by Kristen Iten
Despite the near-panic clawing at the back of her mind, she found a quiet place in her heart. She wasn’t alone in this. Trent was there. Even if it were only for a little while, it was nice to have him so close.
Olivia spent the next few minutes offering up silent prayers for her little girl.
“We’re here,” Trent said. The truck lurched as they rolled over a speed bump. “I’ll drop you two at the door and meet you inside.”
Olivia hopped out and unbuckled Molly. Holding her little girl in one arm, she grabbed the door to shut it.
“Hey,” Trent said, catching her eye. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
His soothing confidence washed over her, soaking into her soul and steadying her heart. It was like he knew something she didn’t, and it eased her nerves. She nodded, filling her lungs with a deep, bracing breath. “See you inside.” She closed the door and hurried through the hospital’s automatic glass doors.
Once inside, she was acknowledged by a harried receptionist. The woman held a telephone to her ear with an uplifted shoulder, fingers clicking away on the keyboard in front of her. She stopped typing long enough to shove a clipboard toward Olivia. It was pre-loaded with a stack of paperwork that asked more questions than she had answers to.
Olivia reached for a jar of pens that resembled a bouquet of flowers. She took a pen topped with a pink silk daisy. Any other day, Molly would have been in awe of its beauty, but not this day. Taking a seat near the front desk, she settled in to write with Molly resting in her lap.
Olivia gasped at the sudden touch of a large warm hand enveloping her shoulder.
“Why don’t you let me take her for you while you fill out that paperwork?” Trent came around to the front of the line of chairs and reached out for Molly.
“That would be great, thanks.” Molly barely stirred when Olivia handed her over to Trent.
She went through the rest of the papers with mechanical precision, checking every box and signing every highlighted line. She power-walked back to the desk, clipboard in hand, and gave it to the receptionist.
“Have a seat. The nurse will call you in soon,” the woman said, as she answered yet another call.
Olivia turned to go back to her seat, but her heart dropped into her stomach when she took her first good look at the overcrowded waiting area. They could easily be there for hours before being seen. She turned back to the desk. “My daughter’s fever is really high.”
The receptionist covered the receiver with her hand. “Our staff is working as quickly as possible. They’ll call you in as soon as they can.” She turned her attention back to her computer screen and continued with her telephone conversation.
Olivia walked back to Trent in a daze, but was jerked back to reality the moment her eyes came to rest on Molly. The pallor of her round cheeks had changed to a bright red flush that spread to her limbs. She looked so tiny in Trent’s strong arms. Olivia’s throat tightened. If only she could get the people on the other side of the desk to see Molly the way she did. They’d bring her to see a doctor in a second.
“Well, what did they say?” Trent’s expression was as calm as ever, but his voice had a jagged edge to it.
She shook her head and shrugged. “Now, we wait.”
“Unacceptable. She needs to be seen now.” Trent craned his neck, looking in either direction down the hall that intersected the main waiting room. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.” Olivia followed his gaze to a silver-haired nurse who had just stepped through the wide swinging doors leading to the treatment area of the ER. She was busy talking to the receptionist when Trent marched up to her. “Ma’am?”
“Can I help you?” The woman offered a warm smile.
“This child needs to be seen.”
“We’re working as quickly as we can. You’ll have to wait—”
“She needs to be seen now.”
The woman’s sweet expression turned stern. “Sir—”
“Feel her.” Trent shifted his body, putting Molly’s legs well within the woman’s reach. “Please.”
The woman exhaled a heavy breath and offered a forced smile. “What’s her name?”
“Molly.”
“Hello, Molly.”
Molly lay limp in Trent’s arms, not even turning her head to look in the nurse’s direction. The woman’s eyes widened when she touched Molly’s heated skin. “Give me just a minute, young man.” She stepped away and picked up a phone along the back wall and made a call.
Olivia joined Trent at the desk and slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. “What’s she doing?” she whispered.
Before Trent could answer, the woman had hung up the phone and come back to the desk. “How long has she been feverish?”
“Since earlier this morning. It started very suddenly,” Olivia said.
“Please follow me.” The nurse swiped her badge, to open the doors leading to a maze of small emergency exam rooms. She pressed a large red button on the wall, opening a sliding glass door to a small room with a bed and a single chair. “Go on in. I’ll be back with the doctor shortly.”
In a busy emergency room, shortly could mean five minutes or two hours. Either way, Olivia was grateful to have made it this far so quickly. She had Trent to thank for that.
He laid Molly on the bed and ran his hand over the top of her head, brushing her hair out of her face. The tender way he cared for her warmed Olivia’s heart. He pulled the chair up to the bed. “Why don’t you have a seat while we wait?”
“No, you take it. I’ll climb up here next to her.” Olivia lay on her side next to her daughter, being careful not to allow their bodies to touch—Molly was already hot enough. She ran a finger down the rosy curve of a cheek that still resembled a baby’s more closely than a child’s. She was still so little. Too little to be in a place like this.
She tore her eyes away from her daughter’s face and focused on Trent. “Thank you for all of this.”
