“Give me my girls, son. We’ll go to your house tonight, and if Bailey’s up for visitors tomorrow, I’ll bring them up.” The thought that they’ll be getting back into a car guts me.
“Daddy, no. I have to tell you something.” Cammy pulls on my arm. I squat down. She needs my acknowledgement, and as much as I’d love to be with her and Piper, who checked out and was fine, thank fuck, Bailey needs me, too.
“What’s wrong, munchkin?” I ask. She pulls my face closer to hers.
“The person in the other car had red hair, like Mom.” Not reacting is hard. Here we’ve been sitting for the past six hours, all of us going through hell, and my baby girl has been holding this in the entire time.
“You’re sure?” My arm is wrapped around her body. She nods her head rapidly , and I hate that I’m about to have to ask her this question. “Was it your mom, sweetheart?”
“Uh-huh.” Sobs wrack her body. Madden lifts Piper out of my hands. I’m not sure how much he’s heard, but I’m wrapping Cammy up, picking her up until she’s settled in my arms, walk to the nearest chair, and collapse in it while Cammy gets it all out.
“You did good, Cammy, so good. Daddy’s proud of you, so very proud. You held it together for Piper and Bailey. You just let it all out.” So many damn emotions are swirling through my mind that once Cammy is settled down, her little body is dead weight against me, breathing deeper.
“I love you, Cammy girl.” I kiss her head, reluctantly hand her off to my dad, and have to take shit one breath at a time.
THIRTY-TWO
Bailey
“Quit fussing over me. Really, I’m okay. A few bumps and bruises, is all,” I tell Forest, who’s pacing back and forth, balking at the idea that I’m going to be released tomorrow. I’m already prepared to more than likely lose my job at the nanny agency after I report what happened.
“Baby, you just got the tube removed from your head an hour ago.” I got lucky, only needing it for less than twenty-four hours. The botched hair job is the lingering effect. Other than that, I’m slower to get up and move around, bruised, and sure, breathing hurts when I take a deep breath, but other than that, I am dying to get out of this place. The girls came up yesterday. It was a tearful reunion, with me apologizing to them as well as Forest, another ass-chewing that I received once Catherine took the girls home.
“Yes, but I’m nothing if not resilient. Now, would you like to address the elephant in the room when Madden walks in?” Hendrix is a life saver, bringing me socks, a robe, a hairbrush, toothbrush, and lip balm, as well as a change of clothes for the ride home tomorrow.
“I’d rather not, but the second he combs through the video feeds and hands it off to my attorney and me, you’ll find out anyway.” He stands up from his chair that turns into a recliner, where he’s slept the entirety of me being in this wretched place. He won’t even go home to shower and shave, refusing to leave my side unless my family is in here during the day.
“Yes, I will. It’ll either be from Cammy or Catherine. There’s no time like the present.” I cross my arms over my chest. The hospital gown is scratchy against my bare skin. Yep, tell me how it makes sense that when you come in on a gurney, you’re stripped off all clothes, bra and panties included. Don’t even get me started on a shower. Those weren’t allowed either, with my stitches and a drain. The best I could do was a sponge bath. Forest being the first volunteer had me rolling my eyes. There was nothing sexy about a tube coming out of your head, a hospital gown, and compression socks. He was unimpressed to say the least when I declined his offer and did what I could on my own. The very second we get home, I’ll be taking a shower, using a cap on my head if I have to, but there is no way I’m going to sit at home and reek of hospital and antiseptic. No freaking thanks.
“Cammy got a look at the driver when you crashed. I didn’t want to believe it. She sat and waited for hours with us, never saying a word until the doctor came out to talk to us. Our girl, fuck, sometimes I forget she’s only six years old. There she was, holding it in until her little body broke down and she told me the woman had red hair. Kind of hard to miss that when both girls have that reddish brown tint from their mother.” Forest paces the floor in the hospital room. Between him and Madden, I was moved from the world’s smallest room to this one, much more substantial in size, giving him the space to take the long strides as he gets this off his chest.