A few minutes, maybe longer, had passed; I wasn’t even sure at that point; before the rest of CC’s family showed up.

I stood and hugged my mom when she rushed over to us, and she immediately started crying. In between the sobs she asked, “Have you heard anything yet?”

I kissed the top of her head and looked over at Mr. Cahill before I answered, “No, nothing yet.”

CC’s father cleared his throat in an attempt to keep his composure. “I’ll go see if there’s any update. They should be able to tell us something by now.” he said, wandering in the direction of the front desk.

I looked over towards Jaylinn, Hailey, Mrs. Cahill and Chloe, who were all seated in the corner of the waiting room. “Mom, why don’t you go sit with the girls? I’m going to go get some air for a few minutes.”

Tears still pouring from her eyes, she nodded. I kissed her cheek and she joined the girls with her head down. I strode out of the waiting room and down the hallway, there was no way I could be far if Mr. Cahill came back with news. Mason, Cooper and Jackson followed me out but I really just needed a little time to myself.

“Did you find anything out?” Jackson asked.

“No, they aren’t saying anything. I guess that’s a good sign in a way but I still think this is bullshit. I just want to know what’s going on.” I told them as I leaned back against the wall. “I told her I would always f**king protect her, and now look what the f**k happened. She’s never going to forgive me if something happens to our baby. Shit! I’m never going to forgive myself.”

“Dude it’s not your fault. It was an accident.” Cooper said.

Mason leaned back against the wall right next to me and said, “She may be heartbroken when she wakes up but there was nothing either of you could have done to prevent the accident.”

“I should have taken the time off work and just picked her up, that way none of this would be happening right now.” I was so pissed at myself. Just the other night, while CC and I were lying in the bed, we were laughing because she said she could barely reach the pedals with her belly in the way. Thinking about it now, it really wasn’t that funny.

Chloe came out of the waiting room with Alex and the diaper bag in her hand. “Sorry, I’m just going to change Alex.”

“It’s alright babe.” Jackson pulled Chloe in and kissed Alex’s cheek.

I kicked off the wall and went back into the waiting room. It was probably a dickhead move but whatever; I didn’t give a shit right now. “What the f**k is happening in there?” I yelled as I paced back and forth in the waiting room. I was really trying to keep calm but my whole life was behind those damn doors.

“We don’t know yet.” Mr. Cahill said when he came back in and wrapped his arms around his crying wife.

I kept trying to look in through the doors every time someone would go in or leave, but all I could see were a bunch of doctors and nurses scrambling around. I stopped moving, even stopped breathing, when I saw CC’s limp arm hanging off the edge of the table; recognizable only from the ring I had given her just a few months ago and the bracelet I had given her for her birthday.

Cooper came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder, “I have to do something; I can’t just wait here and do nothing.” I walked over to the trash can and kicked it; everyone jumped. I need to do something to take the edge off; I’m going f**king insane not knowing anything except that she’s alive.

It was nearly 9 p.m. when a doctor calmly strolled out. He called for us and led us into a private room; I took a seat between my mom and Mrs. Cahill, who both reached over and grabbed my hands. Everyone else was standing behind us, except for Chloe who stayed in the waiting room with an oblivious, sleeping Alex on her lap.

The doctor cleared his throat, “I’m Dr. Clearly, I’ve been working on MacKenzie since she arrived. She is alive, but has suffered a great deal.” I felt lighter already. Thank God for that! Whatever lies ahead for us, we can deal with that together. Now for one more miracle and I could finally start to relax a little bit. “After we assessed all of her injuries, we hooked MacKenzie up to the ultrasound monitor to check on the baby. The on call OB-GYN made the decision to perform an emergency Cesarean section - MacKenzie was having contractions and, since she was nearly full term, it was safer to deliver the baby than it would have been to wait. She delivered at 4:38 p.m. and the baby is being monitored in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but appears to be doing well.” I hung my head as a sob escaped me, I couldn’t hold it back. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. The doctor continued, “MacKenzie appears to have protected the baby during the crash and has taken most of the injuries to her wrist and leg. She has a dislocated thumb on her left hand, which we have reset. Her right wrist is broken which will have to be in a cast. The right ankle was severely crushed and we will need to operate on that as soon as we can. When she arrived she was unconscious and we’ve kept her in a medically induced coma right now for her safety. Sometimes when the body has gone through a trauma, it can go into shock if it regains consciousness too quickly; we just want to make sure that doesn’t happen. She is getting a CT-Scan now, so depending on the results we may be able to slowly wake her up.” Dr. Clearly sat back in his chair. “One of the nurses will come and get you when MacKenzie is back in her room and settled.” He stood up to leave but looked at me before turning away and said, “She is extremely lucky, not many people would walk away from something like this.”

I reached out to shake the doctor’s hand, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.” He took my palm in his and shook firmly. “Are we able to go see the baby now?”

“Yes of course, you need to go up to the fifth floor and the nurses there will be able to help you. Congratulations son.”

“Thank you.” I turned to everyone; they all had tears in their eyes, even badass Mason.

“Let’s go see the newest McCormick.” Mason said, clapping me on the back.

We all rode the elevator up to the fifth floor and went quickly to the nurses’ station. I explained who we were and a friendly looking woman escorted us to the waiting room, explaining that only two people were allowed in at a time.

I looked over at Mrs. Cahill, knowing she would want to see the baby. She nodded at me and we followed the nurse back to a locker room, where she handed us scrubs. “I need you to put these on for the safety of the babies and your own. When you’re done I will show you where you can visit.”