Page 85 of Under Fire in Big Sky

A bloodcurdling sound filled her ears, like that of a wounded animal, and she realized it was coming from her. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry, to dissolve in panic when he needed her to be strong, but she couldn’t help it.

Paramedics hurried into the room. “Where’s the governor?”

“Over there. He was shot in the knee,” she said, pointing and an EMT hustled to him. She jumped up, grabbing the other medical technician and bringing him to Eli while the other attended to the governor. “Help him. Please. I think it might be fatal.”

The guy looked Eli over and deemed him the priority. “Let’s get him on the cot.”

“Hey, what about me?” the governor asked.

“Another ambulance will be here momentarily,” the paramedic said.

Once Eli was on the ambulance cot, they quickly bandaged his wound, to slow the bleeding, and carried him out. Olivia was right behind them all the way to the ambulance.

“I need her to ride with me,” Eli said, putting out his arms, stopping the techs from loading him inside.

“Is she family, sir?”

“Yes. She’s my family.” Eli’s voice had a slight tremble. “There’s no one in the world more important to me than her.”

“Okay, ma’am.”

They put Eli into the ambulance, and she climbed inside. Sitting on the bench, she clutched his hand as the paramedic started taking his vitals, and the vehicle took off, sirens blaring.

“Liv, I know you think everything about us is wrong.”

She tightened her fingers around his. They were slippery, so slick with blood, but she didn’t let go. “Don’t talk.”

“I need to say this. We may have started for the wrong reasons.” Gasping, he winced. “But we kept going for the right ones. We made a baby.”

Yeah, they did. “Please, stop talking.”

“I’ve never loved anyone or anything the way I love you. Marry me,” he said, and more tears fell from her eyes. “I’ll sacrifice for you. As long as we’re together. Till death do us part.”

“No talk of death, okay?”

He nodded.

“I love you, Eli. I have for years.”

“Kind of suspected,” he said, and she laughed through her tears, her heart aching with fear. “Why else would you put up with me for so long?”

“You can’t leave me hanging.” She wouldn’t recover. Their baby deserved to know how extraordinary he was. They deserved time together.

“I won’t leave. Won’t…won’t let Sean win.”

“You’ve got to pull through this, Pioneer.”

“Yeah.” He closed his eyes. “That’s the deal.”

For hours, Olivia sat in the hospital, waiting, hoping, with the others from Ironside. Sean had shot Eli twice in the abdomen. According to the doctor, the surgery was touch-and-go, requiring critical intervention. His spleen ruptured and his internal bleeding was nearly fatal.

But he made it through the surgery. The doctor said he was lucky and expected him to make a full recovery.

She sat at his bedside, her hand in his, until finally he opened his eyes. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“You’re going to be fine. But you did lose your spleen.” Better than him losing his life.