Page 53 of The True-Blue Romance

“Both of us?” I ask as I drop into the chair beside her. I let go of Lee’s hand to grab Savannah’s. Her hand is warm and clammy, and she lets out a cough that sounds like it could quickly turn into something in her chest if we had ignored this illness.

“Mhmm.” Danica glances between us, then focuses back on Savannah. “She wouldn’t shut up about the damn bunny Lee got her.”

“Buster,” Lee mumbles from behind me.

“Buster.” Danica snorts and closes her eyes, and I feel for the first time that maybe we can put Savannah ahead of all the animosity we’ve allowed to make coparenting difficult. “She calls Lee’s house home, you know.”

“It’ll be home soon.”

Danica looks over. “So you finally realized what everyone else has known for years?”

“Now’s not the time,” I say quietly, leaning down to kiss Savannah’s warm hand. “We can talk about it later.”

“They might admit her,” Danica says with an exhausted sigh. Her blonde hair is up in a messy bun, dark smudges under her eyes. “It happened so fast. I didn’t ignore anything.”

“I don’t think you did. She was fine when I took her to school. Neither of us could’ve known.”

The door to the room slides open to reveal an older-looking doctor in scrubs with safari animals all over it. I instantly relax at the calm, composed way he carries himself.

“I’m Doctor O’Malley. I have good and bad news. It’s not Covid. But there’s a nasty respiratory illness going around for the past month or so. I’d like to keep her overnight until we can get her temperature down, make sure she’s topped off with fluids. When temps spike this high in kids, they hate to drink, then they get dehydrated, and it makes everything worse.” Dr. O’Malley leans his hands on the end of the bed, clearly smiling at both of us despite his mask. “I’d watch out for symptoms for yourselves just in case. I’ll probably send her home on some steroids to prevent it moving to her chest, considering her history. But you did everything right by bringing her in.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, meaning every word.

“You’re welcome. I’ll get her sent up to a room soon, then she’ll be in the hands of an even better doctor than me until the morning. I will say usually only one parent is allowed to stay overnight, so maybe work that out while we work on admitting her.”

And with that he disappears.

Danica sighs tiredly. “I want to stay. I feel like it’s my fault. I won’t sleep at home anyway, so…”

“If you’re sure,” I say hesitantly.

“I’m sure. You can come get her when she’s discharged… Take her home.” Danica looks over at Lee, eyes kinder than I’ve seen them in years. “So she can see Buster. Her favorite Gatorade flavor is⁠—”

“Light purple,” Lee interrupts.

“Light purple,” Danica agrees with another tired sigh. “I’ll call you in the morning with news. Dominic, you go home too.”

“Do you need anything before I leave?” Dominic asks as he rounds the bed, squeezes Savannah’s leg gently, then leans down to kiss Danica’s forehead. “I can grab you something from the cafe?”

Danica shakes her head profusely. “I don’t feel much like eating.”

Lee reaches out and squeezes my shoulder in a show of comfort. I kiss Savannah’s hand again, then kiss her sweaty forehead after I stand up. She blinks her eyes open, looking dazed and out of it.

“Daddy,” Savannah whimpers before starting to cry.

“Hey, shhhhhh. You’re okay. It’s okay. Mommy is gonna stay here with you. I’ll be back in the morning. Go back to sleep, angel. Go on.”

Savannah sniffles and her dazed eyes glance around the room. She must spot Lee because she starts to cry again while reaching out a tired hand. Lee steps forward beside me and takes her hand in his, enveloping her small hand with his own.

“We’ll get you in the morning,” Lee says, sounding close to tears himself. “Be an angel and sleep, let the doctors take care of you. They might give you extra Jell-O if you’re good.”

“I only like the orange,” Savannah cries.

“I’ll make sure it’s orange,” Danica rushes to reassure her, eyes still caught on Savannah’s hand gripping Lee’s. “Let them go, Savi. They’ll be back in the morning because you need to sleep.”

I kiss Savannah’s forehead again, shushing her until she stops crying and falls back asleep. Lee carefully drops Savannah’s hand before resting his hand on the small of my back. We leave the hospital room with Dominic, all three of us letting out tired—but relieved—sighs.

“At least it’s something easy to treat. Danica was working herself into a tizzy thinking it was measles.”