The Rebel's Own(31)
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“What the hell!” Kennedy’s curse rang out in the midst of screams and gasps. She looked up at her rear view mirror, and just then her heart stopped beating. Her anger disappeared as she watched Ryan’s truck get forcefully pushed by the six-wheeler rig down the road, leaving a trail of sparks shooting out from under the vehicle like fireflies. The rig stopped, the crumpled metal of what was once Ryan’s pride and joy, continued to roll down the street with him and Senior in it.
“Ryan?” she gasped.
She watched Elizabeth jump out of the car and run. “Mama, stay with Riley.”
Kennedy jumped out of the car and chased after the metal wreck as it rolled a couple of times more before stopping in the middle of the road. Kennedy felt like she was in a trance, as her feet pushed her forward. Her walk turned into a sprint as she kicked off her designer shoes. She hunched next to the car, which had landed right side up. At first she was terrified of looking inside, not knowing what she would see. But she finally got the courage to look. Shouts of people yelling “call 911” and Elizabeth’s distraught cries were drowned out as she stared at Ryan’s still body.
“You should step back,” she heard a man say.
“No,” she whispered, but when the man tried to forcefully remove her, she let out an untamed, emotional shriek. “No, he’s my husband.”
“Ken.” She heard Ryan’s barely audible whisper. He coughed, and then called for her again.
“I’m right here, sweetheart.” Kennedy wasn’t sure where to touch. The only place she could reach was his shoulders and face. But he was a bloodied mess that she feared that any touch, as gentle as it may be, would hurt him. “You’re hurt pretty bad, Ryan.”
Ryan tried to give her a brave smile, but he coughed a splatter of blood. “R-robyn.”
“What?” Kennedy asked, confused.
“The…the baby’s name.” he swallowed hard, “I want…to name…her…Robyn.”
“Like the bird.” Kennedy risked it and touched his head; another second without her hands on him was about to drive her crazy. She just needed to feel his warmth, to know that underneath all that blood her Ryan was there.
“My…my little bird…my little girl.” Ryan choked as a tear rolled down through the blood on his cheeks.
“You can tell her when she’s born.”
“Promise…promise me—”
“I’m not promising you anything.”
“Please!” he wheezed out.
Kennedy stared at his chest and she could see, and hear his labored breathing, “No, Ryan. If you want to name your daughter after a bird, you’re going to have to be there to do it.”
“Daddy!”
Kennedy gasped as she noticed Riley standing next to her. He was on his tiptoes as his fingers fought to reach into the car. She wanted to take him away, but how could she. She herself was plastered at Ryan’s side, terrified that if she just blinked he would be gone from her forever.
“Hey buddy.” Kennedy could hear how hard he fought to keep the emotion out of his voice so as not to scare Riley, “You are going to take care of your mom and the new baby for me.”
“I will.” Riley cried, as he struggled to reach Ryan.
Kennedy picked him up and Riley laid his clean hand against Ryan’s bloody cheek. But Riley wanted to hold his father’s hand and she knew it.
“I can’t…I can’t feel my legs or my arms. I can’t move, Ken.” Ryan didn’t hold back the tears this time.
Riley climbed out of Kennedy’s arms before she could hold him back and scrambled through the window and into his father’s lap. “I’m here, daddy.”
“Riley, come out of there!” Kennedy couldn’t hide the hysteria in her voice.
Riley moved further away from her and leaned toward his grandfather. “Grandpa,” Senior grunted his response. “Please don’t die.”
“I won’t, sport.”
“Daddy?”
Kennedy watched as Ryan struggled to reassure his son. But how could he, when the only thing he could move was his lips? “I’ll try my best, buddy.”
Kennedy looked up when she heard the sirens. The first to arrive at the scene were the police officers then the ambulance and a fire truck. “Riley, you need to get out now so that they can help your daddy.”
“No!” He shouted defiantly and wrapped his tiny arms around Ryan’s torso, his white shirt quickly absorbing his father’s blood.
“Excuse us, ma’am.”
Kennedy stepped back and gave the paramedics room. They immediately pulled Riley out of the wreckage so they could get to work and handed the screaming child off to his mother. She watched nervously as the medics tried to free Ryan and Senior. Her knees buckled and she sank down to the ground, Riley still in her arms, when Ryan’s blood-curdling scream rang out in the air. He sounded as if someone was ripping his body apart. Through the haze of her tears she saw Riley’s terrified face, his hands covering his ears.