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

“We’re going to take you to the hospital now.” Then he approached me. “Are you okay?”
    “No,” I replied. “I think my water just broke.”
    Mia gripped my shoulder. “Oh, my God. Does this mean you’re going into labor?”
    “Where are your parents?” Scott asked, still blessedly calm in the midst of all this.
    “They live in Bar Harbor,” I replied. “Angela is my aunt. I’ve been staying with her for a while. This is my sister.”
    Scott studied Mia’s panic-stricken face. “Then I think you should both come with us to the hospital. You can ride in the ambulance.” He turned to help John lift Angela onto the gurney. “What’s your name?” he asked me.
    “Kate.”
    “Nice to meet you, Kate. Why don’t you go pack a few things, but hurry up. You have exactly one minute and then we’re out of here.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

    “How is she doing?” I asked Scott as the ambulance picked up speed.
    John was at the wheel. He had turned on the siren as soon as we were underway.
    “Why don’t we ask her?” Scott said. “How are you feeling, Angela?”
    She lay on the gurney, still wearing the oxygen mask, and gave a thumbs up.
    “Everything’s going to be fine,” Scott said. “There’s hardly any traffic, so we should reach the hospital in about ten minutes. How about you, Kate?” he said to me. “Are you feeling any contractions?”
    I shook my head. “No, nothing after that first time when my water broke. Is this normal?”
    “It’s nothing to be concerned about,” he replied. “They’ll take good care of you.”
    By ‘they,’ he meant the doctors and nurses on the obstetrical floor at the hospital.
    I wasn’t due for three weeks, and I wondered if my premature labor had been brought on by the stress of Angela’s heart attack.
    “How old are you, anyway, if you don’t mind my asking?”
    Scott constantly amazed me by how he could carry on a conversation while checking an IV or taking Angela’s blood pressure.
    “I’m sixteen,” I replied.
    “Is that why you’re not living with your parents?”
    “Yeah,” I said, “but this is only temporary until the baby is born. They didn’t kick me out or anything like that, but we live in a small town and felt it would be better this way.”
    “Are you putting the baby up for adoption?”
    “Why would you assume that?” I asked, wanting to hear Scott’s opinion on the matter, because I was still undecided about whether or not I should keep the baby.
    Scott shrugged non-committedly. “I just figured that must be the case if you’re having the baby here and not at home. Otherwise, why keep it a secret, if everyone’s going to know anyway?”
    It was a reasonable deduction, and just when I was about to tell him that I was leaning toward keeping my baby, Mia said, “I think you should keep it. It’s the right thing. I have a feeling about this baby. She’s going to be special.”
    “ She? What makes you think it’s a girl?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just have this funny feeling. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I promise to help you. We’ll convince Mom and Dad together.”
    I had never loved her more than I did in that moment.
    Then suddenly, John hollered, “ Shit! ”
    He slammed on the brakes.
    It all happened very quickly after that. Mia and I tumbled over each other on the bench, then a sudden jarring impact shattered the quiet morning as the ambulance was rammed at a ninety-degree angle by what I later learned was a mid-sized moving truck.
    The sound of crunching metal and smashing glass was explosive in my ears. Mia slammed into me. I felt the crack of her skull against mine and the tangle of her flailing limbs as she rolled over me.
    When John first hit the brakes, Angela’s gurney shot forward against the driver’s compartment like a projectile, then she spun like a log on water as we flipped over sideways. Three times apparently. I have no memory of that. The last thing I remember is the concern