“Then tow it!I don’t give a crap.If you want it moved so badly, you can move it.”I toss my keys on the desk and slam my hands down on the wood, making her jump.“My two-year-old daughter is here and I don’t know what happened.I don’t know if she’s even alive.Tell me how to get to room 453,” I growl.
She swallows hard and nods her head.She motions to someone else to cover the desk and then tells me to follow her.
“I’ll move your car for you.I don’t want them to tow it, then I’ll bring the keys to you.I shouldn’t be doing this, but I can only imagine what you’re going through right now.”
I don’t bother responding to her, I have nothing to say.I'm just happy she’s walking quickly down the hallways and soon we’re stopping outside of room 453.
“I’ll tell the nurse you’re here and see if the doctor can come in and talk to you.”
I push open the door, unsure of what I’m going to find on the other side.Tali’s sitting in the center of a stretcher with Liliana perched on the foot of the bed.
“Hey, Tali Girl,” I whisper, trying to keep my voice soft.I still don’t know what happened and I need to make sure she’s ok before I react.
“Daddy!”Her bottom lip trembles and she holds her arms out for me.
I sweep her into my body and cradle her against my chest.I pepper her head with kisses and squeeze my eyes shut as I fight off the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
“Daddy’s here, sweetie.Everything is going to be ok.”
I'm not sure if the words are to comfort her, or if they’re to soothe the anxiety pumping through me.Either way, I’ll keep saying them if it helps one of us.
“Mr.Schmidt?I'm Dr.Johnston.I ran a bunch of tests on Tali, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, but everything came back clear.”
“Can you tell me why my daughter is here?No one seems to want to tell me anything.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.I thought you were aware.She was in a car accident with…” She flips a page and scans whatever is written on it.“Her nanny was driving.The car went off the road and was totaled.They came into the hospital to get checked out.”
“Do you know where the nanny is?”I arch a brow.I can't believe Winnie crashed the car with my daughter in it.How could she be so careless?Was she not paying attention?Was she on her phone when she should’ve had her eyes on the road?
“She’s in room 365,” she says after checking the chart again.
“Thank you.Is Tali free to go home?”
“Yes.I’ll start writing out the discharge instructions.She has a small cut on her arm, but we cleaned it up and bandaged it.Just keep an eye for any sort of infection, but I don’t anticipate anything developing.It was fairly superficial.It will take me about thirty minutes to get your paperwork together.”
“Thank you.You can take your time, I want to go talk to my nanny.”
She nods and exits the room.I pull back and stare down at Tali.She looks exhausted, but other than that, she seems normal.
“Lils, can you stay with Tali while I go talk to Winnie?”
“Of course.”She eyes me cautiously, but doesn’t say anything else.
“Daddy will be right back, baby girl.Right back.”I press a kiss to her head before handing her over to Liliana.Luckily, she’s been over my house and around Tali enough that Tali’s comfortable with her.Otherwise, I think this visit to Winnie’s room would have to wait until Tali was officially discharged from the hospital.
I stop outside of Winnie’s room and take a deep breath.There’s so much anger coursing through my body.I want to know exactly what happened.I'm not leaving until I know.
I push open the door and step in without knocking.Winnie’s lying in the hospital bed with a gown on.Her face is pale, but she isn't banged up at all.
She blinks her eyes open as I step closer to the bed, not caring how much noise I make.She tries to sit up higher in bed, but she winces.
“Hey, is Tali ok?”Her brows furrow together as she searches my face, looking for any clues how my little girl could be.“I haven’t seen her since we got here and none of the nurses knew.”
“She’s fine,” I growl.
“Thank goodness.I was worried about her.”She leans her head back on the pillow and blows out a long breath.
“What happened, Winnie?”I fold my arms over my chest and glare at her.
