by Mason, Dana
“Okay, we’re pulling into the parking lot now. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Once the truck is parked, I look over at Emily, and it’s the strangest thing. I knew she was here, that she was driving, but I’m still surprised to see her sitting there, behind the wheel of my truck. She’s white as a ghost, and I can see tear streaks down her cheeks.
“Thank you for driving me.”
“Drew, do you know what happened?” Her voice stutters. “Is she going to be okay?” Her hands are shaking as she wipes the tears from her face.
“I only know she was brought here by ambulance.” I pop the door handle and jump out. As I’m rushing toward the large, glass double doors, Emily catches up and grabs my hand. She squeezes, and I appreciate that she’s here.
When the doors swish open, I see Kyle standing there with Celia. He runs up to me, and I catch him in a hug and lift him off his feet. As he cries on my shoulder, all I can do is hold him. I carry him to the check-in counter and say, “My name is Drew Whitney. My daughter, six-year-old. Her name is Hannah Whitney. She was brought in an ambulance.”
As I finish speaking, Jennie walks in. She reaches over and takes Kyle from me, and that causes a new flutter of crying from him.
“Mr. Whitney, they’re checking her out now. Please have a seat, and we’ll be with you in a moment.”
“Have a seat? I can’t have a seat. Where’s my little girl?” As I lean over the counter, I feel both Jennie and Emily grab my shirt and pull me back.
“That’s not going to get you what you need, Drew,” Jennie says wryly, “You need to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.”
She points to Kyle in her arms. “If you act like this, they’ll call security and throw you out of here. Please, stop. Hannah needs us all to be calm.”
“All right. I got it. I’m calm.”
“Here, take Kyle, and I’ll try to get some information from them.”
She puts Kyle down, and he clutches my waist.
God help me if something happens to that little girl.
Thirty-Six
Emily
I’m completely shell-shocked, and that makes me wonder how Drew can be so strong. I watch him as he talks calmly to his son, who’s hysterical. The young woman with Kyle is the same person that I saw Drew with at the school on Saturday and now I realize she’s the nanny. The poor thing is equally upset and I want to comfort her, but I’m honestly not sure how.
I’m assuming this Jennie person is their mother. Between the way Kyle clung to her and the way she and Drew spoke to each other, it’s easy to see they’re divorced. I watch her as she speaks calmly to the person behind the counter. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but she’s definitely determined.
After a pretty intense conversation, she brushes her hand at the medical assistant and walks away. She stops in front of me and stares, then she asks, “Do I know you?”
“Oh, um, no, not yet.” I reach out my hand to shake hers. “I’m Emily Thomas, a friend of Drew’s. You must be Hannah and Kyle’s mom?”
She draws back and narrows her eyes at me. “Did you just ask if I was their mother?”
“I’m sorry.” I pull my hand back a fraction of an inch. “Are you not?”
“Oh, Jesus Christ, Drew.” She grumbles with an eye-roll. Then she shakes my hand. “I’m not their mother. Are you the same Emily that Drew met in Maui?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Drew hasn’t told you about their mom?”
“Ah, no, not yet. I mean, I know they’re not together, but we haven’t talked in depth about her.”
“Emily…” She takes a deep breath. “Their mother is dead. Drew’s a widower.”
Now I draw back and my head starts spinning.
“Are you okay?”
“No… I need…” I should sit down. I glide over to the nearest chair and gently lower myself into it. It’s all I can do to keep from putting my head between my knees.
She sits next to me. “Drew seriously didn’t tell you about his wife?”
“Ah, no.” But things are starting to click into place now. “If you’re not his ex-wife, who are you?”
“I’m his sister.” Just as she says this, the double doors swish open, and a woman walks in, looking frantic.
Jennie stands and waves. “Mom, we’re over here.”
The woman rushes over, and I can see how upset she is. I glance up and instantly see a shadow of Drew in her features.
