Page 50 of The Soldier's Homecoming

Her tiny body had stopped shaking uncontrollably now and was stripped of clothes. Cold cloths and ice packs covered her.

“Daniel, what’s happening? What’s wrong with her?”

He shook his head. Shut his eyes to block out the horror of his daughter on a hospital bed, surrounded by medical staff

“I don’t know.” His voice was hoarse, as if he’d been our on the town all night or was emerging from a month of having a cold. “I don’t know, Penny.”

One of the doctors turned to face them and walked to where they were waiting, near the back of the room.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright?”

Daniel felt Penny start to shake beside him so he dropped her hand and put an arm about her, drawing her close. Trying to be strong for her.

“What’s wrong with her?”

The doctor smiled and reached out a hand to touch Penny’s other arm. The look on his face calmed Daniel, made him relax the tiniest bit.

“We need to wait for the test results to rule out the worst-case scenarios and try to figure out what’s wrong,” he said matter-of-factly. “I know that must have been scary for you to watch, but convulsions aren’t unusual with high temperatures, and your daughter’s temperature certainly peaked.”

“But it’s coming down now?”

Daniel turned at Penny’s question, He held her tighter and she leaned into him for support.

“That’s right. We’re cooling her down now, her heartbeat is fine, and we need to continue to monitor her carefully.”

He cleared his throat and looked the doctor directly in the eye. “What’s the worst-case scenario here?”

Daniel didn’t look over at Gabby again, couldn’t bear to.

The doctor nodded. “Sure. The worst-case scenario, to be honest, would be something like meningococcal, but before you start to worry, I think that would be unlikely.”

Daniel felt Penny go limp beside him, from worry or relief he didn’t know.

“The presence of a rash does make that within the realm of possibilities, though.” The doctor looked over his shoulder and nodded as the other doctor left the room. “Best case? It’s a really bad case of the flu, the rash could be coincidental, and it caused a bad fever.”

“How likely is that?” Daniel heard himself ask.

“Likely,” the doctor insisted. “But given her age, we’re not going to take any risks when it comes to making the correct diagnosis.”

Daniel gave the doctor a tight smile and turned his attention back to Penny. She looked as if she was in shock.

“Thanks for being honest with us,” he told the doctor. “Is it all right if we stay with her?”

“She’ll need to stay overnight, at least until the tests come back. You are both more than welcome to remain with her at all times.”

Daniel was numb but he forced the feeling away. He needed to be there for his two girls. No matter how he was feeling or what he was thinking.

He was a father and a husband, and that meant he had to put his family first.

“Penny?”

Her eyes looked drained, empty, when she turned to face him. Her skin pale, lacking its usual golden glow.

The doctor left them, the nurse still hovering over Gabby.

His wife turned her grief-stricken face toward him, reached one hand up to place it on his shoulder as she leaned into him for a hug.

Daniel held her, too, wrapped both his arms around her and squeezed her against him, lips pressed to her hair, bodies pressed hard into one another’s.

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