Not doing well today. Mind bringing some soup?
My fingers flew across the screen as I strode for my dresser.
You stay in bed, right where you are. I’ll be there in forty-five minutes. Just let me get some clothes on.
As I sent the message off, everything else fell from my mind. The gallery. Last night with Ari. The flowers I’d ordered to be sent to her. Worry rose in my gut, replacing the happiness that had swallowed my evening and my morning whole. I pulled on the first set of clothes my hands found, a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. I shoved my pockets full of everything I needed, then mapped out the best soup place between here and my father’s house with my heart slamming quickly against my chest.
Guess not everything can be perfect.
27
Arianna
“Ari and Simon sitting in a tree.”
I rolled my eyes at Petra’s chant.
“K-I-S-S—”
I smacked her with my rag. “You need to cut that out. We’re at work.”
She grinned. “Says the girl with a smile as bright as Rudolph’s nose on her face.”
“So what?”
“Why were you really late getting home from your gallery show?”
I sighed. “I told you, Simon and I went for a drink.”
“Uh-huh?”
“You know, at his place.”
She blinked. “You failed to mention that.”
“I mean, is it important? It was closer to the house than any other place we would’ve gone.”
“Did the drinking lead to something?”
“We’re at work and you’re my boss. This is inappropriate.”
She giggled. “Maybe I should change the letters to F-U-C—”
“Petra!”
She barked with laughter. “There’s literally no one here. It’s Thursday. You know it’s always like this on a Thursday. Come on, spill the beans. Everyone else is on break.”
I grinned. “A woman never kisses and tells.”
“Kisses, or…?”
I smiled wildly at her before cleaning down the counter. She squealed and clapped her hands before hugging me from behind. I didn’t think it was necessary.
But it confirmed for me that I wasn’t making some sort of a mistake.
“Girls’ night. This weekend. While Macy’s at his place. We need to talk,” she said.
“Beer and burgers like last time?” I asked.
“It’s a date.”
I felt as if I were in my own dreamland. Macy woke up feeling fine for school. My heart warmed every time Simon texted me to see what was going on. Every time he checked up on Macy to see how she was feeling, it made me smile. My cheeks throbbed I had been smiling so much.
Tell Macy I can’t wait to see her this weekend.
Headed to my father’s. Missing you.
Just wanted to let you know that you’re on my mind.
For the future, if work ever holds you up, I don’t mind picking Macy up from school and taking her to the house. I’ll see you two in the morning. I’ll have the coffee ready for you.
Every text made my heart soar and my knees weak. It reassured me that he really was stepping up and being the father Macy needed. The father Macy deserved in her life.
Maybe that meant he’d step up and be the man I needed in my life, too.
I looked at the clock, and it ticked just past one. Less than an hour and I was out of here. I thought about dinner and what I might cook tonight for Macy and myself. A thought crossed my mind. What if I invited Simon? Would he come? Would that be too much?
Make me look too desperate?
“Take your break, Miss Smiley. You didn’t take your full lunch,” Petra said.
She tapped me on the shoulder, and I nodded.
“Sounds good to me. I need some coffee anyway.”
My phone vibrated against my hip, and Petra shot me a look.
“I know, I know. No phones on the floor. I’m sorry. It’s just with Macy being sick and then going straight to school—”
Petra nodded her head toward the back. “Take it on your break. Go, go.”
I scurried into the back room and slipped my phone out of my pocket. I felt my heart soaring as I looked at the screen. Was it Simon? Was he calling me?
“Hello?” I asked.
“Yes, is this Arianna’s mother?”
My stomach hit the floor. “Yes. Why? What’s going on?”
“Hey there. It’s Nurse Gillenhoff, from the school?”
“What’s going on with my daughter? Does she have another headache?”
I turned around and saw Petra staring at me with prying eyes.
“Actually, ma’am, your daughter is on her way to the hospital. We think she’s had a seizure, so I made the decision for the paramedics to take her just in case. You need to get to—”
“The hospital?”
I yelped, felt myself teetering on my feet as my knees went weak. The world around me tilted as my legs gave out, and I felt a pair of arms swoop underneath my own.
“Come on. Get your things. You’re leaving,” Petra said.
The phone call was a blur. I caught the name of the hospital, but not much else. A seizure? My baby girl? They had to be wrong. She’d never had anything like that in her life. Petra took the phone from my hands before shoving my things at me. She guided me out to my car, talking to the school nurse while she did so. I got in. I fumbled around to try and crank up my car. And when she handed my phone back, I looked up at her through watery eyes.
“I have to call Simon,” I whispered.
“I just got his number from your phone. I’ll call him. You call your father. You know where you’re going?”
I nodded slowly. “Southern.”
“Good. Call me the second you can once you get there. I’ll head over after my shift. All right?”
“A seizure, Petra?”
She crouched down. “Right now, you have to be strong. Stronger than you’ve ever been before. I know you can do it. So, take a deep breath for me, then go be Mama Bear.”
