Page 44 of Mistaken Identity
What was going on with me?
“I see that,” I murmured.
“I’m going out there.”
I didn’t bother to turn around to see that Apollo was heading for the door.
The door slammed, and then Apollo was outside, marching right up to Gunner.
Gunner watched him come, his feet practically bouncing as he prepared for flight.
But something Apollo said must’ve caused him to stop and think.
“Fuck it,” Hagrid said beside me.
Then he was opening the window, and Apollo’s deep, strong words flowed in along with the breeze.
“…give fucking anything to have a second chance,” Apollo finished.
My eyes flicked to Gunner’s face, and I saw the second that those words clicked into place, settled somewhere deep that he could really comprehend them.
“And deep down, you know you would, too,” Apollo continued. “No one is asking you to do anything right now. We just want to get some information out of you. She needs surgery. You are her father, and you can provide that information that we need to make sure that she has the best chance.”
“Surgery for what?” Gunner croaked, looking sick all over again.
Fuck.
I hadn’t thought about that aspect of it.
The thought of losing not one, but two kids, seemed like the worst form of hell.
That had to be where his mind was going.
Without thought, I walked out the door with the little girl asleep in my arms.
She’d been there asleep for the better part of an hour.
She was exhausted and hurting, the poor thing.
She’d been passed around to everyone in the room as they tried to calm her down, and she’d finally passed out on me after an hour of fighting sleep.
So I didn’t think twice about taking her with me as I hurried outside.
I was talking before I could even comprehend what I was saying.
“She’s perfectly fine,” I said. “This is routine with her ears. She needs tubes for sure. Nothing too scary or invasive. Her eyesight they were talking about having issues with is a genetic disorder called amblyopia. It’s an inherited trait. That doesn’t require surgery. I looked it up. It does require her wearing an eyepatch, though.”
His wild eyes calmed just a bit at my matter-of-fact tone.
“There are a few other things with her ears that they’re worried about since she might have damage to an eardrum, but again, that’s something that’s easily fixed. It’s not a scary surgery. It’s normal.”
As I spoke, I watched the man visibly relax more and more.
But the moment his eyes dropped down to the little girl in my arms, he was back up to freaking out.
“You want me to call your uncle?” Webber asked, looking at Gunner.
Gunner swallowed hard, his throat bobbing in a comically loud move. “Would you?”
