“I’ll probably just be going straight to the ER. Trust me, with a vomiting child—the fewer stops the better.”
“Devon, go get her. Getting her to the doctor is most important. We’ll figure everything else out later.”
I stared at her. The rosiness was gone from her cheeks, worry now present in her eyes, and I couldn’t believe she was begging to help take my child to the emergency room.
“Okay,” I said on a breath, then turned the car toward my parents’ house.
I opened the door to my parents’ house and was greeted by the familiar sound of Ruby groaning in agony. Then came unmistakable sound of retching. I raced into the living room, trying to prepare myself for what was coming. Sick kids were the worst. Not only were they helpless, but they made you feel helpless too. As a rational adult, I knew sickness passed and eventually I’d start to feel better. Kids lacked that little nugget of common sense and all sicknesses were akin to dying slowly.
“Daddy,” Ruby moaned as my mom wiped her mouth with a washcloth. “I don’t feel well.”
“I see that, baby.” I knelt in front of her and put my hand to her forehead.
“She doesn’t have a fever,” my mom supplied kindly, her voice full of worry and concern. “She just said her stomach hurt, wouldn’t eat dinner, and then….”
“Okay,” I said, offering my mother a poor excuse for a smile.
“Miss Richards,” Jax yelled, shooting off my father’s recliner and wrapping his arms around Grace’s thighs in an enthusiastic hug.
“Hey, Jax. It’s good to see you.”
“Are you coming to the hospital with us?”
“That’s the plan,” Grace said with an exhale.
“Hello, there,” my mom said, in a tone that let me know immediately that she knew Grace was my date and I was interested in her.
“Mom,” I said coolly, “this is Grace. Grace, my mother, Carolyn.”
“It’s nice to see you again,” Grace said, reaching her hand out to my mom, leaving her other hand on Jaxy’s back since he was still hugging her. I gave her a puzzled look and she explained. “We met at parent-teacher conferences a while ago.”
“Oh, right,” I said, my brain to occupied by Ruby to put all the pieces together.”
“You can leave Jaxy here, Devon. There’s no reason to take him to the emergency room.” My mother’s words broke through my mental fog.
“I want to go with Miss Richards,” Jaxy whined.
“Why is Jaxy’s teacher here?” Ruby asked, sounding absolutely miserable.
“She just came to help. She’s going to sit with Jaxy while we take you to see the doctor.” I could tell Ruby didn’t buy my story. She was eleven, not five. But before she could ask me anything else, another round of sickness overcame her.
Chapter Nine
Grace
Jax and I had managed to play at least thirty games of tic-tac-toe, made countless paper airplanes, and eventually I convinced him to stretch out on the little couch with a blanket I had asked a nurse to get for him. He begged me to sit with him, and as I’d learned being his teacher, when Jaxy was sweet and wanted something, it was hard to deny him.
His head was on my lap, his blond hair starkly contrasting against the blue of my dress, and his little body was cocooned by the itchy cotton blanket anyone could identify as belonging in a hospital. I’d managed to keep him away from all the other patients, sequestering us at the far end of the waiting room, trying to keep him as germ free as one could be in the emergency room.
Devon had been back in a room with Ruby for hours and I’d heard not one peep. I hadn’t expected any updates, really, but I was left wondering if everything was going all right and if Ruby was sicker than perhaps Devon had originally thought. As the minutes ticked by I became more and more concerned.
I busied myself by threading my fingers through Jax’s hair. Hair that was impossibly soft. His mouth was open just slightly and tiny snores were coming from him. It was the sweetest thing I’d ever witnessed.
I heard the motorized sound of the doors opening, and when I looked up I saw Devon walking toward us, Ruby by his side. She was no longer in the clothes she’d worn in, but instead was wearing what looked like two hospital gowns: one on the right way—opening in the back—and the other on backward so it looked more like a robe.
Seeing the two of them walking side by side only made Devon’s height more apparent. I knew he was tall—over six feet, easily—but next to Ruby he looked even more massive. Somewhat like a gentle giant, his hand resting on Ruby’s shoulder, looking like it was there for equal parts comfort for Ruby and protection by Devon. He was taking care of her.
“They’ve finally released us,” he said as he came to a halt in front of us. I watched as his eyes swept over Jax’s sleeping form and suddenly I felt self-conscious that I’d let him fall asleep on my lap.