Page 60 of From Rivals to I Do

“Yeah, well, now we have to figure out what in the blue blazes is going on here,” Noah says. “Something about this whole situation has been weird to me from the beginning.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Noah please don’t start with your conspiracy theories right now,” Zack groans. “Let’s just figure out why Dad is dead on paper.”

Conspiracy theories? I think to myself. I wonder what Zack means by that.

“Alright,” Noah sighs, and while my curiosity is piqued as to what they’re talking about, I decide to leave it alone. “So, what do we do?”

“Is his doctor also Doctor Trachner?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Zack replies.

“Wait here,” I say as I walk through the ward, searching for him and finding him in another patient’s room. “Excuse me? Doctor Trachner?” I say, peeking into the room.

“Oh! Darla! What are you doing here?” he asks. “Weren’t you on the overnight shift last night?”

“Yes, well, I need to speak with you about something important,” I say.

“Alright, well I’ll be there in a moment,” Doctor Trachner says before he turns back to his patient, and I slink back to the hallway to wait. When he comes back, he passes right by me, but I’m hot on his tail. “Doctor Trachner!”

“Ah, there you are!” Doctor Trachner replies, stopping to turn to me. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“Elijah Garcia is not Elijah Garcia,” I say, and Doctor Trachner raises his eyebrow at me.

“I don’t follow. . .”

“Someone messed with the charts,” I reply. “That’s not Elijah Garcia, that’s Eli Garcia.”

“That’s not possible, Darla,” he says as he shakes his head. “Listen, I’ve heard that you lost someone—”

“That’s just it, Doc,” Zack calls out from behind me, “she didn’t.”

“Their father is Eli Garcia, not Elijah,” I say. “And Eli—my boyfriend—is in that bed. I checked the computer, and the record claims Eli is dead. But I can assure you with one hundred percent certainty that he’s not.”

“You’re sure?” the doctor asks, his voice cracking.

“Elijah was in his seventies,” I say. “Does he sound like a seventy-year-old to you?”

“Oh boy,” he says with a sigh. “I was wondering what a seventy-year-old man was doing taking care of horses. . .”

“And you never thought to check on it?” I ask.

“Well, no, because I trust the staff. . . and you can’t see half his face because of the bandages,” he says. “I thought Eli was just his nickname. It’s what I heard that one friend of his call him. . . This is bad.”

“Very. Not only is this not Elijah, but Elijah’s family also has no idea that he’s dead,” I reply, and Doctor Trachner deflates immediately, a look of terror on his face.

“I’ve got to go fix this,” he says. “Or at least try. . . Thank you, Darla!” Doctor Trachner says, and before I can say anything else, he starts jogging toward his office.

“Thank you for setting things straight,” Zack says.

“It’s really no problem,” I say as I stand there, wringing my hands. “I’m just really glad he’s okay.”

“He’s doing as well as he can right now,” Noah says. “I hope they recheck him after all of this, make sure there’s nothing else going on in his brain, that his meds are right. . .”

“I’m sure they will,” I say, trying to reassure them. But after witnessing this major faux pas, I’m not really sure how much I trust the hospital. Or at least, the computer system. But even if the computer system had messed up, how did no one catch this mistake?

“Would you like to see him?” Zack asks.

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