“One moment, please.”
I spent five long minutes listening to tinny music in one ear and the steady beeps of Violet’s heart monitor in the other. For a split second, I thought I felt the tiniest of movements in her little fingers…
“Sir,” the woman’s voice came back, “There’s no one in the waiting area who fits your description… and no record of any calls…” I could hear computer keys clicking in the background. “But I’ve got an Angelina Hollister in admitting…”
I let go of Violet’s hand and dug my fingers into the phone. “Admitting?” My mind was racing… relief that I’d found her… churning fear in my gut. “For a broken ankle? What’s happened to her? Why would she need to be admitted…?” I was on my feet now.
“I’m sorry, sir. Hospital policy doesn’t allow me to…”
I cut her off. “This woman is the love of my life…
and she trusted me with the life of her only child.” I could hear anger and fear and desperation in my own voice. “Right now, they’re separated, and neither one can live without the other. I don’t give a damn about your policy. You tell me what’s happened to her.”
I heard a frantic flutter of keystrokes. “All the information I have is that she’s been assigned a private room and is waiting on tests.” The girl’s voice lowered an octave. “Ankle injury and loss of consciousness,” she said under her breath. “That’s all I know.”
I managed to murmur my thanks before I hung up. My gaze drifted to Violet’s face. Her lips were pink again… the color back in her cheeks. All we could do was wait for her to open her eyes…
And everything inside me demanded I go to her mother’s side. Violet was stable and in good hands. And for all I knew, Angelina’s life could be in danger. She needed to know her child was alive, and I needed to hold her in my arms and tell her so. But I’d promised I wouldn’t leave Violet to wake up alone. I looked at the little girl and felt a war of conflicting needs battling in my chest…
And for the very first time, I realized that I truly knew… what it meant to be a father.
“What the hell, Will…?” I spun around at the sound of his voice.
“I was finishing rounds and heard you landed a damned helicopter on the roof…” Harry stood in the doorway, sleeves rolled back and concern creasing his face. “This is the child, isn’t it? The one you came to me about…?”
“Christ, Harry,” I gripped him to my chest for a fast second. “She is,” I said. “I’ll explain everything… but not now. There isn’t time.” I gripped his hand. “There was an accident. Her mother’s in another hospital. Just tell me you can stay with Violet. There isn’t anyone else in the world I can trust her with now. And you fucking call me if she so much as…”
“Go,” he said, his eyes telling me he understood. One father to another… “Find her, tell her daughter’s perfectly stable.” He glanced at the monitor and gave me a reassuring nod. “She needs to know.” And in a second, I was gone. To find one half of my heart…
only to discover I was leaving the whole other half behind.
39
Angelina
I could tell by the look on her face Mattie hadn’t found them. I leaned back, nauseated by the scent of disinfectant and felt hot tears of frustration building behind my eyes.
“There are still a few more to try,” she said, sitting down on the side of my bed. “A few won’t give out names… but it’s not that big of a city. There’re only so many places they could be.” She pushed a bowl of crackers closer. “They said you’ll feel better if you get something in your stomach,” she said in a motherly tone. “You know damned well Will’s looking just as hard as we are.” She smiled, looking tiny in her borrowed shirt, and straightened my blanket.
“Sorry to intrude,” a voice came along with a tap on the doorframe. A round, middle-aged nurse in scrubs poked her head in with a friendly smile. “Doctor wanted me to tell you everything’s just taking a little longer than usual,” she said apologetically. “Understaffed today and the lab’s backed up. Just push the call button if you need anything.”
“Bring her some soup,” Mattie called out as the nurse disappeared. “Are you okay if I go back downstairs and make some more calls?” I nodded. She grabbed up her phone. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes… You eat that soup when they bring it,” she added strictly, “or I’ll spoon it into you myself.”
I managed a smile until the door swung shut behind her. Then I pushed the tray away and forced myself to sit up. I pulled the phone on my bedside table a little closer and punched in the number for information. I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand and set my teeth determinedly. I had no fucking intention of sitting and waiting… I would find them any way I had to…
I heard the door open. “Just put the soup over there,” I said, without turning. I was busy copying down the list of hospital phone numbers being rattled off over the line. “Thank you… I’ll have it later…”
“You might want it now,” he said, love and relief flooding his words.
All I knew after that was that I was in his arms. My Will had found me and I was back in his arms, in the only place I had ever belonged. He kissed me with a fierceness, a passion that left me unable to tell where he left off and I began. He broke away only long enough to tell me the only thing left in the world I needed to know. “Violet’s okay, she’s stable,” he gasped and he kissed me again. “She’s with my closest friend… a doctor…” He kissed my mouth, my eyes… my forehead.
I broke away. “Did she open her eyes, Will? Is she awake?”
“Not yet, sweetheart,” he answered, his breath warm on my skin. “But she will be. She’s stable and…”
“Just take me to her,” I cut him off. “I’m just waiting for them to put a cast on my ankle, Will. They can do that at any hospital. Just take me to where she is, I have to be there when she wakes up.”
