“I called an ambulance.”
It was a young man, not much older than Rafe. Maddie was glad she’d figured that out. Maybe it meant her brain was still intact.
Pushing the air bag out of the way, she managed to yank the handle and jerk the door open.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I think.”
He stepped back while she hoisted herself off the seat and stood on the packed dirt of the lot … which was when she saw that the front of her car was jammed into the passenger side of a dusty, rusted-out pickup truck.
She wailed, “I did that to you?”
“Yeah. I guess you didn’t see me.” No harsh accusation, no litany of cuss words.
“I … I was putting my phone away … I’m so sorry … I must not have been looking.” Her gaze traveled from the side of his vehicle to the long crack in her windshield.
“Yeah. Stuff happens. As long as you’re okay.”
She figured she was the same age as his mother. Or older. “I’m okay.” She winced, as a small pain gripped her back. “And you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good.” She rubbed the base of her spine. “Thank you for being so kind.”
He shrugged. Something Rafe would have done.
Then an afterthought hit her with an impact as strong as the one when her car hit the truck. She put her hand on her stomach and started to tremble.Will I lose the baby?
The shriek of sirens interrupted.
EMTs. Police. A fire engine. They all arrived simultaneously.
She wobbled to the other side of her car, plucked her purse from the front seat, and extracted her license. She couldn’t, however, get her registration out of the glove box, as it was wedged shut.
The EMTs—one, a middle-aged man with a ginger-haired buzz cut and beard, the other, a young woman who did not look old enough to drink in Massachusetts—cautiously helped Maddie into the back of the ambulance. The young woman left; seconds later she was in the driver’s seat of the ambulance. The man started checking Maddie’s vitals. She was embarrassed that she was shaking.
Then a young, sandy-brown-haired police officer asked how she was feeling. She said her head hurt and she was cold, but she thought she was more shocked than hurt. He nodded, then said a tow truck was on the way; he asked if she had a preference of auto body shops, as if this happened to her often. She mentioned Deke’s, the place Joe had brought Orson to be spruced up for Rafe. She told the officer to say the car belonged to Nancy Clieg’s granddaughter, the mother of the boy for whom he’d done such a nice job restoring Orson-the-red-pickup.
“Everything seems normal,” ginger-beard EMT said once the officer was gone. “But it’s usually a good idea to go to the hospital and get fully checked out.”
The fact that Maddie still trembled might have prompted his recommendation.
Then, without warning, she said, “I’m pregnant.”
He unpeeled the blood pressure cuff from her upper arm, smiled, and said, “Then that’s a good reason to go, right?”
Chapter 20
“Can we call someone to get you home?” an emergency department admin person asked, once Maddie had been fully checked and was being discharged. The back of her neck hurt with what the doctor described as a “minor whiplash,” her shoulders were sore, and her lower back felt trampled on, not by an elephant but perhaps a toddler, like Francine’s son, Reggie, the one named after Rex. The name that was now ever-present in Maddie’s mind.
“You most likely grabbed the wheel too tight,” the doctor had assured her. “It’s a common reaction.” He’d added that everything seemed fine, most importantly, the baby, though he suggested she see her obstetrician—which was when she’d asked for a name.
“Dr. Mason is a year-round island resident,” was the reply. “It might be a good time of year to get an appointment.”
So, Dr. Mason it would be.That was easy, she thought.
As for a ride, she supposed she could ask them to call Taylor, who might be busy with her caretaking jobs, but Maddie couldn’t think of anyone who wasn’t busy. Or was there. On second thought, she decided she did not want to deal withTaylor—the first person who’d recognized that Maddie was pregnant—a woman she barely knew. She could have asked them to call Joe, but Grandma was probably still at his place, and the call might scare her. Of course, the most likely person to pick Maddie up would be her father.No, she thought. The last person she wanted to see was him.
But she did want to get back to the cottage; she wanted a cup of hot tea and a good rest. At least she could hibernate in her room where she wouldn’t have to talk to him.
