By the time I make my way back to N. Michigan Avenue, the traffic has cleared enough that I can finally flag down a cab. I give the driver my address and ask him to hurry.

I’m sitting in the back seat, shaking, my nerves completely frayed as I relive the past few minutes, over and over. Scenes from the accident loop through my mind like animated GIFs – Sam shoving Beth, Beth hitting the ground hard, Sam flying over the hood of a black sedan and lying in a pool of blood. It’s all so unreal I have to keep asking myself if it really happened, or if my mind is playing tricks on me.

I’m barely aware of our location when the driver pulls up to the curb in front of my apartment building. Just as he promised, Jamie’s waiting out on the sidewalk. He’s got his cane, but no Gus.

I open the door and jump out of the cab. “Jamie! I’m here.”

He zeroes in on the sound of my voice and meets me halfway. I grab his free hand and lead him to the cab. As soon as we’re in the vehicle, I give the driver instructions.

As the car pulls into traffic, Jamie grabs my hand, holding it firmly. “Does Shane know?”

“Yes. Jonah called him.”

“What about you?” He turns in his seat to face me and skims his hands up and down my arms. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Tell me what happened.”

As I relay the events, moment by moment as best I can recollect, he squeezes my hand. When I’m done, he brings the back of my hand to his mouth and kisses it. “Thank you for calling me, and thanks for coming to meet me. It’s times like this that my deficiencies really hit home.”

I can’t seem to stop shaking, and Jamie lays his arm across my shoulders and pulls me close. “Everything’s going to be all right,” he says. “Don’t worry.”

Feeling chilled to the bone, I lean into him, gravitating toward the comfort of his warm body. “It happened so fast. Everything was chaotic, and Beth was frantic about Sam. He looked terrible, Jamie. There was so much blood.” I shudder at the memory, and Jamie tightens his hold.

“Sam pushed Beth out of the way of that car,” I say, my throat tightening as reality hits me. Sam could die. “He may well have saved her life.”

Lia’s words from earlier come back to me. Sam is Beth’s bodyguard. My God, did he risk his life for her? I’m simultaneously amazed and horrified. What if, God forbid, Sam dies? How will Beth ever get over that?

Our taxi pulls up at the main entrance to the Cook County Hospital Emergency Room. As we exit the vehicle, Jamie hands the driver cash to pay for our fare. There are a lot of people milling about outside the hospital’s entrance, so I reach for Jamie’s hand to guide him around the crowd and through the sliding doors and into the waiting room.

“Molly! Jamie! Over here!”

I turn to see Lia waving at us from across the room. “There’s Lia and Jonah,” I say, leading Jamie by the hand.

We take the two empty seats beside Lia, who fills us in. Now that I have a chance to sit down and decompress a little, I feel exhausted.

“Shane and Cooper are here,” she says. “Shane’s with Beth, and Cooper’s with Sam.”

Jamie keeps hold of my hand, resting our linked fingers on his thigh, and I take comfort in the physical connection. Even though he’s caught up in conversation with his sister and her boyfriend, he never once lets go of my hand, and I’m glad. I definitely feel a little out of my element here, but his grip on my hand keeps me feeling connected to him.

It’s not long before we’re joined by other members of Jamie’s family. His sister Sophie, a gorgeous brunette, arrives followed shortly by Jake. Another brother, Liam, arrives right on their heels, along with several people from Shane’s company.

Amidst all the conversations going on around me, Jamie leans close and murmurs in my ear. “You didn’t eat anything for lunch, so you’ve got to be hungry. Do you want to go downstairs and get something from the cafeteria?”

I feel shaky from low blood sugar, but the thought of food right now makes me queasy. “Thank you, but no. I can’t eat anything right now.”

“Molly, you have to eat. Let me go get you something.”

“I can’t, Jamie. Not right now. Maybe later.”

Jake comes back from visiting the treatment area and gives us updates on both Beth and Sam. Beth is doing all right, but Sam is in critical condition. He’s in surgery right now to stop the bleeding in his fractured skull.

Jamie and his sister Sophie go back to the treatment area to see Beth, and I wait with Jamie’s family. I feel like an interloper, but everyone’s very nice, and they make an effort to include me in their conversations.

The afternoon passes slowly, hour after hour, with the occasional updates. I’m exhausted, but when Jamie suggests I go home, I refuse. I’m staying, I don’t care how long, until we know something about Beth and Sam. I’m staying until Jamie is ready to leave.

When I hear a gasp from someone seated near me, I glance up just as Beth walks into the waiting room. She’s walking slowly, her arm in a sling, and she’s cradling it protectively against her chest. Shane’s got his arm around her, supporting her. I feel my eyes tearing up at the sight of her standing on her own two feet.

When she comes over to greet us, I shoot to my feet and hug her carefully. “Oh, thank God! I was so worried when I saw you fall. Is your arm broken?”

“No, it’s just a sprain,” she says, sounding exhausted. “Thank you for coming. But you didn’t have to stay. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

I am, but that’s not important. “Your family told me you were okay, but I couldn’t leave without seeing you with my own eyes. I’m so glad you’re all right, Beth. And we’ve been told that Sam will be all right, too.”

She nods as her eyes tear up. “Thank you for calling Jamie,” she says.

“I knew he’d want to know.”

She gives me a one-armed hug and smiles at Jamie. “You two should head home.”

As Beth and Shane move on to talk to the rest of Shane’s and Beth’s families, Jamie holds out his hand to me.

“Come on, I’m taking you home,” he says. “You haven’t eaten anything all day, and you have to be exhausted.”

The truth is, I am exhausted, but I didn’t want to abandon Jamie during this crisis.

He pulls me to his feet as he says our goodbyes to his family and the others gathered here. In addition to all the family members, there are at least a dozen people in the waiting room who are here because of the accident, many of whom work for Shane’s company.

As Jamie and I exit the hospital, we grab the nearest cab and head for home. I offer to pay the return fare, since he paid for our trip to the hospital, but Jamie insists on taking care of it himself.