“Momma! He came! He actually came!” she shouted.
Kelly opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them as she nudged Dave, who was lightly snoring. “Dave, Santa came,” she announced, “Emma’s ready to open her presents.”
His eyes popped open and a gleaming smiled spread across his face as he saw the excitement Emma was trying to contain. Present after present, she tore into the wrapping paper with the speed of a Tasmanian devil. She was almost to the end of the presents when she became discouraged.
“What’s wrong baby?” her mom asked.
“Nothing.”
“No, what’s wrong? You were so excited a few minutes ago. What happened?”
“He didn’t bring me the tablet I’d asked for.”
Kelly’s heart sank, feeling as though she was the worst mom in the world. “Well baby, maybe he forgot it when he left the North Pole. Maybe I can get you one for your birthday,” she offered. Hopefully, she thought, by the time May rolled around, I can scrounge up fifty bucks.
“You still have some more presents,” Dave said, handing her another package.
Unenthusiastically, she unwrapped the next present as if she were bored. With each passing present, she was tired of opening them. Her Christmas spirit was broken. I wish I wouldn’t have gotten her that other stuff, Kelly thought, I should’ve just bought her the tablet. Even if that would’ve been her only gift. With only one present to go, Dave gave her the last package and announced, “Last one.”
She took the package and began joylessly tossing the wrapping paper to the side. Suddenly, she began tearing into it as she had with the very first present. Kelly watched, confused as to why she was getting so excited.
“Momma! Look! Dave! Look! He didn’t forget it, momma! He didn’t!” she squealed.
“What?” Kelly asked, confused.
“He did bring me a tablet! And it’s even purple, my favorite color!”
Kelly’s jaw dropped. How could he have known? How would Dave had known that’s what Emma wanted so badly? And did he really remember her favorite color or was it an accident that he just happened to buy a purple one? Either way, she was glad that he’d gotten her the tablet she so desperately wanted. She turned to him and mouthed the words, “Thank you” without making a sound. He nodded and smiled.
“Who’s ready for breakfast? I’m starving!” he called out.
“Me! I’m hungry!” Emma said as she opened her tablet.
“I’ll make some cinnamon rolls while your mom helps you get that all setup,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.
On his way to the fridge, he peeked his head into the living where he spied Emma and Kelly working on her tablet, downloading the latest games and apps. It made him proud that he’d made her so happy. He reached for the can of cinnamon rolls and flipped them from his hand to his forearm and caught them mid-air as he made his way back over to the stove. Indeed, it was a good Christmas.
Chapter Eleven
The following week, Dave accompanied them to Emma’s testing appointment. As they walked in and registered her, he told Kelly to go sit with Emma while he took care of things. Once she was an earshot away, he began talking to the receptionist behind the check-in desk.
“I know that Emma already has a balance on her account. I’d like to pay that off and pay for all of her testings today as well, please.”
“Give me one moment while I look that up for you,” she said, looking over the top of her glasses while she pecked away at the keyboard.
The woman glanced at the screen, then to Dave and back at the screen. “Sir, are you sure you’d like to pay off the entire balance?”
“Yes, please.”
She did some more typing and finally said, “You do realize that with today’s testing, it will be several thousand dollars if you include all of her labs, right?”
“That’s fine,” he said, taking out his checkbook.
“I’m sorry sir, but before we can accept your payment, we’ll need authorization from her mother to give you the exact balance. Is it okay if I call her over here?”
“Sure, I’ll do it for you,” he said and turned to the waiting area. “Kelly, can you come here, please?”
She said something to Emma before getting up and walking over to the counter.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“This man would like to pay your account balance, but we need your permission to give him the exact amount. Do I have your permission to do so?” the woman asked Kelly.
“Yes, you have my permission.”
“Okay, sir that will be eight thousand, fifty-three dollars and twenty-nine cents, please.”
Kelly almost fainted when she heard the balance. “Why is it so high? My last bill was only for a few thousand.”
“That bill,” the receptionist said while scanning the computer screen, “was only for the MRI and X-rays. It shows in the computer that we just mailed you a statement for the radiologist fee, the appointment, and her labs.”
“Oh, my,” Kelly said, taken aback. “Dave, you don’t have to do this. It’s too much.”
He placed his hand on hers and said, “It’s fine. Let me do this for you.” He proceeded to write the check and give it to the woman.
“Thank you, sir. Would you like a receipt?”
“Yes, please.”
The woman printed the receipt on the noisy printer and tore it from the serrated edge before handing it to him. “Thank you for your payment. You’ll be called back shortly.”
