Page 49 of Fractured Grief
His face looked so bleak, but he nodded. “They had to sedate her. She’s been through a terrible ordeal, Mr. Clark. She has a concussion and a broken arm, but other than that, she is fine and will heal.”
The relief that rocketed through me was short-lived. “Where’s Lexi, ah, Alexandra?”
“I’m sosorry, sir. Your wife didn’t make it. She died at the scene.” His eyes shone with compassion, but that couldn’t be right. Lexi was here somewhere. She had to be. Lexi couldn’t be gone.
“No, she’s here. She’s fine. She’s the strongest person I know. She wouldn’t leave us.” I couldn’t believe his words; it couldn’t be real.
“I’m sorry, sir. She’s dead.” He gently pushed my swaying body back into the chair by Hazel’s bed. “I’ll give you a moment.” He left the room as his words finally sank in, and my hands gripped my chest as agony lanced through me.
Lexi was dead…
“Indy?” A voice that brought warmth to my soul broke through my daze. I was so lost in the past, I didn’t register Seb’s large body filling the car’s door frame. He held his hand out and helped me to my feet.
I still felt weak and shaking, but thankfully, the nausea seemed to have passed, for now.
Entering Doc’s clinic, it was surprisingly inviting and not dark or depressing like I’d feared. Knowing Hazel was on her way, I didn’t want it to feel anything like a hospital. The poor girl was still scared after losing her mother.
Lyric and Seb helped me to one of the backrooms; Doc guided us to it. Seb spoke quickly to Lyric while Doc helped me up onto the bed. Seb came around to my other side and held my hand.
“Lyric’s gone to wait outside for Emmy and Hazel,” he said reassuringly. “They’ll be here soon.”
“Thank you,” I said in a whisper.
Doc got to work, narrating what he was doing as he cleaned my wound, numbed the area, and cut out a piece of porcelain that had been healed over. He then set me up with an IV antibiotic drip. I needed to stay for half an hour for the infusion to finish, then I could go home.
“Although I don’t want you driving,” Doc warned.
“He can stay with me,” Seb spoke hesitantly.
“No, I can’t. What about Hazel? I don’t have any of her things.” My mind was racing.
“You can both stay with me. I’ll get Ma to grab some things for Hazel. It will be okay,” Seb’s voice soothed me.
Leaning on Seb was as easy as breathing. He’d take care of us. I closed my eyes and let the drip work its magic.
It felt like my eyes had only been closed for a second when Hazel’s voice broke through my drowsy state.
“Daddy!” Hazel was up on the bed, hugging my chest before anyone could stop her.
“Shhh, Daddy’s okay, sweetheart. I’m okay.” I held her close and kissed her flyaway curls. “Did you have fun riding with Miss Emerson?”
“Oh yes, she let me pick any music I wanted.” Hazel sat up to beam at me, ready to start her usual play-by-play of all I’d missed, until she saw my arm. “What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“I have a little infection, and this is the medicine that will make me feel better,” I gestured to the IV.
“So, you’ll be okay?” She asked as she put her hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at her.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling at her.
“Okay.” She flopped back onto my chest to cuddle. She settled in and was not likely to move until we left.
“Hi, Indy,” Miss Emerson waved from the foot of the bed. “I’m glad that you’ll be okay.”
“Thank you so much for bringing Haze. It was such a huge help. Thank you.”
“It was no problem. She’s a sweetheart.” Emily’s smile was sad as she took in the way Hazel was burrowing into my chest. She turned to Seb. “Small world, huh?”
“Yeah, it is,” Seb smiled at her, with a little too much familiarity, before turning to me.
