Page 108 of Lucky Charm

“Don’t you go thinking like that. She’s tough. Scott said she was alive. You hold onto that, and don’t take that doomsday stuff into her room. Hear me?”

Sitting upright, he stared at Doogie.

“Be her rock, Hunt man. Be her reason.”

“I will,” he whispered. He forced himself to stem his horrible thoughts. Fears were a way of life when you did a shitty, dangerous job like his. He knew how to power through. She needed him. She would need him going forward, and he needed her with an intensity he hadn’t accepted because deep inside it made him so vulnerable it hurt.

Critically injured. A moment neither had anticipated.

“She’ll be okay.” Doogie’s quiet confidence steadied.

“You don’t know that.”

“No, I don’t. But I will help however I have to for that to happen.” He swung the Jeep into a parking spot. “Let’s go.”

Having been to Craig’s emergency room many times before, they both bypassed the visitor’s area to go to the nurse’s station. “We need Colonel Cartwright or Major Moss.” Hunt didn’t need to explain to Doogie, but he said it anyway.

He heard the Air Force sergeant at the main desk call him, but he kept going. Inside the emergency area, Major Moss stood at the far side of the counter talking with another doctor. He looked up at the commotion, and recognition filled his eyes. He started for Hunt.

They met at the side of the nurses’ station. Peripherally, he noted Colonel Cartwright bearing down on them, too. “Where is she?”

“Lieutenant, let me talk to you first,” Duncan started, getting in his way.

“I need to lay eyes on her. Now.” He went to move around the major and start a cubicle search, desperation clawing at him.

Doogie grabbed Hunt by the arm. “Slow, Hunt. What’s her status?”

Colonel Cartwright touched his sleeve, too. “She’s alive, so stay calm. Let’s go in here.” She pointed to a room off to the side.

Hunt stifled the need to see Cait with a difficulty that surpassed anything he’d tackled before. “Where is she?”

“We’re working on her. I’m checking her x-rays. She needs an MRI and surgery.” Duncan escorted them into the room and shut the door. “She’s critical, but stable.”

Hunt shook off numbness wanting to trap him tight. “Explain. Please.” That he wore his heart on his sleeve might bother him later, but right now he didn’t give a fuck.

“She slammed into the health center’s brick front façade hard enough to break body parts.”Duncan held up a hand when Hunt wanted to interrupt. “Left shoulder, clavicle, ribs, left arm, elbow, hand, and hip. Lung collapsed, but we have that handled for the moment. She has a third-grade concussion, too.”

“Traumatic Brain Injury?”

“Maybe, although she’s not awake so assessments for long-term have to wait. She needs surgery now to fix some internal bleeding and lung punctures. She’ll need to go to Germany. She needs an orthopedic surgeon. Landstuhl has the best. She’s not traveling for a couple days, though. We’re going to operate and make sure she’s stable in every way before they fly her to Ramstein.”

Colonel Cartwright placed an iPad in front of him. “We need your signature for surgery.”

“That’s for next of kin.” Hunt looked from the Colonel to Duncan.

“She told us. You going to marry her or what?” The major’s challenge couldn’t go unanswered.

Normally, he’d have told them both to mind their own business. Not today. “Yes.”

“Then sign this.” Colonel Cartwright handed him the iPad pencil.

He scribbled his name on the form. “I can’t possibly be on her paperwork.”

“You are not, but Dr. Jackie Shay is not here. She’s in Texas. We’ll be calling her, but we’re going on your say so. She’s going to be your wife. Do you want to see her now?” Duncan crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.

Hunt frowned at the challenge in his pose, but he shoved away the reaction. “Yes, and I’ll call Jackie.”

“Does she know about you?”