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“Teagan!” Chase yelled loudly from the other room, his voice frantic. “Teagan! Get in here!”
Both Kat and I jumped up and ran down the hall, bursting through the closed door. Chase was holding a limp Remi in his arms, wrapping the quilt from her bed around her and lifting her into his arms. “She’s burning up and I can’t wake her up!” His worried gaze met mine.
I was anxious, but calmer than Chase because I knew how to handle the situation. A fever spike meant her white count was low and she had an infection and it was serious. “We have to get her back to the hospital.”
“Should I call an ambulance?” Kat asked breathlessly.
“Chase, make light use of that blanket; we can’t risk increasing her temperature. Kat, will you drive us? It will be faster than waiting for EMT’s to arrive.” I ran from the room to wet a washcloth with cool water, put on my shoes, and grab my purse.
Kat darted out of the front door in a flash, and Chase appeared holding Remi, wrapped in one of her smaller blankets and with a stuffed teddy bear resting in her lap.
“Teagan?” The question in Chase’s voice was clear. “Oh, my God. Will she be okay?”
“We just have to go. Right now.” I held open the door and he rushed through it and out to the waiting car.
CHASE
Breathlessly, Kat rushed into the ER. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes held a worried look. “What’s going on?”
“They took Remi back and Teagan is taking care of the paperwork,” I said curtly, pacing back and forth on the small strip of tile that separated the waiting room and the glass partition. The two women who sat behind it had taken basic information and buzzed open a locked door where one male nurse and one female quickly put Remi on a gurney and wheeled her down the hall. Teagan was seated right behind that door talking to another woman, who I assume was doing intake of all the insurance information and a medical questionnaire.
I was rattled. My chest felt tight and shaky. I wanted to be in there with Teagan, but I needed to let Kat know what was going on.
“Chase?” Kat asked again, walking up to me and putting a hand on my arm to stop me in front of her. “What’s happening?”
“Uh,” I muttered, shaking my head and resuming my course back and forth at the edge of the waiting room. “They took her back and Teagan is filling out paperwork, but Remi just left here two days ago, so they should have everything.” I was introspective, talking as much to myself as to my sister. “Shouldn’t they?”
“Hospitals have all sorts of rules. The people working ER wouldn’t know she’d recently been a patient or her medical history, Chase. After Teagan gives a few basics, they should be able to look everything up.” Kat stood there and with the other people sitting in the waiting room and watched me pace. “Do you want to sit down?”
I shook my head and at the same time pulled out my phone and began tapping out a text with my thumbs.
Are you with her? Can I come back?
I stared at the screen of my phone willing Teagan to return the text, but she didn’t respond.
I felt Kat’s hand on my arm again. Her touch was gentle, but I couldn’t be soothed. “Come on, honey. There isn’t anything you can do but wait. Teagan will let us know as soon as she knows anything.”
My heart started pounding in a fast, anxious rhythm as if I had run up and down the soccer field. “I’m her dad. I should be in there, too.” I turned and walked over to the elderly woman still sitting behind the glass. She looked up from her computer screen as I approached. The younger, thinner one sitting next to her earlier was missing from her desk.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’d like to go back to see my daughter.”
“What’s her name?”
“Remelia—” I paused for a split second. Teagan said my name was on her birth certificate, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be using Jensen’s last name since the medical insurance was issued through his company benefits. I felt my face flush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. The best way to get through it was just to own it. “Forrester or Jeffers.”
“Which is it, young man?” The old woman asked. Her eyebrow rose in judgment.
I leaned in close to the silver metal gadget that allowed her to hear me through the glass, so I could keep my voice down. “Look, she’s my kid, but her mother is married to another guy. The insurance is under Jeffers.”
The grey eyebrow rose up another notch and her pink stained lips pursed. “I see.”
I wanted to shout at her but retained my low tone. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t think you do. I didn’t know I had a child until a few days ago, but Remi is mine and if it were up to me, I’d be responsible for everything. She’s very sick and I have a right to be in there with her.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she typed away on her keyboard. I pulled out my wallet in case I’d need to show my ID.
“Hmmm,” the woman, murmured, watching the results of her search pop up on the screen. “Oh yes, here it is. Remelia Forrester, hyphen Jeffers.”