“No thanks are necessary.” His deep baritone voice was thick with emotion.
Molly reached out and latched onto Trent’s thumb, looking up at him with bloodshot eyes. “You stay with me?”
The softest of smiles curved his lips as he looked down at Molly. “Of course I will.” His gaze shifted to Olivia, his rich brown eyes locking onto hers. He leaned closer and took her hand in his. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Olivia clung to his strong hand with everything she had. Yes, he was going to stay… but for how long?
Chapter Twenty-Two
The sterile smell of the hospital filled Trent’s nose, turning his stomach upside down. Molly had hardly moved since he’d laid her on the bed. Olivia was quiet, lying beside her and running her fingers through Molly’s blond curls. Her eyes never left her daughter.
The pervasive silence filling the room was the hardest to take. He’d grown fond of the sound of Molly’s laughter and her little voice that endlessly chattered away. The way she expressed wonder at ordinary things had opened his eyes to beauty he’d taken for granted longer than he cared to remember. She brought rainbows and sunshine with her wherever she went. He’d have given anything to see her get off that mechanical bed and perform one of her adorably clumsy improv dances, imagining herself to be an elegant princess ballerina.
His heart broke further when he gazed at Olivia. If he felt this strongly about a little girl he’d only just met, he couldn’t imagine what Olivia must be going through.
The pain it caused him to see Molly like this was exactly the reason he’d erected those old walls around his heart years ago. But those walls were gone now—gone forever. He was done living life in a fortress of his own design. Life was meant to be lived and shared. He’d share every moment and feeling—the good and the bad—with Olivia. He’d committed all the resources of his heart to this campaign and there was no chance he was going to retreat.
He glanced at his watch. Only ten minutes had passed since the nurse had left them, but it felt like a lifetime. He tap
ped his heel on the tiled floor in double time, bouncing his knee as anxiety worked its way into his heart.
“I’m so glad you stopped by this morning.” Olivia’s voice broke in on Trent’s thoughts.
“Me, too.”
“I never had a chance to ask why you came.” Olivia offered a taut smile. Clearly, she was trying to distract herself from the worry that strained her voice.
If she needed a distraction, he was happy to oblige, but he had no idea which direction to take the conversation next. “Yeah, I never did mention why I came over, did I?” A soft, nervous chuckle escaped his lips. He rubbed the back of his neck, mind racing for words to say.
He’d driven to her house, fully intending to make a grand declaration of love, but he couldn’t tell her that. Sitting in a tiny emergency exam room wasn’t the time or place to do such things.
Molly’s eyes opened and she began to cry, changing the direction of their dialogue for him.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Olivia asked, cupping Molly’s cheek with her hand.
“My head hurts.”
Trent stood. “If they don’t get in here soon, I’m going to go looking for someone.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth, the door opened. A tall, slim man with sandy-brown hair walked into the room, followed by the nurse who had shown them in. “Good morning.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “It is still morning, isn’t it?” A warm smile lit up his face. “I’m Doctor Connor. Can you tell me what’s been going on?”
Olivia got up and stood at the head of the bed as the nurse went about the business of taking Molly’s vitals. “She woke up at around three this morning with a high fever. I haven’t been able to get it under control. She can’t keep anything down and has been crying about her head hurting.”
Doctor Connor’s brows knit together for a moment before he forced a brighter expression onto his face. “Hi there, little one. I bet a girl like you can do all sorts of amazing tricks. Can you make your chin touch your chest for me? I’d love to see a trick like that!”
Molly didn’t respond to the doctor’s gentle voice. “Why don’t you let me help you.” A friendly smile tugged at the corners of his lips, but his eyes were sharp and focused intently on Molly. He placed a hand on either side of her face and attempted to tilt her head. Molly winced in pain, her neck too stiff to bend. He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, a serious expression replacing his friendly demeanor. “Has she been sick for a while?”
“No. It was so sudden. She didn’t seem sick at all yesterday,” Olivia said.
Dread sniped at Trent from the darkest corners of his mind. He’d been the one taking care of her the day before. Was he responsible for this? “Doctor, I took her to the beach yesterday. She seemed fine then. Could she have picked up something there?”
“There’s no way to know that until we run a few tests. But don’t be hard on yourself. People take their kids out for fun every day. It’s what good parents do. It’s too early in the game to start second-guessing decisions that were made. Sometimes things happen and it’s nobody’s fault.”
The tension in Trent’s shoulders eased the tiniest bit. He’d have never forgiven himself if his decision had brought all of this on. It was good to know he hadn’t done anything wrong. Was this what it was like to be a parent? Always trying to do your best, but worrying that you’ve messed up royally?
Parents. The doctor’s voice replayed in Trent’s mind. His eyes met Olivia’s and a honeyed warmth spread throughout his chest. Suddenly the idea of being a parent wasn’t so scary. He had no problem with being mistaken for Molly’s father.
The doctor sat on a rolling stool and began typing notes into a portable computer terminal on wheels. “Let’s get her started on fluids and a full round of antibiotics,” the doctor said to the nurse. She nodded and hurried out of the room.