Drew approaches and lays his hand on his mom’s shoulder. “They haven’t told us anything yet.” Then she reaches in to hug him, his long arms encircling around her, dwarfing her small body.
She clings to him for a long moment. “What the hell happened, do we know anything?”
Jennie replies, “A car jumped the curb near the park and hit Hannah. We don’t even know what her injuries are.”
Drew’s mom glances around, then her hand lands on her chest in relief when she eyes Kyle. “Oh, honey. Come see Nanna.”
Kyle rushes to her and wraps his arms around her waist, clinging to her. Seeing them all together chokes me up. If I’m this worried, how hard is this on all of them? I lift my eyes to Drew’s and see the fear in their golden-brown depths.
I’m such an asshole. I hate myself right now, especially when I see the worry on his face. I’m about to tell him how sorry I am when a nurse calls out his name.
“Mr. Whitney, you can come back now.”
Drew rushes through the security door and follows the nurse. As he goes, I send up a little prayer to look after him and Hannah.
“Someone needs to get Kyle out of here. Do you want me to go so you can stay?” Jennie asks her mom.
“No, Nanna, I want to stay with Daddy. I need to be here.”
Jennie sits down, so she’s at Kyle’s eye level. “Honey, we know you want to be here for your dad and Hannah, but if you’re here, Dad’s going to be worried about you and right now, he needs to focus on your sister, okay?”
“Kyle,” Drew’s mom says, “Come home with Nanna, please. I really don’t want to be alone. Can you keep me company?”
He nods and cuddles Jennie. “Will you hug Hannah for me when you see her?”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
When Drew’s mom takes his hand, they turn, but she stops abruptly. “Celia, honey, you come too. You don’t need to stay, and I can’t let you drive when you’re this upset. I’ll take you home.”
Celia, who’s been standing out of the way, but crying the entire time, finally looks up and nods at her. Just like any good grandmother would, Drew’s mom puts an arm around her too and leads her out.
I’m in awe. The woman must be worried sick about her granddaughter and her son, yet she’s the pillar of strength for everyone else.
When she’s gone, Jennie sits in the chair next to mine and rests her head in her hands. “I can’t believe this is happening. That poor baby.”
“I wish I could do something. I feel so helpless right now,” I mutter. “Is there someone I can call? Another family member who should know?”
“No, not really. My mom will make the necessary calls when she gets home. Drew has to call his in-laws in Los Angeles. I would do it, but I want to check with him first. God knows what they’ll do when they find out. Last time one of these kids got hurt, they filed another custody suit against Drew.”
Now I want to throw up. “Another?”
“Yep. The first time was just after Kayla died. They didn’t even give him time to grieve before hitting him with a custody suit.”
“They tried to sue him for custody? Why?”
She blows out a long breath. “Lots of reasons, but none of them valid. As a single parent, they didn’t think Drew could care for the kids properly. And they wanted them—it’s not so much that they didn’t want Drew to have the kids, it’s that they just wanted to keep them. We’re far away and they don’t like that they can’t keep an eye on things. So, whe
never anything like this happens, they use it against him.”
“Oh my gosh. Poor Drew.” I stand up in agitation. “It’s not like he could have stopped this from happening. He wasn’t even there.”
“Conveniently, that’s one of their arguments. He works too much to be an effective parent.”
“That’s ridiculous! If they’re in Los Angeles, they can’t possibly know how much he works anyway.”
“I completely agree, it’s ridiculous, but I still need his go-ahead before I call them. I don’t want them to bombard him with calls. Besides, I don’t have anything to report until we know what her injuries are.”
I sit back down. “I can’t imagine what kind of damage a car can do to such a small girl.”
“Emily, have you met them? Hannah and Kyle?”
“No, not exactly. I ran into Drew at the school renaming ceremony on Saturday, and the kids were with him. I met Hannah, but Kyle was playing ball.”
“I take it Drew didn’t know you’d be there.”
