The Outsider Series

Chapter 3

Jed lifted the thirty-two-foot extension ladder and carried it to the north wall of the barn. He leaned it against the unpainted wall and slid it open, locking the rungs, adjusting so it was level, touching the edge of the roof. He had two sheets of plywood left, and as he stared at the gaping hole of the open roof, he frowned. Would it be enough? It would be close, possibly uneven at the overhang. He glanced at the pile of shingles and at the roof again, and he knew he didn’t have enough shingles, but then, half was better than none. A tarp would do for the other half for now.

Jed grabbed one sheet and slid it up the ladder ahead of him, lining it up over the beam. He hammered it in.

“Jed, do you want a sandwich?” Diana yelled from the ground. Danny was cooing in her arms.

“Sure, just give me half an hour. I got one piece of plywood left to get up here. Then I can start shingling.” Jed swung his leg onto the ladder and stepped on the rung. The ladder slipped sideways, and Jed reached to grab hold of the roof edge, but his fingers seemed to brush over the plywood, and then he was falling backwards in the air. He heard a scream and felt everything go into slow motion. He felt nothing as he heard a whoosh, gazed up at a blue sky and puffy white clouds, and everything went black.

Diana watched in horror as Jed’s ladder slid sideways. She jumped backward, clutching Danny to her side, and everything inside her froze—her breath, her sharp wit, and her legs felt cemented to the spot as Jed fell backwards and landed with a sickening thud on his back in the dirt. It took a second to realize Danny was screaming, and then she ran, dropping to the ground beside Jed.

“Jed!” she screamed. But he didn’t answer, and then his eyes slid closed. Diana touched his head, then his chest. It rose up and down, but he lay there, unmoving and unresponsive.

Diana raced into the house, grabbed the phone, and dialed.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” a woman asked on the other end.

“My husband fell off the roof of the barn! He’s not moving, I think he’s unconscious!” Diana yelled into the phone. Danny was crying as he clutched her shirt. Diana struggled to hear the emergency operator, and every fiber, every muscle and bone inside her, trembled. She raced to the door with the cheap cordless phone, but it started to cut out, so she stepped back into the house and answered the woman’s questions. “Yes, he’s breathing. Just send an ambulance, and hurry. I need to get back to him. I can’t stay on the phone.” Diana rattled off the address and dumped the phone on the sofa as she ran back out to Jed. He hadn’t moved, and blood now trickled from the side of his mouth.

Diana wiped the blood with her hand as she clutched Danny to her, resting him on her hip. Jed’s face was pale. He appeared asleep, but in a very different way that had a bone-chilling fear shredding her hard-won security, and launching Diana back into her childhood, when her shaky, unstable world was ripped away. Jed, the first man who taught her what love really was, her ruggedly strong alpha husband who was the first and only person who loved her deeply, protected her and fought her battles for her, lay motionless. It was a mere flash in that moment, terrifying her, a very real possibility of a life without Jed, and that was a living nightmare. She loved him so deeply. He was her husband, the father of her child and the first man she’d ever truly trusted. Diana touched his pale forehead, praying he’d respond, wince, yell, anything. “Jed, can you hear me, honey? Please answer me and tell me you’re okay?” Her voice trembled.

He didn’t moan or even blink. His breathing started to sound rough, like he was struggling with each breath. Something gurgled, and then blood dripped from the side of his mouth, again, in a long thin stream. A siren sounded in the distance. “Hurry up!” Diana screamed, as if that would get them there faster. “Hang on, Jed. Help is coming. Don’t you dare die on me, or I will never forgive you!” she screamed at him again.

Dust and gravel spewed as the ambulance sped up the driveway. It was getting louder. Diana didn’t want to leave Jed, but she had to get the paramedics, because they’d never see them where they were on this side of the barn. She ran, clutching Danny, who was still crying, to her side. She waved frantically as the ambulance pulled in and stopped in front of the house. Two paramedics jumped out.

“My husband’s on the other side of the barn.”

The paramedics followed Diana.

“He’s unconscious. He won’t answer me.”

“Is he breathing?” a tall, dark-haired paramedic asked.

Jed hadn’t moved as Diana raced around the corner. “Yes, but blood’s coming out of his mouth now and he’s having trouble breathing.” Diana hovered over the two young paramedics, one dark-haired, one light-haired, as they knelt down on either side of Jed. “What’s your husband’s name?”

“Jed,” Diana blurted out as she watched one paramedic shine a light in Jed’s eyes. The other hooked him to an IV.

“Jed, can you hear me? If you do, I want you to squeeze my hand.” The dark-haired paramedic held Jed’s hand, then shook his head.

“What happened, ma’am?”

“My husband fell from the roof. He’s putting a new roof on the barn.” Diana pointed up. The paramedics both glanced up and then back at Jed.

“Did you move him, or is this how he landed?”

“He fell backwards. He landed on his back. I never moved him. Is he going to be okay?” Diana asked frantically, as Danny’s tiny little fingers dug into her b*a, as he continued to cry fretfully. She patted his back, kissed his head as her heart pounded long and loud, and each breath was a struggle, as if she’d just run a mile. She knew she needed to get Danny out of there, but she couldn’t leave Jed. So she tried to hold Danny’s head and turn him away so he couldn’t see his daddy. “It’s okay, baby.” Diana bounced Danny on her hip to try to quiet him, kissing his face, his cheek as her gut knotted so tight she thought she’d go crazy.

“We need to move him. He may have punctured a lung. We’re going to need to get a chest tube in him.”

Diana touched her face. Her hand shook violently as she watched and listened to the paramedics. One of them raced back to the ambulance and returned with the stretcher and equipment, medical supplies. The other was on his radio, talking. They cut open Jed’s shirt. Diana turned away to shield Danny from seeing them cut into Jed. When she turned around, they’d already put on a neck collar and had threaded a tube down her husband’s throat. He was hooked up to a bag that the other paramedic squeezed for oxygen. There was blood on his side, more tubing and tape. What the hell were they doing to her husband? Then they eased him onto a backboard, strapped him down.

“Okay, let’s get going,” one of them shouted, and they wheeled the gurney to the ambulance and loaded Jed in.

Diana followed. “Which hospital are you taking him to?” she asked the light-haired paramedic before he closed the door.

“Cascade in Arlington, ma’am. They can assess from there whether to fly him out to a trauma center.”

Danny was shaking in her arms, his eyes big and wide. Diana kissed his head, his face, and did her best to calm him, let alone herself. She raced inside the house, grabbed her purse and Danny’s diaper bag, stuffing an extra sleeper, diapers and a jar of baby food inside, and raced out the front door to her SUV, keys jangling. She looked up at the cloud of dust, listening to the sirens wailing as she buckled Danny into his seat and he started to cry again. Diana stopped, placing her hand on his stomach. “Please, Danny, don’t cry. Let Mommy drive, and we’re going to follow Daddy.” Diana shut her eyes as Danny grabbed for her. She needed help.

She dug through her purse for the cell phone she rarely used, hoping it was still charged. She powered it on—the green bar showed that the battery was half charged. She shut Danny’s door. He was still fussing as she hurried to the driver’s side, dialing her phone. “Please answer,” she whispered as she slid under her wheel, closed her door and started her SUV. She cranked the wheel sharply and sped down the long dirt and gravel driveway, and the call went right to voicemail, “It’s Diana. Jed fell off the barn roof. He’s hurt bad. The ambulance is taking him to Arlington. I’m heading there now. Please call me,” she shouted into the phone. Danny was wailing from the back.

Diana tossed the disconnected phone on the passenger seat, and as she turned onto the highway, she pressed the gas, praying her husband would be okay.