He nodded, smiling, looking at me like I was his whole world. “I’ve already got them started on the paperwork,” he said. ‘There’s an ambulance waiting for us downstairs. They wouldn’t tell me over the phone what had happened to you, why you were admitted or why they were running tests.” He ran his hands over my body like he was afraid he might break me.
“They said it was routine stuff. But there are delays at the lab and the doctor took pity on us. She just gave me the room for some privacy.” I shivered as his hand ran down my back, touching bare skin where the gown parted. “We’ve been calling every hospital in the city,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion. “I don’t know which frightened me most… Not knowing… or what I might find out…”
He kissed me again, pouring his strength into me with his breath, pouring his love into me with the steady beating of his heart next to mine.
“We’re together now… and I’m taking you to your daughter,” he said, his deep voice calm, certain, reassuring. “That’s the only thing that matters now…”
“Okay, then,” the nurse said, handing me a dozen different forms for my signature. “You’re all set to go. Dr. Kendricks will be in, in a few minutes. She’s getting your lab results right now. That way, you won’t have to wait for the records to be transferred.” She pulled a face. “Or have to have the tests repeated.”
“Thanks, Harry,” Will said. He was standing by the window, phone in hand. “”We’ll be there in less than twenty minutes.” He clicked off the phone and tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans.
“You could just go in the hospital gown,” he said, coming up behind me to help me struggle into the scrubs the nurse had provided. “You’ll only have to take these off again once we get there.” He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off my one good foot and sat me on the edge of the bed. “You’re going to a patient there, too…”
“I know,” I said, biting back the pain from moving so much. “I’m just not going into Violet’s room with my ass hanging out.” I smiled at the look on his face. “And besides, it might be a long time
before they can tear me away from her to set this damned thing. I need to see her wake up for myself…”
“Harry says there’s no change,” he said, helping me to slip the top down over my breasts. The fabric pulled tight, my nipples felt tender… “But even that’s still good news.”
“I love you, Will.” I pulled him down to sit next to me. “You saved her life by taking her when you did and getting her to the hospital so quickly.” I felt familiar tears heating up inside. “No father could have done more. For her sake, or for mine.” The tears started to spill… “Forgive me for all the time I wasted… not being willing to trust that you were different from men like Jimmy, and my dad…
Violet never would have made it without you, and neither would I.”
“Angelina…? Sorry for the wait.” Dr. Kendricks came into the room, sweeping in with a practiced air of confidence. “Labs are finally back.” She looked from my face up the tall, dark length of Will. “Hello, Mr…?”
“William Bond,” he said, putting out a hand.
“This is what you need to take with you,” she said, shaking his hand and handing the paperwork to me. “Make sure the doctor takes a look at all the labs before they send you to radiology. Other than that, you’re set to go.” She took another second to put her hand gently on my arm. “When you have the chance… call me and let me know how your daughter is getting along? I’d be grateful to hear…”
“Of course,” I replied, putting my hand on hers. “Thank you for caring. And for everything you’ve done for us.” She nodded and gave my hand a little squeeze. Then she turned back to Will.
“It sounds like you’re the man to have around in an emergency,” she said graciously. “Are you Violet’s father?”
There was only an instant of silence before he took in a breath to answer…
“Yes,” I said, from the deepest part of my heart.
“Yes, he is.”
40
Will
She allowed me to push her wheelchair, but she refused to lay down once we were in the ambulance. I sat behind her as we rode in the back, letting her use my body for support.
“Am I her father?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her, leaning my face into the sweet, fresh scent of her hair, willing it to be true. I felt her draw a deep, slow breath.
“I don’t know,” she answered plainly. “I don’t know if it was Jimmy who got me pregnant on my birthday… It was my first time, and we were only together that once… And only because I’d had too much to drink.
“And about a month after that, it was us,” I said. “Just once…” She turned in my arms and I smiled at the way her blue eyes looked even bluer when they were about to spill over with tears.
“Yes,” she said. “I barely even admitted to myself that there was a chance Violet could be ours… Mom only knew about Jimmy… and once she found out I was pregnant, she was so busy making plans for the wedding. And I was so used to letting her take control…” She looked at me with huge, worried eyes. “I left to escape her, Will, to escape everything, so I could learn how to live my own life and make my own choices. When Jimmy took off, it seemed too late to be looking backwards and wondering who the father really was. I was so damned young then, and by the time I’d grown into all my responsibilities… it just seemed way too late…” She looked down at her hands, quiet… almost shy for a moment, and looked back up into my eyes.
“Love makes family,” I said, kissing the fear from her eyes. “And for family, it’s never too late.”
Five minutes later, we were at our daughter’s side. And so were a dozen other busy people. The room wasn’t quiet anymore, like it had been when I left. And Harry was at Violet’s side, his phone in his hand just as my pocket started to ring…
“Damned fine timing,” he said, looking up. “I was just calling you…”
“What the hell’s going on?” I asked as a nurse pushed past me with a syringe in her hands.
“Nothing too alarming,” Harry said calmly. “A little drop in heart rate, but everything else is normal. Tests showed there’s no water in her lungs, Will… That’s better than we hoped for.”