“No, it was an accidental meeting… but why do you say that?”
“Drew doesn’t usually let the women he dates meet the kids until he’s sure they’re going to stick around.” Her eyes lock on mine. “He doesn’t want them to get attached just to have them heartbroken when she leaves… because that’s what they do. They leave.”
Her point is clear and hard to ignore. I’m not sure what to say, but I feel a little heat creep into my cheeks. “Jennie, I don’t want to hurt anyone, especially Drew’s kids, but I didn’t even know they existed until I saw them on Saturday.”
“No kidding?” She presses her lips together and says, “Poor sucker.”
“I’m sorry, but aren’t I the sucker here?”
She stares into space as if deep in thought. “No, Drew is.” She shrugs. “He must be in love with you.”
I’m totally confused now. Usually, I’m pretty good at keeping up with people, but Jennie has me puzzled. “You think he lied to me because he’s in love with me?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but Drew isn’t a liar by nature. He’s got this code, you know. I think because he’s raising these kids on his own, he tries really hard to live by example. He’s honest and usually pretty frank. When dating, he makes a point of telling women about his kids before there’s a second date. He likes to be upfront about it. I mean, why waste time? If they’re going to be spooked by the dad thing, he wants to know before he invests in the relationship. Of course, whenever he tells women about being a single dad with two kids, they don’t usually walk away, they run… and they run fast.”
My heart sinks. Of course. God, I’m so stupid. I drop my eyes and think over the last week and how I’ve behaved. Those horrible words I said to him at the school yard. Accusing him of being a weekend father who didn’t care. A lawyer-hating divorcé. He’s right, I didn’t even listen to him when he tried to talk to me about it.
I nod at her, and I have to agree because I’ve seen this code—I’ve seen how honorable he is—up close. “Do you know, the first time I met Drew, I got sloppy drunk.”
“That’s a great way to make a first impression.”
“It’s true. I got really drunk, and Drew had to help me back to my room. The man put me to bed and left hangover provisions on the bedside table before locking me in my room—fully dressed and untouched.”
Jennie laughs at this. “Yep, that’s my brother. A Boy Scout to his core.”
The laughter dies from my voice, and I reply, “Most men wouldn’t have been so kind.”
Jennie gives me a good long look and asks, “So, Emily, what did you do when you found out about the kids? I’m hoping, since you’re here, that you didn’t break up with him.”
“Not exactly. But I was hurt and angry that he lied. I said some pretty nasty things to him… all things I sincerely regret now.”
“Well, if he really does love you, it won’t matter in the end.”
“I hope you’re right because he’s stuck with me now…”
“Why? You guys didn’t get married in secret or anything like that, did you?”
I drop my head and mumble, “I’m pregnant with his baby.” I’m not sure why it’s so hard to say, but it is. I guess because of the shame I feel about suggesting he give up his parental rights today.
Jennie’s quiet for a long time and when I look back up at her, she has a single fat tear running down her face. “Poor Drew. He must have freaked pretty hard when you told him.”
“He didn’t take it well at all.”
“Oh, God.” She lifts a hand and wipes away the silent tear, and once again, I am puzzled by her reaction. After a moment of quiet between us, she says, “When did he find out? Fuck. No wonder he’s been acting so weird. I wish he’d told me.”
I want to think she’s overreacting but when I think about how Drew behaved when I told him, I realize maybe being a single parent with two little ones would make it hard to accept the idea of a third child. “I told him Saturday night, and he made it pretty clear he didn’t want another kid.”
“Oh God, Emily. You don’t get it, do you?” She reaches down and grabs a pack of tissues from her purse. “Of course you don’t, because Drew hasn’t told you anything.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. What don’t I get?”
“Of course Drew’s freaking out about this. His wife died giving birth to Hannah.”
