The nurse gives me a reassuring smile. “Crying and screaming—those are actually good signs. It means she most likely doesn’t have a brain injury. But she’ll probably need a few stitches.” She smiles down at Hailey, moving a piece of hair away from her face. “Her gorgeous curls will cover any scar. And she’ll need an x-ray of her arm to check for a fracture.”
Beeping noises come from outside the door. “Will you be okay in here?” she asks.
I nod, and then through the lump in my throat, I say, “Yes. I think we both will.”
Her face bleeds compassion. “I’m Sadie, by the way. Don’t let Dr. Warner bully you. You belong here. I’d say her daddy is lucky to have a girlfriend like you.”
“Thanks.”
She makes her way to the door. “Don’t be surprised if she falls asleep from exhaustion. It’ll do her some good. When her parents get here, we’ll proceed with the tests.” She shuts the door quietly on her way out. A window partially covered by blinds remains the only thing separating us from the rest of the emergency room.
I sit down on the chair next to the bed, Hailey still molding her body to mine as her breathing starts to even out. I run soothing strokes down her back and in no time, just like Sadie said, she falls asleep in my arms, hiccupping every so often as her body settles into slumber.
Carefully, I pull Mason’s phone out and text Baylor to see what the holdup is. Almost immediately, it vibrates with a call. I answer in barely a whisper. “Baylor, where is he?”
“I can hardly hear you, Piper,” she says in a loud voice, as if her volume will make up for mine. “Mason wasn’t home so we called the gym and they said he only ran for a short time. Maybe he’s on his way home now. Skylar is waiting outside his building and Gavin and I are backtracking to the gym. Maybe he decided to go back to Skylar’s after his run. We’ll check there, too. What have you found out? Is Hailey okay?”
“She’s asleep for now,” I whisper, looking down upon her delicate head. “They think she’ll be okay, but they can’t run tests until a parent is here. Please—find him, Bay.”
“You can bet on it, Pipes. You just take care of that sweet girl until he gets there, okay?”
I nod, another viscous knot hitching my voice. “You can bet on it,” I say before hanging up.
~ ~ ~
Hailey jolts me awake with her pained cry, the warmth between our bodies confirming we’ve been like this for some time. A glance at the clock on the wall tells me we both nodded off for a few hours. It’s almost midnight. And no Mason. No Cassidy.
I check Mason’s phone. It has a few texts from my sisters, who are still looking for my M.I.A. boyfriend. I curse myself for breaking my phone and leaving it on the sidewalk last weekend. If it weren’t for that, Mason would already be here and Hailey would be having the test she needs to make her better.
“Shhhh,” I breathe into her hair. I rub her back and tell her everything I can remember my mom telling me whenever I would get hurt. I wonder if the pain medication they gave her is wearing off. I wonder why nobody has been by to do anything for her.
“Want Dada,” she whimpers into my shoulder.
“Daddy will be here soon. I promise, Hailey.”
I look down at Mason’s phone again, giving me an idea. I open up his playlist and scroll down until I find it. The song Hailey was humming that day in the park. I press play and turn up the volume, hoping it will distract her from the pain.
She looks up at me and her little lip quivers. Her nose runs and I dab it with the cuff of my sleeve. I start singing along with the song, not caring what my amateur voice sounds like when my only audience is a two-year-old.
One big fat tear rolls down her face, right before her lips turn up into a precious untroubled smile. The smile that sends strong gripping hands through my body, taking a powerful and eternal hold of my heart.
chapter thirty-two
mason
I’m conflicted. I’m awed. I’m speechless.
I want to barge in the room and take my hurt daughter into my arms. The primal need to protect her—protect them—is strong. But what I’m witnessing through the window in Hailey’s private room is nothing short of a miracle.
Piper has my daughter in her arms; the type of embrace shared by a mother and child. She is swaying back and forth, rocking Hailey in a gentle calming motion. When Piper turns her body slightly to the side, I can see her mouth moving. It looks like she’s singing.
