By the time I pulled onto their street, I felt the same kind of tense, rolling motion in my stomach that I used to get before my fights. It wasn’t nerves, not exactly. It was not knowing the outcome of a short, specific window of time. No outlet of the energy making my feet bounce, no way to take control of the situation yet.
That’s when I saw the red and white of the ambulance in the driveway.
“Oh, God,” I breathed. I wasn’t sure if it was a plea or a prayer or a way to prepare myself for the absolute worst.
The back of the ambulance was open, no one was in sight. I saw a few neighbors standing in their front yard trying to get a glimpse of what was happening.
I yanked the truck up onto the curb and threw the gear shift into park, sprinting around the side of the house into the backyard.
I saw the back of the paramedics first, Emmett standing to the side next. He was wiping tears.
“Anya?” I shouted.
A male paramedic turned and I saw Isabel reclining on the gurney, her arm in the hand of the other medic, blood on her temple, and my daughter wrapped tight in her arms. Anya turned her face to me with a smile, and my panic eased immediately. Her grip never lessened on Isabel.
“What happened?” I asked, running my hand over Anya’s back.
“We fell,” Anya said.
My heart stopped when I saw the broken branch on the grass.
“Your daughter is fine,” the paramedic assured me.
Isabel’s eyes finally met mine, and I saw her apology before she even opened her mouth. “I should’ve been watching them more closely.”
I held up my hand to stop her. “It’s okay, I promise.”
The sight of the cut at her hairline, the way she winced when the female paramedic pressed onto her wrist, it was almost too much.
“Is it broken?” I asked.
The woman turned to me and shook her head. “I don’t think so. But it’s almost impossible to know without getting it checked out at the hospital.”
Isabel’s eyes closed tightly. “I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
Judging by the look the paramedics shared, this was not the first time she’d said it.
Instead of arguing with the bleeding woman on the gurney, like I wanted to, I turned and set my hand on Emmett’s shoulder. “You okay, buddy?”
He nodded, but I could tell he’d been crying.
The guy tending to Isabel’s forehead gave Emmett a smile. “He was the one who called nine-one-one as soon as they fell.” Isabel hissed when he cleaned around the cut. “I don’t think it needs stitches, but Miss Ward, you very well might have a concussion, I’d strongly advise you to let us take you in.”
Isabel glanced at me, but her eyes didn’t hold mine for very long. “I don’t feel nauseous, I never lost consciousness—”
“That you know of,” the woman wrapping her wrist interjected.
Anya snuggled her face into Isabel’s neck, her arms tightening to the point that Isabel winced.
“Gingersnap,” I said quietly, “can we give the paramedics a little room to finish checking her out?”
When Anya didn’t immediately get off Isabel’s lap, Isabel turned her head and whispered something I couldn’t make out. Her good hand smoothed soothing circles on my daughter’s back, and Anya nodded at whatever she heard.
The sight of it almost knocked me to my knees. I couldn’t breathe through it, couldn’t even name it if I tried.
“She’s okay,” Isabel said quietly. “I don’t mind.”
Through the roaring in my head, my heart, all I could manage was a slight nod.
The woman finished wrapping Isabel’s wrist and gestured for me to step away from the gurney with her. I swiped a hand over my mouth and tried to gather my racing thoughts.
“Your daughter is very lucky,” she said quietly.
“You sure she’s okay?”
She nodded. “From what the boy said, Miss Ward took the entire impact with how she turned her body. Her side is going to have a nasty bruise, but it seems like her wrist hit first. ”
My jaw tightened dangerously. “You think she should go in?”
With a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders. “We can’t force her. Emmett agreed that she never passed out when she fell. Her wrist and hip took the brunt of her fall, but there’s no telling exactly where or how hard she hit her head.”
Isabel smiled at something Anya told her, even as the guy finished cleaning the cut, and when he covered it with a butterfly bandage, she never took her eyes off my daughter.
The way my heart raced took on a dangerous edge, a hazardous speed that I couldn’t quite pin down.
Too soon.
Too soon.
Too soon.
Isabel as a temptation for me alone was one thing, hidden in quiet moments between the two of us where it was about greedy hands and whispered desires. But Isabel showing me glimpses of a future I’d mourned was something I wasn’t prepared for.
“She can’t be alone tonight,” the paramedic said, interrupting the speeding train of my thoughts. “She mentioned her family is out of town, but I don’t know how soon someone could be here. She didn’t want to worry them if she could avoid it.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I replied.
Like she heard me, or heard the hard-edged tone of my voice, Isabel’s eyes locked onto mine.
No longer did she look apologetic or pale.
Instantly, I was transported back to the night we were in the gym, she had that same combative look in her eye.
As I approached the gurney, Isabel sat up and my daughter finally unfolded herself. Anya held out her arms to me, and I gathered her into a tight hug. Her small body clutched in my arms, I finally let out a full breath.
“Am I in trouble?” she whispered.
I smiled a little. “No. But no more climbing tall trees, okay, gingersnap?”
“Okay, daddysnap.” She leaned back to smile at me, and my stomach turned over when I saw a smudge of dirt on her cheek.
“Can you go watch some TV with Emmett while I talk to Miss Isabel?”
She nodded.
I set her down, and gave a manly nod to Emmett. “Thanks for taking good care of her, bud.”
He smiled, the color in his face looking better. “You’re welcome.”
The paramedic helped Isabel stand from the gurney, and she winced when she brought her full weight to her feet. Both medics watched her carefully as she walked toward me, but her balance seemed fine, even if her progress was slow. I snagged a chair from the patio table next to me and slid it closer to her.
She smiled gratefully, bracing her hand on the back. “I should probably get some coverage for class tomorrow, huh?”
I exhaled in a sharp burst. “I’d say so.”
“I’ll call Kelly,” she sighed. “She owes me. But I’ll be back on Monday.”
Tilting my head, I regarded her steadily. “If you’re making a call right now, it’s going to be someone in your family to see who can come back and stay with you.”
She swore. “I need to call Molly.”
“How long until she can be here?” I asked.
Isabel wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’ll just … text her real quick.”
“How long until anyone can be here?” I amended.