“Okay,” she said and carefully scooted up beside me. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I had her in my arms. “Did you have the baby?” she asked.
I swallowed past the emotion clogging my throat. “Yes, I did. You have a little sister.”
Riley sat up and looked around the room. “Where is she?”
“Well, she’s in the special nursery for babies who come early,” I explained.
“Can we go see her?”
“Yes, we can, but not right now.”
“Can we name her Elsa?” she asked excitedly.
I smiled but shook my head. “No, sweetie, her name is Sienna Blake Ward,” I said.
“I wanted to name her after my favorite princess,” she pouted.
I kissed the top of her head and looked up as Copper handed me his cell phone. “Mommy!” Braxton shouted from the screen.
“Hey, little man!” I said and struggled to fight back my tears. “I’m so happy to see you. Are you okay?”
“Yes! Bronze is my new best friend,” he said proudly. “He gets me ice cream and tells me funny stories. And he has a pet snake he said I could play with.”
“Knock, knock,” I heard from the phone. “Did someone order an X-box?”
“Bye, Mommy!”
“I want to play with the X-box,” Riley whined.
“If it’s okay with your mom, I’ll take you to Braxton’s room,” Layla offered.
“Yes, thank you,” I said sincerely.
As soon as they were out of the room, I asked, “Tell me about Kellan.”
“He’s still in surgery,” Copper said.
“Tell me about the accident. What happened?”
“They were hit on Lakeview Road. The truck rolled and started to go over the guardrail, but the rear axle got caught on part of the rail and stopped them.”
“They were hanging over the bridge?” I gasped.
Copper nodded solemnly. “I pulled Braxton out, but Riley’s arm was pinned between the seat and the door. Savior cut himself out of his seat belt so he could free her and hand her out to me.”
“Then what?”
“Fuck, Avery. I’m so fucking sorry,” he said and shook his head. “I thought he was okay. I pulled him through the back window and he stood on his own two feet. We were about to climb up and he— Fuck! I couldn’t catch him!”
I held my hands up and frantically waved them. “No more. I don’t want to know anymore.”
“If there’s anything I can do, anything you need, you got it.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m going to need help with the kids for the next few days.”
“Not a problem. Riley can spend the night with me and Layla tonight if that’s okay with you. And we can keep Braxton when he’s discharged from the hospital. Or we can stay with them at your house. Whatever you want.”
I nodded and closed my eyes. “Thank you.”
