Page 9 of Not Even A Mouse
Sideways
Andy, two weeks later
He leaned against the kitchen cabinet and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. It had been a hell of a long week. Ever since he’d brought Talya home from the hospital seven days ago, his gut had been churning with a near constant panic. It had buried him, sweeping over him like a wave of bitter fear right after he’d walked outof the building full of professionals, his arms full of precious little girl.
Andy understood in his head that a tonsillectomy was a common, normal childhood surgery. Easy peasy, a few days of minor pain handled via judicious application of the frozen goodness of popsicles. If having her tonsils and adenoids removed would keep her from having the near constant sore throat and resulting infectionsthey’d been battling, it was an easy decision. Back in the doctor’s office, when Andy had been looking around at the man’s impressive array of framed certificates covering the walls, the process seemed logical.
His head might know, but his gut was a different story. Post-surgery, it was killing him to see his little girl feeling sore and grumpy, her normally bright voice dampened to a painfulrasp as she recovered.My little girl.Sometimes even thinking those words felt surreal.
Talya wasn’t his biological child, but he loved her fiercely, nonetheless. She was his,dammit, his and Roger’s. He and Talya had already been through so much. It didn’t seem fair she had to deal with this, too.
Andy and his partner, RogerDanfort, had created a close family unit with the three of them forthe few years the two men had been together. He and Roger had met at the bar where Andy worked, and six months of stilted conversation later had a fumbling first date. That was followed by another, and another, until it seemed like they’d always been a couple. Even if the sex hadn’t been explosive, they were compatible,likingthe same kinds of things. Once Andy had met the then tiny Talya, he’dknown he needed to be part of raising the amazing little girl. He’d quickly moved in with Roger and expected to live happily ever after.
He sighed.Not in the cards.
Roger had been working overseas, a two-week contract in London. For ten days he’d sent countless pictures home for Andy to share with Talya. He hadcalledand video chatted every spare moment. Then…nothing, a three-day silence thathad terrified Andy. It had been a coworker of Roger’s who finally called and broke the news. There’d been a terribleaccident,and Roger was dead, killed when his rental was broadsided by a truck. Andy wasn’t listed on his emergency contacts, and while his employer knew Roger had a child, the only number on file had been an old one for his mother, long since disconnected.
Roger had been a late-in-lifechild, and MotherDanfortwas a widow in her late seventies when he died. While she might have been remote emotionally, she wasn’t a bigot, and from Roger’s stories, had supported Roger when he came out as a young adult.
Andy closed his eyes tightly, forcing back the burn at the unwelcome memories.
That had been almost two years ago. Roger’s death had signaled a time in his life Andy didn’tlike to dwellon,because it had been so hard. Grief and terror equal companions for months. In manyways,it seemed he’d never moved past it all.
Roger had adopted Talya before he and Andy had become a couple. Since the state they lived in didn’t recognizesame-sexmarriage, even if they’d had a commitment ceremony, adding Andy to her birth certificate as one of two fathers hadn’t been an option.All of which meant Roger’s death had left Natalya without a guardian in the eyes of the law. Just getting Roger’s body back for a funeral had been hard enough, but fighting at the same time to keep Talya sleeping in her own bed had made for a nightmarish few weeks.
While MotherDanforthelped where she could, if it hadn’t been for Andy’s grandmother, he didn’t know what he would’ve done. Everhis staunch supporter, she had helped navigate the exhausting legal hurdles so Talya could stay with him.
My little girl. Andy had become the most important person in her life. And she was the most important one in his.
Now,one weekpost-surgery, what seemed like the worst of it behind them, she was resting in the living room. Piled on the couch with her favorite stuffed animal in her arms,she was watching cartoons that were blaring from the TV. Talya also had a wide assortment of juices and pudding cups on a nearby tray. She seemed to be picky today, deeming every offering, “Yucky tasting.” The coughs wracking her tiny body were the worst, though. In fact, even now Andy could still hear her coughing over the noise. He cocked his head to listen closely, alarmed at how painful eachcoughsounded.
She’d been doing that a lot over the last couple of days, a part of the healing process the doctor had warned about.It’s normal, he reminded himself. Everything was normal. Still listening to her, he reached into the cabinet and pulled out a coffee mug, placing it on the counter next to thesingle-servemachine, knowing he would need a pick-me-up before the evening was over.
He tilted his head, again listening attentively, and now heard the unmistakable gagging sound of a six-year-old little girl about to vomit. “Oh, no,” he muttered, grabbed a dishtowel and turned to the door just in time to see Talya stumble into view. She looked at him, her dark hair tumbled around her tiny face as she bent double, most of her recent meal of soup forcefully ejecting and making a puddleon the floor. “Papa,” she cried, arm wrapped around her belly, one hand lifting to her face. “It hurts.” She was pale, paler than he remembered, and he immediately decided a trip to urgent care was in their future as he strode quickly towards her.
That was when his world went sideways. Before he could reach her, Talyacoughedagain and again, her small form shuddering with each uncontrollablemovement. She cupped both hands under her mouth and looked at him, eyes round with pain and fear. Talya lifted them to show him what she’d seen. They were filled with red.