Kelly was beside herself as she thought of how much he had just paid on Emma’s medical bills. She couldn’t believe that the bill had gotten so high so quickly. That, she thought, is outrageous. I should’ve stayed in school and became a doctor or something. Maybe then I wouldn’t be in this situation, but at least now all this portion is paid for. As they waited to hear her name be called, Emma remained quiet in her seat as she played with her new tablet.
“Emma Hall,” the short, round redheaded woman called her name.
“I remember you!” Emma told her as they headed back to the MRI room. “You were here last time I came in. Look what I got for Christmas!” she said, holding up her tablet.
“Wow! That’s nice! Oh, and it’s purple. I like purple too,” the woman said, making small talk as she prepared a gown for her.
Emma looked at Dave and smiled, “He bought it for me,” she said, pointing at him.
“Well that was awfully nice of your daddy to do that,” the woman said.
She glanced down at the floor. It made her sad that she didn’t have a dad. “He’s not my daddy. Dave is my mom’s boyfriend.”
Suddenly, Dave felt sad for her too. He’d never really thought about being her father or her not having an actual father. All his life he’d grown up with a dad granted he was too busy to do anything with him, but he still had a dad to come home to.
“I’m sure he’s a great guy,” the woman said, praising Dave for being there for the little girl.
Emma quickly agreed, “He is! He’s the best guy my mom’s ever met!”
They all began laughing. “Okay sweetie, I need you to slip into this—we’ll give you some privacy, and then it’ll be the same as last time, all right?”
“Okay,” she said.
This time, she wasn’t as scared or nervous. She bravely changed into the hospital issued gown and waited on the motorized table. Within a few moments, the technician appeared in the glass of the adjoining room and asked if she was ready to begin.
“Where’s my mommy and Dave?” she asked, still sitting on the table.
“They’re in the hallway. Do you want me to get them for you?”
“Yes,” she answered.
Dave and Kelly slipped into the room to encourage and support the small child. “No, I just wanted a kiss and a hug before they got started. You don’t have to wait in here with me. I’m not scared anymore.”
After their hugs and kisses, they joined the radiologist in the adjoinin
g glass room and talked to her as she traveled through the scanner. The technician turned off the microphone momentarily before moving on to Kelly and saying, “You’ve got one brave girl out there. I bet you’re a proud momma! She’s so tiny, yet so strong.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “I prayed to my mom and asked her to be with Emma today and to help us make her better.”
Dave smiled down at her; he had no idea that she spoke to her mother. She’d never mentioned it before, but then again, he thought, most people don’t go around announcing that they talk to dead people.
The technician turned the microphone back on. “Are you still doing okay in there honey?” she called out to her.
“Yes,” she replied, still holding very still to allow the images to remain clear while she spoke.
“Good, you’re almost finished. Just a few more minutes and then we’ll get you over to have you X-rays taken.”
When the scan was complete, the motorized table retracted from the unit and slid Emma out into the open room. Her mom, Dave and the radiologist, came into the room with a wheelchair and hauled her over to X-ray. Once they were out of X-ray, they had to make one more pit stop along the way: the lab. She hated needles and having her blood drawn, but she knew that it was necessary to find out more about her condition.
A few days later, Dave came over to pick them up to go to the benefit. She noticed that her mom was wearing the lovely cashmere sweater Dave had given her for Christmas. It made her glad that her mom was so happy. She noticed how her mom looked at Dave. It was different; nothing like how she’d looked at other boyfriends. There was something there; it was admiration, and possibly love.
He drove them to an enormous hotel. A man dressed in a uniform came to the car and offered to park it. This is strange, Emma thought, nobody’s ever offered to park our car before. Once Dave picked her up out of the backseat, she began whispering to him.
“Who is that man?”
“Oh, that’s valet. They park our cars for us.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“So we don’t have to walk back and forth.” Emma stared at him as if he were making it up. “Seriously, it’s their job.”
“They have a job to park cars all day? That sounds fun!”
Laughing as they walked into the hotel, Emma was greeted by many guests who came to enjoy her benefit. She was amazed when she walked into the large conference room that was brightly decorated in honor of her. Balloons and streamers hung from the ceiling while glitter sprinkled along the tops of tables and surrounded miniature fishbowls which contained a single lit candle.
“Wow!” she gasped, “All of this is for me?”
“It sure is,” Dave answered her. “Come. Let me introduce you to some people.”
For the first time in their almost six-month relationship, Kelly and Emma were getting to meet Dave’s family, including his parents who made a special trip to St. Louis for the benefit.
