Page 35 of Born To Be My Baby

The elevator doors opened, and he slowly wheeled Gloria from the elevator and down the hall. There was an outer room, and they slowly entered it. A nurse was there almost immediately.

"I'm sorry, folks, you can only go in one at a time."

Gloria looked at her. "I'm her mother and he's her father. And I clearly need some help getting in the room. So I ask if we can both be there together."

The nurse bit her bottom lip, looked at both of them. It must have been a sight. Both of them bruised and cut. Gloria in a wheelchair for goodness’ sake.

The nurse nodded and said, "Okay. But only fifteen minutes."

Gloria looked back, and Brody nodded. "I'll watch from here, but tell her I love her."

Sean's heart raced when he heard Brody say he loved Mina. Conflicting emotions warred in his body. Grateful Mina had people who loved her. Anger that it hadn't been him.

Gloria softly said, "Thank you."

The nurse opened the door to Mina's room, and he wheeled Gloria through it. They slowly approached Mina's bedside. It looked like some of the tubes had been removed. But there were still beeping and bopping monitors all around.

Her face was bruised. Her head was bandaged. His little girl looked rough. And just like last night, tears sprang to his eyes watching her lay in bed. So still, so broken. And he'd been driving the vehicle she was in.

Gloria softly sniffed, and he looked around the room and found a tissue box in the corner. He brought it to her and gently laid it in her lap. He pulled one out for himself and dabbed his eyes.

He took a deep breath and reached over and laid his hand on Mina's foot.

Gloria took Mina's hand in hers and said, "Oh, Mina, honey, your dad and I are both here. We want you to get well. Please come back to us, please."

The heart monitor increased slightly. They had told him last night that was a good sign. He stood by quietly as Gloria softly spoke to Mina.

She talked about some of the things that they'd done when she was a little girl. Happy times. Going to an amusement park. Grandma teaching Mina how to bake cookies. Grandpa teaching her how to ride a bicycle. Fun times.

His heart hurt so bad when he heard of those times. He wasn't there. And there'd likely be many more of those times ahead where the past was discussed. He'd have to work hard to make new memories to share with them. He had twenty-plus years, he wasn't around. Twenty-plus years of them making memories together. And he'd have to learn to get over that and not harbor anger.

He'd find them a family psychologist to go to so they could deal with all of this.

Mina's eyes fluttered, and he straightened. He looked through the window at the nurse, who was outside watching, and she came rushing in. She moved around to the other side of the bed. She looked at the machines and typed them into the computer on the cart near the corner.

She looked over at them and said, "She hears you. Keep talking."

Gloria kept telling Mina of some of the fun times. And Sean didn't have anything to tell her like that. He wasn't there for her fun times. So he chose to tell her about something he knew she wanted to do as a child.

He said, "If you come back to us, Mina, when you get healthy, I'm going to take you to Harry Potter World here in Florida and we're going to get a wand and we're going to walk around Diagon Alley and make things come to life. That's what we're going to do. That'll be our first vacation together. So come back to us, Mina, so we can plan our trip to Harry Potter World. I'll need you to tell me all about it. We'll have a movie marathon first before we go so I'm not a total newb. Is that what you say these days? Newb?"

Her eyes fluttered a little more, her heartbeat sped up, and Gloria chuckled. "She begged to go to Harry Potter World and sadly, I never had the time to do it."

He said, "We're going to find the time now. We'll all go together."

Mina's eyes finally opened slightly, and he watched. They closed, opened again. He squeezed her foot, and she moved her foot back and forth slightly.

He chuckled. "She knows we're here. She knows we're here!"

Gloria squeezed her hand and Mina squeezed her hands back. The nurse started furiously typing things. She looked at the clock to see what time it was. She made adjustments to the monitors.

She was going to be okay. Mina was going to be okay. What a great day.

27

It seemed to take forever getting the discharge paperwork done. The nurse came in with a pile.

Gloria laughed, though that hurt a little. "It's almost like I'm buying a house."

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