Page 34 of Kid
“Helen!” I barely knew her, but she had been kind. “They should have given you the night off.”
She giggled. “Night off? What’s that again?”
We both laughed.
“I haven’t had a night off in more than a year.” She exclaimed. “And it hasn’t been a lack of trying.”
“Wow.” I sighed. “You should rest.”
“I agree.”
“My boyfriend is coming.” I told her. “His name Ronan Arrowood, could you make sure he finds me. Actually, he may show up with his brothers—you can’t miss ‘em.”
Helen nodded. “How are you feeling?” She asked, flashing her light in my eyes then checking my pulse and blood pressure.
“I have a little bit of a headache.”
“Hrm…” She took my temperature. “That’s to be expected. It could be the adrenaline crash, or the bump to the head. If it gets worse, you call me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“We need to keep an eye on it. I’ll come back in about an hour.”
After scribbling on my chart, she left me alone to the silence in my head.
“Let’s recap.” I muttered. “Mama had Calie’s will read before I could get home. By the time I came home to read Calie’s will, it said Calie had left Jeremy to her.”
I closed my eyes, in an attempt at stemming the pain. The pulsing lessened and I exhaled and opened my eyes.
“Jeremy gets grabbed from mama’s yard.” I continued. “Someone called—maybe for a ransom and mama hangs up on them. Someone smashed up Kid’s car and I almost got kidnapped. Are these even related? There’s no way they aren’t related. They have to be. These kinds of things don’t just happen to a person.”
The more I tried figuring it out, the worse my headache became until any bit of light made it feel as though my brain was about to pop out of my skull.
“Nel?” Chelsea’s voice caused me to open my eyes.
“Could you turn off that light?” I asked.
“We can dim it.” Chelsea replied. “Hang on.”
Moments passed.
“Good.” Chelsea cooed to m. “You can open your eyes now.”
She as standing by my bed—very, very pregnant.
“You didn’t have to come down.” I told her, rubbing her belly. “But if you’re going to be somewhere when the baby comes, a hospital is the best place.’
Chelsea grinned. “Right! That’s how I managed to talk Demon into letting me leave the bed.”
“Where’s Kid?” I asked around my laughter. “And how did you get here?”
“Kid’s coming.” Chelsea explained, sitting beside me, and leaning forward to kiss my forehead. “Demon drove me. He’s looking for parking. We were closer to you. What happened?”
I told her the story and she frowned. “Okay, that’s weird. And you’re sure no one saw you with Kid?”
“Just my mother.” I sniffled. “I really don’t want to think she would be so hateful that she’d go after Kid like that. Especially after he’s gone out of his way to help us find Jeremy.”
“But you and I both know she’s capable of some petty things.” Chelsea made a face.
