Page 121 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“It was like a heat wave pushed out from the fire and tossed me in the air. Knocked me straight onto my back. All of those trees by the tank, the trunks, they just broke. Like snapping a toothpick in half. When I got up and looked around, I saw Milo first.”
Beau stopped for a minute to close his eyes and tip his head back against the wall. I didn’t prompt him or ask him to keep going. At this point, I wished he would stop. Just leave the next part unsaid. Because I knew what he was going to tell me and I didn’t want to hear it.
But he continued, oblivious to my silent wishing. “Jess was coming to. He was on his back, looking up and over at me. He got thrown right into a fallen tree. Landed with such force that one of the old limbs was sticking out right through his side. We packed it with some snow and I helped Jess in the truck. I put as much snow as I could on Milo. I don’t know if it was enough . . .”
I forced a breath and closed my eyes.
“Drove as fast as I could. Panicked the whole time. Milo was still out in the back. Jess was cussing. He said that if Wes were still alive, he’d kill him for this. I was so focused on driving, Gigi, I didn’t notice when he stopped talking. But then right before we pulled up to the hospital, he said, ‘Love Georgia. She’s my light.’ Then that was it. He closed his eyes and fell against the door.”
My eyes were leaking a steady stream of tears but I wasn’t crying out or sobbing. I didn’t have any of that left. The day had drained me completely. Emotionally and physically. All I had left were silent tears.
“I should have gone to Jess first,” Beau said.
“No,” I heard from above us.
Everett was standing against the wall opposite us.
“Milo was the right one to go to first. Packing snow on his burns was smart. If you hadn’t done that to take some of the heat out, they would have been ten times worse. You saved his life,” Everett said.
Beau didn’t respond. He just lifted his head off the wall and turned to me. “Do you need a ride home?” he asked.
“No,” I whispered. “It’s only eight. Rowen will still be awake and I can’t . . . I can’t explain all of this to her tonight.”
How was I going to tell her about Jess? I couldn’t think about it. It was too much. Telling her would make this day all too real.
“Right,” Beau said and stood up. He started walking down the hall but not before he stopped and stared down Everett. At least Everett had the intelligence to look at his feet and not stare back. With all Beau had been through today, a challenge from his sister’s ex-boyfriend would have pushed him over the edge. Not that Everett was the challenging type.
“Let me know if you need anything, Gigi,” Everett said, pushing off the wall to leave.
“Everett? Thank you. You saved their lives today. And I’ll always be grateful for what you and Dr. Peterson did for Jess. That he’s alive in there because of you,” I said, tipping my head toward Jess’s recovery room.
“It’s my job, Gigi,” Everett said.
“Thank you for doing your job,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
“You’re welcome. Good night.”
I needed a bit of alone time, some space to replay the day and get it sorted in my head. Tomorrow, I would need to tell Rowen about Jess’s injury. Noelle too.
When Beau had brought in Milo and Jess, they had been in bad shape. Minutes away from death. I shuddered to think what would have happened if Beau hadn’t been able to get to the hospital so fast. If he had hit just one roadblock or delay, today would have ended much, much worse. And that was saying something because as it was, it was really effing bad.
Milo had been treated for burns and a concussion. The burns were so severe that Dr. Peterson and Everett had sedated him so he wouldn’t wake up. Then they’d called Mercy Flight to airlift Milo to Spokane’s burn unit.
It was likely he’d be there for months and even when he was healed, it was doubtful he’d ever look the same again. His arms and torso had sustained the worst burns. He could cover those up with clothing. But there were still burns on his face that would scar.
Jess had lost a lot of blood. The puncture wound from the tree had gone through his body, leaving a hole about the size of a golf ball from front to back. Because he’d lost so much blood, his heart had stopped beating just before Beau had arrived at the hospital. Dr. Peterson suspected he’d gone only a minute without oxygen to his brain and they’d been able to revive him before taking him into surgery.
Six hours. Jess had been in surgery for six hours, getting a tear to his liver repaired and the other internal bleeding stopped. When the doctors came out of the operating room, they told me Jess had been extraordinarily lucky. If that branch had been an inch closer to the center of his body, it would have severed his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed. As it was, he was now stabilized and would eventually make a full recovery. All he’d have to deal with were some scars.
He was off of the sedation drugs but hadn’t woken up yet. Since I wanted to be here when he did, I’d asked Maisy if she could pick up Rowen and take her home. She’d been more than happy to help and had offered to spend the night at the farmhouse so I could stay with Jess.
Beau had stayed by my side all day, waiting to hear that his friends were going to live and giving me silent support. I didn’t know him well, but after today, I would be eternally grateful. The Holts were good people. The best. And I was glad I was here in Prescott where they could be a part of my life.
I wasn’t alone anymore.
Standing up from the floor, I walked into Jess’s room.
He was in a white hospital gown underneath a dull blue blanket. He looked smaller, lying in the hospital bed. His large body still took up most of the space and his feet were hanging off the end, but still, he looked smaller. Smaller than my Jess, who towered over me and picked me up like I weighed no more than a feather.
