Race To The Altar

Molly wouldn’t know. She didn’t follow sports and wasn’t into cars. In fact, ever since the accident, she’d been uneasy whenever she got behind the wheel.

She did, of course, own a car, but she preferred to ride her bike around town, saving the vehicle to use on rainy days.

“It’s hard to imagine a celebrity like that being in Brighton Valley,” Sheila Conway, the senior EMT, said.

“Yes, but he was driving a classic old Corvette,” Joe reminded her. “That tells me he appreciates speed and a fast car.”

“Maybe so.” Sheila crossed her arms. “But he won’t be zipping around town in that Corvette anymore. It’s little more than a mangled mess now.”

Molly hadn’t recognized the name at all, so it was anyone’s guess if he was the same guy.

If he really was a race car driver, one thing that she did know was that he was a man who normally cheated death on the track. A man who had no fear. Or, if he did, he’d learned to control it.

Unable to help herself, she opened the plastic bag and pulled out Chase’s ID. His driver’s license photo wasn’t all that remarkable, but then most of them weren’t.

His black, unruly curls were matted with blood now. And his eyes, which his ID said were blue, were swollen shut.

What had they looked like before?

According to his ID, he was six feet tall, a hundred and ninety pounds. He had a birthday coming on October seventeenth.

He’d be thirty. But that’s about all she could assess, other than he’d probably been an attractive man when he’d started out today.

Her curiosity continued to build, which was strange. Normally she kept a professional distance from her patients, yet for some reason she was drawn to this one. And that was crazy, since there were several good reasons to excuse herself now that the paramedics were packing up and preparing to leave.

“By the way,” Sheila added, “there’s a kid coming in, too. He has a laceration on his left leg which may need stitches, as well as a possible fracture of the wrist. His guardian is driving him in.”

“Was he involved in the accident?” Molly asked.

“He was looking for his little sister, who’d chased after a runaway cat. When he saw the collision, he lost his balance and fell off his bike.”

Molly nodded, then returned her attention to the man on the gurney—Chase Mayfield.

“He’s coming to,” Betsy said. “Hi, Chase. You’re in a hospital. You’ve been in an accident. I’m Dr. Nielson. How are you feeling?”

He grimaced.

“Your injuries aren’t life threatening,” Betsy told him, “but we’re going to run a few tests. We also want to keep you in the ICU tonight for observation.”

His only response was a moan.

Betsy went on to probe and clean his head wound. After telling him what she was about to do, she began stitching it shut.

Dawn, who’d ordered an MRI, reentered the room just as Betsy finished the last of ten or twelve sutures over Chase’s left eye. “Doctor, the boy arrived and is waiting with his guardian.”

Betsy nodded. “I’ll be finished here in a few minutes.”

The man moaned again.

“Chase?” Betsy asked.

No response.

“Wake up, Mr. Mayfield.”

Chase cracked open his good eye. “Where…what…?”

“You’re in the hospital,” Betsy told him again. “You were involved in an accident. Do you remember?”

He seemed to be trying to process the information. “Oh…yeah.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” the doctor asked.

Molly knew Betsy wasn’t interested in details of the accident. She was actually trying to assess the extent of his head injury and his cognitive function.

“A dog…a kid…a truck…” His eyes opened momentarily, then closed again. “I had to pick one…”

He’d opted for the truck, Molly concluded.

“Good choice,” Betsy said. “At least, for the sake of the kid and the dog.”

Chase grumbled. Or perhaps it was a groan.

“Rumor has it you might be the Chase Mayfield,” Betsy said. “The race car driver.”

“Rumor has a big mouth.”

So, Molly thought, he had a sense of humor. And apparently, he was the man in question. She drew closer to the bed. “Karen still hasn’t arrived, Doctor. So I can finish cleaning him up and put on his gown.”

“Thanks, Molly. I really appreciate you coming in to pinch hit like this.”

“No problem.” She glanced at the patient.

He opened his eyes. Well, actually, he opened the one that wasn’t completely swelled shut, and it was the prettiest shade of blue Molly had ever seen. Like the color of the stone in her mother’s sapphire ring.

“We can transport you to Houston,” Betsy told him, “if you’d rather be in a larger hospital.”

“No.” Chase turned to the doctor and reached out, grabbing Molly’s arm by mistake, gripping her with an intensity that shot her adrenaline through the roof. “I don’t want to go to the city.”

“No problem,” the doctor said. “You can stay here, if you’d rather.”

“I don’t—” he winced “—want word to get out…about this…if it can be helped.”

“We’ll do what we can to ensure your privacy,” Betsy assured him. “But there were witnesses to the accident. The media could find out, although we certainly won’t make any statements, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“I want to…fly under the radar.” He opened his eye a crack. “Use my middle name, Raymond, instead of Chase. Maybe that’ll throw people off.”

“We’ll issue a request for discretion.” Betsy turned to Molly. “I’ll let you take it from here. I’ll order some Demerol and let ICU know he’s on his way up.”