Will got dressed, too. “I’ll drive you.”
She turned to him. “That’s not necessary.”
“Actually, it is. You had way more to drink tonight than I did. You’re likely panicked thinking about your daughter, which adds an adrenaline rush you don’t need while driving.”
“It’s not like I have a choice. Or I can have my dad drive.” Though her dad wasn’t good with night driving.
“Look, you can take care of Tabitha while I drive. Plus, I know all the folks at the ER, which late on a Saturday night will be crowded as hell. I can bypass some red tape for you so you don’t have to spend six hours in the waiting room.”
She shuddered in a breath, realizing he had a point. And despite her wanting to do this on her own, right now she could use all the help she could get. Tabitha was her number one priority. “Okay. Thanks.”
They climbed in his car and he drove her over to her parents’. The lights were blazing as she made her way to the front door. Her mom was already there. She didn’t even give Will a second look, just smiled at him and nodded. “I’m glad you’re here with Jane.”
“How’s Tabby?” Jane asked as they came through the door.
“Fine. Scared. She knows she’s going to have to get stitches, and you know how she feels about that.”
“I know.”
Tabby was in the kitchen sitting on Jane’s dad’s lap with a bloody towel on her head. Nausea rolled in Jane’s stomach. It was a weakness she hated to admit, but the sight of blood made her sick. She stomached it as well as she could, because she had kids and that’s what a mom had to do, but she didn’t deal with it well.
“Took a header into the table, did you?” Jane said, trying to look anywhere but at the head wound and all the blood soaking the towel her dad had pressed to Tabitha’s head.”
Tabby’s bottom lip wobbled and tears welled. Big fat drops slid down her daughter’s cheeks. “I fell, Mommy. My head hurts.”
“I know it does, sweetheart.” She scooped Tabitha into her arms, the pungent smell of blood about to send her vaulting to the bathroom. She pulled back. “Will is going to take us to the emergency room, and we’ll get you taken care of, okay?”
Tabby nodded, and Jane fell into the chair, gulping deep breaths of non-bloody-smelling oxygen.
Some mother she was.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Will took one look at Tabitha, and then his gaze crossed to Jane, who had gone pale and looked like she was about to lose the dinner they’d had earlier.
He’d monitored her drinking, and though he told her she shouldn’t drive, it had been long enough that she should have been fine. She’d been drinking water and all she’d had was soda at Cain’s, so he had an idea her current dilemma had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with her daughter’s current state.
“Hey, Tabitha,” Will said. “Mind if I take a look at your owie?”
Tabitha nodded and Will walked over and lifted the towel to take a peek.
“That’s a pretty good boo-boo,” he said. And it was. A nice gash across the top of her forehead, right near the hairline. It was going to need several stitches or staples.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Jane said. “I’ll be right back, Tabby.”
Yeah, that’s what he thought. He could see her stiffen, saw her chin lift, and knew she was going to tough it out on behalf of her daughter, but she looked like she was about to pass out.
Jane was squeamish about blood or gaping wounds. Tough thing for a mom to deal with.
“Guess what I have in my car?” Will said to Tabitha.
“What?”
“A siren. We can use it on the way to the hospital.”
That caused her shaking sniffles to stop. “Really?”
“Can you do that—I mean legally?” Sarah, Jane’s mom, asked.
“Only for the most important of people that we take to the hospital,” Will said, looking at Tabitha as he responded to Sarah. “And we all know how important Tabitha is.”
Tabitha sat straighter in the chair, grinning as Jane came back in the room. “Did you hear that, Mommy? I’m ’portant.”
“I heard. I guess we should get going then.”
“Thank you for the transport, Will,” Greg, Jane’s father, said. “I was all prepared to take her myself.”
“It’s no problem,” Will said. “I can get her through the paperwork a lot faster, so we can get Tabitha back home and in her bed as soon as possible.”
“Since Ryan has slept through the whole thing, we’ll bring him home tomorrow,” Sarah said.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you and let you know how it goes.”
“You do that. Otherwise I’ll be up all night worrying.”
Jane hugged her. “I know.”
“Mind if I carry you?” Will asked Tabitha.
“That’s okay with me.” She held out her arms and his heart clenched at her trust in him.
He picked her up and they headed out the door. Once in the car, Will grabbed his first-aid kit, removed the bloody towel, and applied a loose bandage to the wound. The bleeding had stopped so he discarded the towel in a plastic bag and tossed it in the trunk. Maybe covering up the wound would save Jane from wanting to either pass out or throw up in his car.
She climbed in the backseat and buckled up next to Tabitha. Will came around to her side of the car and leaned in. “Are you all right?”
She looked a little less pale. “Yes, I’m fine.”
He gave her arm a squeeze, shut the door, and got into the driver’s seat. It was a short drive to the local hospital. Hope Community Hospital had a decent ER, and he knew the staff there. They weren’t a huge trauma center—most of the tougher cases had to be transferred to the bigger hospitals in Tulsa. But for a simple stitch-up like Tabitha needed, the hospital in Hope would do the trick.
And as promised, he threw on his siren—though only off and on.
Tabitha giggled. “Cool.”
He pulled up in front of the ER to let Jane and Tabitha out.
“I’m going to go park. I’ll be right back,” he said to her.
“I’ve got this,” Jane said with a wan smile. “Unfortunately, I’ve been here before.”
Having kids, he’d just bet she had. Probably had to do it with Vic, too. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”