Brady rushed to his son’s bedside and peered down at his ghost-white face. A wadded-up washcloth covered in blood rested on top of his nose. His eyes remained closed even as Brady scooped him intohisarms.
June said, “Hurry, but be careful on the roads. If you get into an accident in the middle of the night, you might not get help until sunrise. No one will see you inthedark.”
Brady said, “I’ll be careful.Let’sgo.”
Rachel gave her mom a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry. I should havebeenhere.”
“Nonsense. He would have taken this turn even if you’d been here. I’ll meet you at the hospital. I called Leah and she’s on her way over to grab the keys for the shop. She’s going to run it whileI’mgone.”
Brady said, “Okay. Drive safe. The roads are really slickrightnow.”
June shuttled them toward the door. “I will. You becarefultoo.”
“Iwill.”
As he drove toward Bozeman, Rachel spoke into her phone. “Yes, it won’t stop bleeding. We’ve tried putting pressure on it… he’s burning up. I gave him the prescription medication but it’s not working. Okay. We should be there in about two hours… yes, we’ll be careful on theroads.”
Brady’s arms went rigid as the truck fishtailed around a corner. He eased his foot off the accelerator. If they skidded off the road into the river, they’d all die. As much as he hated to have to do it, hesloweddown.
Rachel said, “We’ll make it. Wehaveto.”
“I’ll go as fast as I can, but the road hasn’t been salted yet. It’s still slick from thestorm.”
“Do you believeinGod?”
He thought back to the violence he’d seen in Afghanistan. “I don’t know. But I have to believe that if He’s up there, we’ll have achance.”
“Please, God. Please don’t let him die,” shewhispered.
Brady clenched the steering wheel and focused every ounce of concentration on theicyroad.
“Dr. Landry wants to do the procedure right away. She said there are risks either way, but I don’t wanttowait.”
He clenched his jaw. “I didn’t tryshifting.”
She whipped her head in his direction. “Oh,God.”
“If I shift mid-procedure…”
“We just have to pray that youdon’t.”
He cautiously reached for her hand and squeezed. “I’ll take the risk if it means saving ourson’slife.”
Rachel cried, “I can’t lose you too. I can’t lose either of you. Ican’t.”
In the most soothing tone he could manage he said, “Shh… everything will be all right. The surgery will work and we’ll bothbefine.”
He released her hand and shivered. There were so many things that could go wrong during the operation. The stress alone could unleash his bear. He’d have to do everything he could to try to stay calm. If he went into the operating room as stressed as he was right now, he’d shiftforsure.
He took a calming breath and blew it out. He had to relax as much as he could. His son’s life dependedonit.
Chapter8
As they pulledup to the front door of the hospital, Rachel jumped out of the truck. She cradled Jimmy in her arms as she rushed toward the sliding glassdoors.
Brady threw the keys toward the security guard. “Tow me if youhaveto.”
After taking one look at Jimmy, the guard said, “No problem, I’llparkit.”
