Page 67 of A Heart to Find
“Really sorry to interfere,” the woman’s urgent tone cut through the fog of Keira’s desire. “But please tell me you’re Jared Marshall?”
“That’s me.” Jared stepped back slightly but clutched Keira’s hand tightly in his own.
“Oh good. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. You’ve got to come to the office with me right away. The cell towers are down with the storm and you need to call home right away. Something has happened with your daughter.”
Chapter 17
Panic for his daughter overrode the cringe factor in how Keira learned of Hailey’s existence. His stomach clenched and a roaring noise echoed in his ears as he helped Keira into the back seat of the SUV.
She scooted all the way across the seat, pinning herself against the door, and picked at her fingernails as Jared tried to get more information from the staff member who picked them up.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything other than she is okay but they needed to get in touch with you for authorization to treat her.” Danielle gave a sympathetic look over her shoulder before pulling out into the snow-covered street. “Your sister-in-law said to tell you not to panic and not to let it ruin your day.”
Of course she did.
And hearing “sister-in-law” earned him a glare from Keira, whose face had paled considerably. She knew he was an only child and there was only one way for him to get a sister-in-law.
“Keira, I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
Her eyes bore through his and into his skull.
“Let’s just worry about your daughter.”
And then she looked out her window, drifting further away from him with every second that passed.
She deserved the time to process the new information, and he was too worried about Hailey to focus fully on how to save his skin with Keira, so he tapped his hand on his thigh and repeatedly tried dialing from his cell phone. Still no signal, so he tried to calm his breathing until they arrived at the main offices, where Danielle led him to the landline.
Meredith answered on the first ring.
“Jared, I’m so sorry to interrupt you while you’re away. I’ve tried reaching someone to call off the request to find you, but kept getting voicemail.”
“What’s wrong with Hailey? Is she okay?” He didn’t recognize his own panic-stricken voice.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Jared. She’s fine, I swear. Had a little incident with falling off the couch when she was goofing around, and I thought the ER docs would need you to authorize treatment so I tried to call you on our way to the hospital.”
“ER docs? What the heck happened?”
“She tore part of her earlobe, but they glued it back together and she’s perfectly fine. She barely even cried. And they didn’t need authorization to treat, so again, I’m sorry to have disturbed you and worried you like that.”
The relieved breath he released could have blown the building away.
“I’m so glad she’s okay.”
“Me too. I just wish I hadn’t jumped the gun and called you. How’s everything going over there?”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her it had been going exceptionally well until she called…
Wasn’t her fault he had been a coward.
“Hey, is my girl there with you? Does she feel like talking to her dad?”
“She would love that. She wanted to talk to you earlier but kept getting sent to your voicemail when we called your cell. She’s been drawing you pictures all day. Let me grab her for you.”
After five minutes of listening to Hailey’s excited babbling, including her rendition of a song from her favorite movie, Jared’s heart rate settled into a normal range. She didn’t sound like her ordeal traumatized her at all. Instead, she bragged about the stickers the nurse had given her for doing such a good job.
“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay, my little puffer fish?”
“Okay, Daddy. I love you!”
