She smiled at the warmth in Nick's voice and turned her head in his direction. He got up from the chair at Katie's bedside and leaned over, placing a kiss on her lips. A slow, gentle kiss before he stood back up.
"You got here okay?"
He dropped his chin and gave her a look. A look that asked if she really questioned it.
"I was just worried," she let out a breath, "knowing that you'd be worried. I didn't want you to take any risks."
He smiled at that. "One of my guys drove me over. I was worried about the same thing. He had someone bring a car around for us. It's in the parking lot. The keys are at the nurses station. As soon as you two are ready to go-"
"Dad?"
Ruth watched the big and burly man she'd fallen in love with turn to mush as soon as his daughter called him dad.
Yes, she'd fallen in love with her next door neighbor.
And his daughter.
"Hey, sweetie." Nick leaned in and placed a kiss on Katie's cheek and before he could pull away, Katie turned and wrapped her arms around Nick's neck.
"Dad, you're here!"
The achingly sweet tone of her voice warmed Ruth's heart and soul.
"I got her as quickly as I could."
Ruth heard the sadness in his voice.
"It just wasn't fast enough. Sorry, Katydid."
Ruth felt the pull of love between the two. "Katie was so brave, Nick. She kept calm. Better than I did."
Katie turned to look at her with a sweet almost-glare of reprimand. "You were a rock, Miss Baker! Everyone said so. Dad," Katie looked at her dad. "She never left my side, dad. She held my hand and while the EMT's moved me to the ambulance she climbed right up into the ambulance with me, too! She didn't even let go of my hand."
Katie relaxed her hold on her dad's neck and reached out to take Ruth's hand in her own.
"Thanks again, Miss Baker. I... I was scared at first. I don't think I've ever been unconscious before."
Ruth reached out her free hand and gave Katie a gentle rub on her back. "You were scared, Katie. Anyone would be, but you were brave, too."
Katie gave her a wincing smile. "I didn't know if there were any kids around. I didn't want them to be scared, too."
Every day she was finding more and more reasons to admire Katie.
"You've got so much courage to do what you do, Katie. I can't imagine getting on stage the way you do."
Katie yawned.
Even though they'd both been sleeping for at least an hour, Ruth understood the feeling. "You ready to go home, sweetie?"
Katie beamed at her. "Absolutely! I want to go home and crawl into my own bed and hug all of my stuffed animals at once!"
Ruth looked at Nick to give his shirt pocket a pat.
"I've got her discharge papers right here. The staff was happy to let you two sleep for as long as you could."
Nick got up and crossed the room to lean out into the main area of the Emergency Room.
Ruth could tell the moment he got someone's attention. He lifted his hand and nodded.
