Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“You’re okay,” I said, using my pocket knife to rip a hole in the airbag so it would deflate faster. “Sarai, sweetheart, you’re okay.”

Her wrist was bent at a weird angle, but I tried not to focus on it as I checked the other parts of her body. She had a goose egg on the side of her forehead where it must have hit the window, and it looked like her nose was broken, but I couldn’t find any other injuries, at least none that were bleeding or noticeable.

“Hey,” I said, gently moving her hair away from her face. “Baby, wake up.”

She didn’t stir.

“Sarai,” I said, louder. The rain began to fall harder, and I tried to shield her from it with my body. “Sarai, wake up.”

“Dad?” she groaned, breaking my heart in two. She went to lift her hand to her face, then cried out in agony.

“Don’t move, sweetheart,” I ordered, my voice cracking. “Don’t move. The ambulance is coming.” Someone had to have called, right? Why couldn’t I hear sirens yet?

“Alex,” she said, her dazed eyes meeting mine. “My face.”

“Just a bump,” I assured her. Was I crying? I couldn’t tell with the rain running down my face.

“Hurts,” she mumbled, her eyes filling with tears.

“I know,” I choked out. “It’s okay. We’ll get you all fixed up, okay? You’re good, baby. You’re fine.”

“Get me out,” she said, panicking as she finally realized where she was. “Get me out of here.”

“We just have to wait a couple more minutes,” I said, holding her still as she tried to shift out of her seat. “Stay right there, okay? Don’t move yet.”

“Why?” she asked, her breathing turning frantic. “Why?” Her eyes scanned the crowd around us as she began to sob.

“You were in an accident,” I said, putting my face near hers. “You’re okay.”

“Get me out,” she said again. “Get me out. Get me out.”

“You have to stay still until the paramedics get here.”

“Alex,” she said, the fear in her voice almost bringing me to my knees. “Get me out of here.”

“Sir,” a voice said behind me. “Please step back.”

“Fuck off,” I replied, shrugging off the hand on my shoulder.

“Sir, you have to let us help.” There was something about his tone, or maybe the firm way his hand met my shoulder again, that got my attention.

I turned my head to find a fireman and a paramedic standing side by side, waiting for me to move. I took a step back, making Sarai call out my name in a panic.

“It’s okay,” I told her, moving back just enough to let them reach her but staying close enough that she could still see me. “They’re going to help you.”

It seemed like it took hours for them to get her out of the car, but it must have been only minutes. I hated the way they moved with calm efficiency. Didn’t they realize that she was my life? Why were they moving so slowly?

I let them speak to Sarai, calming her down in a way that I hadn’t been able to. I took a step back as they helped her out of the car, but when she sat down on the stretcher so they could buckle her in, I lost all feeling in my legs.

I’d been to war. I’d seen things that would never leave me, things that had given me nightmares, things that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I’d lived through them and done my best to move past them. But nothing in my life had prepared me for the sight of the blood covering the back of Sarai’s light-gray pants.

“She’s pregnant,” I choked out as my knees hit the pavement. “My wife’s pregnant.”

* * *

“You did a number on these,” the doctor said as he added another stitch to my arm. “When I’m finished with this one, I’m also going to put a couple in the cut near your elbow.”

“Do what you need to do, Doc,” I murmured, staring into the hallway. After we arrived in the ambulance, they’d tried to put Sarai and me in separate rooms. When I finally convinced them that I wasn’t leaving her side, they’d agreed to let me get fixed up in her room while they took her away for some tests.

She’d been gone for thirty minutes already.

“You’re going to need to keep these clean,” he droned on. “So they don’t get infected.”

I didn’t bother to reply. My mind had wandered back to the scene of the accident.

As I’d gotten to my feet again, I’d heard Sean screaming at Hailey.

“You thought you were gonna leave me? You stupid bitch.”

A three-hundred-pound police officer had pulled me off of him, but not until after I’d broken his jaw. I was damn lucky that they hadn’t arrested me but instead had shoved me toward the ambulance so I could ride to the hospital with Sarai.