Head wounds bled heavily. They always looked way, way worse than they actually were.
And both of the kids that’d been attacked had suffered a head wound with the force in which they were yanked against the metal slats.
Wendy’s had happened right over her left eye. The other kid’s happened over his right.
Even worse, when Wendy had fought back, she’d caught her wrist on a rusty part of the fence, partially tearing open a vein there.
I looked over at Wendy, who was in the hospital bed, looking pale but in good spirits.
She was a smart kid and knew that she was safe.
She laughed at something her grandmother said to her, then pointed at her grandfather.
“Ma’am,” a doctor that I recognized but couldn’t put a name to the face, interrupted the principal. “Do you have a moment?”
Judith stepped away, going to talk to another administrator in the lobby as Constance and I waited for what the doctor had to say. I never thought about leaving, and she never thought about telling me to go.
I knew what was about to come out of his mouth before he said it.
“Ma’am.” Dr. Garza turned, finally allowing me to see the stitching on his coat pocket. “Wendy is going to be just fine. However, out of an overabundance of caution, I’d like to give her a unit of blood just in case, due to her anemia.”
Hell.
“Oh, no.” Constance’s face went white as a sheet. “I can’t…”
“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand as I looked to the doctor. “Wendy has Rh-null blood. You’ll have to take the donation from me.” My eyes went serious. “And if you share this information with anybody, I’ll make you regret it. I’m serious. This better not even show up in any charts.”
A swift inhale and then, “What?”
The doctor frowned. “Protocol…”
“I regularly donate to her already,” I said. “You can check with her doctor, Dr. Pendelton, if you don’t believe me.”
Constance made a sound in the back of her throat that sounded like panic.
The doctor nodded. “I’ll check with Dr. Pendelton, and then we can proceed.”
The doctor went to the nurse’s station, and I was left with Constance, who was starting to hyperventilate.
I took her face in my hands and leaned close before whispering, “Breathe.”
She gasped, big, hulking breaths as she stared at me with hope and awe.
Then she threw herself at me and kissed me.
It was by far the best kiss I’d ever had in my life.
Not even with my ex-fiancée, Madalyn, had I felt this kind of connection.
I returned her kiss, leaning my entire being into it.
She threaded her arms around my neck and pushed into me.
It was when I tasted the salt of her tears that I realized she was crying.
I pulled back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You’re what’s wrong, you silly man.” She sniffled. “How could you not tell me?”
