“Move the table, Macy. Get me sheets or bandages and blankets now.” He didn’t look to see if she’d done what he asked; Jake had eyes only for Branna.
“It’s okay, baby.” His heart was thudding so hard in his chest, he was struggling to breathe. Behind him, he heard the sound of fists hitting flesh.
The bullet had hit her in the arm. Pulling his shirt over his head, he applied pressure to the wound.
“Stay with me, Rosebud.”
The sensory receptors completely overload the brain, and the victim goes into shock, forcing the patient to lose consciousness. Pressure, elevation above the heart, and if bleeding won’t stop, apply pressure directly to the brachial artery.
Lifting the arm, he used his other hand to check her pulse. It was weak, which told Jake that shock was taking hold.
“Get my phone out of my pocket,” Jake yelled. “Call my mother, then Ethan. Tell him to get the helicopter ready!”
He felt hands in his back pocket, taking out his phone, and then he heard Macy making the calls.
“Branna, love.” Declan O’Donnell appeared on the other side of Branna, his face white, eyes on his daughter.
“She’ll live,” Jake vowed. She wouldn’t be leaving him now, not when they’d just found each other.
Lifting his shirt, he checked the bleeding, but it was still flowing and way too fast.
Wrapping his hand around Branna’s arm, Jake pressed his fingers directly into the brachial artery. Pushing aside the fear, he relied on what he’d been trained to do: save lives, heal people, and care for the woman he loved. His mind raced through the things he’d learned in his years of study, whatever he would need to keep Branna alive.
“I’ve called Cubby, Jake, to come get him… Brian,” Macy said.
Jake didn’t speak, just tried to keep himself controlled as he held Branna’s arm, feeling the blood pump over his fingers and out of her body. She needed this from him now, needed the doctor that he was to take charge.
“Is it s-slowing… the blood?” Macy was crying, tears streaking her face as she knelt beside Declan and looked down at the still unconscious Branna.
“Yes. Now get her van as close to the house as you can, and we’ll take her to the helicopter,” Jake said, and he could hear the rasp in his voice that fear had put there.
Cars started arriving as he bound the wound and prepared her to travel. His parents were the first.
“The bullet severed the artery. I’ve stopped the bleeding.”
His mother didn’t speak, just opened her supplies, and between them they started treating Branna.
“She’s as stable as we can get her now, Jake. Let’s move her to the van,” Dr. McBride said minutes later.
Slipping his arms under Branna, he picked her up while his mother held her arm and they walked slowly to the van that Declan had running.
“Macy, you and I will follow in my car and pick up Declan. Then we’ll collect Annabelle and follow in the van to the hospital.” These words were from Jake’s father.
Jake heard Buster say something to Macy, his voice deep with worry.
Branna was still unconscious, her face white, pulse weak, and Jake wanted to shout at her to open her eyes and stop scaring him. He needed her to look at him, needed that as much as he needed the next lungful of air.
“Let me have a crack at him, Cubby. I want to make him hurt for both Macy and Branna,” Buster was now saying to the sheriff.
Add a round dozen for me, Buster, Jake thought, as he walked into the back of the van with Branna in his arms, his mother at his side.
“You know I can’t do that, Buster. Aww hell, I’m sure there’s like seven rules as to why I shouldn’t let you kick Brian while he’s lying trussed like my ma’s Thanksgiving turkey.”
“She’ll be all right, son. I’ll get to the hospital as soon as I can.” Jake nodded as his father said the words, then closed the door. Seconds later, Declan was driving down the driveway.
“Someone should just put a bullet through Delray’s head and save everyone a bucket load of trouble,” Jake’s mother said, as she sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his neck.
“I may just do that for you, Mom, when I know Branna is okay.”
