Page 38 of The Naughty One
“Tonight is not the time for retribution. Tonight we’re talking, remember. Just you andme.”
Blue stared down at her. “I’ve never told anyone about what Hilary did to me. Not one person. I was stupid to think I could keep it from you, especially after you trusted me enough to tell me aboutMortimer.”
“There are bad, bad people in the world,” Romy said quietly. “And they all have their reasons, however fucked up, to want to hurt us. It’s up to us to make sure theycan’t.”
Blue stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “You’reright.”
Romy leaned into his touch. “Blue … we’re going to get through this, I swear we will.” She took his hand and led him to their bedroom. “Let’s go to bed, baby. In the morning, we’ll talk more, and we’ll make a plan where to go fromhere.”
Blue kissed her tenderly. “You got it,beautiful.”
It seemed onlya few moments after they closed their eyes that the call came, and they knew it was about to be one of the worst days of theirlives.
Chapter17
So much blood.The floors of the emergency room were covered with it, making the rushing staff slip and slide in it as they tried to cope with the influx of seriously injured and dyingpatients.
A high-speed train had missed a stop signal, plowing into another passenger train at the station. Hundreds were injured, dozens dead, and worst of all, as Mac told Romy as they hurriedly changed into scrubs, there were a lot offamilies.
“There are kids,” he said, dead-eyed, and Romy feltsick.
It was worse than she’d expected. Blue, some of his fellow attendings, and Beau Quinto, were all down in the ER or in the operating rooms desperately trying to save people with horrific injuries. The first few hours saw so many people brought in dead that Romy lostcount.
The ER was overrun, a warzone, and she yelled out to Mac, “Why aren’t the other hospitals taking inemergencies?”
Mac gave a steady look. “Theyare…”
“Jesus.” Romy could not fathom the scope of the accident. On Christmas nighttoo.
Warren, the orderly she vaguely knew, helped out, arranging places for the treated to go, and she threw him a grateful glance. “You’re the best,Warren.”
He nodded shyly. Romy caught sight of Blue, his face pale and stressed. He nodded to her and mouthed, “Youokay?”
She nodded. If she let her feelings take over, she wouldscream.
Beau came over. “Romy, we’re sending a team into the field. You, Mac, Blue, and myself will go to begin with. Get some supplies together, as many as we can spare, and let’sgo.”
As they rodein the ambulance down to the King Street Station, Beau briefed them. “The station building itself is undamaged so there’s a triage area that has been set up inside. Look, there are a lot of dead and a lot of injured, as you know, but we still have people trapped who might need surgery in situ. It’s going to be upsetting and dangerous, but I trust all of you. Staysafe.”
Even Beau’s words could not have prepared them for the horror of what they found in the mangled wreckage. Romy felt her composure slip when she saw the dead bodies of two children, rendered unrecognizable by their injuries, being lifted from the train, and she turned away, taking in deep breaths.People need you. Get agrip.
The doctors went to work with the same efficiency they had employed in their own emergency room. Romy worked closely with the first responders both on the track and in the train’s vast waitingarea.
Hours passed, night turned into day turned into night again. Drooping from exhaustion, the medical staff nevertheless kept up their treatment, dispatching as many patients as they could to hospitals in the area. The less injured were ferried down as far as Portland to getbeds.
Blue came to find Romy as the second night drew on and they grabbed a couple of private momentstogether.
“You okay,bub?”
She nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t convinced. “First majorincident?”
She half laughed. “Yep, having a lot of ‘firsts’ thisyear.”
He hugged her tightly. “Beau says another hour and he’ll callit.”
“Okay. I’m just going to do another sweep of theplace.”
“Okay, I’ll take the other end of the station. See you in afew.”
