Hearts Aligned

Chapter 4

Lissa

I loved the sounds of a newborn's cries. I never grew tired of it because, in my job, the absence of it was a tragedy that no person should have to bear, and sadly, I'd stood witness to it more than once.

I smiled at the new mother as I passed the tiny blue package to her, tired stress lines around her eyes magically erasing as she held her son for the first time, his daddy hesitantly laying his large hand alongside his wife's.

"Thank you, Melissa. I'm not sure what we'd have done without you."

"You're welcome." I smiled at the couple and hurried to finish cleaning up everything so the new family could have some quiet bonding time.

Minutes later I approached the nurse's station to finish entering some records. I was mid-stretch with my arms out in front of me, fingers locked, to relieve my tight muscles, when my friend, Olivia, another OB nurse, slid to my side and hip-checked me.

"You ready for a break? You missed lunch," she scolded.

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't want to leave the mom on her own until her husband got here, and then everything went a little crazy." Amelia, the mom whose baby I'd just help deliver, was a first-time mom and was scared to be alone. Her husband was four hours away on a business trip, not expecting the baby for another three weeks. Since I was her charge nurse, I stayed with her.

"Well, you also missed a couple of messages."

I glanced at the two white slips she handed me. One was from my friend Jen. I suspected it had more to do with the Thanksgiving dinner she'd invited me to share with her family. Scanning the second message, I saw it was from Delia, the secretary for TriStar Builders, the design and construction company my brother was working with.

Great. What has he done now? I loved my brother, but he sometimes made life challenging to the point I just wanted to scream. He was so angry and hostile - toward me, toward school, toward his internship, toward life in general. I was only surprised it had taken this long before I got a call from someone involved in the work study program.

Blowing out a breath and bracing for whatever Delia had to tell me, I dialed the numbers and introduced myself when a female voice answered.

"Oh, Ms. Cross, I'm glad you got my message. I don't mean to alarm you, but Josh had a little accident this morn—"

"Oh, my God! Is he okay? What happened? Where is he now?"

"The foreman took him to ER at Mercy Hospital, but he's—"

I dropped the phone in the cradle and rushed down the hall to the elevator, calling, "I have an emergency," over my shoulder to Olivia, knowing she'd pass the message on.

I punched the button to the first floor, huffing each time the elevator stopped to admit or let off fellow passengers. The door finally opened on the first floor, and I pushed through, running down the hall in the direction of the ER. I didn't bother checking in at the front desk, instead using my id pass to enter directly into the triage room and beyond to the central workstation where doctors and nurses were consulting computers or each other.

"I just learned my brother was brought here, Joshua Daniels?" I panted to one of the nurses behind the desk. One of the perks of wearing an id badge from the same hospital was fast results. She smiled sympathetically and punched a few keys on the computer in front of her.

"Room 5, just down there." She pointed to my left, and I took off again. I didn't even bother to knock on the semi-opened door.

"Joshua?" I pushed open the door and saw him sitting up on the narrow bed. I briefly noted another person in the room, but my focus was all on my brother and making sure he was all in one piece.

"Are you okay?" I stretched my hand toward some scratches I saw on his face, but he scowled at me and jerked his face away. I expected that, but it still hurt. I pulled on my hair, trying to decide on another approach. I started to turn to the other person in my periphery.

"Lissa?"

That voice. The one I still heard in my dreams. The one I'd never forget. The only one who could make my heart beat faster and my panties dampen with just the sound of my name.

I looked up into the familiar hazel eyes that stared back at me in confusion, hurt, and, if my imagination wasn't working overtime, maybe relief.

I wobbled on my feet and said the only words that came to my mind. "Hello, Chris."

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