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shake her head.
The police officer came up behind them and said in an official voice, "You are Miss Martin?" Randa nodded. "And Miss Jennings would be your& ?"
"Partner," Randa supplied. "What is it? Where is she?"
"I'm afraid she's been taken to hospital, miss. She was struck by a vehicle crossing Dorset Road.
"Is she& ?" Randa breathed almost not wanting the answer.
"Alive when I saw her last, miss, but seriously injured." The nurse closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. She opened them at the officer's next
question.
"I understand there are no close relatives?" Randa glanced at Maggie who avoided her gaze.
"None," Randa stated flatly. "Except me."
"Well then, if you would accompany me, miss, I'll take you to St. Michael's Hospital. The Emergency Department staff will need information for her
treatment and I'll need a statement for my report as well."
Randa quickly gathered up her purse, jacket and Denise's briefcase with her cell phone in it. As she moved to join the police officer, Maggie approached
her and reached to touch the nurse's arm.
"Don't touch me!" Randa snapped as she whipped her arm away from the redhead. "If it wasn't for your childish letters and your jealous threats we
wouldn't be here and Denise wouldn't be hurt! You badgered her for the unvarnished truth but when you got it, what did you do? You ran. You're a coward,
Maggie. Too bad you didn't inherit a little of Sara's courage!" As the nurse's protective nature reared up and asserted itself Maggie moved back
unconsciously. In the face of Randa's rage even the police officer seemed stunned.
"Let me tell you something else, Maggie. You better pray Denise doesn't die because if she does there won't be a hole small enough in this country for you
to crawl in to hide from me!"
Turning to the police officer she said simply, "Let's go."
***
Randa was sitting in the Emergency Department waiting room, head in her hands, when Diane appeared. The nurse silently thanked her foresight in
bringing Denise's briefcase. In addition to Denise's insurance information she found Diane's number programmed into the cell phone as well as Carl's.
Each had assured her they would be there as soon as possible.
Randa had arrived with the police officer an hour earlier. After helping with the paperwork and providing the staff with needed medical information she
was relegated to the waiting area, assured she would be informed of any news when the staff had it. Randa was torn between the knowledge that she
would be in the way as the team worked on Denise and an insane need to see and be with her lover.
You've got to be all right, Denise. Eternity will not be enough, remember?
Diane moved to Randa's side and slipped into the uncomfortable chair there. She put her arm around the nurse and Randa turned into the comfort of an
old friend.
"How is she, Randa?" Diane asked.
The nurse absorbed the support and replied "Not sure yet, they're still working on her."
"How did this happen?"
"We invited Maggie up here to get to know Denise and learn about Sara. It seemed everything was going as well as could be expected, and then we got
to the part about how Sara died and what that might mean for Denise and Maggie. Maggie freaked out and ran off into the rainstorm. You know Denise,
she would never let Maggie try to absorb that alone. She left to find her and the police said she was in a pedestrian crosswalk when a car hit her. They
said the driver never saw her in the heavy downpour." Randa's voice shook after the last sentence. She sat back but held on to Diane's hand.
Through double doors a baby faced young man in scrubs and a long white lab coat emerged. She's being taken care of by a teenager Randa thought.
Coming closer she could see now he was at least ten years older than he initially appeared to be and had an aura about him that gave her confidence.
"Miss Martin? I'm Dr. Merritt, I treated Miss Jennings." He reached out and shook her hand.
"This is Diane Barlow, doctor. We're Denise's family. What's happening with her?"
Dr. Merritt pulled a chair up in front of the two women. "It was fortunate Miss Jennings was brought here. We may be a small hospital but we have a first
rate trauma team. First let me assure you straight away she is in no danger of dying." Randa felt an unmistakable medical "but" coming up and she
cursed herself when her nursing intuition was correct.
"But," the doctor continued, "She does have very significant injuries. Both bones in her right forearm are broken and her right shoulder was dislocated.
We've moved the shoulder back into the correct position, casted the lower arm and put the whole arm in an immobilizer. She had a large amount of
bruising to the right side of her body where it impacted with the vehicle. Her blood counts and blood pressure were low so we inserted a needle in her
abdomen to check for the presence of blood there."
"What did the tap show?" Randa asked.
"You have some medical background?" the doctor inquired.
"She's a Registered Nurse and a damned good one too," Diane said with a reassuring squeeze to Randa's hand.
The doctor nodded. "Well then, it will be easier for me to explain this information. The tap was positive for blood. We sent her for a stat CAT scan of the
chest, abdomen and pelvis. What we found was a laceration to her liver which was bleeding into her abdomen."
Randa shook her head with concern. "Damn, you'll need to operate. When will she go in?"
Dr. Merritt smiled. "She went to the operating suite 15 minutes ago. Dr. Patel was finishing up an appendectomy and was already here. She was very
confident based on the scans that the laceration could be repaired. As far as Dr. Patel could see on the scans the liver injury was Miss Jennings' only
abdominal injury but she will of course do a visual inspection during the procedure."
Diane breathed a sigh of relief. "That doesn't sound so bad." Randa knew in her heart the bad news wasn't finished.
"What we are most worried about though is the fact that Miss Jennings was unresponsive at the scene and has yet to regain consciousness. A scan of the
brain showed a small subdural hematoma on the right side. It appears stable and at this point our inclination is not to surgically remove it. We're hoping
that her unresponsiveness is related to a severe concussion and therefore temporary but this is something we will monitor closely after surgery. That's it.
Do you have any questions for me?"
"When will I be able to see her?" Randa asked.
"Post-operatively we will be monitoring her in the Intensive Care Unit; you can see her then. There's a family room outside the unit where you can wait. I'll
have the head sister let you know when Miss Jennings arrives there." Dr. Merritt directed them toward the ICU and then headed back to the Emergency
Department.
Randa turned to Diane. "I'm staying until I know Denise is going to be all right but I need you to do me a favor. Can you go back to our house and check on
things? I'm pretty certain the lights are on and the door is unlocked and& "
"Randa, it's fine. I'll take care of everything. DJ is going to need you here, I know that." The older woman hugged the blonde close. "Sara said you were
the best nurse she had ever met and a true match for DJ. You're going to need both of those qualities to help her recover from this. Promise you'll call me
if there are any changes."
The nurse hugged Diane again. "I promise. Thank you, Diane. I can see why Sara loved you."
Diane laughed softly and patted Randa's head before drawing away. "And because you know DJ, you know why I loved Sara. Two peas in a pod, that
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