Roman's Vow (Riley's Pride #4) - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,99

the rest of the ride home.

Chapter 22

Roman continued to try to call home, calling first one number, then another before finally giving up and dropping his phone back in the cup holder for a while. He drove a little faster than usual, beginning to become concerned, but he didn’t want Talie to know so he kept it to himself.

Finally, his phone rang and he jumped to answer it right away. Snatching it out of the cup holder, he held the steering wheel momentarily with his knee while he swiped the screen on his cell phone and put it to his ear. “Hello?” he said worriedly into the phone.

“Hey, man. I’m sorry we been missing your calls. We were in the hospital and you can’t get service in there,” Riley said.

“The hospital?” Roman asked, his anxiety growing. “Why? Is Darcie okay?”

“Darcie’s fine! Everybody’s fine. Yvette had the baby and it was tough going for a while, but it’s all good now,” Riley said.

“Oh, thank goodness. I was getting worried when nobody answered. Even the diner wasn’t answering,” Roman said.

“Yeah, we shut it down for the day. We’ve been here all night,” Riley said.

“Okay. Everybody’s doing okay, though? Yvette and the baby are both good?” Roman asked.

“Oh, yeah. Got a big ole boy! Named him Clay,” Riley said.

“Clay… I like that. And he’s big?” Roman asked.

“Oh, he’s a big ole chunk! Jet black hair and black eyes. Pretty baby,” Riley said. “And let me tell you, your Darcie is one brave little girl.”

“Yeah, she is,” Roman said, then realized he didn’t know why Riley said that. “But, why do you say that?” he asked.

“Who knows what would have happened if that little girl hadn’t found Yvette and run for help. She didn’t panic, she handled it like a pro,” Riley said.

“Wait, let me put you on speaker,” Roman said. He pressed the speaker button and held the phone out so Talie could hear. “Alright, say that again.”

“Darcie’s been going over every afternoon to read to the baby, and whatever other little thing Yvette came up with for her to do so she’d feel like she was helping,” Riley said.

“Yeah, Yvette said she could come over and help whenever she wanted,” Roman said.

“Yep. So, yesterday afternoon after Darcie’s homework was done, Maia walked her over to the trailer park and watched her go up the steps to Richie and Yvette’s. Then she hurried back across the street because she’d left Cristie finishing her homework and Bastian eating in his highchair.”

“Bastian is always eating,” Roman said on a chuckle.

“Always!” Riley agreed, with a laugh.

“Anyway, Yvette didn’t answer the door when Darcie knocked. So Darcie knocked again and called out for her. Darcie said she could hear noises inside, so she ran around to the back door and peeked through the window. She could see Yvette lying on the floor in the living room.”

“Oh, my God!” Talie whispered.

“Your Darcie didn’t hesitate. She grabbed one of Yvette’s herb plants she keeps in those terracotta pots on the back porch, and she threw it through that low window by the kitchen table. Then she took her coat off and used it to lay across the window so she could crawl through and not cut herself. She ran over to Yvette and realized that the floor was covered in blood. She took one of Yvette’s pillows from the sofa and put it under her head then she dragged the coffee table over to where Yvette was lying and managed to get Yvette’s feet up on the coffee table. She said she heard on a movie that if somebody’s bleeding put their feet up, unless it’s their head, then put their head up,” Riley said laughing. “Not sure that part helped, but, it was worth a try. Then she kept yelling at Yvette until Yvette finally opened her eyes and looked at her. Yvette asked for Richie, so Darcie started looking for Yvette’s phone to try to call him, but she couldn’t find it. Turns out the phone slid across the floor and ended up under the sofa. Anyway, Darcie unlocked the front door and ran from the trailer park down toward the diner.

She waited at the edge of the highway, making sure there were no cars coming, then she darted across the road. I know this because Maia happened to glance out of the front window of our house and see Darcie running down toward the diner. She grabbed Bastian and shouted for Cristie to come on, and