Ryder.
“Help me!” I shouted.
I heard his voice get louder, and I heard the rustle of branches and the snap of twigs.
“Branna!”
Oh, thank God.
“Ryder!” I screamed with relief. “I’m down here!”
“Keep talking to me,” he shouted as heavy rain began to fall. “I can’t see a damn thing.”
It had gotten considerably darker in just a few minutes and made it almost impossible to make out anything against the darkened bush.
“I’m stuck,” I called out to him. “I fell do-down the bank and into the wa-water. I got out of the water, but when I pu-pulled meself out, the branch I used as an an-anchor broke free and fell on me leg. It’s too he-heavy to move, and the water is risin’.”
It was rising fast.
The hard rain that had fallen for the last thirty minutes was too much for the small river to contain, resulting in it rushing over the banks.
“Are you hurt bad?” Ryder asked; panic laced around his words as he neared me.
“I’m okay, I th-think,” I said through chattering teeth. “It’s just me leg that hu-hurts.”
I heard him curse a few times, and I screamed when something squeaked and ran over my legs.
“What is it?” Ryder shouted.
“A rat,” I cried out. “Oh, God, I think a rat ju-just ran ov-over me legs!”
I was terrified of rats.
“I’m coming, baby, I’m coming.”
Ten seconds later, I heard the bushes next to me rustle before my husband pushed through them.
“Bran,” he breathed, a sigh of relief escaping him as he dropped to his knees next to me.
He felt down my body until his hands encountered the log that pinned me. He got to his feet, bent down, gripped the log, and with a grunt, he lifted it enough that I could pull my leg free. It throbbed with pain, but I could bend my knee, and that removed any lingering fear that it may have been broken.
“Ryder,” I said, gaining his attention. “I haven’t felt the baby move si-since I left the ho-house. I don’t know how long I was un-under the water for.”
I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I heard his sharp intake of breath.
“The hospital,” he breathed. “We’ll go back to the cabin, get you dry and warm, and then we’ll drive to the hospital. We’ll make it there in a few hours, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied, still crying.
Ryder’s hold on me tightened. “He’s okay.”
Sobs wracked through me.
“What if he’s not?” I asked, using a gender term for the first time since I found out I was pregnant. “What if I’ve ki-killed ‘im? Oh, God, he ca-can’t be dead, Ryder. He ca-can’t be.”
“He. Is. Okay,” my husband said firmly as he bent down and lifted me into his arms bridal style.
It didn’t take very long for us to get back to the cabin, and the heat that hit me upon entering the haven was like Heaven.
“We ne-need to g-go,” I demanded as we entered the bathroom.
Ryder stripped me of my wet clothes and put me in the shower. Without warning, he turned on the water. I gasped with shock and pressed my body to his. The water felt boiling hot, and my skin screamed in protest.
“Too hot!” I screeched.
Ryder held me in place.
“It’s lukewarm,” he assured me. “Just give your body a chance to get used to it. We need to get your temperature up before I get you dry, baby. The last thing you need is a fever.”
I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes. My limbs were still shaking of their own accord, but the water did begin to feel beautifully warm instead of shockingly hot, and my body almost instantly relaxed.
“No,” Ryder suddenly snapped and shook me. “Stay awake. Move your arms and legs around to generate heat.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whimpered and tried to do as he asked.
My husband squeezed me tightly. “Stop. It’s fine. You’re fine, the baby is fine. Everything is fine.”
Everything wasn’t fine, and he knew it.
“F-forgive me,” I pleaded. “Please, forgive—”
“Stop it,” he demanded. “There is nothing to forgive. You had an accident, and you fell. You didn’t want this to happen, Branna. Come on, baby. I know that.”
I continued to sob.
“I won’t be able to live wi-with myself if I’ve hurt ‘im—”
“Baby,” Ryder stressed. “Don’t do this to yourself. You’ll make yourself sick if you keep stressing out like this, and that won’t be good for the baby, right?”
I took a few deep breaths.
“No,” I sniffled. “It won’t be g-good for the baby.”
“Exactly,” he stated. “We have a plan. We’re going to get you warm then into clean, dry clothes. I’ll pack our stuff, and we’ll be on our way home in the next twenty minutes, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
Ryder made good on his word. After I dried and put on multiple layers of clothes, Ryder packed our belongings in record time. Things that weren’t needed were abandoned in the cabin, and without giving our beautiful getaway a proper goodbye, we left, got into our Jeep, and began the journey home.