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“I’m not totally convinced Hope is someone to be concerned about. I’m simply sharing with you why I must be careful in the decisions I make. As I said before, I’d like to have the people responsible tip their hand if at all possible. We will go to the same hospital where Mina was treated as a baby. They’ll have her records. We’ll go tomorrow. Will you come with us?”

Isabel’s expression softened, but I could see continued uncertainty in her lovely eyes. “Of course I will. Just remember. Be her hero and she’ll be fine.”

Her hero.

As I pulled her into my arms once again, thankful she didn’t fight me, I accepted that I wasn’t the kind of man who could be anyone’s hero.

Yet I wanted to learn.

* * *

“Papa. Please don’t make me. Please. I’ll be good. I promise I won’t be a bad girl again.”

There was nothing as excruciating as hearing my child crying or believing that I was doing something so horrible to her because she’d misbehaved. I’d tried to talk with her early that morning, explaining in terms I’d hoped she could understand that having tests didn’t mean anything terrible.

But I’d failed in my attempt to keep her calm. If Isabel hadn’t been by my side, there was no chance I would have made it through my crude explanations. Only with Isabel’s soft voice and her ability to explain in ways a small child would understand had we managed to get her dressed and arrive at the hospital.

I’d pulled some strings to ensure time wasn’t wasted, but in doing so, I’d shattered the joy my daughter had experienced the night before.

I already thought she’d never forgive me for ruining her birthday a second time. Let alone the pain she’d suffer whether emotionally or physically.

The nurse was uncertain what to do. Isabel was as upset as Mina, trying very hard to keep her resolve and to hold back her tears. Even I was having a difficult time remaining unemotional.

Mina was backed against the wall in the waiting room, gasping for air and I had a sense she was close to a panic attack. In her arms was the stuffed lab Isabel had gotten for her early in our relationship. While Shadow was considered an emotional support dog, not at a hospital in this setting.

I was overwhelmed by how helpless I felt around her. Isabel encouraged me with her eyes while fury lingered behind them. I knelt in front of Mina, gently brushing tears from her stained cheeks. “Oh, baby girl. You’ve done nothing wrong. Not one thing.”

If she cowered any closer to the wall, my heart was going to shatter. “Then please?”

Isabel came closer. “Your papa doesn’t want you sick, Mina. That’s all.”

Her little face as she peered up at someone she so obviously cared about was just as heartbreaking as it was heartwarming. “I feel fine.”

I pressed my finger into her tummy, hoping that my expression was one of comfort and perhaps silliness. Even though I felt mostly empty inside. “Well, you don’t want any mean critters running around in your system. Do you?”

Mina had a sense that I was teasing, adopting the haughty attitude she’d mostly learned from Isabel. And today, I was grateful. “Papa. There are no critters inside. You watch too many horror movies.”

“Or not enough of them,” Isabel said. “But your daddy is silly and he’s right. We just want to make certain you’re right as rain as my mother used to say. Just a few little tests and it’ll be done. Poof. Gone. And maybe… we can have some cake and ice cream afterwards.”

As usual, Isabel knew what to say. My sweet girl had accepted more blood and urine tests along with a physical exam, but the use of big words involving scans had finally terrified her. Hell, they terrified me. She’d been too young to remember what she’d gone through before.

Thank God for that.

“Just one more test, baby girl.” I threw up my hand. “I know. You’re not a baby. You’re a very brave girl.”

Isabel looked around the waiting room. “That’s all?”

I held up my hand, trying to remember if I’d ever seen a scout’s salute before. “Scout’s honor.”

A tiny whisper of a giggle slipped past my daughter’s lips. “You weren’t a scout, Papa. Besides, that’s from Star Trek.”

“Oh, yeah?” I peered up at Isabel who shook her head, rolling her eyes dramatically so Mina would notice.

And she giggled a little louder.

“Will you do it for me, sweetheart? Please?” If only I could promise her there would be no additional pain. No tests. No needles. No hospitals. I would give all I owned.

She thought about it for a few seconds and nodded. “Can I take Shadow with me? I mean little Shadow?”