“It’s so good to meet you,” Rose, Dave’s mom, said. “We’ve heard so much about you,” she said, hugging Kelly and Emma.
“Yes, it’s nice to put a face with the name,” his dad, Stephen, said.
“I’ve heard a lot about the both of you, too,” she said, shaking his dad’s hand.
“You and Emma will sit with me at the front table. Since she’s our guest of honor, she will sit in the middle.”
Throughout the night, Emma smiled and laughed as she relished in all of the attention she was receiving. Kelly sat back, admiring her daughter and her incredible social skills. She really knows how to light up a room, she thought. Near the end of the benefit, Emma began getting sleepy.
“I think we should get her home,” Kelly whispered to Dave. “But I don’t want to be rude and have her leave. All of this was held in her honor.”
“Do you think she can make it until the ball drops at midnight?”
“I don’t know,” Kelly glanced over at her daughter. “She looks so sleepy. I’ll try to keep her awake.”
When the ball dropped, Kelly began gathering all of their things to head home. They wouldn’t know how lucky the Emma Buggy Fund was until all of the donations were counted. A couple of days after the fundraiser, Emma had her next appointment with the specialist. Once again, Dave drove them to the office and helped them inside.
“Hello Emma,” Dr. Berringen greeted her, closing the door behind him.
He faced Kelly and Dave, “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” Kelly replied. “So what did her tests show?” She wasn’t wasting any time, she was all business today.
Dr. Berringen thumbed through her chart, read it over and began going over the results. “It looks like her spine has gotten much worse. It appears that the methotrexate alone is not treating her as we’d hoped.”
“What’s the next step?” Dave asked, worried about her.
“What I’d like to do next is try her on a stronger drug. But I must warn you, it can have some severe side effects.”
“What drug and what type of side effects?” Kelly asked, alarmed at the information she was receiving.
“It’s called Humira, and it’s an injectable drug. She’ll take one injection every two weeks, or twice per month. It can increase her risk of developing infections and certain cancers, such as lymphoma, as well as cause skin, heart and liver problems.”
“Is it worth her taking it if that much could go wrong?” Kelly asked, desperately worried about her little girl.
“Most of these side effects are rare, but they are possible. Based on Emma’s labs and her previous health history, I don’t see it being a problem. We’ll keep a close eye on her to determine if and when she begins to develop any issues to the medication. The key factor is communication. If something doesn’t seem right or seems a little off, you call us right away so we can get her back in here.”
Suddenly, she was relieved that Dave had agreed to pay for things. This was beginning to become too much for her to handle.
“When will she have her first injection?”
“I’ll write the prescription for it and chances are, you’ll have to have it filled by a mail-order pharmacy. I assume you already do that with her methotrexate, is that correct?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“As soon as you receive the Humira in the mail, you’ll call our office to schedule an appointment. She has to have her initial loading dose in our office, under doctor supervision. After we’ve established that she won’t have any type of reaction to the medication, we’ll go over injection training and after that, she can take them at home. You’ll have to help her, of course, at least until she gets a bit older,” he smiled at Emma.
“Do you really think this will work?” Kelly asked, paranoid that it would be like the methotrexate.
“I do. This is different than the other medication she’s already on because it blocks the TNF, which causes inflammation.”
“I think you should do it,” Dave said, encouraging her.
She thought about it for a moment and looked at her daughter, who was in so much pain. “How long until it will work?”
“She could see the relief in as little as two weeks, or it could be three months. Each patient responds differently; it’s hard to tell.”
“All right, let’s do it.”
Once they were home, she called MaxCare and gave them the information from the prescription. As the pharmacist processed it on the other line, he alerted her attention to the cost of the drug.
“Miss Hall, are you aware that this medication cost almost five thousand dollars?”
“What?!” she exclaimed. “It cost how much?”
“The total for this medication will be four thousand, sixty-three dollars,” he explained to her.
“For how much? Is that for a one-year supply?” she gasped.
“Unfortunately, it’s for a three-month supply.”
He waited for her to respond, but the line was nothing more than dead air.
“Miss H
all? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here. I have to level with you; I don’t know how I’m going to pay for that. I never dreamt that it would cost that much. Let me figure something out and I’ll call you back.”
“You can put it on your credit card,” he offered.
“No, I can’t. My available balance is only about thirty dollars right now. I’ll call her doctor’s office real fast before the close and I’ll call you back.”
Rescued by the Billionaire (Billionaire Romance Novel) Page 13