I crack the door slowly and quietly so I don’t alarm them. The music hits my ears and I smile. How did she know to play this song? It’s not the music that takes my breath away, it’s her voice. I haven’t heard it since the day I first met her when she was singing in my car. My feet are cemented to the ground as I listen to the love of my life sing and comfort my fragile daughter. I see Hailey’s little arm gripping onto her for dear life. My heart is overflowing with joy watching them bond.
The doctor assured me there’s no major damage. Maybe some stitches and a splint or cast for her arm. And while the father in me wants to walk over and take Hailey in my arms; the man in me knows this moment is too important for me to interrupt.
When I saw Skylar standing outside my building, running towards me with worry etched on her face, I knew something terrible had happened. I thought maybe it was Piper. Finding out my baby girl was in the emergency room ranked right up there with how I felt after my parents’ accident. Flashes of them battered and dying petrified me as Skylar and I raced to the hospital.
This became one of those times being recognized was truly a blessing. The nurse buzzed me back without question and a doctor appeared almost instantly to give me an update before I even made it back to her room. The news was hopeful, and wasn’t even cause enough for Skylar or her family to hang around and miss a night of sleep, so I sent them all home to hug their own children, promising to update them if anything changed.
Now, standing here in the doorway, watching the two of them together—I see my whole fucking future in this room.
Hailey shifts in Piper’s arms, spotting me leaning against the door frame. “Dada!” she squeals, reaching out to me.
In two swift steps, I’m in front of her, gathering her small, broken body into my arms. After a long embrace, I survey the damage on her battered body. Tears sting my eyes when she starts crying, mumbling indecipherable two-year-old words about her hurt arm and pounding head.
“It will be okay, sweet pea. Daddy’s here. The doctor will be in to fix you up soon. Then we can go home. Would you like that?”
She sniffles up at me, nodding her head.
I look over at Piper, who has given us space to share a father-daughter moment. “I can’t even begin to thank you for being here. Are you okay?”
Her glossy eyes glance down at Hailey as her hand comes up to cover her heart. She nods, tears spilling from her brilliant green eyes. I swear, beyond the tears, I can see something happening. And I think it’s called healing.
There is a bustling in the room behind me. The doctor and nurse have come in wheeling a tray table with blue paper covering it. “Mr. Lawrence, we’re here to do Hailey’s stitches,” Dr. Warner says.
The nurse explains the procedure, telling us the worst part will be the administration of the local anesthetic.
They allow me to hold a screaming Hailey tightly in my arms while they use a needle to numb her forehead. Then they give her a few minutes to calm down and let the drug do its job before putting in the stitches.
I take the time to question Piper about the accident. “Tell me what you know about how this happened.”
I listen in horror as she recalls every detail; from the babysitter’s frantic call until I walked into this room. I absorb every piece of information, but my mind can’t help replaying one bit of it over and over again.
The gate was left open.
I have visions of my baby tumbling helplessly down the stairs. I shake my head in anger, wanting to ring Cassidy’s neck for allowing this to
happen. “And no word whatsoever from Cassidy?” I ask. “She left my daughter with a brand new sitter and doesn’t even bother to answer the goddamn phone?”
Piper looks at me with compassionate eyes. For Cassidy’s sake, I hope she’s laid up somewhere in this hospital, or I’m liable to kill her with my bare hands.
“We’re ready to proceed now, Mr. Lawrence,” Dr. Warner says. “You’ll need to put her on the bed for this. But you can hold her hand. It looks like she’ll need five stitches.”
The nurse lowers the tall sides of the bed, allowing me full access to her while they work on her head.
“She’s numb,” the nurse assures me as they prepare the instruments. “This won’t hurt her, but it will probably scare her, so anything you can do to distract her would be beneficial.”
Piper steps behind me, holding my phone up for me to see. It has Hailey’s favorite song on the screen. “Your turn,” she whispers in my ear. I can hear the smile in her voice.
