Page 46 of The Scars We Heal

Reaching over to squeeze her hand, I told her, “I hope you know that, too.”

Her eyes, soft and glinting with emotion, met mine. “I do now.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

caitlin

Whitley and I had fallen into a routine since she started school: Wake up, make and eat breakfast—or in her case, feed Cheeto her scraps—then go to Pre-K for half of the day. Sometimes, she’d come home after school, but sometimes she’d go over to my mom’s place for a few hours.

Today was one of those days when she was with my mom, so I’d been doing chores around the house. I was just about to finish folding laundry when my phone screen lit up with Colter’s name and photo.

“Hello?” I answered the phone cautiously. It was rare for him to call me. Usually, we communicated via texts. “Is everything okay?”

He was breathing heavy on the other line, but I couldn’t hear anything else in the background.

“The baby’s coming,” he huffed out. “I’m not at the house. I was out working with Reid and some of the other hands when she called. She’s alone, and I don’t know where Mom is. She’s not picking up the landline, and we both know she never has her cell phone turned on.”

“Okay. It’s going to be okay. Mom has Whit right now, so they’re probably outside or something. I-I can go over to your house and take her. Does that work?”

“Y-yeah.” Something in the background was shuffling. “We’re about thirty, maybe forty minutes out from the house, but I’m going to try to get back as soon as I can.”

“Okay. I’m fifteen away. Deep breaths.” I knew it was easier said than done, but I wasn’t quite sure what else to say. “I’ll keep you updated, okay?”

“’Kay.”

“See you soon.”

“See you. Bye. Love you.” The phone clicked off, and I gathered my things as fast as I could so I could make it to Ellison as quickly as possible.

My hands quivered as I hovered them over the steering wheel.

Deep breaths, Cait.

The last time I’d been in a hospital like this was my own pregnancy, and images of that day began to flash in my mind. Before they could take over and send me into a spiral, I pushed them aside. Colter and Ellison needed me. It wasn’t the same. Today was completely different, and they needed me to be there and coherent.

I drove as fast as I could while still being safe, peeling into their driveway and hopping out of the car without bothering to shut off the engine. The front door was unlocked, and I pushed my way inside, calling Ellison’s name.

“In the bathroom!” she called out to me.

Ellison was sitting on the bathroom tiles. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and her face scrunched in pain.

“I’m here. It’s okay. Colter’s on his way back, but I’m going to get you to the hospital now. Can you stand?”

She nodded, and I helped her to her feet, hooking an arm underneath her for support as we walked to the car.

“We can go slow. It’s okay. Take your time,” I murmured, hoping my words were encouraging enough.

“Cait,” she gasped as another contraction twisted her expression.

“Yeah, Ell?”

“I’m scared.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, but I blinked them away. “I know. It’s okay to be scared. I’ve got you, okay?”

She squeezed her eyes shut but nodded, and I helped her into the car. As we drove, I offered her my hand to grasp when the pain got to be too much.

When we got to the hospital, the staff took her back to the labor and delivery unit, leaving me to sit by myself in the waiting room.