, and I’m not bothering to hide the fact that I’m crying again.
“Poppy, he’s here.” I smile up at her, to see her staring at me with relief. “He’s here.”
“Baxter,” she whispers, staring at him with a sad smile on her face. Right before Poppy’s eyes roll into the back of her head, and she dies again.
At least, she tries to.
The paramedics shove me aside as soon as they take my son, strapping him and Poppy together on a gurney. Then we follow them into the hospital, ignoring the looks of confusion and the people flat-out telling us to leave.
“Listen here.” Kyle Harmon appears out of nowhere, snapping at someone in scrubs. “You know what this is. The stress on her heart. She’s going in so that we can stop the bleeding and make sure everything’s okay, Logan. You have to sit. She’s alive. He’s alive. Sit the fuck down and let me do my job.”
I sit the fuck down.
And I keep my eyes locked on the door.
“Someone call her mom. My mom. Call them,” I mutter when the others sit next to me.
An arm comes around my shoulders, and I look over to see Evie there. “I called them. Mom’s on her way. Your mom is still with Bax. Emily and Finn both know. Finn’s trying to get leave. Emily’s on her way, too.”
She looks over at the other men and then back to me, lowering her voice. “Dad said Poppy was right. About Ortega. She hit him hard.”
She doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t have to.
Poppy’s words are right there in my mind.
She killed him.
“Mom gave me this from Grandma for you.” Evie slides a ring into my hand. “Ask her while she’s on the good drugs, okay?”
She moves away, leaving me sitting alone while I wait for hours.
“I might have to move up your way,” Angelo groans as he sits down next to me, offering a cup of Dunkin’ when he’s situated himself. “Southie isn’t as appealin’ now that I’m upta Maine.”
“You’ll never leave,” Niles tells him from his other side. “Too many good things down there for you to pass up.”
“An’ bad too.” Angelo laughs.
“You called in every single favor you could to save her, and she saved herself,” Niles notes quietly. “Don’t worry about a little heart condition. She’s not gonna let it keep her down.”
“It’s called Broken Heart Syndrome.” Dean appears, looking twenty years older than he did before his daughter was taken. “She’s had it since she was shot when she was sixteen. Stress, it could kill her.”