With my left hand, I encompass Hailey’s entire forearm. With my right hand, I reach back and lace Piper’s fingers with mine. “Together?” I ask?
Then, as Hailey gets stitched up, we sing. Our voices fit together almost as well as our bodies did earlier.
The second time we play it, the nurse joins in, making Hailey smile. The door remains slightly open, and I wonder what passers-by must think about our impromptu performance of the song made famous by a Disney movie.
They finish the stitches, placing a much smaller bandage than before on her forehead. She looks more like my little girl again.
Piper puts a hand on top of the one of mine still covering Hailey’s. “You did a great job, sweetie. You are very brave, just like the princess in that song.”
Hailey smiles, hearing Piper compare her to a princess. She removes her hand from under ours and her little fingers grab Piper’s. “Pitty finners,” she says.
Piper proudly displays her deep-blue fingernails as if she’s suddenly become a hand model. “Why, thank you, Hailey. Blue is my absolute favoritest color in the whole wide world. Do you want to know why?”
Hailey nods her head in wonder.
“Because it’s the color of your eyes,” Piper says, smiling at my daughter, then looking at me, her emerald irises speaking all the words her lips are forbidden from saying in present company.
I love you, I mouth to her.
“Yeah, I’m really glad I moved here,” she says, with a secret grin only I know the meaning of.
“Oh, you’re new to New York?” the nurse asks her.
Piper blushes. “No, I pretty much grew up here, but I didn’t move here until recently.”
“Okaaaay.” The nurse’s confused look makes us laugh. “We need to get an x-ray of this little girl’s arm. We can bring the equipment in here, but it will take a few minutes and you’ll have to wait outside.” She gives me a sympathetic look and says quietly, “She’ll probably cry and you may not want to see it, so this may be a good time for you to complete the paperwork out front. But don’t worry, I promise to take good care of her.”
The door swings wide open and a technician wheels in a large machine. I lean down and give Hailey a kiss on her head. “We’ll be right outside, sweet pea. They need to take great big pictures of your arm to see your boo-boo.” I take Piper’s hand and lead her away.
Hailey starts to tear up. The nurse with teddy bears on her scrubs tries to calm her, but the further away we get, the cries turn into screams and my hearts starts breaking.
“Go,” Piper says, seeing my face that’s swimming in despair. “You don’t need to watch this. I’ll stay right here. You do what you need to do so we can get her out of here.”
“You sure?” I ask, looking at my whimpering baby girl through the window.
Piper’s hand touches my arm, sending a warm comforting feeling coursing through me. “I’ve never been more sure.”
My broken heart surges with love for this woman as I kiss her cheek and then walk away, being escorted out front to give them my insurance information.
I’m led through the double doors to the full-on commotion of the crowded ER.
“Ma’am, we can’t let you in there like this!” a man yells.
“My baby is back there, you stupid prick. Let me go!”
My head snaps over to the familiar voice. Cassidy is being restrained by a hospital security guard. She looks gorked out, like that night at the movies. I put the clipboard down and rush over to her. “What seems to be the problem here?”
“Mason!” she belts out. “Tell this meathead to let me in.”
I look at the guard, who swipes a finger across the tip of his nose several times and then gestures back to Cassidy.
I take a step closer and see it—the faint trace of white power on the edge of her nostrils. “What the fuck, Cass?”
She struggles to free herself from the guard. “My baby is back there. She needs her mama.” She barks at him, “Let. Me. Go!”
I shake my head at the guard, letting him know to keep his grip. “Cassidy!” I raise my voice and hold my palm out in front of her to stop her repeated ramblings. “The only reason your baby is here is because you left the goddamn gate open. Were you doped up then, too? How dare you put my daughter in danger like that. And how could you leave her with a sitter and then go off the fucking grid for five hours? What kind of mother does that?”
“How can you be so sure it was me and not, uh . . . Miranda? And what about you?” She maneuvers closer to me with the guard still latched onto her arm. I can smell the rancid mixture of vodka and drugs coming from her every pore. “Your stupid little bitch called me because she couldn’t find you. What were you doing, Mason? Don’t pretend like you’re Prince-fucking-Charming when you were off banging some other groupie.”
