‘I’ll be OK. I’ll feel happier knowing someone is looking after Jacob.’
‘Can I call anyone?’ He knew her sister, Alex, was away for the weekend with his cousin Quinn and her daughter, Zara. But he didn’t know if Immy had any other family.
She shook her head and she looked so sad his heart broke for her. He should be going with her, he hated leaving her like this.
‘OK, we’re ready to go,’ one of the paramedics said. ‘We’re going to St Sebastian hospital.’
Xander nodded. ‘Call or text me, let me know how it’s going.’
‘I haven’t got my phone.’
He cursed, of course she didn’t. ‘I’ll come to the hospital as soon as the vet has finished with Jacob.’
She nodded and, the next thing, the paramedics were shutting the door and driving off, taking a piece of his heart with him.
‘Go, he’ll be fine, I promise,’ Paige said.
Xander had been delighted when he pulled up at the emergency vets’ to find that his cousin was the duty vet that night. Paige had examined a very excitable Jacob who was wagging his tail and trying to lick her face. While Paige thought that Jacob was fine, she’d decided to keep him in overnight, run some tests, give him oxygen therapy just to be on the safe side. Xander hated the thought of leaving him alone but he knew Paige was an excellent vet.
‘You’ll call me with any updates? If his condition worsens, if you find anything, you’ll call me?’
‘Of course. I’ll look after him as if he’s my own. But there’s no point you being here, you’ll just be sitting in the waiting room while I treat him out the back. Go home and get some rest.’
Xander nodded, although he had no intention of going home. ‘Thank you.’
He walked out the vets’ and got in his car, driving quickly across the hills to St Sebastian hospital.
He walked into the hospital and spoke to one of the receptionists.
‘I’m here to see Immy, umm… Imogen Berry. She was brought here earlier tonight after a house fire.’
‘Let me see… Yes, we have her. Are you a family member?’
He cursed under his breath that they wouldn’t let him see her if he wasn’t.
‘She’s my fiancée,’ he said without thinking. Hescowled as he realised he liked the sound of that far too much.
‘OK, great. Let me see if I can find someone to come and talk to you and see if she’s available for a visit.’
The receptionist picked up the phone and had a brief chat with someone then put the phone down. ‘One of the nurses is coming down to talk to you.’
After just a few minutes a nurse appeared. ‘Are you Imogen’s fiancé?’
‘Yes,’ Xander said, annoyed at how easily that lie slipped off the tongue.
‘Follow me.’ They started walking down the corridor.
‘How is she?’
‘She’s fine. We’ve done multiple tests on her and she seems absolutely fine. She’s been on oxygen for a while, just as a precaution, and we’re just about to start an ultrasound so it will be good for you to be there for that.’
He wasn’t clued up with his medical knowledge, but he guessed the ultrasound would be used to have a closer look at her chest and lungs.
‘The sonographer was just about to start so you shouldn’t have missed anything.’ The nurse knocked on a door and then entered. ‘Hello Imogen, we have your fiancé here to see you.’
‘Myfiancé?’ he heard Immy say in surprise.
The nurse held the door open and Xander walked in.
