“Yeah?”
“Talk to my brother. Stand your ground, but tell him how you’re feeling. I think he needs to hear it.”
My brow furrows from her suggestion, but I simply nod and then head out to my car, driving as fast as legally possible to the hospital, hoping that the little girl I’ve grown to care for—and her father—are going to be all right.
***
I twist my head in every direction as I run through the automatic doors of the ER. The sun has set on this horrendous day, leaving nothing but fluorescent lights blinding me as the darkness outside is visible through the windows.
“Elodie!” Henley calls out from my left, standing from the cushioned chair he was sitting in, Remy in his arms, her cheeks bright red from her temperature.
“I’m here.”
“Remington Clark!” A nurse calls out from the double doors that lead back to the triage stations.
“Perfect timing,” I say as I follow Henley and the nurse through the heavy metal doors and over to a bed where the nurse pulls the curtain closed around us, providing a sliver of privacy. Henley sits on the bed with Remy in his lap, her soft cry echoing around us, breaking my heart even more than it already is. “Poor baby bear. Don’t worry, we’re gonna figure out what’s going on with you, okay?” I run my finger down her cheek.
The nurse swipes his badge in front of a scanner connected to the computer in the space. “What brings you in today?”
“Her temperature is really high and I can’t get it to go down,” Henley answers on a shaky breath, bouncing Remy in his arms trying to soothe her in between cries.
“How long has it been like this?”
“About five hours,” he says while I mentally take note of when her fever must have spiked again. At least she wasn’t too hot when I left this morning.
“Have you given her any medication?”
“Tylenol.”
“Dosage?”
“Whatever it said on the bottle,” he barks out. But the nurse shoots him a glare that could slice right through him. “Sorry. I’m a new dad, and I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“And who’s this?” the nurse tosses his thumb in my direction.
“I’m his wife,” I answer for Henley, kicking myself for even saying it, but I know it was necessary so I could stay back here. If I’m not family or involved with him, they would ask me to leave.
The nurse moves his eyes between us, but doesn’t fight me on it. “Let me get her vitals.” He does the necessary workup and tells us that the doctor on shift will be by when she can.
As soon as he leaves, I let out a shaky breath and glance at Henley, expecting him to snap at me for what I said, but he is too consumed by his daughter. “Sorry about the wife thing, but if I didn’t say that, they would have made me wait in the waiting room.”
He doesn’t even look up from Remy. “It’s fine.”
“Has she been fussy today?”
“Yeah.” He continues to bounce her in his arms, even as he stands to move around the small space between the curtains.
An uncomfortable silence rests between us, a lapse in conversation that makes me spit out the first thing that comes to mind. “I’m sorry.”
Henley shakes his head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“I shouldn’t have left you this morning.”
“No, you were right to.”
“Henley…”
His eyes finally meet mine. “No, El. Don’t. You were right.” He shakes his head again, the look of disgust resting in the lines of his face as he speaks. “You were right about so much. I just…” His words trail off. “I’m just really good at avoiding shit.”
