“What?” Nora asked. “Is he all right?”
Gram and Emma had awakened and all eyes were on her.
Shrugging at them, she forced herself to get on with it. “His parents live in Florida, but his sisters, Tara and Lexie, live in Whiteville. They’re in his phone.”
The nurse thanked her and disconnected the call.
“What did she say?” Gram asked.
“Only that he’s alive, and they’re asking the family to come as soon as possible. I have to go.”
She was already grabbing her purse, half expecting the others to put up a fight. But that’s not what happened.
“I’ll go with you,” Nora said.
“Me too,” Emma said.
Gram began slipping on her shoes. “We’ll all go.”
Chapter 38
Driving a car during a hurricane was definitely not advisable, Maddy thought as she watched Nora navigate the Mercedes. Rain pounded the windshield, making it almost impossible to see the road. Debris flew by, barely missing the car, and the gusts of wind threatened to blow them off the road.
Connor had been out in this, Maddy thought. Unprotected. She fought against the rising tide of panic.
“The hospital probably gave his sister more information,” Emma said from the back seat. “You could call her and find out what’s going on.”
“I don’t have her number,” Maddy said.
“Slow down,” Gram said to Nora from the back seat. “There are wires down up ahead. See?”
Gram was right. Maddy peered through the rain-splattered passenger window into the predawn landscape. A telephone pole was down by the side of the road. But there were no wires on the pavement that she could see.
“I think we’re clear,” Emma said.
“I don’t see anything either.” Nora crept past the downed pole, then increased her speed as much as she could with the bad visibility.
Maddy clutched her phone in one hand and her shoulder strap in the other. A moment later they slowed again to maneuver around a large puddle, and the wind rocked the car. Maddy just wanted to be there, at the hospital. She wanted to be looking into those soulful gray eyes and know Connor was all right.
She wondered if they’d even let her see him or tell her anything once she got there. His sisters lived farther from the hospital so it would take them longer to get there. If they could even find a clear path with the flooding and such.
Maddy prayed continually. She repeated the same lame phrases over and over, hoping God wouldn’t hold that against her. She just couldn’t think straight with fear bathing her brain.
Faith,she prayed.Give me faith, God.
It seemed hours later when Nora finally turned into the hospital. She dropped Maddy, Emma, and Gram off at the ER door and went to park. Maddy rushed into the building, then across the waiting room, where she got in line at the desk behind a middle-aged man.
Maddy tapped her foot impatiently, but the man in front of her was cradling a bloodied hand and seemed to be in a lot of pain.
When it was finally her turn, she stepped forward. “Excuse me.”
The grandmotherly woman behind the desk closed a folder and put it in a stack.
“I’m looking for Connor Sullivan. He was brought in a while ago. Someone called me.”
The woman began typing. “Are you a relative, dear?” she asked without looking up.
Maddy’s heart dropped. “No, but I’m his girlfriend.” The statement wasn’t entirely true, but close enough.
