Page 96 of Breaking Emily's Rules
Dear God. She’d seen pictures of compound fractures in the textbooks Dylan had brought home when he was studying to be an EMT. With shaking fingers Molly dialed 9-1-1 and explained the situation. In her arms, Sierra started to whimper. “It’s okay, honey. It’s okay.”
“Owie, Daddy. Owie,” Sierra cried.
“Molly, I’m going into shock. Can you get a blanket from inside?” Even though he was gritting his teeth, Dylan might as well be talking about the weather.Did you see those clouds? I think it might rain.
Molly carried Sierra on her hip, trying to comfort her. “Daddy just needs a blanket because he’s cold. It’s going to be all right.”
She pulled a blanket off Dylan’s bed and rushed back outside. Molly covered him with it and then laid his head on her lap. She held on to Sierra’s hand, not that she would go anywhere right now. Her little girl bent down and gently petted Dylan’s head.
“Thank you.” Dylan said before he passed out.
* * *
Molly tried textingEmilya hundred times to let her know what had happened, but she hadn’t responded in the past fifteen minutes. Probably because she was up in a plane again.
“Call me back when you get this, Em. I have a serious problem here and I need you.”
What should Molly do? What would Emily do?
Emily would fix this. She’d know what to do. Or at least, she would have before she’d turned into some whacked-out version of Molly’s big sister. Flying planes and acting like she’d lost her brain somewhere.
Molly was supposed to be the wild one, not Emily. But Molly was here at the hospital with her little girl, waiting to hear news about her husband. Emily was hanging out with Mr. Studley and flying planes. Maybe even joining the mile-high club. It was like opposite-day around here.
Sierra’s little head rested on Molly’s shoulder, as though the ordeal had worn her out, too. The nurse had stated in no uncertain terms that Molly was not to walk through those double doors without an invitation. So they were both stuck in the ER waiting room.
“Where is he? Oh my darling boy, what has he done now? Why does he insist on climbing trees? It’s like he’s still seven.” Violet marched up to the triage desk. “Excuse me, where is Dylan Hill? I’m his mother.”
“Nana!” Sierra squealed and climbed down from Molly’s lap.
“My baby girl! There you are!” Violet bent down to pick up Sierra, who rushed into her arms. She looked up to see Molly, right behind Sierra. “What did you do, push him out of the tree?”
“It’s good to see you too, Violet. He’s going to be okay. It’s a compound fracture.”
“I might have known you’d be involved. Why did you let him prune that tree? He should have hired someone to do it.”
Naturally, it was always Molly’s fault. Her fault when she got pregnant, her fault she refused to have an abortion and her fault that Dylan wanted to get married. The precious granddaughter Violet now cradled in her arms might not even be here today if not for Molly’s choice. But never mind all that.
“Which one of you is Molly?” the triage nurse interrupted.
“That’s me. I’m—I’m his wife.”
Molly swallowed.Why are they asking for me? Are they contacting the next of kin? Please don’t let me lose Dylan. Don’t let Sierra lose her daddy.
“He wants to see you.”
“We’ll both go. I’m his mother. I’m sure he mentioned me. Let’s go, Molly.” Violet started to walk past the nurse, who held out an outstretched palm.
“One at a time. And the baby stays in the waiting room.”
Molly followed the nurse past the swinging doors and three curtained stalls until they got to Dylan. “We have him on a drip for the pain, but knowing our Dylan, he’s probably still as sharp as a tack.”
The affection in her tone was palpable. Naturally everyone in the ER would know him. The nurse patted the bed, checked the IV drip and left them alone.
Molly was afraid to get too close, because she might be tempted to touch him again and that hadn’t worked out so well the last time.
“Are you okay?” A stupid question, as he most definitely was not okay.
He looked at her, his amber eyes faded. “It’s not painful anymore. But I’m going into surgery.”
