Page 36 of A Baby for the Firefighter
I’d been tempted to tell once or twice, to be honest, but it hadn’t been my decision to make. Still, sometimes I wondered if I’d made the right call and if we could still be a family if I’d spoken up. But at the same time, I could never forgive them for kicking Eli out when he’d needed help, no matter the reason.
That didn’t mean I wanted either of them todie, though.
They were still my parents, and sometimes,sometimes, I even missed them. I wondered if Eli felt the same. He never said.
Our walk across the hospital’s parking lot was just as quiet as our drive had been, and I suspected that my brother had just as much to think about as I did. It surprised me that he hadn’t insisted on having Matt with him somehow. I kind of wanted Dean to be here, and we weren’t even married. Approaching the information desk, I resigned myself to calling him later.
My brother looked to me as we stood in front of the lady behind the desk. Okay, apparently I was going to do the talking today.
“Hello,” I said. “We’re looking for our father? Declan Stevens? He was brought in here this morning.”
“Just a moment.” She gave me a kind smile. “Mr. Stevens has been brought to room 214 on the second floor. Take the elevator down the hall and turn left when you get off on that floor.”
“Thank you.”
Eli started walking as soon as we got the room number, and I followed him into the elevator.
“Nervous?” I asked. “Because I kind of am.” And this was about as much silence as I could take without crumbling. “How long has it been since we’ve seen them? Ten years. Must have been almost ten years.”
Eli nodded, lips pressed tightly together. I tried not to sigh. Thankfully the elevator was fast; it dinged again after only a few seconds and we were on the second floor.
“It’s to the left from here,” I said, stepping out first. I found the right room number and then… I didn’t know what to do. Knock? Just go in?
I looked to my brother, who seemed to lack my hesitation. He simply put his hand on the door, knocked once, and walked in without waiting for a response.
I entered the room after him.
There they were. Our parents.
My dad lay in the bed, some sort of breathing mask on his face and so pale I hardly recognized him. He was covered in bandages too, and I couldn’t tell whether he’d aged alotin the past ten years or whether that was just the hospital effect. His eyes were closed, and so I looked to my mom instead.
The woman who raised me sat in a chair by the bed. She looked up as we came in, and her eyes fixed first on Eli and then on me. And there was so much pain in them. I could hardly stand it. I couldn’t deal with people being sad around me.
“Hey, Mom,” I said softly, because no one else was speaking and that was something else I couldn’t deal with.
“Griffin… You look so grown up.”
I had to give her a smile at that, because if there was one thing I hadn’t busied myself with over the past ten years, it was growing up. “Looks can be deceiving.” I took a step closer and gestured to my father. “How is he?”
“He’ll be okay, probably. Smoke inhalation, a broken bone, some burns…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I worried you. I panicked.”
“It’s okay.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “It must have been scary. I would have been scared.” I looked to my brother who still stood by the door. It didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything, so I just kept on talking. I was good at that, after all. “What happened?” I asked.
She looked aside. “He fell asleep smoking. It was stupid. The whole smoking thing is stupid. I wish he’d quit, honestly.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, not knowing what else to say. The dad I remembered hadn’t smoked. “What about the house?” I wondered how much damage it had taken.
She only shook her head again.
“That bad?” I asked.
“Let’s just say repairs are going to take a while.” She sighed.
“But Dad’s going to be fine?” Eli suddenly spoke up. He’d crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back against the wall next to the door as if taking another step into the room would leavehimwith burn wounds too.
I couldn’t blame him for his reservations, not really, but that didn’t stop me from wishing things could be different.
“I think so, dear.”
