Page 8 of Draco Family Duet

The nurse glanced at me, the creases in her brow deepened. “Are youtogether?”

As Maggie opened her mouth, I leaned in and whispered, “If you want me to pay, then with you Istay.”

Her jaw snapped shut. Instead, she noddedweakly.

I toyed with laying my hand on her lower back, but I could absolutely picture her stiffening instead of relaxing into my touch and for some reason this caused an ache in my chest. Through the years, I’d never had to deal with rejection. This was a new and unwelcomeexperience.

“He’s in here.” The nurse paused outside the door. Then she gestured for us to enter the room. Once we did, she leaned in. “Someone will be with you shortly.” Then she shut the door leaving us alone with thepatient.

Malcolm was laying on a gurney with his eyes closed, his shirt unbuttoned and wide open. His face was still slightly pale, but he seemed to be resting comfortably. I watched as Maggie leaned in to kiss hisforehead.

“How are you, Daddy?” she murmured as she pulled a chair closer to his side. The scraping sound seemed especially jarring with the regular beeps from themonitors.

I studied them, watching his heart rate, his oxygen saturation, and his breathing. He was well within normal range. The spare probes stuck on his chest confirmed he’d already had the EKG. Finally, he appeared somewhat relaxed, or at least as calm as a person could be in the drab hospitalroom.

“They gave me baby aspirin,” he mumbled. “Told me torest.”

Maggie nodded. “I see. Did they say anythingelse?”

“No results yet. Supposed to share with the whole family.” His eyes slowly opened. “Oh, you’re here.” With one finger weakly lifted from the sheet, he pointed in mydirection.

“Yes,” Maggie scowled. “His presence has been such acomfort.”

I chuckled. “I tried, Malcolm, but your daughter is one hard nut tocrack.”

“She gets it from her mother, I’m afraid.” He offered the briefest ofgrins.

“And yet you won her over,” I remindedhim.

“Yes, I did. There’s hope for you yet.” Malcolm closed hiseyes.

“Whoa. There’s no hope. I don’t think he even wants hope.” Maggie glanced at me. “You’re not looking to… Never mind.” She sighed when she realized her father was resting. She gently took his hand in hers, then leaned forward and laid her chin on thebed.

Though I only had a side view, I could see Maggie’s eyes were watering. “He’s going to be fine.” I laid a hand on her shoulder. To my delight, she didn’t try to shrug it off or glare at me with those amazing green eyes of hers. In fact, I detected a hint of movement as she seemed to lean ever so slightly into mytouch.

“How can you be sure?” she grumbled without even glancing atme.

“I know these things,” I assuredher.

“Yeah? Well, you’re the type of guy who thinks he knows everything.” She pulled away from my hand and tucked a few strands of hair behind herear.

I stuffed it in my pocket and moved to lean against the wall at the end of the gurney. “Not everything, but I do know a lot ofthings.”

“Doubt it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have butted in and ruined everything for us today.” Maggie turned further away from me and seemed to cling to her father evenmore.

My shoulders drooped. I stepped over to her side and squatted down. “Maggie, look at me,” I urged. She sniffled and I suspected the tears had finally spilled out. I grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter behind me. Then I gently turned her face with both hands, forcing her to meet my gaze. Wadding up the tissue, I dabbed at the tears. “Nothing’s ruined that I can’t fix. We’ll figure thisout.”

Her tears dried up almost immediately. Staring at me sadly, she muttered, “What does that evenmean?”

Cupping her cheek, I whispered, “Give me a chance. You’ll see.” Then I stared into her eyes. She had a valid question.What did I mean?I’d spent decades fixing other people’s problems. Hell, my entire company had been built upon that singular mission. I had employees, loads of them, scattered in cities about the globe. This time, however, something told me I’d be offering a more personaltouch.

* * *

Maggie

“He’s free to go,”the doctor announced after listening to my father’s heart oncemore.

“Is there a diagnosis?” I threw my hands up in frustration. We’d been there for hours and now we were leaving without so much as an explanation or a treatment plan? Not on mywatch.

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