“Then why isn’t she waking up?” Angel asked, her voice tight. I was holding her in my arms, and I put her down on Violet’s bed, knowing how much she wanted to pick up her baby and hold her to her heart. But there were too many tubes… too many wires… Instead, she put her hand on the little girl’s forehead as if she might break.
“Hard to say, exactly,” Harry said gently. “Shock… exposure, perhaps. She’s got a large contusion on the side of her head, but there’s no sign of concussion. Her body temperature was low when she came in, but it’s normal now. We have every reason to believe she’ll wake up. She just needs time…” Angel put her hand on Violet’s chest and Harry looked up at the monitor. “Rate’s back up,” he said with a smile. He put a comforting hand on Angelina’s shoulder. “I think Mom here is just what the doctor ordered…
but it looks like you need some attention, too.” He knelt down to examine Angel’s swollen ankle. “We should get some images of this before much longer.”
“Dr. Kendricks said to give you these.” Violet pulled a crumpled handful of paper from her pocket. “They did some tests… she wanted you to see them…”
“I’ll take a look and get things started,” he said. He nodded at the others in the room. “In the meantime, let’s give them a little privacy, shall we?”
“I don’t want to leave her yet,” Angelina said, once they were gone. “I know it’s foolish, thinking I can reach her… just by being here…”
I curled my body protectively around them both. “You’re wrong.” I put a hand on Violet’s forehead and leaned into the warm curve of Angelina’s neck. “Her heart responded the moment you touched her, sweetheart. She knows you’re here… and she knows you love her… that we both love her.” Angel turned her face to mine. “She’s just below the surface, that’s all…,” I said softly, thinking…
“How does she reach out,” I asked, “to talk to the world around her? What is it that brings her to life… that stirs her…?” I saw understanding flicker behind Angel’s eyes. “Her music, that’s what…,” I finished. I took one of Violet’s hands in mine and gestured with my chin for Angelina to do the same. “Do you know this piece? Does she?” I hummed softly, using my fingers to move Violet’s fingers over the blanket as if she was playing the notes.
“It’s Rachmaninoff, isn’t it?” She began to hum it with me. “I played this one for her a long time ago… but I don’t remember if she ever learned it…”
“Well, she’s going to now,” I said, determined. “Move her fingers… it doesn’t matter if it’s not exactly right. Just let her feel the movements and hear the music. The music is the way to reach her, Angel.
It’s all still inside her, and we just need to help her find it…”
“I’m Patty. Dr. Chapin sent me to take you to radiology.” A freckle-faced volunteer stood ready in the doorway with a wheelchair. “That’s a pretty song… is it her favorite?”
“Hey, Angie… Will.” Mattie pushed her way into the room. “How is she? Is she awake yet?” She gave Angel an enormous hug. “I’m so sorry it took so long to catch up with you. When I got back to the room, you two were already gone…”
“Violet’s tests are good, but she isn’t waking up,” Angel said tensely, her voice breaking.
“Miss Hollister…?” The volunteer pushed the chair a little closer. “They’re waiting for us upstairs…”
“I’ll go with you,” I said, standing up.
“No,” Angel said, gripping my hands in hers. “You stay with her… She needs you more.” Her eyes were that brilliant shade of blue I loved so much. “Mattie’ll come with me, and I won’t be gone long.” She looked down at Violet, who still hadn’t moved. “Stay with her, let her keep listening to you… I don’t know why, I know nothing’s really changed, but I feel like you’re able to reach her somehow…”<
br />
I kissed her before they took her away, wanting forever, but only stealing a second. I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of her mouth on mine, the depth of emotion she created inside me. She’d given me her love and her trust… and more than that, she’d given me a place in her life and in Violet’s. I felt a surge of love and belonging and protectiveness swell in my chest… I watched as Mattie took her away and the door swung silently shut behind them. I took a deep breath and turned around…
Violet’s eyes were still closed, but an alarm had started going off on one of the machines…
And I saw Violet’s fingers moving over her blanket…
41
Angelina
The elevator doors closed.
“Jesus, Angie.” Mattie leaned down to look at my ankle. It was throbbing and I was queasy with pain. “It must be twice the size it should be. Why the hell didn’t they do something sooner?”
“It’s fine,” I said, swallowing hard. “It doesn’t even matter. The only thing that matters now is that Violet wakes up. Will saved her life, Mattie… now we just need her to come back to us.”
Mattie knelt down and took my hands. “Are you going to tell him he’s a father?” she asked.
I swallowed again. “I already told you, I don’t know for sure,” I answered. “But if any man ever earned the right to be a father, it’s Will,” I said. “You were there, you saw what he did for her…”
“I saw,” she said, sagely. “I see a lot of things… but that isn’t what I meant…”
The elevator door swept open and Patty pushed me over the threshold with a clatter. ‘You’ll have to wait out here, ma’am,” she said to Mattie. Mattie raised a challenging eyebrow, but stayed silent. It wasn’t the word wait, I knew, it was the ma’am… For the first time in a long time, I smiled.
The Baby Pact Page 14