"Wait, so she is going to be unconscious for at least the next twenty-four hours?" Cali blurted the question and then looked at Nick to see if he was angry she was injecting on behalf of his daughter. She shouldn't have worried. He looked relieved she'd asked.
"Yes, keeping her sedated will give her brain time to recover from the trauma. With a concussion this severe, she will need several weeks to truly recover."
"When can we see her, doctor?" Nick was squeezing her hand tightly again.
"She's still in post-op. She'll be there for another hour or two and then we'll move her to the pediatric ICU. You'll be able to see your daughter once they get her settled there."
The doctor stood, making ready to leave. He turned from the door to address them. "I know parents don't expect to have their children injured like this when they send them off to school in the morning, but all things considered, Andrea was lucky today. From what I've seen of some of the other children they brought in, it could have been even worse. I'll come check in with you up in the ICU later, Mr. and Mrs. Mikos."
He opened the door and was gone before they could correct him on his assumption that Cali was Nick's wife. Nick sat so still she worried he had gone into shock. She tried to cup his face but he was in a trance. Cali moved to his lap, snuggling tight against him as they sat in silence, comforting each other for several long minutes until a nurse stuck her head in.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mikos? Dr. Adams asked me to take you down to have your blood drawn. If you'd follow me, please. I'll take you to the lab."
They followed the nurse and once in the elevator, Cali quietly corrected the nurse. "I'm not Mrs. Mikos. I'm not Andi's mom, but I'd still like to donate blood for anyone else who might need it."
The nurse looked embarrassed for her false assumption. "I'm sorry. Is Andrea's mother on her way here then?"
Nick answered, his voice harsh. "Her mother is dead."
"I'm so sorry."
Nick pulled Cali close before answering. "Don't be sorry."
They were led to a small room with several tall stools often seen in blood labs. A phlebotomist greeted them and they spent several minutes filling out paperwork. It took only twenty minutes for them both to finish and be led back up to the waiting room closest to the pediatric ICU. There were several other parents already waiting there and Nick was upset to find the parents of Andi's best friend, Katie, there. The girls had been seated on the bus together so it made sense that they had both suffered similar injuries. Like Andi, Katie was expected to recover, but in addition to a concussion, she had a broken arm and several deep cuts.
It was two hours later when a nurse came to collect Nick for his first visit with his daughter. Cali wasn't sure if they would let her in, but Nick wouldn't hear of leaving her behind.
Andi looked so fragile. She was so pale and they had her under a heating blanket to keep her warm. She had a large bandage on her head as well as her left shoulder. They couldn't see the bandages from the surgery, but that was probably for the best. The sound of the monitoring system she was attached to was strangely comforting to Cali because she knew it would alert the nurses to any emergency. Nick had pulled the sole chair next to the bed to take her tiny hand in his own when the blood pressure cuff on her right arm filled to take her blood pressure.
Tears streamed down Nick's face as he talked to his daughter. "Daddy's here, baby. Everything is going to be okay. You just need to sleep for a while to let your body heal. The doctor says you're gonna be as good as new. Cali is here with me. We're gonna be right here when you wake up. I'm not going to leave until I can take you home with me."
She could tell he was trying his best to keep his voice strong for Andi's sake. Neither of them knew if she could hear them, but they talked to her nonetheless. Minutes stretched to hours as they ran out of things to talk to Andi about. The drone of the machines monitoring the patient was the only sounds as they kept their watch on the little girl they both loved.
Cali watched Nick closely. She knew he was on the edge. Eventually, they both needed to eat something and take a break. It took her several attempts to convince him he needed to step away long enough to at least grab some coffee. Cali knew it took all of Nick's strength to leave Andi behind in that bed without him there.
They were walking hand-in-hand by the nursing station in the middle of the unit when Andi's doctor looked up from the chart he was writing in and stopped them. He looked uncomfortable, as if he had bad news.
"Mr. Mikos, if you have a minute, I'd like to speak with you about your daughter."
"Of course. Do you have any news about how long you'll be leaving her sedated? I'm anxious to have her wake up."
"That's understandable, but it's best for her to get past the worst of the pain while sedated. She's going to be in significant pain when she wakes up."
"Damn, I hadn't really thought of that. You're right."
Dr. Adams led them to an isolated alcove and paused before he asked a question that confused Cali. "I wanted to ask you how old Andrea was when you adopted her?"
"Andi wasn't adopted. What makes you think that she was?"
The doctor looked back and forth between them, looking more uncomfortable by the minute. He finally continued. "We of course have to do blood type cross matching before every transfusion. Your daughter is a type O- which is actually a pretty common blood type."
"That's good."
"Yes, except that she is only able to accept blood from other type O donors."
"Okay. So is that a problem? I'm not sure what type I am."
"You're a type AB, Mr. Mikos. That is a very rare type and I'm afraid we won't be able to use your blood for your daughter. It will be added to the blood bank."
Nick looked disappointed. "That's fine. She must have gotten her blood type from her mother then."
"Perhaps, it's just... well I'm not sure how to tell you this. I know you've already received a lot of bad news today, but I feel it important to tell you that based on the blood work, there is no possible way you could be Andrea's biological father."
