Ranger’s Destiny Chapter 1
Army Rangers Cory Foster and Chase Richards think they’ve seen it all. Then two women show them they still have a lot to learn…
© Tracey Cramer-Kelly
CHAPTER 1Savannah, GA
Cory drove too fast. He knew it, but he didn’t care. Ella was his focus.
After all the years of looking after her, Cory could tell in less than thirty seconds—even over the phone—that she was scared.
And she was in pain.
She’d told him that much, but not enough. “Just come home,” she’d said. “Quickly. Please.”
He wouldn’t panic. He never did. He was calm, cool and collected—even in the midst of a firefight.
He slammed the door behind him, and the shades on the window rattled. He needed to find them a different apartment. It was one thing for him to live in a crappy place—he was hardly ever home—but Ella should have better digs.
“Ella?” He paused to listen, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Bathroom. She was in the bathroom.
He stalked down the hall and tapped on the bathroom door. “Ella. I’m here.”
“Cory…”
“You’d better tell me what’s going on.” He used what she called his authoritarian voice.
“Oh, it hurts…”
Her moan set his teeth on edge. His hand went to the doorknob, and he almost turned it. “Ella, what’s happening?”
The only reply was muffled crying. This was not good. “I’m coming in.”
“No!” But it was a weak protest.
He turned the knob. “I’m not going to look.” But he did. There was a pair of underwear on the bathroom floor. Bloody underwear. He nearly gagged, and his heart rate jacked up.
Oh my God…
“Please tell me it’s that time of the month.”
No answer to that either. But even he knew that was too much blood for a monthly period.
He pushed the door open further. Now he could see her sitting on the toilet, naked from the waist down. She was leaning forward, head down, elbows on her knees and hands fisted in her hair.
“Oh, my God, Ella.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with fear, her face streaked with tears. “I don’t—don’t know.” Her voice was jerky. “I—I can’t stop bleeding.”
He dropped to his knees beside her. The metallic smell of blood hit his nostrils. He was no stranger to blood, but this… this was different. This was Ella.
His voice came out calm, even though he was not. “Sweetheart, I think we’d better take you to the ER.”
CHAPTER 2St. Joseph’s Hospital
Savannah, GA
The board at the front of the ER was full: respiratory in three, flu in four, slip-and-fall in eight.
But Doctor Madeline Wright couldn’t think about those other patients right now, because the young woman in Exam Room Two was bleeding vaginally and complaining of cramps in her abdomen and pain in her lower back. She was young—only twenty-one—and she had a firm grip on the man in military camouflage who’d brought her in.
Maddy pressed gently on the young woman’s abdomen. “What’s your name, honey?”
“Ella.”
“Foster,” the soldier added. “Ella Foster.” The soldier was looking at her patient with a mixture Maddy had seen many times: worry, love… and guilt.
The boyfriend.
He looked up, and she was struck by how dark his eyes were. Brown. No, actually… green. But so dark…
“She won’t stop bleeding.” Maddy heard the underlying fear in his voice. “What’s wrong with her?”
Maddy performed a cursory exam while she asked Ella standard questions—how long and how much she’d been bleeding, when her last period had been, etc. She met the young woman’s eyes and knew that she knew.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to wait in the family room,” Maddy said.
“I will not!”
Maddy stepped to the side of the bed, placing her hand on the man’s arm. “She’s having a miscarriage.”
“A… what?”
Maddy waited for the inevitable understanding.
“You mean…” he sputtered. “She’s…”
So her patient hadn’t told him.
“She’s pregnant?!”
Maddy nodded.
The man went still, clearly stunned.
Ella started to cry. “Cory, I’m so sorry, Cory…”
Maddy glanced at the nurse. When she turned her attention back to the man named Cory she was taken aback by the fury in his eyes.
“Who did this to you?” he demanded.
Crap. She’d been wrong; this was not the boyfriend. Then who was he? And why had the nurses let him in?
The girl only shook her head, crying harder.
“I swear to God, Ella, if he hurt you—”
The girl shook her head again, now clutching at his hand. “No. No, it’s not like that. I thought… I thought he loved me…”
“So he’s…”
“He’s gone,” the girl said.
His eyes went flat. “It’s Rolando, isn’t it?”
The girl’s downcast eyes were his answer.
“You went with Rolando while I was gone, even though I told you not to!” Maddy jumped as his fist hit the wall. “I’m going to kill the bastard.”
This was rapidly getting out of hand. Maddy tightened her grip on his arm and physically steered him toward the door. “Sir, I really need you to step outside right now.”
The man glanced at her as if just noticing her hand on his arm. Under that camouflage she sensed the raw physical power. A deep part of her wanted to recoil, but for the sake of her patient, she would not…
She didn’t need to. He backed away.
“Cory?” the girl whined. “I’m sorry… I didn’t know I was pregnant… not until a few days ago… I swear.”
He was shaking his head, but he allowed Maddy to steer him into the hallway. “Who are you and what relationship are you to my patient?”
“Cory Foster,” he said. “I’m her brother.”
“Cory.” She took a deep breath and spoke slowly. “Your sister is going to be fine. I know it’s hard to see her in pain, but we’re going to take good care of her. I promise.”
His eyes wandered to the doorway.
She placed her hand on his arm again. “This is what I need you to do—what your sister needs you to do,” she continued. “Wait in the family room. I’ve already paged our OB/GYN doctor. I’ll bring you an update as soon as I can.”
He looked at her, a pleading look on his face. It was another look she’d seen before. “She’s going to be fine,” she said softly. “Really.”
She sensed the fury ebbing away. She needed to know he was going to do as she’d asked. “Okay?”
She held his gaze until he nodded briefly.