“Antibiotics?” Olivia answered. “Do you know what’s wrong with her already?”
“It’s a proactive course of treatment.”
“Treatment for what?” Trent asked.
The doctor sighed and looked hard at them as if trying to make up his mind about what to say next.
“Doctor, please,” Trent said. “We need to know what’s going on.”
Doctor Connor searched Trent’s eyes for a moment before nodding. “We’ve experienced a sharp uptick in cases of meningitis in the region lately—enough so that we’ve been put on high alert. That’s why nurse Hadley brought you all back so quickly and stole me away from my meal in the lounge. I’m not saying that your daughter has it, but she is exhibiting some concerning symptoms that are consistent with the early signs of the illness: sudden high fever, nausea, headache, and stiffness in the neck. Whenever meningitis is a possibility, we begin treatment immediately. The antibiotics won’t hurt your daughter if it turns out that she hasn’t contracted it, but they very well could save her life if she has.”
The doctor’s words slammed into Trent like a tank. Save her life? He knew Molly was one sick little girl, but he hadn’t considered the possibility that her condition could be so grave. He looked over at Olivia. All the color had drained from her face. She stood motionless with her mouth agape as if the words she wanted to say had died on her lips.
Trent moved to her side of the bed and wrapped his arm around her waist, causing her to take a single gasping breath. He guided her to the chair and helped her sit. He stood behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders to remind her that she wasn’t alone.
“I’m ordering a blood test now. It won’t tell us anything definitive, but it’ll be a good indicator.” The doctor’s fingers continued tapping away on the keyboard. “We’ll monitor her closely over the next few hours. If she doesn’t improve dramatically, we’ll go ahead and admit her to the children’s wing.”
Olivia reached up and squeezed Trent’s hand.
The doctor stood, compassion etched in the features of his face. “We just so happen to have one of the leading pediatric neurologists in the country working here. If the tests indicate a possible meningococcal infection, your little girl will be cared for by the best.” The doctor rolled the computer monitor back to its position against the wall. “I’ll come back once I have the results from the blood test.”
The nurse reappeared at the door as Doctor Connor was leaving. In a matter of minutes, she’d inserted the IV into Molly’s arm and had begun pushing the antibiotics.
Molly never even flinched. Under any other circumstances Trent would have been impressed, but he knew better. She was too ill to notice all of the prodding it took to insert the thick needle into one of her tiny veins. A sickly, numb feeling settled deep into the pit of his stomach.
The nurse brought a second chair into the room for Trent and placed it next to Olivia. Now the waiting game began.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis, and minutes blurred into hours while the three of them occupied the small space. Trent held Olivia’s hand, and she held onto Molly’s. They formed an unbreakable chain as a steady stream of nurses and assistants came and went.
After three silent hours had past, Doctor Connor appeared at the door, flanked by two nurses. A grave expression clouded his face, and Olivia held on to Trent all the tighter.
“We’re going to go ahead and admit your daughter,” the doctor said. “She’ll receive near-constant monitoring in the children’s wing that she just can’t get here. At this point, I’m not ordering a stay in the ICU, but that could change as the afternoon progresses. I’ve already set up a CT scan. That will tell us more. You’ll be in good hands over there.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Olivia’s voice was hollow. She stood on shaky legs and followed the nurses pushing Molly’s bed through the door and down the hall.
There was no doubt in Trent’s mind that Molly would be well-cared-for. He would see to that himself—even if it meant sitting up to keep watch all night long to make it happen. Taking on the role of sentinel to the two people he cared about m
ost in all the world was something he’d gladly do. It’s what a man did for the people he loved.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Olivia couldn’t bring herself to sit in the stiff-looking vinyl reclining chair near Molly’s bed. It would almost feel like admitting defeat—admitting that Molly was going to be here in her own private hospital room for a while. She couldn’t allow herself to settle in. They were going to be leaving this place soon. She grimaced at the wretched ache in her throat. Her nostrils flared as she swallowed past the pain, and took hold of Molly’s hot little fingers.
Molly would come home soon. She had to.
Trent stepped up behind her and rested his warm, heavy hand on her shoulder. “Is there anything I can do?” he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she tilted her head to the side to rest her cheek against his skin. Tears rushed to fill her eyes. Trent had been her calm in the middle of this storm—steady as a rock. But even rocks eroded if the storm was fierce enough. She couldn’t ask any more of him than he’d already freely given. It was time to set him free.
“You’ve already done more than you know. Thank you for being here for Molly and me. There really isn’t anything more to do besides wait. I don’t want to keep you. This place is depressing.”
With a gentleness that sent warmth coursing through her chilled limbs, Trent turned her around to face him. His eyes were wide and his brows had drawn together. “Olivia, what are you saying?”
Was that hurt in his voice?
She forced a smile that felt anything but natural. “I’m saying you should go home. Take Sport for a walk. Shake off some of this gloom.”
“I can’t do that.”
Olivia wrapped her arms around her torso, hoping to hold herself together long enough to keep Trent from seeing her break down. “We’ll be fine.” She cringed at the pinched sound of her own voice.