Page 113 of Surviving Lies

“Yeah, it was my mom, wishing me luck.”

A loud voice boomed over the loudspeaker:

-WOULD ALL THE ATTENDEES PLEASE REPORT BACKSTAGE PLEASE-

“C’mon, I’ll walk you back there until you find your advisor; then I’ll meet up with these guys,” Ty said. As he turned to talk to Xander, his phone pinged in his hand.

Ava and Macie were wishing me well when I noticed Ty spending a bit more time tending to his text than I thought he should be at the moment. Everyone other than his actual family was kind of here with him.

Then I saw his face.

“What’s wrong Ty?”

His face was white as a ghost.

“Uh, it’s Savannah,” he said, his voice wavering as he was still looking at his phone.

“What’s wrong with Savannah?” I implored, my heart dropping due to the grave tone of his voice.

“Kelly took her to the hospital.”

“What!” I came running to his side as he continued texting. “What is she saying?”

“It’s my mom I’m texting; she’s headed there to meet her.” He hesitated, his voice fading as he seemed to be lost in thought. “My mom told me she doesn’t think I need to come,” he said as he looked up from his phone. His mother knew where we were; she had called me earlier to wish me luck, which was the sweetest, since we hadn’t even met yet.

But that was ridiculous.

“Ty, you absolutely need to meet them at the hospital,” I told him. “Did your mom say what’s wrong with her?” But I didn’t wait for him to answer me; I sprung into action, finding Lanie and asking her to make the necessary arrangements for me. Once she understood what was happening, she took off for backstage. Making my way back to Ty’s side, I grabbed his hand and started leading him to the rear exit.

“What are you doing, Bec?” he asked, trying to pull his hand out of mine. “You need to go. You need to get backstage, babe.” The worry on his face broke my heart. He was torn: he needed to be with his daughter but wanted to be here for me. I took away the need for him to choose.

“I’m coming with you to the hospital, Ty. No argument – let’s go.”

“Becca.” My name barely came out of his mouth; it couldn’t even be called a whisper. “Baby, you can’t leave. This night, it means so much to you. It’s too important.” He stood his ground, grabbing a hold of my hands and looking me square in the face. “I don’t want to be the reason you miss it.”

My heart was breaking for him; I needed to make this right somehow. I could only hope he would believe me.

“Ty, Iwantto go with you. The second you told me about your daughter being in the hospital, there was no question that was whereweneeded to be. I can’t explain it. A feeling came over me. It was if ...” I tried to find the right words to convey what was in my heart at the moment. “It was as if I knew I needed to be there with that baby, your baby, and you,” I told him.

He reached out and cradled my cheek with his hand as his adoring gaze lingered.

“Becca, you are my perfect. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Ty. Let’s get going.” I started pulling him out, but he stopped me again.

“Seriously, though, what about tonight? What about your speech?” He truly looked concerned for me.

“I sent Lanie to find my advisor. Our friends are taking care of us, Ty. We’re good. It’s all good.”

Savannah’s fever had finally come down to 101 degrees. It had been at 106 when she was brought in. Kelly said she had tried to bring it down with medication and cool baths for most of the day but to no avail. She called her mom, and they both decided a trip to the ER was in order. Good thing, because she apparently had some type of infection and needed antibiotics.

“How are you holding up, sweetheart?” Colleen asked as she sat in one of the hard chairs next to me in the family waiting area they provided in the pediatric suite of the emergency room. “I’m sure this wasn’t how you expected your formal introduction to the family and the baby to go.”

I sat up a bit straighter when she joined me, still not comfortable around her yet. Although, she had been nothing but nice to me since the moment we arrived at the hospital the night before. Ty came to give me updates when he could, and sent texts every so often, but he was with his daughter.

As he should be.

“I’m OK, thanks, Colleen.” Of course, this wasn’t how I wanted it to go for my first time officially meeting everyone as Ty’s girlfriend. But that would sound selfish if I fessed up to that, so I let it go. “It’s good news to hear that her fever broke. I guess the antibiotics are doing their thing.”

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