"It can wait till another time. I don't want to add to this terrible day."
"Nothing you could say right now would be shocking, Dr. Nelson."
He nodded his head. "I know that we're still waiting for tests to come back. But the root cause of all of this goes back to her heart murmur. She was very worried about her diagnosis. It caused her extra stress. I'm not saying that's why she poisoned herself, but it is a possibility to consider. Her last OB-GYN was negligent. If you're filing a lawsuit, I'd be happy to testify on your behalf."
He was right. And it was exactly what I needed to hear after my pointless meeting with my lawyer. Someone was going to pay for this. "Her last OB-GYN is an old friend of yours. Dr. Jones. Are you sure you'd be willing to be a witness?"
"Like I said before, James, I'm not a man of chance. Dr. Jones took a chance by not telling you about Penny's heart murmur. And as a fellow doctor, I can't uphold that decision. He was in the wrong. And even if he is done practicing medicine, he has a whole practice that was trained by him. We don't want something like this to happen again because of his negligence."
"Thank you," I said and stuck my hand out to him. "I needed someone on my side in this suit."
Dr. Nelson accepted my outstretched hand.
"Goodnight, doctor."
"Goodnight, James." He walked over to Penny's mom who had waved him down. Did she know that her grandson was going to have mental or physical issues? Was she learning about it now?
I needed to get out of here. I needed to be in my bed, with my face buried in Penny's pillow. I needed just a tiny bit ofstrength. My eyes wandered around the waiting room, looking for Scarlett. I almost started to panic, but then I spotted her, cowering behind a chair. She looked truly frightened.
And in that moment, it didn't matter that she looked just like Penny. If anything, it made me want to comfort her even more. I walked over to her and crouched down.
"Daddy." Her voice trembled slightly as she ran into my arms.
"Pumpkin, what's wrong?"
"He's a bad snake."
The hairs on the back of my neck rose. "What did you say, Scar?"
"Mr. Snake. From the movie." She pointed at Dr. Nelson.
I frowned as I turned around to look at Dr. Nelson. His hair was gray and always slightly long and disheveled looking. It almost looked greasy. He always wore the same color scrubs - black. It was a bit odd, since the rest of the doctors and nurses roaming about predominately wore light color tones of green, pink, and blue. But there was nothing snakelike about the man.
"Pumpkin, there are no evil snakes."
"Yes there are. He's evil snake. I want Mommy."
The side of my face twitched.
Scarlett buried her face in my neck. "Please, Daddy."
"We'll see her tomorrow, okay?" Tomorrow I'd be stronger. Tomorrow I'd sit with my wife. I'd hold her hand and will her to come back to us. I'd promise to be better.
"Can we at least hold baby before we go?"
I needed to do it. What if he died in the middle of the night? I'd regret not holding him my whole life. "Okay, let's go say goodnight to your brother."
"I thought I was getting a sister. But I like him."
"You and me both."
She ducked her head under my chin as if she was frightened again. I turned around to see Dr. Nelson staring at us. I waved before pushing through the doors.
The Light to My Darkness - Chapter 41
Monday
James