Page 37 of Designs on You

She punched the button. “Sean?”

Her heated body went stark cold in an instant. “Is he okay? Where are you?”

She nodded as he gave her the information. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She ended the call and looked up to find Eugene staring at her, a concerned look on his face.

“Christopher fell and has a gash in his chin. Sean’s at the ER with him right now.”

“Do you want me to drive you?”

She shook her head as she grabbed her purse and keys. “No, but thanks.”

“Okay.” He walked out to the garage with her while she popped the door open. “Let me know how he is.”

“I will, thanks.” She wanted to hug him, kiss him, thank him for being so understanding, but all she could think about was Christopher.

When she got to the ER, she gave her name to the front desk person, who directed her to the room where Sean and Christopher were.

She stood just outside the door for a second to catch her breath. Seeing her little boy lying in that bed, his eyes closed, nearly sent her to her knees. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then slid open the exam room door.

“They gave him something for the pain,” Sean said, looking as worried as she felt. “He’s sleeping. Since he hit his head, they want to do a CT scan, but he seems fine.”

“Where’s Camryn?”

“My mom and dad came and picked her up. No reason for her to be here.”

She nodded. “Good. What happened, Sean?”

“I took the kids to the adventure park. You know, the one they really like.”

“Right.”

“Anyway, Christopher was doing the slide, climbing up backward, of course. I was watching him the whole time. I don’t know if he tripped or slipped or whatever, but he fell off, hit his chin on the side of the slide, and then landed face-first.”

“Oh no.” She walked over to him and brushed his hair away from his scratched-up face. They had a bandage on his chin, so she couldn’t see how bad it was.

She looked up at Sean. “Our poor baby.”

“Yeah. Took at least five years off my life. I swear I was watching him, Nat.”

“I believe you. Accidents happen.”

The nurse came in. “We’re going to take him to CT now. One of you can go. It won’t take long.”

“I will,” Sean said, standing. “You should get something to drink and sit, Nat. You look pale.”

He was right about that. She’d nearly broken every speed law getting here. “Okay. Thanks.”

After they left, she found vending and grabbed a bottle of water, started to walk away, then stared at the machine for a minute. She hadn’t eaten dinner and she needed her strength for Christopher, so she purchased an energy bar. She munched on that as she made her way back to the exam room, took a seat, and finished the energy bar, took a couple of swallows of water, then slipped the bottle into her bag.

And waited.

And waited, her heart pounding, her thoughts conjuring all kinds of terrible things. Like what if they found something on the CT? What if there was something terrible going on with her baby boy?

She shifted in the chair. No. She would not think the worst. She would not panic.

The doors slid open and they wheeled Christopher in, Sean behind them.

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