I wish I had better advice, but I know you don’t need it, just an ear, and you’ve got mine whenever you want it.
~ Chaos
…
“105.3.” I read the numbers on the thermometer again, just in case I got it wrong the first time. Maisie was burning up. “I have to get her to the hospital.”
“We have to get her to the hospital,” Beckett corrected me from the doorway to the bathroom. “Get the Tylenol, wet rags, whatever you need, and let’s go. Colt, do me a favor and wake Hailey?”
I heard the familiar scamper of Colt’s feet down the stairs as I ripped apart the medicine cabinet looking for Tylenol. What could have caused this? The soccer game. It had to have been. But no one was near her, and her levels were great at her last appointment. What could she have caught in that short time?
I found the bubblegum pink bottle of fever reducer and poured the exact amount she needed into the tiny measuring cup.
“Ella,” Beckett called my name from the hallway, and I stumbled out of the bathroom, medicine ready.
He had Maisie in his arms, against his chest, wrapped in her blanket. I placed my hand on her forehead and choked back every swear word that came to mind. This wasn’t good. We’d been so lucky with her complications—the nausea, vomiting, hair loss, weight loss, it was all pretty standard, small stuff. But this was unknown.
“Maisie, love, I need you to open your eyes and take some medicine, okay?” I coaxed, running my free hand along her cheek.
Her eyes fluttered open, glassy from fever. “I’m hot.”
“I know. Can you take this?” I showed her the cup.
She nodded, the movement small and weak. Beckett shifted his hold, helping her upright, and I put the small cup to her heart-shaped mouth. Such perfect little lips. She’d never had so much as a cavity or a broken bone before her diagnosis, and now she didn’t bat an eye at medication.
She swallowed and jolted, her stomach muscles heaving.
“Baby, you have to keep it down, okay? Please?” I begged like it was her choice. Her jaw dropped, and she started to heave again.
“Outside,” Beckett ordered, and went, leaving me to follow after him.
He carried her down the stairs and outside onto the porch, barely pausing when he had to open the door. The man didn’t even give me a chance to get there first.
I stopped at the office, grabbing Maisie’s binder from my desk and running out after them.
“That’s better, right? Feel that air? Nice and cool. Take little breaths, Maisie. In through your nose, out through your mouth. That’s right. Just like that.” His voice was so soothing and calm, directly contrasting the rigid set of his jaw.
Maisie arched her neck, like she was seeking out the cool night air, and her breathing slowed as her belly calmed. She had to keep down the medicine, had to give us time to get to the ER.
“Better?” I asked, taking her little hand.
“A little.”
“Good.” I’d take a little. A little was better than throwing up the meds.
“Oh my God, Ella, what can I do?” Hailey ran out onto the porch as she tied her bathrobe, Colt just behind her in his bare feet.
“Can you keep Colt? Please? We have to get her to the ER.”
“Absolutely. Where are you going to take her? The medical center is closed.”
“Where’s the nearest ER?” Beckett asked.
“Montrose is the only one open at this time of night”—I checked my phone—“or morning, rather. It’s three a.m.”
“That’s an hour and a half,” Hailey said quietly, like her tone mattered, or could change the distance.
“Not the way I drive,” Beckett responded, already striding toward his truck.
“I’ll be right back!” Hailey shouted, running into the house.
“Mom?” Colt appeared at my side, Havoc at his.
“Hey.” I dropped down to his level. “You did great, Colt. You did exactly right.”
“It should be me.”
“What?”
“I should be sick, not Maisie. It’s not fair. It should be me.” His eyes were just as glassy as Maisie’s, but because of unshed tears.
“Oh, Colt. No.” My stomach lurched at the thought of going through this with him, too.
“But it’s because she came to my game, right? It’s my fault. I’m stronger than she is. It should be me. Why isn’t it me?”
I yanked him forward into my arms, nearly crushing him against my chest as I hugged him. “This is not because of you. Anything that brought on a fever like this