Blissful volume 3 (New Adult Romance) (2 page)

BOOK: Blissful volume 3 (New Adult Romance)
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Shit.

Placing my hands crossed on his chest, I start giving him CPR. In between pumps, I give him a few breaths, but it doesn’t seem to work.

“Jack, please
,” I whisper, as I continue working on him.

I’m cold, soaked, and shivering. We’re covered in mud and
dreck, but that’s the least of my concerns right now. I can’t stop trying to resuscitate him.

“Jack. C’mon, fight!
” I say, and I push his chest some more.

Breathe and push, breathe and push.
“Jack, breathe, breathe!”

Tears start to flow down my cheeks, because I know
that the longer it takes, the fewer chances he has of surviving. Was he under too long?

How much time passed since he went in an
d I found him?

God, he could’ve been in there for ages. I hope I found him in time.
I don’t want him to die.

Sniffing, I say,
“No, you can’t die, Jack.”

I don’t know if I’m talking to him, o
r to myself. He can’t die. Madeline needs him. I need him.

I do the best I can to get him to breathe again. I won’t let him go. I can’t.

Suddenly he bursts. Water spills from his mouth and he seems to be gagging on it.

My heart is in overdrive as soon as I see him fight for life.

I roll him onto his side so he can gurgle out the goo that’s inside his lungs. My hands are on his chest, and I can feel his heartbeat slowly coming into a steady pace again. Oh, thank God.

In the distance sirens come closer
, and I know it’s the ambulance.

Madeline
runs up to us and when she sees Jack, she makes a sprint. “Daddy!” she screams, and she slides the last inches on her knees.

“Maddy, no!” I try to hold her back, but it’s no use anymore.

She throws herself onto him, clamping on for dear life. Her eyes are watery and it breaks my heart that she has to see him like this. He’s wheezing, and I know that’s not good.

When the ambulance arrives, medics jump out and hurry toward us. They ask me all sorts of questions I don’t know how to answer, like what happened to him, how long he’s been under, if he has any medical problems and his history. I wasn’t here. I only rescued him.

They bring a stretcher and haul him to the ambulance.

I grab my ph
one from Madeline’s hands and dial Ben’s number. I’m so glad Jack gave it to me a couple of days ago, in case of emergencies such as these.

“Ben? Jack’s been in an accident.” My voice is hoarse and crackly. I know what I say sounds horrible, and I hope he doesn’t get a heart attack just from hearing this.

“What?”

“Can you meet us at the hospital? It’s serious.”

“Yes, of course. What happened to him? Is he okay?”

“He was in the water. I saved him. I don’t know.” I’m trembling, and I try not to break out into tears.

“Oh no …” Ben says, and I can almost hear him his mind making over hours. I know what he’s thinking. He must know about Jack’s wife. He has to know where it happened, and when I say he drowned, of course he’s thinking about the exact same thing.

“Please, come to the hospital. They’re taking him
with the ambulance now. I have to go,” I say, and I hang up the phone.

I want to be with Jack, but I can’t just leave my car here on the open roa
d. It might be better for Madeline not to see him like that, either.

I grab her hand as the medics put Jack in
the back of the ambulance. Madeline screams for him, digging her feet into the sand, but I have to take her with me. She can’t stay with him by herself, and I have to drive to the hospital with them in my own car.

She’s sobbing as we sit down in my car and make the long drive. It seems like hours before we finally arrive at a big city, and even longer before we reach our destination. I don’t even take the time to park my car properly before
jumping out. Madeline’s right beside me as we run into the hospital, following the guys with the stretcher. My eyes never leave Jack, hoping I might be able to see him open his eyes.

But they push him into an intensive care and hold us back.

“Sorry, ma’am, but you’ll have to wait.” He holds up his hand before going inside and closing the door behind him.

The silence the man leaves is overwhelming.

I’m standing here with a kid that’s not mine, and she might lose her father, the only one she’s got left. I might lose Jack.

Sniffing, I force the tears back and clutch Ma
deline’s hand tight. I have to be strong for her. I’m the only one she has right now, and I need to comfort her. Things like this can leave permanent scars in a little kid’s heart, and I want to stop that from happening.

I sit down with her close to the door Jack went through and hold her tight. She’s sobbing, and her little hands
grasp my shirt, as if I’m the last thing she has to cling to. Poor thing. Well, it’s not like I’m okay myself. I’m in shambles. Soaked to the bone, and I haven’t even found something to warm up with.

A nurse comes by and hands me a blanket when she sees me dripping all over the benches. She offers me a change of clothes, but it’ll be a blue outfit then. Oh well, I don’t mind. It’s better than staying wet.

When Ben barges in a few minutes later and sees me his brows furrow and his lips pull down. I stand up, and he pulls me in for a big squishing hug.

“Oh, Amy,” he says.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

He grabs my shoulders. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I found him in the water. His truck was lying in it, and I had to drag him out. It looked completely wrecked.”

“Oh, God …” Ben puts his hand on his mouth and shakes his head. “This is terrible.”

I nod and hide my eyes behind my hand. I don’t want him to see me cry. More importantly, I don’t want Madeline to see me like this. Another broken person in her life is not what she needs right now.

“Hey, it’ll be all right,” Ben says, and he squeezes my arm lightly. “They’
re doing their best on him.”

“But what if he won’t make it? Oh, god, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t poured his alcohol through the drain like that, he would still be at home, alive and well.”

“He’s alive, I’m sure of it. Don’t put yourself down like that. Jack’s been like this for ages. Trust me, I know. I’ve seen this coming. He’s like a ticking time bomb.”

“What do you mean?” I ask while we both sit down.

“Well, I’ve been taking care of little Maddy ‘ere, on and off.” He winks at her, trying to lighten the mood, and she smiles.

