“Pulling in now,” the driver called back.
“Thanks.” The back doors opened, and Flint hoped to a higher power that any of the numerous nurses he’d dated weren’t on call.
The driver helped the hospital orderly unload Emma, and Hudson and Flint followed them through the bay doors.
“Larsen,” called a voice he knew all too well.
He clenched his hands at his sides. Damn.
Palmer hospital had two wings, and most of the calls the Hundsburg fire department brought in ended up on the shifter side, being that most of the population were wolf shifters.
“What ya got for us, Hudson?” Mirabel asked. Flint liked Mirabel, but the dalliance back in high school had been a mistake.
“Fireball blew her across a parking lot.”
“Whoa. Room three.” Mirabel pointed at two different coworkers. “Get a burn cart.” She turned. “And page Dr. Swan.”
Flint grabbed Emma’s hand, and the PA system announcement was the last thing he heard before he hit the ground.
17
She blinked, her eyes opened, and the memory came back to her. Oh, she’d had lots and lots of visions while she was asleep, but they all faded away when her eyes stayed open. The room wasn’t her bedroom, and it wasn’t a dinky little hospital room like when she’d had her tonsils out a million years ago. No, there was oak paneling on the wall and a picture window beyond her blanketed toes. Snow was falling again, but from the top of the mountain looking down into the valley, it was a little less irritating.
A machine beeped next to her. Well, two machines beeped next to her. Emma turned her head to the twin echoes and found Flint’s sister dozing in a chair. Her eyes flew open at Emma’s movement.
“You’re awake.” Vivianne stood and took her hand.
When Emma leaned to the side, she could see the second bed hidden mostly behind a curtain. Manly feet tented the blanket.
Something wasn’t adding up. A lot of somethings. Why was she sharing a room with a man, and why was Flint’s sister here?
“Mia,” Emma tried to say, but it came out, “me-ee-a.” Her throat was dryer than a camel who’d lost her hump in a windstorm.
“Do you want some water?” Vivianne motioned to a pitcher and a glass on the nightstand next to the bed.
Emma nodded.
“Mia’s good. She was here last watch. Your boss Carter got her into the waiting room. Everyone’s here. I’ve met all your friends and family.” Vivianne poured Emma some water. She stood close to the bed, blocking Emma’s view of the other side of the room.
At the word “family,” Emma’s eyes widened.
Vivianne raised her hand. “Not your mom. Though Shiori and Daphne have been on the phone with her almost every hour. Once Dr. Swan said everything looked good but that it might take a while for you to wake up, they said they would wait until you did.”
Emma let her head hit the pillow again. “Why . . .” It was too hard to talk, even with the sip of water she’d swallowed down. Emma tilted her head, and Vivianne moved with her, still blocking her view of the other side of the room.
Vivianne pushed the call button. “I know they would want to know you’re awake.”
Emma gave a brief nod and tried to peer around Vivianne, at the large feet.
Vivianne moved closer to her, but before Emma could ask why she was there, a nurse came in and closed a curtain down the center of the room, hiding the large feet. “You’re awake!”
Emma’s head was still cloudy.
“How are you feeling?” The nurse smiled.
“Goo-ood,” Emma croaked out.
“I’m so glad. I’m so glad.” The woman was stunning, and she reminded her of someone. But that was silly. No, she did. Emma had seen her in a vision. But she couldn’t remember what the woman had been doing, or with whom. She tried to rub her temples, but her right arm was tethered to an IV drip.
Things were foggy from the dream, and she couldn’t place why the heck Vivianne was in the room.
The nurse checked her vitals. “You look really good.”
Emma doubted that. Half a day without taming her hair and she looked like an amusement park actor wearing a clown wig dragged through a barnyard. She held her thumb up to the nurse and mouthed, “Thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. I’m going to talk to the doctor, and we’ll see what he says about getting you some actual food. And getting you cleaned up. I’m Mirabel Dawson. You might know my twin sister down at the Pick-n-Pay. At least, she knows you. She mentioned your hair to me last week. It’s really pretty.”
People remembered one of two things about Emma: her hair, which they liked to compare to the animated character Merida, or her clumsiness. If the townsfolk were talking about her, at least it was about her hair and not her sliding all over the snow and ice for the last two months.
“Do you want me to help comb it?” Vivianne asked. She was standing next to the nurse.
The nurse tsked and gave Vivianne a glare.
“What? We’re behaving ourselves.” Vivianne smoothed the blanket over Emma’s legs. “They want us out of here. Not you. But the waiting room is full of people. Not that you don’t have a lovely family. It’s just . . .”
Nurse Mirabel cut her off. “Would you like to sit up a little while you wait for the doctor?” she asked Emma.
Emma nodded, and Mirabel adjusted her bed and pillows.
