Page 114 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

Twitch.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. The sounds of the hospital seemed to dull. It was like I could hear my heart beating. Why couldn't it beat for my wife? For my son? "I need some rest."

"Of course," Dr. Nelson said and stood up. "We'll be monitoring the baby's vitals constantly. He's in good hands here. I'll keep a special eye on him. And I'll keep checking on your wife as well."

I nodded my head. "Thank you." I stood up too.

"I'm sorry about Penny," he said and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Sometimes these things are impossible to predict. I know I don't specialize in mental health, but I do apologize for not pressing the issue of her mood. When she kept wanting attention for a minor heart problem, I should have seen it as a sign." He shook his head.

I stared at him like he was an alien. Wanting attention for a minor heart problem? Was that a sign? To me it was a sign that she was scared of dying. Not that she wanted it.

"We're all hoping she and your son will pull through. But..." his voice trailed off. "No, never mind, you should go get some rest. I'm keeping you up."

"What were you going to say?" I asked.

"It can wait till another time. I don't want to add to this terrible day."

"Nothing you could say right now would be shocking, Dr. Nelson."

He nodded his head. "I know that we're still waiting for tests to come back. But the root cause of all of this goes back to her heart murmur. She was very worried about her diagnosis. It caused her extra stress. I'm not saying that's why she poisoned herself, but it is a possibility to consider. Her last OB-GYN was negligent. If you're filing a lawsuit, I'd be happy to testify on your behalf."

He was right. And it was exactly what I needed to hear after my pointless meeting with my lawyer. Someone was going to pay for this. "Her last OB-GYN is an old friend of yours. Dr. Jones. Are you sure you'd be willing to be a witness?"

"Like I said before, James, I'm not a man of chance. Dr. Jones took a chance by not telling you about Penny's heart murmur. And as a fellow doctor, I can't uphold that decision. He was in the wrong. And even if he is done practicing medicine, he has a whole practice that was trained by him. We don't want something like this to happen again because of his negligence."

"Thank you," I said and stuck my hand out to him. "I needed someone on my side in this suit."

Dr. Nelson accepted my outstretched hand.

"Goodnight, doctor."

"Goodnight, James." He walked over to Penny's mom who had waved him down. Did she know that her grandson was going to have mental or physical issues? Was she learning about it now?

I needed to get out of here. I needed to be in my bed, with my face buried in Penny's pillow. I needed just a tiny bit of strength. My eyes wandered around the waiting room, looking for Scarlett. I almost started to panic, but then I spotted her, cowering behind a chair. She looked truly frightened.

And in that moment, it didn't matter that she looked just like Penny. If anything, it made me want to comfort her even more. I walked ov

er to her and crouched down.

"Daddy." Her voice trembled slightly as she ran into my arms.

"Pumpkin, what's wrong?"

"He's a bad snake."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. "What did you say, Scar?"

"Mr. Snake. From the movie." She pointed at Dr. Nelson.

I frowned as I turned around to look at Dr. Nelson. His hair was gray and always slightly long and disheveled looking. It almost looked greasy. He always wore the same color scrubs - black. It was a bit odd, since the rest of the doctors and nurses roaming about predominately wore light color tones of green, pink, and blue. But there was nothing snakelike about the man.

"Pumpkin, there are no evil snakes."

"Yes there are. He's evil snake. I want Mommy."

The side of my face twitched.

Scarlett buried her face in my neck. "Please, Daddy."

---