Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 2)

Brody looked pained at her words. “I did; I tried everything I could to save her.”

Mina raised her chin angrily. “Obviously, it wasn’t enough because you got her killed.” She pushed him away and stormed over to Veronica who was still crying.

“Listen to me. Mrs. Taylor, listen; she’s not dead. Don’t let them take her to the hospital morgue. Tell them to take her to the emergency room, now!”

Veronica was as pale as a ghost; her lips trembled. Her eyes wouldn’t focus on Mina, but deep down, Mina knew that the woman could hear her. Mina repeated her command over and over until Veronica nodded in agreement.

She stood up and glared at her boyfriend. “She’s right. Don’t let them take my baby to the morgue; she’s not dead.” She pushed Dr. Martin away and opened the back of the ambulance. She crawled in next to the stretcher and her daughter’s still form zipped in a black bag. She motioned for Mina to join her in the ambulance.

Ignoring a bewildered Brody and an angry Dr. Martin, she jumped in the ambulance and slid across from Veronica, who was having a very interesting argument with the ambulance driver.

“NO! You take us right to the emergency room right now. You put those fancy lights and horns on now. We have a girl to save.”

The EMTs looked over their shoulder at Dr. Martin, who closed the back door and slid next to his fiancée, for confirmation. He looked warily over at Mina and the stubborn mother fighting a lost cause, and he sighed wearily. “Well, you heard her, go!”

The two paramedics shrugged their shoulders, hit the lights, and pulled out onto the road toward the hospital.

Mina zipped open the bag and had to stop herself from crying out. There was so much blood across Nan’s face, but it was mostly from a head wound. She couldn’t see anything that was life threatening or that was an obvious reason behind her death. It gave Mina hope. She looked around the ambulance, recognized a stethoscope, and handed it to Dr. Martin. “Don’t give up,” she whispered to him encouragingly.

“We have an electronic heart monitor, Mina,” he said dejectedly, already giving up. “They tried to resuscitate her and it didn’t work.”

Mina shook her head. “Machines can make mistakes. People can make mistakes. Don’t listen to this.” She pointed to the heart monitor. “Listen to this.” Mina reached forward and touched his chest. “What is your heart telling you? Mine is telling me to believe, to have faith.”

He took the silver stethoscope while tears poured out of his eyes. He put the plugs in his ears and leaned forward to listen to Nan’s lifeless heart. Mina waited with baited breath and prayed. They pulled onto the main highway, and the ambulance picked up speed. Veronica encouraged them to use the siren, and they caught her urgency.

Minutes ticked by with nothing. What is going on? Mina thought to herself. Maeve promised that she was going to save Nan’s life. Dr. Martin took down the hand pump and put it over Nan’s mouth and nose. He adjusted the knob on the air tank and started her on the artificial breathing; he listened to her heart and then began the chest compressions. There were no obvious signs of life coming from her, so he continued the basics of lifesaving CPR. They ambulance turned off the highway and onto the main road to the hospital. Still there were no signs from Nan.

“Come on, baby,” Veronica whispered, holding her daughter’s hand between hers. “Come on, baby, breathe.”

“You can do it, Nan,” Dr. Martin coaxed. “Do it for your mom and me.” He continued the chest compressions, but after another thirty seconds Mina could see the defeat in his eyes.

Mina began to cry again as the ambulance turned into the hospital and headed for the emergency entrance. This wasn’t part of the deal. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

Dr. Martin reached for the stethoscope to take it off, but Veronica grabbed his hands, desperation ringing in her voice. “Please, Robert, listen one more time.”

He hung his head afraid to look at her, but he did it. He leaned down, placed the metal circle over Nan’s heart, and listened.

Mina and Veronica held their breath in anticipation, hoping to make it quiet enough for him to hear. The ambulance pulled up to the doors, and nurses ran out to greet them. Dr. Martin dropped onto Nan’s chest and began to cry loudly. Veronica covered her mouth to keep the sobs from spilling forth. She touched his shoulder in comfort.

“It’s okay, Robert. You tried your best,” she soothed.

The back doors opened up, and the emergency team grabbed the stretcher and pulled it to the street and took Nan’s body indoors to the emergency room.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t...I couldn’t…” He raised his head to look at Veronica. His eyes were not filled with grief but with guilt.

Veronica’s hand flew to her heart in despair as Dr. Martin’s shoulders began to silently shake. “What is it?”

They began to shake even harder. “I heard it,” he laughed, tears streaming out of the corner of his eyes. “I didn’t believe it at first, but I heard her heartbeat! Veronica, Nan’s alive!”

They both looked in wonder at the hospital stretcher being rolled into the first emergency room, as doctor after doctor ran in to take care of a living, breathing Nan. The paramedics from the front seat turned to look at the motley crew in the back seat and started cheering.

Chapter 19

While it wasn’t the full recovery that Mina had hoped for, it was better than being dead. Nan’s heart started beating and she was breathing on her own, but she was in a deep coma. It didn’t matter to Veronica; all that mattered was that her baby was alive.

What confused Mina was the fact that she was still in a coma. That wasn’t part of the bargain, but she did try and recall her words with Maeve. Well, she fought for Nan, but obviously it wasn’t enough. She changed, she was more angry than confused. It wasn’t until she cornered Ever at school that she got some answers.