“Sweet dreams?”
“I dreamt of ponies. Can I have one, Mommy?”
I began shaking my head, ready to let her down gently, when my phone rang. My eyes darted to the clock on the wall. It was barely seven-thirty in the morning. I wondered who was calling so early.
“Hello?”
“Is this Patience?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Hi. My name is Wilhelmina. I’m a…friend of your father’s.”
I frowned. What the heck was this woman calling me about?
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but your father had a heart attack.”
I pressed my hand to my chest, gasping. I glanced up and saw Kyle shoot me a concerned look. I turned my back.
“Is… is he…”
“No. No. He’s actually doing well. The doctors may have to perform surgery later this week. But he’s asked to see you.” That shouldn’t have been a surprise to hear, but it was. My father requesting anything of me came as a shock.
“Wh-what hospital is he in?” I grabbed a pen and pad from one of my kitchen drawers and wrote down the information Wilhelmina gave me.
“All done!” Kennedy yelled from the table, holding up her plate to show me.
I gave her a small smile. “Good job. Put your plate in the sink and go wash your hands to get ready to get dressed,” I told both her and Kyle, who was staring at me worriedly. I bent down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Go on.” Kyle was definitely the most intuitive of my two children.
“Hi, Ms. Sheryl, I’m sorry to call so early but I have a family emergency.” I explained to her what happened and we came up with a plan for her to watch the kids while I saw to my father. Next, I had to call my job and request at least a week off, before moving on to make flight and hotel reservations. This morning certainly had not turned out how I’d expected it to.
Chapter Four
Patience
I had an eerie feeling as I proceeded down the hall to my father’s hospital room. I’d arrived the night before and only had a few minutes with my father before visiting hours were over. At his insistence, I agreed to return early the next morning. I rounded the last corner of the hallway where his and only one other room resided. It was just after nine a.m. and the nurse at the desk had already informed me that the doctors had done their rounds and my father had been checked. I figured he would be alone, since Wilhelmina had informed me she wouldn’t be in until ten or eleven that morning. I lightly tapped on the door and opened without waiting for a response. As soon as I stepped in, all the air rushed from my lungs. My eyes locked with a pair of hazel orbs that were very muchnotmy father’s.
All rational thought fled my brain and I just stood there, staring at Aaron. He did the same until my father spoke up, breaking into my thoughts.
“Patience, you came back. Come in.”
I finally looked from Aaron to my father, whose perfectly white teeth appeared as he greeted me with a smile. I can’t remember a time, if any, in which my father had greeted me with such enthusiasm.
“I-I can come back if you’re busy.” I cleared my throat, hoping to remove the tremble from it.
“Nonsense. Aaron is an old family friend.”
I began to feel queasy. Then the anger began to start.Old family friend.I bet.
“How’re you feeling?” I asked my father, choosing to ignore the other man in the room. That was the only alternative I had. But I felt him watching me.
“I’ve definitely been better, but for an old man who just had a heart attack, I’m not doing so bad.”
I gave my father a tight smile. It was the best I could do at his attempted humor.
“I was just telling Aaron that the doctors have scheduled my surgery for this Friday.”
I blinked. “Already? Don’t they need to run more tests?”