Thirty-Seven
Drew
When I step into the curtained room, Hannah is lying with her eyes closed, her small body dwarfed by the huge hospital bed. Her clothes are gone and she’s dressed in a child-sized hospital gown with little tigers on it. It takes everything I have to hold in my gasp when I see the bruising. Every inch of exposed skin is spotted in black and blue from her ankles to her shoulders. “Oh, my God…” Just as I’m about to reach out to her, I hear someone say my name.
I turn quickly, startled. I was so focused on Hannah, I didn’t realize I wasn’t in the room alone.
“Mr. Whitney, good afternoon. I’m Dr. Rossi.”
I reach out to shake his hand and as I do, I realize my movements are jerky. After greeting him, I immediately turn back to Hannah. Her arm is in a splint, but besides that and the bruising, it looks like she could just be sleeping.
“…broken arm,” I hear, then: “We’re going to do some tests to be sure we didn’t miss anything. She has a grade 2 concussion so we’re also going to check for any blood on the brain.”
I quickly turn back to him and I know my expression is pure fear since that’s exactly how I’m feeling. He holds out a calming hand.
“It’s just a precaution. I don’t think there’s any bleeding but I want to be sure.”
I clear my throat and say, “A broken arm and a concussion. You’re checking for any internal bleeding, but you don’t think there is any, after examining her, is that what I heard?”
He nods and one side of his mouth tilts up. “That’s exactly right. I know she looks bad, and she’s going to be in pain when she wakes and the meds wear off, but I think she’ll make a full recovery.”
The tension I’ve been holding onto releases slightly and I feel the weight of my body bringing me down. I lower myself into a chair and drop my head into my hands. After several deep breaths, I send up a little prayer of thanks.
I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost her. When I look up to thank the doctor, he’s gone. I stand over Hannah’s bed and lean in. Then I rest a kiss on her forehead and squeeze my eyes closed, fighting with my emotions. It’s no use though. My tears come hard and hot. I instantly think of her mother and how much I need her right now. How much Hannah needs her and God, how much I hate that she’s not here.
She’s going to be okay. I repeat these words to myself several times until I can breathe evenly, until my heart rate feels normal, and some of the fear has faded. I rest my hand on Hannah’s chest. I want to feel her little heart beating. It’s strong and her chest rises with
her breathing. I lift my hand away and reach down to pull the blanket up over her. Just as I get her tucked in, they come in to take her for testing. I watch them gently move her to a gurney and push her out of the room. With a heavy heart and a strong sense of helplessness I follow them to radiology.
* * *
Three hours later, I enter the waiting room to find Jennie and Emily sitting side by side in complete silence. Jennie looks like she’s been crying, and Emily looks pale and a little lost.
When they look up at me simultaneously, Jennie jumps to her feet. “Dammit, Drew, what the hell is going on? How’s Hannah?”
“I’m so sorry. My phone doesn’t have service. She’s going to be fine. She has a broken arm and a concussion.”
Her hands jump to her mouth, and her eyes instantly tear up. “Oh, God. Our poor baby. Is she in a lot of pain?”
“They’ve drugged her up. She’s not feeling anything right now.” I shake my head as the image of her broken little body in the big white hospital bed comes to mind. It takes me a moment to get a grip on myself, but when I’m sure I can get the words out, I say, “She looks much worse than that, though. She’s covered in bruises. They think she was thrown when the car hit her. It’s a grade 2 concussion, and luckily, there’s no internal bleeding. They want to keep her overnight for observation and they need to reset her arm before casting it.”
“Reset her arm? Holy fuck.” She grips my hand, her eyes locked on mine. “I’m sorry,” she mutters. “I know it’s hard to see our kids hurt, but she’s a strong little girl, she’s going to be fine.”
I nod because I know she’s right. It could have been so much worse.
“She’s her mom. Strong, stubborn, and sweet as sugar all the time.”
“It’s hard not to think about Kayla when things like this happen, isn’t it?”
“It’s very hard, but I can’t imagine a better guardian angel for my kids. I have to believe she’s up there watching out.”