“And—and you’re calling Simon.”
“Yes. And you’re calling your father. Now, go. Get to it.”
I nodded my head and cranked the engine. Then, I scrolled through my phone. I dialed my father’s number and prayed to every heaven above that he answered as I hightailed it straight for the hospital. I felt sick to my stomach. It felt like the entire world was crumbling around me. And after stuttering out the words “get to Southern now” before hanging up on my father, I tossed my phone to the floor.
Please let my sweet girl be all right.
I tore through town, soaring through yellow lights and taking back roads around red ones. And when I pulled into the hospital, I clocked the ambulance underneath the emergency room overhang. My tires skidded as I weaved around in the parking lot. I came to an abrupt halt in one of the parking spaces before reaching for my things.
“Macy!” I exclaimed.
Everything felt as if it were moving in slow motion. The way they rolled her out of the back of the ambulance. How tiny and frail she looked. It felt like running wasn’t really running. Like screaming wasn’t really screaming. My heart stopped in my chest as they put an oxygen mask over my baby’s face, and I noticed she wasn’t moving.
“Macy!” I roared.
“Come here. I gotcha. Hey, hey, hey, Arianna. Look at me.”
I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist and turn me around. And as a hand slipped into my hair, I felt my head being tilted up. Tears dripped down my face as Simon came into view. Strong, dependable, loveable Simon.
“I’m here. And she’s going to be okay. You hear me?” he asked.
“Ma’am? Are you the mother?”
I whipped around at the sound of the woman’s voice.
“Yes. That’s my daughter, Macy. I-I-I mean, our daughter, Macy. This is her father,” I said.
Simon rubbed my back. “Hello.”
The nurse
nodded. “According to the paramedics, we aren’t sure what caused your daughter’s seizure. All the school knew was that she went to the nurse’s office there because of a bad headache. Then, she collapsed onto the floor.”
I blinked. “A headache?”
The nurse nodded. “That gives us a place to start, but not much. We’re going to get her hooked up to fluids and start running tests. If you two want to come with us, I’ll update you every step of the way.”
I felt my legs going numb. “Did you say… he-headache?”
“You couldn’t have known,” Simon said.
The nurse furrowed her brow. “Couldn’t have known what?”
I swallowed hard. “She, uh… she had a headache yesterday. She really wasn’t feeling well.”
The nurse sighed. “Again, we won’t know until we run some tests. But any information you’ve got for me is going to help. Come on. There isn’t any time to waste.”
28
Simon
I held Ari in the waiting room as we all sat there. Me, her, my father, and her father. My father and I had just finished eating lunch before I got that phone call. At first, I almost didn’t pick up. I didn’t recognize the number, so why would I have? But I was so fucking glad I did.
And now, we waited.
Ari shook in my arms. I held her closely, pressing soft kisses against the top of her head. And while I thought those kisses might have earned me glares from her father, he didn’t pay me any mind. He sat on the other side of his daughter and held her hand, while my own father patted my knee. All three of us, there to support Ari.
All four of us, scared for our Macy.
“Anyone want some coffee?” Dad asked.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. You two eaten at all?” her father asked.
“I uh, Dad and I had lunch before all this happened,” I said.
“What about you, honey?” he asked Ari.
But she started blankly at the floor, neither answering his question, nor anyone else’s.
“Come on, Matthew. Let’s go get coffee and snacks. They can pick at what they want and don’t want,” Dad said.
“Sounds good. Right behind you,” her father said.
I watched the two of them walk off, talking to one another as they made their way for the elevator. In all my years, I never thought I’d see something like that. Then again, this was bigger than any pettiness or past we had going on between all of us. Right now, Macy’s life was in danger. And we didn’t have a clue as to why.
“What if she—?”
I cut her off. “Don’t even think it.”
Ari sniffled. “What other signs was I missing?”
“Sometimes, you can’t see things like this coming.”
“Macy’s never been seriously sick, Simon. No flu or upper-respiratory issues. She’s never even battled allergies.”
“Then, maybe she’s come into contact with something that sent her immune system into overdrive or something.”
“My baby girl,” she whispered.
Our dads came back with fresh coffee and an array of snacks—fruit and pastries and half sandwiches. I tried to get Ari to eat something. Anything. But all she did was mindlessly sip coffee.
“Macy Procter?”
Ari leapt out of her chair. “That’s my daughter.”
Our fathers stood beside us as the doctor came over.
“Where is she? Is she in a room? Can I go see her?” Ari asked.
The doctor nodded. “Once we get her checked in, yes. We wanted to run the tests immediately because she’s so young and doesn’t have a history of this kind of thing. But nothing is showing up on any immediate tests.”
I blinked. “What does that mean?”
The doctor cleared his throat. “Well, there’s no tumor. No blood clot. She doesn’t have any infections, and there’s nothing abnormal in her blood.”
“So, is this just a one-off thing?” she asked.