“Problems were … multitude with Jack. He and Rose never planned on having … Well you know.
It just happened,” he whispers.

He
must mean Madeline. I’m sure he doesn’t want her to hear we’re talking about her.


He couldn’t handle it … had a lot of arguments with his wife. She ran off. You probably know the rest by now.”

“She died in the same water. On that same bridge.”

“You found him there?” Ben’s eyes widen. “Damn, it’s worse than I imagined.”


Do you think he meant to …?” I stammer. The words hang in my throat, and I can’t get them out, thinking of the horrible things coming to mind. No, Jack’s not like that, is he?

“No, no. I don’t believe he’s capable of
that. He knows he’s got Maddy now. He wouldn’t just follow Rose. He was probably just trying to get his head straight, and something must’ve happened.” Ben coughs. “You know, Jack’s been trying to get his life back together ever since. He’s been spending a lot of time with Maddy and loves her dearly.” He glances at Madeline for a moment, whose ears perk up when she hears her name.


I love daddy, too,” she says.

It brings the tears right back into my eyes.
I never knew Jack had so many problems with Madeline. He blames himself for everything. Is that why he can’t start anything new? Is he afraid to forgive himself?

“I’m just saying. I know Jack
’s got some problems, but he’s a nice guy, and he deserved better,” Ben says.

He gets up with a grunt and stretches his leg. “This
ol’ geezer ain’t used to sitting for long periods of time, so why don’t you lemme get ya some drinks, ‘kay?” He walks toward a coffee machine and puts a cup under.

“Sure … I could use an energy boost. And something warm,” I say.

When Ben brings me my coffee and Madeline some lemonade, we’re all silent. Nobody knows what to say. There’s nothing to say that will make things better. However, I’ve not seen Madeline quiet for so long, and it’s almost scary.

When a doctor emerges from the room Jack’s in, I jump
off my seat and almost spill my coffee on the floor.

“Mister
McCallister was under water for quite some time and has suffered hypothermia. We’ve managed to stabilize his temperature for now. He’s been lucky to have you resuscitate him in time, which got his oxygen flowing again,” he says, and he smiles at me. “He’s awake. You can see him now.”

I don’t wait for another word before I walk inside the room. When I see
Jack lying there, covered with a thick blanket, all wired up, it drains the blood from my face.

Nurses leave us alone as Maddy
and I walk into the room with Ben behind us. We’re all anxious to see him, but didn’t expect it to be like this. He’s black and blue, bruised all over, his face pale white and his lips dry and contorted. He doesn’t look at all like the man I’ve grown to like.

I swallow away the fear I have of seeing him like this and grab his hand. He’s cold as ice, and it makes me shiver. The machines beeping tell us he’s alive and well, but if it were
n’t for those things, I wouldn’t even notice. He’s so silent and still.

Ben picks up Madeline
and lets her sit on his bed side. She rests her head on his chest and clutches the blanket, her tears staining it. I purse my lips together to stop myself from crying with her. I’m sad and happy at the same time. Happy that he’s all right and that he’s made it, but sad that we have to see him so fragile. Jack’s been so strong all this time and seeing him lying here, broken, is killing me.

Suddenly I hear a noise coming from his mouth. He’s groaning.

My eyes widen and I lean in closer to see if I’m dreaming, but I’m not. His lips are parting.

“Jack,”
I whisper, and I release his hand, because I don’t want them to notice.

“Daddy!” Madeline yells, and she squeezes him so tight that he starts coughing.

“Careful, Maddy,” Ben says, and he takes her hand off him. “Daddy’s a little sick right now. Gotta be gentle with him.”

“Daddy, you’re okay!” she yells, and she hugs him some more.

Seeing Jack open his eyes puts a smile on my face, and I have trouble holding back the tears.

Squinting, he gazes at Maddy and lifts his fingers to caress her face. “Hey, sweetie,” he says.

“I thought you were going away, too, like mommy did,” Madeline says.

It breaks my heart hearing her say that. She
’s so painfully aware of what happened to her mom. This little girl must’ve been through so much crap in her short life.

“I’m not going anywh
ere,” Jack says, and he coughs.

He hugs Madeline as much as he can, considering his restricted movement and stiffness. He’s shivering, and it’s not a surprise.

“What happened?” he says when Madeline gives him room to breathe again.

First he looks at Ben and then at me. We both don’t know what to say to him. We don’t even know what happened, and now he’s asking us?

“I uh … I found you in the water under the bridge,” I mumble.

Jack’s eyes drift off to the ceiling and he frowns, probably trying to remember.

“You didn’t call my sister, right? Please tell me you didn’t,” he suddenly says.

“No, shit, I forgot. Wait, what? Why not?” I stammer.

He groans. “I don’t want more trouble.”

“She’s your sister!” I say.

Ben clears his throat. “Well, we could use a break. I think Madeline’s hungry and I could use something to eat as well, so I’ll take her to the cafeteria. See you two in a bit, ‘kay?”

Ben lifts Madeline from the bed.
He winks at me, and I know he’s only saying this to give me and Jack some room to talk.

“Thanks,” I say, and Ben pats me on the shoulder before leaving the room.

When the door closes, I suddenly feel very nervous. I don’t know why, perhaps it’s because Jack’s here and I didn’t think past reviving him. I didn’t think about it in advance that we’d have to talk about what happened.

He gazes at me and never lets his eyes leave my face. It makes my cheeks flush with heat.

He holds out his hand, and I step closer to the bed to take it. I squeeze his hand as he starts caressing the back of my hand with his thumb. He’s so gentle and sweet, even when he’s the one who almost died. I should feel bad about what I did. I drove him away. It was my fault he was in the water.

BOOK: Blissful volume 3 (New Adult Romance)
5.79Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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