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“No.”Annie started down the hallway, but her feet didn’t seem to be moving in the right direction and the seams of the gleaming waxed floor started to waver, like the flowing tail of a horse...
OUT AT THE GIFT-SHOPbuilding site Matt startled when his cell phone rang. Within seconds of answering the call, he was in his truck and heading back to Garrett Bluff.
The diabetes educator at the hospital had explained hypoglycemia and insulin and emergency care. He’d known these situations might occur. But nothing had prepared him for actuallyhearinghis child was in trouble.
What if Annie had been alone at the house? Off on a field trip? What if it happened at night sometime, and he didn’t even know?
At the school, he picked up a bright yellow Parent Visitor badge at the office. His steel-toed boots echoed he strode down the hall to the nurse’s office.
Faces peered out of classrooms as he passed. A group of kids quietly heading into the school library turned to stare at him.
“He looks big as those super heroes in the movies,” someone whispered.
“Wow. Whose dad is that?”
“Shh!” A woman materialized at the door of the school library, spared Matt a swift glare, then herded her charges into the library.
In the nurse’s office, he found Annie sitting on the edge of a cot, doubled over, her arms wrapped at her waist. A woman hovered over her with a half-pint carton of orange juice in her hand.
“I’m Matt Dawson. Is my daughter okay?”
The gray-haired woman extended her free hand. “I’m Reva Baxter, the nurse for all three schools here in Garrett Bluff.”
Annie bent lower over her arms and moaned. Pulling up a chair, Matt sat down beside her and curved an arm around her shoulders. “How is she?”
“This has been a traumatic experience,” Reva murmured. “Her first insulin reaction, from what she’s been telling me. Her blood sugar was down to fifty. I gave her a half cup of orange juice, and fifteen minutes later it was up to sixty- five, so I gave her a half cup more. She’s up to a hundred-ten now.”
Reva tipped her head toward the paper lying on her desk. “I followed the doctor’s instruction sheet that you left in the main office this morning.”
His mind spinning, Matt gave her a distracted nod. “Maybe I should take her to the doctor right now. We have an appointment on Friday, but I don’t want to wait that long.”
A sob shook Annie’s thin shoulders. “I don’t want to go there. I don’t want any of this. It isn’t fair!”
Reva gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “No one asks for diabetes, but millions of people have it and do just fine. It justtakes a while to get this all regulated. Even if you do everything exactly right, your insulin needs can vary during adolescence.”
Sniffling, Annie leaned against Matt. The nurse grabbed a box of tissues and held it out to her, but Annie averted her eyes. “I hate all of this!”
“Annie,”Matt said quietly. “She’s just trying to help. We all are.”
Snagging a few tissues from the box, Annie took a deep, shaky breath. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
“You two get going,” the nurse said. “I’ll call ahead and let Dr. Maxwell know you’re coming over.”
Reva gave Annie a quick hug, and suddenly everything—the motherly hugs and pats she hadn’t had for years, her fear and embarrassment and futile anger—all crashed in on her.
Giving way to her overwhelming emotions, not caring if she was still in the nurse’s office with a stranger looking on, Annie turned into her father’s arms and burst into tears.
AT THE SOUNDof the front clinic door opening, Jolie set aside Annie’s chart and rose from her desk to greet her next patient.
Annie and Matt had stopped in before noon, Annie’s face streaked with tears and Matt’s expression grim.
Though she’d known better, Annie had skipped breakfast, and she’d experienced the result of taking insulin without eating properly. In time, she’d learn to carefully manage her diabetes and should experience few difficulties.
Dan Aiken’s problems were a whole different story.
The teenager in the wheelchair gave her a tentative smile when Jolie appeared in the waiting room of the clinic, but his mother’s face was hard, impassive.
“So you’re Dan Aiken. Nice to meet you.” Jolie walked across the room and extended her hand.
