Read Online The Color of Destiny (The Color of Heaven Series Book 2) by Julianne MacLean - Free Book Online

both knew it was more than that. She squeezed my hand and held it to her heart. “Thank you, Kate. I’m so sorry. I’m supposed to be taking care of you .”
    “You are taking care of me,” I said. “I don’t know what I would have done without you these past few months.”
    She winced with pain and shut her eyes. I felt a rush of fear. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Can I do anything?”
    “Just stay with me,” she managed to say.
    I didn’t understand how this could be happening. Angela was young, fit, and vibrant. She went to yoga class three times a week and had never mentioned anything about a heart condition.
    “Has this ever happened to you before?” I asked.
    “No, never.”
    Mia ran back into the room. “The ambulance is on its way.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

    When the paramedics wheeled the gurney into Angela’s apartment, I wanted to bow at their feet and kiss their boots. Everything about them put me at ease. They wore uniforms like police officers, and wasted no time reaching Angela. They knelt on either side of her and calmly began asking questions about her symptoms.
    “What’s your name?” the dark-haired one asked.
    “Angela Worthington.”
    “My name is Scott, and I’m a paramedic. This is John. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
    Angela described her chest pains, her difficulty breathing, and a pain in her left arm that she had not mentioned to Mia or me.
    “Have you ever had pain like this before?” Scott asked.
    “No, never.”
    “How long has it been going on? Did it start suddenly or creep up on you?”
    “The pain woke me about an hour ago.”
    While Scott took Angela’s pulse, John said, “I’m going to put this blood pressure cup on your arm, Angela, and then I’m going to attach some EKG leads to your chest so we can find out what’s going on.”
    Angela nodded while Mia and I stood out of the way, watching.
    I am quite sure that was the moment that sealed my fate, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I made no conscious decision that I wanted to be a paramedic. I couldn’t even see past the fact that I was eight months pregnant and might never finish high school. All I knew was that I worshipped those EMTs, and I was immensely grateful for their skills.
    Scott asked, “Can you scale the pain from one to ten? If ten is excruciating––”
    “Seven,” Angela said.
    The two paramedics locked eyes briefly, then continued their assessment.
    “Any family history?” Scott asked.
    “My uncle had a triple bypass four years ago. He was fifty-eight.”
    “How old are you?”
    “Thirty-two.”
    “Are you on any medications? Do you smoke?”
    “No.”
    “Are you on any other drugs? Cocaine, uppers, downers, speed, herbal medications?”
    “No.”
    “Are you sure ?” Scott firmly asked. “We need to know everything, Angela, otherwise we can’t help you.”
    I knew they doubted her denial because she was so young. It hardly seemed possible that she could be at risk for a heart attack.
    “She’s not on drugs,” I answered in her defense.
    John, the stocky one, turned his head and looked up at me, as if for the first time. His gaze lingered on my belly for a few seconds, then he went back to work on Angela. He started an IV tube and put an oxygen mask on her.
    “It looks like she has ST elevations in lead two,” John said.
    Scott called the hospital. “We’ve got a thirty-two-year-old woman with a possible MI. Pain started an hour ago, radiating into the left arm. She’s diaphoretic. Some family history.” He paused. “No, it was an uncle. No drugs, no other risk factors.” Another pause. “Yeah, we have her on O2. Would like permission to give aspirin and nitroglycerin.”
    Scott nodded and snapped his fingers at John, who briefly removed the oxygen mask to slip a pill under Angela’s tongue.
    Suddenly, I felt a pain in my lower abdomen and clutched my stomach. “Oh no,” I said, looking down at the floor.
    Scott hung up and said to Angela,