Chapter Seven
Nick felt his legs giving way beneath him. He would have collapsed if Cali hadn't propped him up. His mind reeled as Calista and the doctor helped him navigate back to the waiting room. It was thankfully empty.
Only after he sank to a chair did the doctor apologize. "I'm so sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have told you. I just thought you had the right to know. I encourage you to have additional testing done to reconfirm the results."
Nick was in shock. He wanted to scream at the doctor that he was wrong. To even contemplate that he was right was unfathomable. He was Andi's father. She looked so much like him.
The doctor was moving to leave when Nick snapped out of it enough to remember to ask, "Do you at least have O type blood for Andi's transfusion?"
He turned back towards them. "Yes, as I said, type O is pretty common. In fact, Ms. Bennett is a type O. We saved her blood to have on reserve for your daughter."
Nick felt a small measure of relief. He wasn't sure how long he sat lost in a sea of memories. His mind raced to recall every detail leading up to Veronica showing up with Andrea in her arms to tell him he was a father. What a fool he'd been to believe her story, yet even now, he was thankful for her lie because he couldn't imagine his life without Andrea in it. A fierce urge to find the truth consumed him. Only when he found the truth would he be able to take action to ensure Andrea would remain safely at his side the rest of his life. With Roni dead, there was no way to wrestle the truth out of her. He'd have to get help.
"Nick. I'm worried about you. Please, talk to me." Cali's soft pleas finally broke through his dark thoughts. He looked up to see worry etched on her face. He saw relief in her eyes when he acknowledged her. He suspected she'd been talking to him before but he'd been too consumed with his worry to hear her.
"I have no words." That was the most truthful reply he could come up with.
"Maybe it's a mistake. I think you sh
ould have an actual paternity test done to be sure."
He didn't answer right away. His mind was reeling as a wave of hatred consumed him. "I'm glad she's dead. She deserved to die."
"You don't mean that."
"Yes, I do. From the very beginning she played me. Everything we had for the last eight years was a lie."
"Maybe, but she also gave you Andi. I've seen you with her and I don't care what any test tells us; you are Andrea's father. The only one she is going to have. If it took Veronica to lie to you to have Andi in your life, it was worth it. Right?"
He couldn't deny her logic. The thought of losing Andi had the lump in his throat almost choking him. Cali seemed to notice and silently moved to sit in his lap. He squeezed her to him as if she were his lifeline and when she snuggled into his neck, her tenderness broke the delicate thread he'd been holding onto his sanity with.
Nick let the sobs he'd been holding back wrack his body as he cried for his daughter's injuries... for the loss of his marriage... the loss of his innocent trust of a woman who had built their life on lies... But mostly he cried out of fear of losing the baby girl he would give his life for.
Nick had never allowed himself to lose control like this in his entire life. As he slowly gained control of his emotions, he became embarrassed for his weakness in front of Calista. She'd been through hell herself. She needed him to be strong.
As he collected himself, he apologized. "I'm so sorry I lost it."
Calista reached up to cup his face, pulling him to face her. He saw her own tears shining, but what surprised him the most was her love shining back at him. "Of course you did. Your world is unraveling."
"I love you Cali. I'm so glad you're here with me. I can't even think about going through this without you here."
"Oh Nick, I love you too. I just wish there was more I could do."
"You're doing it. Just be here with me. Please."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Nick and Cali passed the time as best as they could while keeping their watch over the unconscious Andi. They took turns talking to her, telling her stories of the fun things they would be doing together when she got out of the hospital.
By eleven that night, Nick forced Cali to go home and get some rest. She wouldn't hear of leaving until he asked her to stop by his house to pick up some things for him on the way back to the hospital the next day. He knew that by giving her something to do, it would help her feel less guilty about leaving for a while.
Nick needed for her to leave so he could put the plan he had been hatching into motion. As soon as she left, he pulled out his phone to look through his contact list. He was relieved to find the name he was looking for.
He pushed send and waited for an answer. "This is Blackburn."
"Jason, this is Nicholas Mikos. I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I need your help."
"Nick, you ought to know I work crazy hours in my job. This is actually a good time. I'm just sitting parked and could use a good distraction. Your firm need some help again?"
"No. Actually, I have a personal problem I need some help with this time."
"Shit. I'm sorry to hear that. When people call me with personal problems, that's never a good thing."
"You're right. It isn't good. It's critical that you are discreet. I honestly don't know how big of a hornet's nest I'm going to be finding, but it is critical that I'm the only one who is aware of your findings."
"You don't need to lecture me, counselor. Discretion is my middle name. I wouldn't be in business if it wasn't." Nick heard the defensive tone in the private detective's voice and knew he'd insulted him with his warning.
"Understood and thanks. So how does this work?"
"Why don't you start from the beginning? What is the problem we're trying to solve? Is it your wife? Stepping out on you?"
Nick's unwanted manic laughter reminded him how close to the surface his emotions still were. "I don't need your help to prove that. My wife died in a car accident over three months ago. She was riding in a car after midnight with her lover and proceeded to bite his cock off during the impact of their accident. No, she did a good job of hanging herself on that one."
