Page 61 of Mind Pucked

“Hi, baby.” I go over and drag a chair up beside the bed.

“Do you want to sit here with her?” Amelia asks as she goes to move out from behind Hayden.

The hurt in her eyes is more than I can bear. I hate what I’ve done to her so much. I don’t know if I should say anything to her in front of Hayden, but I don’t want her to continue to look at me like this either.

“No, you stay there—I’ll sit here,” I say with a weak smile. “You guys look comfortable.”

“I was going to head out now that her parent is here,” she says. There’s no anger in her tone, but her voice is flat and unfeeling. “The doctor will be in soon to let you know how her arm is. I’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

She goes to move again, but I reach out and softly grab her arm. I glance at Hayden, who seems to be distracted by the TV show.

“Amelia, stay,” I say to her softly as she looks down at my hand on her arm. “I should have never said what I did. It isn’t true. You deserve to be here just as much as anyone. You had the situation handled, and I should have trusted that.”

“Yes, you should have, but Jackson…I do understand,” she says softly. “I was fine with you coming, and I’m great with you being here. I was simply saying that if Coach needed you or you were needed at practice, I had things handled here until you could get here. If it was worse than this, I would have demanded you come, but it’s just a bump…maybe a break, but it’s just an arm.”

“I know, but for some reason when you called—really, when I saw that I had all those missed calls—I couldn’t get the memoryof the day I found out about Lyla out of my mind. I needed to see her for myself,” I say. “I trust you, and I know you can handle anything that’s thrown at you, but this was because of my own mind and not being able to deal. I should have never…neversaid that to you, and I don’t mean it at all…please forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she says, and she leans into my arm a little, giving me a nudge with her nose against my cheek. “I was a little hurt, but I’m not mad. Hayden is something special, and I would’ve wanted to know that she’s alright too.”

“She is something special,” I agree, and Hayden looks up to me and offers me a smile. “Are you hurting, princess?” I ask her.

“Only a little, Daddy,” she says as she cuddles her arm closer to her little body.

I look back and forth between the two girls who mean the world to me. I hope Amelia really has forgiven me. She isn’t the type to hold a grudge, but I can see the hurt in her eyes even now and it’s killing me.

I look up when the doctor walks in. He has a smile on his face, which does little to help me relax. I don’t even know if I’m all that worried about Hayden’s arm anymore, mostly fixated the way I acted like an ass earlier.

“Hi, I am Dr. Valcourt,” he says, offering me his hand so I can shake it.

“Thank you for tending to my girl, Doc,” I say as I pull my hand away from his and lean back in my chair.

“You have a couple of really great ladies,” he offers. “I almost couldn’t get your little one away from her mama to look her over.”

Amelia gives me a sad look and moves to correct him, but I speak first before she can say anything to the contrary.

“Do you know how our girl’s arm is, Doc? Is it broken?” I look back and forth between him and Hayden.

Amelia gives me a look of both thanks and shock. The wholeshe’s not her motherconversation doesn’t need to be brought up again. I shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.

“Yes, well, I’ve just looked over her X-rays,” the man says as he moves over to the computer on the wall and brings up the image to point to it as he talks. “She’s a very lucky little girl.” He smiles at Hayden. “It looks like the impact was right here by the growth plate—” He points to a spot near her wrist. “But, other than some swelling and a little bit of fluid here in this pocket…” He points out a little white patch near the growth plate. “It looks like there are no fractures or breaks…just a bad sprain.”

“Oh, well, woohoo! Did you hear that, baby? It’s not broken,” I say as I rub Hayden’s hair out of her face so I can see her eyes.

“While there is no break, she’s still going to need to take it easy.” The doctor turns the screen off and turns to us. “I’ll be sending my nurse in to put a small temporary cast on for the time being. She’ll need to wear it for a week, and then be seen by the orthopedic doctor to concur with my findings. Sometimes sprains are more painful than breaks, so alternate Ibuprofen and Tylenol as needed. Other than that, she should be good as new soon enough.” He smiles. “I’ll get her in here to do that, then we’ll get you discharged and home.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I say, a smile on my face as I shake his head once again in appreciation.

“Yes, thank you, Doctor,” Amelia adds with her own smile on her face.

In no time, Hayden’s wrist is wrapped in a light pink temporary wrap, and we’re home. I don’t know what to feel as we sit around the table for dinner that night. Hayden is struggling a little, but Amelia is helping her every step of the way.

I’ve had to answer text after text from the guys checking on things. The last time I left the way I did today was when Lyla died, so I scared them all a bit. They’re happy that Hayden is okay, and so am I.

“Do you really forgive me?” I ask Amelia after we finally get Hayden to bed, which wasn’t easy at all. “Because I don’t know if I can live with myself if you haven’t.”

“I forgave you as soon as you said it,” she admits. “It’s fine. You’re right—I’m not her mother, because I will never be Lyla, or even try to be. She was a special woman…but I am Amelia, and for the time being, I’m your girlfriend, Hayden’s nanny, and I’m in love with your family. I’ll be here for as long as you’ll have me, and as long as that might be…I willnevertry to take Lyla’s place—I’ll only try to add to it.”

I can hear the truth of her words in her voice. There are tears trailing down her cheeks, and I reach up to wipe them away. My words were so hurtful to her, but here she is saying the best things I’ve ever heard a person say. She is everything, and she’s right…she is here to add to our life.

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