Page 136 of The Exception

“I’ll meet you there.” I was headed for the door before I’d even ended the call.

“What’s going on?” Lily asked. “Where are you going?”

“Sloan. Hospital. Now.” I sounded like a caveman, but it was the best I could manage under the circumstances.

“I’ll drive you,” Lily said, racing ahead.

“No.” I tried to snap myself out of it. Force myself into action. “You should stay here. What about the?—”

“Graham.” She glared at me. “I’m. Driving.”

“Fine,” I huffed, tossing her the keys. I knew I was too distracted to focus on driving safely. Lily used the talk-to-text feature on her phone to send a text to Luc and Jo, asking them to take over in her absence.Oh god, les Journées du patrimoine.We hurried to the car, and I called, “Thank you.”

She said nothing, climbing behind the driver’s seat. She’d thrown the car into reverse before I could even reach for my seat belt. She bypassed the main road, taking a shortcut through the forest I’d never noticed. The road—if you could even call it that—was bumpy. But it avoided all the cars coming up the main drive for the festival.

Lily tightened her grip on the steering wheel, twisting, her knuckles turning white. Even so, she was focused on the road, driving as fast as she safely could while navigating around all the potholes and rocks.

I braced myself, desperate for something to do. Worried about how Sloan was faring. If she was in pain. If she was okay. If the baby was okay.

I dragged a hand down my face, wishing we weren’t in a small town in the French countryside. It was a great spot for vacationing, but I worried Sloan wouldn’t receive the same quality of care here that she would in a big city like London. Could the team ready the private plane fast enough to get her to Paris? London? Could we hire a…

“Almost there,” Lily said, pulling onto a paved road that led toward town. “I’ll drop you off at the front, and then I’ll go park.”

I appreciated Lily’s measured tone. Her planned approach. Because right now, I wasn’t thinking clearly.

The car had barely stopped when I threw open my door and sprinted into the hospital. Pierce and Jasper were in the waiting room.

“What do we know?” I asked, hugging my brother. “What happened?”

When Jasper said nothing, Pierce jumped in. “Jackson’s with Sloan. He said he’d update us as soon as he knew anything.”

“Good.”

Lily burst through the doors, scanning the room and then coming over to us. Lily gave Jasper a hug and then volunteered to get everyone coffee after we told her what we knew—which was basically nothing.

“Pierce?” she asked. “Would you mind giving me a hand?”

“Sure.”

After they left, Jasper and I took a seat, and I tried to steel myself for the unknown.

Jasper bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I just keep picturing the panic in Jackson’s eyes. He’s always so calm and cool, you know? And he was totally losing his shit.”

A chasm opened up in my chest, but I tried not to let it show. “It’s Sloan and the baby. Of course he was concerned. I’d be losing my shit too if something happened to Lily.”

He gave me a funny look.

I grunted, the equivalent of asking, “What?”

“Why did Lily’s family seem surprised to discover that you two were married?”

“Because…” I blew out a breath. “They have a strained relationship, and she hasn’t spoken to them in months.”

He cringed, squeezing his eyes shut briefly. “I wish I’d known. Now I feel like an ass for inviting them.”

I patted his back. “It’s not your fault.”

“Does Lily hate me?” he asked.

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