"Ouch. That's cold. I'm sorry, man. So if not infidelity, how can I help?"
"My eight year old daughter was in an accident today. She is going to be okay, but she's in the hospital. During testing, her paternity has come into question. The hospital is claiming I couldn't be her biological father based on blood type alone. I obviously can't ask my dead wife who else she was sleeping with at the time Andi was conceived, but I need to know. I need to take measures to make sure no one ever shows up on my doorstep trying to take her away from me. She is my daughter. Do you hear me? No one else is ever going to lay claim to her and I'm not going to live in fear. I need to know the truth."
Nick hears the low whistle at the other end of the phone. "So let me understand. You want me to find out who else your dead wife was sleeping with over eight years ago?"
"No. I want you to find out who impregnated her over eight years ago. Based on all of the shit I'm finding since her death, you may find she was fucking an entire football team. I just need to know who is Andrea's biological father and I need you to do it without raising their suspicion. For all I know, they have no idea Andi exists and I want to keep it that way."
"Well, is that all? I thought you might have something hard for me."
Nick wasn't in the mood to deal with the PI's attempt at humor. "Listen, can you do the job or not?"
"Sure. I'm sorry. Email me with all of the details you have. Your wife's name, DOB, social security and the same for your daughter. If you have a copy of the birth certificate, send it along. Anything else you can think of that might help. I'll watch for it and be back in touch."
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. You may not like what I dig up."
Calista forced her voice to be strong despite the lump that kept forming in her throat. Andi needed her to be strong.
"You came back," the Beast said meekly. "At least I can see you this one time."
"No!No!" Belle said, sobbing as she kissed the Beast's cheek. "Please don't die... I love you."
At that moment the spell was broken, and in one magical instant the Beast turned back into his princely self. The enchanted servants returned to their human forms as well. The castle came alive with rejoicing. Mrs. Potts cried human tears of joy as the handsome young prince gathered the beautiful Belle into his arms. Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth and Lumiere had not one doubt that the loving couple would live happily ever after.
She was just closing the Disney storybook when she heard it. It was barely a whisper. "Cali?"
Calista shot out of the chair to stand next to the bed. For the first time in two days, the eyes of the beautiful little girl she loved so much were open. Cali forced a comforting smile. "Well hello there, sleepyhead. I can't tell you how happy I am to see you awake."
"Where am I?" Her voice was scratchy from lack of use.
Cali held her hand softly. "You're in the hospital, sweetheart. Your school bus was in an accident, but you're going to be just fine. The doctors and nurses have been taking really good care of you."
The confusion was easy to see on her innocent little face as Andi tried to remember. For her sake, Cali hoped she'd never remember the accident clearly. Some things were best left forgotten, like visits to morgues in the middle of the night.
"Where's my dad? Is he still on his business trip?"
Cali was relieved that Andi's memory was intact. "Oh, of course not. He came rushing home the minute he heard about your accident. He has been here at the hospital the entire time since you were brought here. It's just bad luck that he stepped out of the room for some coffee. He'll be back any minute."
"Who are you talking to, Cali? Are you done reading her The Beauty and the Beast?" His voice behind her startled Cali until she flushed with relief.
Cali winked at Andi as she leaned over her. And
rea seemed to understand. "She's done, Daddy. I was about to ask her to read The Little Mermaid next."
Nick was there beside her in an instant. Cali moved aside to let him get closer to his daughter. Her heart melted watching his love for her shining in his eyes. "Oh thank you, God. I've been so worried about you, Andi. How are you feeling?"
"Tired I guess. My head hurts and I'm really thirsty."
Cali leaned down to place a soft kiss on Andi's forehead. "You two catch up. I'm going to go let the nurse know you're awake." She squeezed Nick's forearm as she took her leave and he looked up briefly. The relief of Andi waking up was sinking into his pained eyes. He didn't say a word. He didn't need to. Cali understood.
Calista stepped out into the hall, but didn't go to the nurse's station immediately. She wanted to give Nick and Andi a few minutes to talk before alerting the nurse since she suspected they would be shooed out of the room so they could do some more tests now that their patient was awake.
As she expected, as soon as she alerted the nurse on duty, the RN picked up the phone to call Dr. Adams and then rushed into Andi's room. Nick came out a few minutes later, a look of relief finally overshadowing the exhaustion that had begun to take its toll on all of them.
He didn't say a word. He just pulled Cali into his arms and they embraced for several long moments, each saying their thanks for Andrea waking up and appearing as if she was on the mend. They both knew she would have a long recovery, but they were ready for it.
Before they could speak, Nick's cell phone was ringing. He pulled out of their hug to check the caller ID. "I'm sorry, but I need to take this call."
As she watched him answer the phone as he walked away from the ICU and down the long hallway, it wasn't the first time Cali felt the weight of something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Nick had been making and receiving too many mysterious calls in the last two days they had been camped out at the hospital together. At first she had been angry that Nick thought work was so important that he would need to keep working while is daughter was on her deathbed. Cali had eventually realized that the calls he was taking were not business related and that only made Cali more uncomfortable.
Twist (A BDSM & Romantic Erotica Boxed Set) Page 35