“Have you noticed anything off about her behavior lately, Miss Procter?”
She shook her head slowly. “I mean, what do you mean by ‘off’?”
“Anything out of the ordinary? Grunting or sniffling out of nowhere? Her eyes staring off into space at random times? Wetting the bed suddenly? Complaining of food tasting bitter?”
“Um… no. I don’t—well…”
I looked down at her. “Well, what?”
Ari shook her head. “I mean, my daughter has an attitude, right? Very strong-willed.”
The doctor grinned. “Not quite the unusual behavior I’m thinking about.”
She smiled weakly. “Not like that. It’s just—sometimes, if we’re in the middle of fighting, she’ll…”
Ari’s father looked at her. “She’ll what, princess?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really know how to explain it. Zone out, I guess? Like, when I’m talking to her. Her eyes will just… stop and hold. I figured that’s just her not wanting to listen, right? Combative child and all. Maybe it’s not?”
The doctor nodded. “It gives us a place to start. But with no physical indications of what caused the seizure, we’re leaning toward genetic testing. Does anyone in your family have a history of seizures?”
I shook my head. “I’ve never had them. Ari?”
She shook her head. “Not me. Dad? Did Mom ever—?”
He shook his head. “No. There’s a history of heart issues in our family. But not seizures.”
Dad spoke up. “My wife had one once.”
We all looked over at him with wide eyes.
“Mom had a seizure once?” I asked.
He nodded. “It was mild, though. The doctors wrote it off as malnutrition. You know, it was during one of your mother’s bad slopes. But she did have one. Went to the hospital for it and everything.”
Ari sighed. “That doesn’t sound genetic, though. Right?”
The doctor paused. “Well, it is possible for someone to be genetically prone to seizures and not know it. Especially if they are silent seizures.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Essentially, where someone is having a seizure and no one knows. We all think that seizures are falling to the ground and shaking erratically. But that’s only about twenty percent of seizures, and that’s if something big sparks it. Most seizures are some form of silent.”
My eyes watered. “You mean, my baby’s possibly been having seizures all her life and I haven’t noticed?”
The doctor sighed. “We have a basis to work with, so I’m going to go ahead with the genetic testing. But a nurse will be out to get you once—”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have her situated in her room. If you guys will follow me,” a nurse said.
The doctor smiled. “I’ll be in there in a second. You guys go on.”
Ari rushed away from me and followed the nurse in a hurry. I helped our fathers gather all the snacks before we followed in stride. The three of us came around the corner to find Ari hugging Macy tightly, sitting in her bed and crying into the small girl’s shoulder.
Then, Macy found me.
“Daddy!”
I smiled. “Hey there, sweet girl.”
She gasped. “Granddad!”
Matthew chuckled. “Hey there, beautiful.”
Then, her eyes fell to my father. “You came, too.”
Her voice sounded as if it were filled with wonder, and I watched a massive smile crawl across my father’s face.
“I’ll always come, honey. You’re my grandchild, after all,” he said.
The evening blended into a massive blur. We all took turns sitting with Macy in bed while doctors and nurses came and went, giving her medication, drawing blood, checking her pulse and her vitals. Only two of us could stay overnight with her, so of course, Ari and I made ourselves comfortable. The night was long. I barely slept. I watched over my two girls as they slept in the hospital bed, and a devastating thought occurred to me.
I didn’t know what the fuck
I’d do if I lost either one of them.
“Good morning,” the nurse whispered.
I looked over and saw her walking in with the doctor from yesterday in stride.
“Morning,” I murmured.
“I hear the night went well. Seizure-free,” the doctor said.
He pulled up a chair and sat down beside me.
“Yeah, it was a good night. I mean, other than the not sleeping part,” I said.
The doctor nodded. “Well, I’ll go ahead and update you since you’re awake. We’re going to release her from the hospital since she hasn’t had another episode. The medication we have her on seems to be working, so we’re going to send that with you and your wife.”
My heart leapt at the word. “She’s actually not my wife. Though, Macy is our daughter.”
“My apologies. But either way, I have her scheduled for an appointment at the end of next week with the pediatrician she has on file. We’re going to be keeping a close eye on her for the time being.”
“Thank you for all you’ve done for us. Honestly.”
He nodded. “It’s what I’m here for. And if anything happens that you think might be out of order with her personality or her movements or her speech, you get her here immediately. Come right into the ER and tell them to pull her file. They’ll take her back as quickly as they can.”
“Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”
He patted my shoulder. “Anytime.”
29
Arianna
As much as it killed me to do it, I let Simon tuck Macy in. After getting her out of the hospital and back to the house, he wanted to be the one to carry her upstairs. The doctor told us she’d be worn-out for the rest of the day, so while he tucked her in, I took the time to call Petra and update her on what was going on.
And to take a couple of my vacation days.
“You sure you don’t need anything?”
“I can pack up some things and come stay.”
Daddy’s Secret Baby Page 17