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awful with Lincoln about Baptiste’s condition on the drive over to the hospital and they’d decided to conceal it in an effort to protect her? She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but if there was something terrible going on with him, she needed to know. She eased over to the doorway, being careful to remain out of view, and listened.
    “I never thought I’d live to see the day those two weren’t battling with each other,” Marcel said.
    Alcee released a half chuckle. “Well, you know what they say. The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
    Marcel glanced over at Lincoln, Alex, and Ray. “How in the world did they end up crashing into each other anyway?” Marcel asked.
    “Ain’t got the faintest idea.” Ray shrugged. “All I know is the last time I saw mon frère , he was in a panic to find Honey.”
    “Why?” Lincoln questioned. “They’re always fighting.”
    Zach nodded. “Yeah. Did somethin’ really bad happen this time?”
    “Beats me,” Ray responded. “Now I wish I had let him bolt on out the door when I first saw him.”
    Marcel frowned. “Why do you say that?”
    “Timing, mon frère, timing,” Ray offered. “If I’d let him go then, he wouldn’t be banged up now.”
    Vic placed her hand against her stomach as tears streaked down her face. Oh, God, if Baptiste hadn’t tried to go after her, he wouldn’t be lying on a gurney in the emergency room. With her back to the wall, she squeezed her eyes shut and offered up a prayer on his behalf. Suddenly, she heard the familiar sound of the double doors to the trauma unit open, and her eyes flew open. “Edmond!” She bolted toward him and shook him hard by the shoulders. “How’s Baptiste?”
    Edmond Cates placed his hands on top of Vic’s. “He’s okay, Vic. He got banged up pretty good, but he’s stable.”
    “You’re sure?” Vic’s voice was shaky. She’d known Edmond since the day he and her brother Harrison began working together in the ER, six years earlier. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
    With a smile, Edmond lowered Vic’s hands to her side. “You know I wouldn’t. A.J.’s one lucky man, I can tell you that much.”
    Louise stood next to Vic. “What’s the diagnosis, Edmond?”
    “Bruised ribs, a complex concussion—”
    “CT scan?” Vic and Louise asked simultaneously.
    “Yes, you Bennett nurses. I did one,” Edmond answered with a chuckle. “Negative.”
    “No puncture to his lungs, right?” Vic questioned.
    Edmond shook his head and smiled. “Negative again.”
    “Thank you, Jesus,” Vic uttered with a sigh of relief and turned to hug her mother.
    Edmond announced his orders for A.J.’s post-injury care. “Listen, I want him off his feet and on complete bed rest, at least for the first week. If he does that, he should be as good as new.”
    “I need to see him,” Vic said anxiously.
    Edmond nodded. “All right, but give us a few moments. He’s being transferred up to a room. With that concussion, I want to keep him overnight, just for observation.” He gave Vic a quick hug. “Gotta run, kiddo. I’ll check on him again before my shift ends.”
    “Edmond, wait.” Vic followed him outside the waiting room into the hallway. “Zach told us a young girl was injured, too.”
    Edmond nodded. “She’s in surgery now.”
    “Will she be okay?”
    Edmond palmed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t look good for her.”
    A second later, a nurse from the trauma unit walked past Edmond and Vic and stopped at the entrance of the waiting room. “Is this the Baptiste family?”
    “Yes,” they all replied in unison.
    Somewhat startled by the onslaught of people rushing toward her, the nurse clutched A.J.’s medical chart close to her chest. “I-I see. Well, I need to speak with his next of kin.”
    “There she is,” they all answered together and pointed to Vic, who’d just walked back inside.
    The nurse turned to Vic and flipped open A.J.’s chart. “Okay. Your name and relationship to the