“We need to start an IV, stat,” James ordered. Kicking immediately into the role he played best, he helped Bob lie back on the table and propped his feet up.
Her adrenaline jolting, Melissa gathered what she’d need, calling for Debbie so she could send her for anything else that she and James might think of.
“Call Life Flight,” she told the nurse. “We need a helicopter, stat. Bob Woods just popped an aortic aneurysm.”
“Isn’t that fatal?” Debbie asked, her eyes wide while she watched Melissa grab a bag of normal saline IV fluid and an IV line.
“Almost always,” Melissa responded, hating it that statistics said Bob Woods wouldn’t live to see another day.
Within seconds she inserted the needle and was attaching the bag of fluid.
“Give it wide open,” James ordered. “We’ve got to keep enough fluid in him to keep his vital organs profused.”
Bob mumbled something, but his eyes were closed.
“Did you give something to sedate him?”
James shook his head. “He’s gone into shock and his body is cutting off all non-essential functions to conserve energy. Hold his legs completely up.”
Side by side, they did what little could be done until Life Flight arrived.
The moment she heard the buzz of the helicopter, Melissa sighed. Despite their efforts, Bob’s vitals were rapidly dropping as the ruptured aneurysm bled into his abdominal cavity. Actually, his pulse holding as well as it was amazed her. Bob Woods was bleeding to death on the inside.
“They’re taking him to Vanderbilt,” James told her when the helicopter was in the air. “I’ve called and spoken with the emergency room staff. He’ll be taken straight into the operating room on arrival.”
Relief washing over her that everything that could be done to save Bob’s life would be done, she nodded.
A small crowd had gathered in Melissa’s parking lot. Emergency airlifts rarely occurred in Sawtooth, usually from motor vehicle accidents when they did, but never from Melissa’s office.
Her hands shook, her knees wobbled, and her stomach churned, but she forced a smile at the curious onlookers. Debbie was already rushing them back to their business.
A hot flush coated Melissa’s skin with moisture and her eyes dimmed. She needed to sit down. Now.
So she did. Right there in the middle of the parking lot. Still, she fought to keep conscious, so she lowered her head to between her knees. At least, as much as her belly would allow.
“Melissa?” both James and Debbie called. Their voices sounded far away, but she could feel them touching her.
“I’m fine.” But she wasn’t. The stress of the night before, of fighting with James, with knowing she might never hear Bob’s laughter or see him peddling his hand-made rocking chairs ever again, had caught up with her.
“Isn’t this exactly what I’ve been saying was going to happen?” James swore, scooped Melissa into his arms, and headed into the building. “You are going to make some changes if I have to kidnap you and force you to.”
“Debbie heard you threaten me,” she warned, wishing his arms didn’t feel so good around her, wishing his spicy male scent didn’t fill her with lust. Lust! How could she feel desire at a time like this?
“Debbie is so worried about you that she’d pack your bag and wish me luck.”
Melissa closed her eyes, hating her weakness. Her physical weakness that had caused her to sit down in the middle of her parking lot. Her emotional weakness that jumped excitedly at the prospect of him taking her far away, just the two of them somewhere peaceful and stress-free.
“What? No argument?” he asked, as he laid her on the sofa in her office, but she immediately sat up.
Missing his body warmth, Melissa rubbed her bare arms. “I’m OK now. I just got a little light-headed.”
“No.”
“No?” She raised a brow, not understanding what he meant.
“No, you aren’t going to shove aside the hints your body is giving that you need to slow down.”
“James, lots of women get light-headed during pregnancy.”