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Anya snuggled her face into Isabel’s neck, her arms tightening to the point that Isabel winced.
“Gingersnap,” I said quietly, “can we give the paramedics a little room to finish checking her out?”
When Anya didn’t immediately get off Isabel’s lap, Isabel turned her head and whispered something I couldn’t make out. Her good hand smoothed soothing circles on my daughter’s back, and Anya nodded at whatever she heard.
The sight of it almost knocked me to my knees. I couldn’t breathe through it, couldn’t even name it if I tried.
“She’s okay,” Isabel said quietly. “I don’t mind.”
Through the roaring in my head, my heart, all I could manage was a slight nod.
The woman finished wrapping Isabel’s wrist and gestured for me to step away from the gurney with her. I swiped a hand over my mouth and tried to gather my racing thoughts.
“Your daughter is very lucky,” she said quietly.
“You sure she’s okay?”
She nodded. “From what the boy said, Miss Ward took the entire impact with how she turned her body. Her side is going to have a nasty bruise, but it seems like her wrist hit first. ”
My jaw tightened dangerously. “You think she should go in?”
With a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders. “We can’t force her. Emmett agreed that she never passed out when she fell. Her wrist and hip took the brunt of her fall, but there’s no telling exactly where or how hard she hit her head.”
Isabel smiled at something Anya told her, even as the guy finished cleaning the cut, and when he covered it with a butterfly bandage, she never took her eyes off my daughter.
The way my heart raced took on a dangerous edge, a hazardous speed that I couldn’t quite pin down.
Too soon.
Too soon.
Too soon.
Isabel as a temptation for me alone was one thing, hidden in quiet moments between the two of us where it was about greedy hands and whispered desires. But Isabel showing me glimpses of a future I’d mourned was something I wasn’t prepared for.
“She can’t be alone tonight,” the paramedic said, interrupting the speeding train of my thoughts. “She mentioned her family is out of town, but I don’t know how soon someone could be here. She didn’t want to worry them if she could avoid it.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I replied.
Like she heard me, or heard the hard-edged tone of my voice, Isabel’s eyes locked onto mine.
No longer did she look apologetic or pale.
Instantly, I was transported back to the night we were in the gym, she had that same combative look in her eye.
As I approached the gurney, Isabel sat up and my daughter finally unfolded herself. Anya held out her arms to me, and I gathered her into a tight hug. Her small body clutched in my arms, I finally let out a full breath.
“Am I in trouble?” she whispered.
I smiled a little. “No. But no more climbing tall trees, okay, gingersnap?”
“Okay, daddysnap.” She leaned back to smile at me, and my stomach turned over when I saw a smudge of dirt on her cheek.
“Can you go watch some TV with Emmett while I talk to Miss Isabel?”
She nodded.
I set her down, and gave a manly nod to Emmett. “Thanks for taking good care of her, bud.”
