Chapter 8

So she rode. Khadeem smiled faintly while he watched Leanna riding a horse, from the looks of it a young one, from inside the rented limousine. That smile was quickly replaced when he watched her get thrown on her back. Quickly opening the door he ran towards the ring where she lay. The man in the ring, he assumed he was her father, yelled to the house for someone to call 9-1-1. Reaching her side he leaned down by her side.

"I'll be guessing that you're Khadeem."

Khadeem looked up into the man's angry face.

"I'm betting you're her father."

"Got it in one. You and I have some things to talk about, but we'll sort it out later."

Khadeem nodded and lent his attention back to Leanna. He heard the faint sounds of an ambulance while both he and her father tried to get a response out of her... it looked like for now she was unconscious. The ambulance arrived and the EMT's quickly loaded Leanna on to a stretcher and into the ambulance. Both Khadeem and Leanna's father went to get in the ambulance with her. As much as it pained Khadeem to not be with her, he knew he wouldn't gain any brownie points with her family if he acted high handed... so he let her father ride with her to the hospital.

When the rest of her family poured out of the house he motioned to them.

"Come ride with me, you don't need to be driving while you're upset."

They all piled into the limousine and sped off following the ambulance. For the duration of the ride there was an uncomfortable silence. No one spoke and Khadeem kept getting dirty looks from what he assumed were Leanna's brothers. After 20 minutes they finally arrived at the hospital and quickly followed the stretcher into the ER.

Leanna's father was at the desk giving out information while the rest of her family anxiously paced the waiting area. Khadeem was through with not being with Leanna and promptly entered the room that he had seen the stretcher enter only minutes before. Striding toward the bed where she lay he was waylaid by a nurse.

"Sir we're sorry but you can't--" He cut her off with a slash of his hand

"Saskeh! The hell I can't!"

He continued to the bed and sat down next to Leanna and held her limp hand. The nurse continued to try and persuade him to leave but her comments were met with deaf ears... he wasn't going anywhere. For the next hour he sat with her while multiple tests were performed.

"Sir, are you this woman's husband?"

"Yes, I am."

"All right... is there any chance that she could be pregnant?"

His heart leapt.

"Yes, she could be."

"All right. We'll run a test."

Nodding Khadeem turned back to his wife. She was so still in the bed... it hurt him to know that he was the reason she had fallen off in the first place. He turned when the door was opened behind him and watched warily while Leanna's family gathered in the room. He knew he had some explaining to do... he didn't blame her family at all for their reactions towards him. Now that he reviewed his actions into marrying Leanna he realized how wrong they were... he hadn't been thinking at the time, all he wanted was her as his wife. Stupid really... he was a government official! Well what's done is done... all he could do now is to try and mend things. He was about to speak when the door opened again. Ella was a blur as she rushed to Leanna's side.