My jaw drops at her hateful, accusing words and I become aware that more than a few people are staring at our exchange. I even see a few phones come out.
Shit.
“Sir,” I speak to the guard, “Can we take this somewhere a little more private, please?” I nod at the kid taking video of us as if he’s filming the next Emmy-winning documentary.
The security guard looks around the waiting area to see the attention we’ve managed to draw. “Come on,” he says, grabbing Cassidy’s arm and parading her through the sea of onlookers as she throws a tantrum that I’m sure will be displayed all over the internet by sunrise.
We’re escorted to a private room near the nurses’ station. He shuts the door behind us and releases Cassidy, pointing to a chair while staring her down. Like a petulant child, she stomps over to it and sits down melodramatically.
“First off,” I tear into her, “the babysitter’s name is Amanda, not Miranda. Jesus, Cassidy, do you even know who you are leaving her with?” I shudder to think she’s not bothering to screen the people she’s entrusting the care of our child to.
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “Who cares what her name is. Can we get back to why I can’t see my own daughter?”
The guard’s eyes ping-pong between us, seeming more interested in our conversation than doing his job.
I step closer to get a good look at her eyes. “You’re stoned out of your mind, Cass, and probably drunk, too. You can’t see her like this.”
The door to our private room swings open with such force, the handle puts a dent in the drywall. A tall man, much too thin for his frame, bursts into the room. Before he even speaks, I take in his bloodshot eyes and the ashy-grey hue of his skin. He looks emaciated, like he belongs in his own hospital bed.
“What the hell is going on?” His eyes dart around the room, and he sniffs incessantly as his gaze settles on Cassidy. “I thought we were here to check on the kid.”
“Check on the kid?” Rage boils my blood and my hands clench into tight fists as I walk across the room towards him. “Are you referring to my not-even-two-year-old daughter, who was abandoned by her mother and her drug-dealing boyfriend?”
“I
suggest you back off, asshole,” he says, puffing out his gaunt, skeletal chest to try and make himself look larger. I look him up and down, noting he’s a different guy than she was with the night at the movies. But both seeming equally as drugged up as she is.
“How many guys are there, Cassidy? Are you bringing them around my daughter?”
“You chose to walk away, Mason,” Cassidy says, defending her actions. “Who I bring around isn’t your concern or your problem.”
“Not my concern?” A muscle twitches in my jaw as unrelenting fury adds venom to my voice. “She’s my daughter, Cass. There is no concern greater than her. I didn’t walk away from Hailey. I would never walk away from my child. I walked away from you.”
Cassidy’s nose starts to run and she pulls a tissue from her purse. “What about Snow White? You seem awfully concerned about her.”
My hard, corded body vibrates with tension as I keep her companion in my periphery. I take a breath to calm myself. The last thing we need here is more of a scene. “Piper is my girlfriend, Cass. Despite your attempts to break us up. That isn’t going to change. Well, until she agrees to become my wife.”
Cassidy squeals so loud she makes her date jump. “Wife? Are you fucking kidding me?” An icy-cold bitterness contorts her face.
“Is that what this is all about?” I flick my nose. “Me moving on? Because you’re delusional if you think I will ever get back with you. And you sealed that deal when you tried to mess with Piper.”
She tries to get up, but the security guard puts his hand on her shoulder, forcing her back into the chair.
“Get your hands off her!” her date barks at him, shoving him away from Cassidy and hard against the nearby wall.
Then it all happens in the blink of an eye.
He and the guard start to scuffle and the guy reaches for the guard’s gun. Before he gets a finger on it, I tackle him to the floor, pinning him face down with my knee in his back. That’s when I notice several small packets of white powder have fallen from his pocket in the time it took me to wrangle him to the floor.
Black Roses (A Mitchell Sisters Novel) Page 28
