Page 39 of Fractured Reunion

She knew he was afraid she’d leave him alone in the hospital. “I promise I won’t leave without you.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll watch my show while you’re gone.”

“Thank you.” She eased from his bed, straightening her badly wrinkled clothes. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Aaron asked. “I can grab something for you if needed.”

“There hasn’t been time for me to eat,” she admitted. She hoped he hadn’t heard her stomach growling. She hadn’t felt right accepting a free parent tray from the kitchen as she technically wasn’t Joey’s legal guardian. “I’ll swing by the cafeteria on my way back up to Joey’s room.”

“Did you hear that, Joey? Maggie needs to stop and get breakfast too,” Aaron said. “She’ll be back very soon.”

Joey nodded. “Okay.”

Maggie frowned as she followed Aaron down the hall toward the elevator. “I hope I don’t miss the child psychologist.”

“I hope not, too, but if so, we can ask the doc to swing by again.” He pushed the button to summon the car. “You need to eat, and this meeting with Chism shouldn’t take too long.”

“Did you call Officer Thomas?” she asked as they rode down to the emergency department.

“Oh yeah. I wanted him to know what happened.” Aaron shook his head. “I really hope the court doesn’t give Chism custody of Joey.”

“I hope not too.” She remembered the layout of the emergency department from those hours she spent holding Joey. Finding Oliver Chism’s room wasn’t difficult, and Officer Thomas gave her a nod when they walked in.

“Dr. Dall. Thanks for stopping down.” Thomas looked toward Oliver. “Mr. Chism, you remember Dr. Maggie Dall.”

“Yeah.” Chism shifted on the bed. She stepped closer, raking her gaze over the monitor readings. He played with the pulse oximeter on his finger, then lifted his head to flash her a chagrined look. “I heard you saved my life.”

She nodded slowly. “You almost died.”

“I know.” He put a hand to his chest, and she wondered if her chest compressions had cracked a couple of his ribs. That was always a possibility, even if they were done correctly. “The doc said if you hadn’t been there, I woulda died.”

That was probably stretching the truth, as anyone could have done CPR. However, she decided not to quibble. “But I was there, and you survived. That’s what’s important.”

“I want you to have custody of Joey,” he said. “I know I got problems, and I can’t take care of my boy. I want you to be the one to take care of him.”

Stunned, she wasn’t sure what to say. As touching as Oliver Chism’s statement was, the situation was more complicated than he seemed to understand.

A parent couldn’t just hand over their child to another adult. But she was glad Oliver wouldn’t stand in the way of Joey being placed with a foster care family he deserved.

Maybe this was God’s way of answering her prayers.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Aaron stared at Oliver Chism, amazed that the guy’s near-death experience had caused him to accept his limitations as a father.

At least for now. He wasn’t so sure the guy wouldn’t change his mind at some point and file again for custody.

“I would like nothing better than to take care of your son, but that’s not how the system works,” Maggie said.

Chism scowled. “But that’s what I want. Don’t I get a vote as the boy’s father?”

Maggie glanced helplessly at Aaron. He had no idea what to say. This was all outside his realm of experience, but he suspected that CPS wasn’t going to simply give in to the wishes of a biological father with drug addiction issues.

“I’m not sure that’s within Dr. Dall’s purview,” Officer Thomas said.

She flashed Thomas a grateful look, then turned back to Oliver. “I will speak with the representative from Child Protective Services,” she said. “If nothing else, I will do my best to ensure Joey is placed with a wonderful foster family.”

“But—that’s not what I want!” Chism was growing agitated now, the monitor over his bedside beeping as his oxygen percentage plummeted.

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