Page 63 of Summer Ride

When Carter returned to her side, he had a jacket on and was carrying a blanket, which he wrapped around her shoulders.

“You’re in shock,” he said softly to her. “Is your wrist broken?” he asked, as if noticing her holding it strange for the first time.

She glanced down and shrugged. “I… don’t know. I think so.” She looked back up at him.

Carter was pale and still soaking wet from being in the pool with Axel.

Oh god. Carter had killed Axel. They had killed him. What was going to happen to them now?

Was he going to go to jail? Was she? She’d pretty much beaten the man to death. Hadn’t she?

“Hey,” Carter said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “This was self-defense.” He wrapped his arms gently around her. “Plain and simple. We are not in trouble. See.” He nodded to the officers who were standing around as if trying to figure out what to do next. “The state police have been looking for Axel for days. He’s a wanted man that showed up here and attacked us,” he said into her hair. “He hurt you. Broke you.”

She nodded, still numb to everything.

Carter had blood dripping from above his left ear, where Axel had hit him over the head with a tire iron. It was now lying under the car next to the large hunting knife.

When the ambulance arrived, Carter demanded that they look at her first. To be honest, she was in shock.

“We’re going to transport both of you to the hospital to be checked out thoroughly,” the EMT said after taking one look at them.

She didn’t want to go. What she wanted was to grab their things from the house and head home as quickly as possible. But the storm was still raging, they were two hours away from home, and it was past ten at night. Plus, she had a broken arm and was very concerned for the baby and for Carter. He had a rather large knot on the back of his head, which was still bleeding pretty badly.

Since they were both injured, the officer let them leave the scene before answering any further questions and rode in the ambulance to the nearest hospital.

She had large gashes across the backs of both of her arms, which continued to seep blood. She was numb to everything until they wheeled her into the emergency room. Under the bright lights, everything suddenly hurt, as if someone had flipped a switch.

“Easy, I’m here,” Carter said, standing over her.

She was taken to a special room where they gave her an ultrasound on her wrist, which proved that it was indeed broken.

Then they did an ultrasound on the baby. She had expected to hear a heartbeat, but Lea had confirmed that she was only two to three weeks pregnant, so it was too early. She was told that everything looked fine, but if she had spotting to go see her OBGYN.

Carter had gotten a CT scan on his head, so they just had to wait for a doctor to put a cast on her arm.

About an hour later, a young doctor walked in and told them that Carter’s CT scan looked clear. The cut on his head would bleed for a while, and the bump would go down with ice packs. Kara got a soft yellow cast on her wrist. Her two chipped knuckles would have to heal on their own.

As for her pregnancy, the doctor said the same thing the ultrasound nurse had told her.

“We can drive in to see our doctor tomorrow,” Carter suggested to the doctor. “If you think that would be smart.”

“From what I can tell, the baby is fine. It’s too soon to hear a heartbeat, since you’re only a couple weeks in. You’ll hear the heartbeat at five to six weeks. If anything changes or you have any spotting, I suggest you head in and see your OBGYN. Other than that, I think you’re both okay with seeing your own doctor when you return home. For you”—she motioned to Carter—“any dizziness or vomiting, head on in. For you, with the cast, just take it easy. You can take one of these if you need it for pain.” She handed Carter a small bottle of pills. “They’re mild, so don’t expect much, but they won’t hurt the baby.”

“Thanks,” Carter and Kara said at the same time.

“Here is a list of things you should and shouldn’t do.” She handed Carter a printed form.

He stuffed the paper in his pocket, then turned to her.

“Can we head home?” He motioned to the door.

“Sure. I hear there’s an officer waiting outside to take you back and ask you questions.” The doctor smiled and then left.

They found one of the officers they’d seen at the house leaning on the ER doors. When he noticed them, he straightened. “Everything okay?” he asked, his eyes going to Kara’s cast.

“Yes, the baby’s okay,” Carter said, his voice filled with relief.

“Good.” The cop smiled. “Got three kids of my own. I’m told I can take you two back to the house.” He motioned towards the doors. “It finally stopped raining.”