Ellie saw the regret and anguish in her mother’s eyes and fought not to lash out at her. “I know it was an accident. I know you love her. You’ve done so much to help me with the twins. But, Mom, I’ve never been more afraid in my life. My baby girl… almost died today. Her heart quit beating. She wasn’t breathing. My Daisy Mae...”
Ellie dissolved into tears. They were tears of release now, washing the horror of the past few hours away.
Her mother wrapped an arm around her, while her father got to his feet, his arms encircling them both.
“She’s going to be okay,” he said.
Yes, she was going to be okay. She was breathing again. She’d woken up for a few minutes, reached for Ellie, and said, “Mama.”
It was the most beautiful sound Ellie had ever heard.
Thanks to Jesse.
They ended the embrace.
Ellie’s mother handed her a tissue. “I’ll understand if you want to find someone else to watch them when you work.”
“Mom, stop torturing yourself. It was an accident. Daisy is a handful. We all know that.” She told her parents how Daisy had stuck her hand on the waffle iron simply because Ellie had warned her not to. “No one I could pay to babysit her could love her more than you do.”
Ellie wiped her tears away, stood. “I want to get back upstairs.”
“We’re going to pick up Daniel from your sister’s house and take him home.” Her mother put her cell phone in Ellie’s hand. “You keep this so you can stay in touch.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Jesse was sitting outside the Pediatric ICU, waiting for her, the sight of him putting a lump in her throat and making her heart soar. He stood when he saw her, and she ran to him, sinking into his embrace, tears streaming down her cheeks again.
“Thank you.” She said the words again and again. “Thank God for you. Thank you for saving Daisy. I was so afraid.”
He kissed her hair, held her tight. “I know. Me, too.”
Holding hands, they walked together into the PICU and back to Daisy’s bed.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Ellie squeezed his hand. “She’s alive because of you.”
Of course, a lot of people deserved credit—Hawke, Silver, the ER staff, the paramedics and nurses on the Life Flight helicopter, the doctors and nurses here at Children’s Hospital. But none of them would have been able to do a thing for Daisy if Jesse hadn’t gotten her out of the water so quickly.
Jesse reached out, smoothed the hair off Daisy’s forehead. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t find her. I went under, and it was so dark. I couldn’t see her. I couldn’t see anything. The cold was unreal. I knew she would drown, go into cardiac arrest. I heard you scream, saw you there. And the look on your face… Jesus, Ellie.”
His voice was tight now. “I swore to myself that I wouldn’t come up again unless I found her.”
“God, Jesse.” What a terrible vow to make.
He went on. “She had drifted with the current. I let it pull me, too, reaching for her. If it hadn’t been for her little hat … I felt that tassel, pulled her hat off. But I knew where she was then. I swam to her, pulled her to me and doubled back, trying to find the hole in the ice before I blacked out. Everything after that is a blur.”
Ellie’s stomach churned to hear what he’d gone through, to know how very close she’d come to losing Daisy—and Jesse, too. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. I was so afraid I was going to lose you both.”
Daisy stirred, opened her eyes, reaching with one hand for Ellie. “Mama.”
Then her gaze shifted to Jesse, her little lips curving in a smile. “Jesse.”
He bent down, kissed her cheek. “I’m right here, Daisy. We’re both right here.”
Ellie sang to her little girl, rubbing her back, stroking her hair, until she was sleeping again. Then Ellie brought Jesse up to date. “They need to make sure she’s suffered no organ damage before we go home. Her heart and kidneys seem to be doing okay, but they’re worried about pneumonia. They’re giving her antibiotics and watching her for any signs of organ failure.”
A nurse walked in behind them. “I’m sorry, but only family members are allowed. Your friend is going to have to go.”
Ellie turned to face her. “He is family. He’s the one who saved her life. He’s her stepfather.”
“Okay, well, I’m going to need him to sign in, and we’ll get him a wristband.”
“Thanks.” Ellie looked up to see what Jesse thought of her little lie.
A dark eyebrow arched, his lips curving in a smile. “Stepfather?”
*
Ellie managed to find an extra sleeper chair and, with Jesse’s help, dragged it into Daisy’s room so that he could stay overnight, too.
“I’m not leaving her, and I’m not leaving you,” he’d said. “Matt called and told me he doesn’t want me coming in tomorrow anyway.”
Ellie fell into an exhausted sleep somewhere close to midnight but woke a short time later to the sound of Daisy’s voice. She sat up, found Jesse standing next to Daisy’s bed, holding her little hand.
“Cold,” she whimpered.
“Are you cold? Well, old Jesse here will get you a warmer blanket.”
“Water cold.”
Ellie got a knot in her chest. She had wondered what Daisy would remember about what had happened, if anything.