Doing It Over (Most Likely To #1)(59)

“I know.”

Jo captured his arm. “No, she’s feeling guilty about being gone last night.”

Yeah, he understood the feeling. As irrational as he knew it was . . . guilt weighed on him, too. “I know,” he repeated.

The private glass doors of the bay opened and Wyatt felt as if someone punched him in the gut.

Hope looked like a tiny wrapped bundle with wires and tubes running all over her little body. Melanie sat at her side, her hand holding Hope’s, her head lowered on the side of the bed.

“Hey, darlin’,” he whispered.

Melanie lifted her red, tear-filled gaze to his.

He waited for an invitation, wasn’t sure there would be one.

When she lifted her free hand to him, he stepped inside the room, knelt at her side, and wrapped her in his arms.

And she cried.

Soft, quiet tears until he felt her shaking with the effort to hold back the noise he knew was deep inside her soul.

The scuffle of shoes had Wyatt glancing toward the door, where he saw Jo step outside the room.

“It’s okay. She’s safe now.”

Melanie kept sniffling as if attempting to hold back. “I’ve never been so scared.”

“I know, honey . . . I know.” And he did. He leaned back and ran his thumb under her eyes to catch some of the moisture and tried to smile.

“I should have come home. If I hadn’t spent the night—”

“Darlin’, stop. You can’t blame yourself.”

“But—”

The agony in her eyes spoke volumes. If he looked deep enough, he’d probably see the same depth of guilt in his own. “Shhh.” He placed his thumb over her lips and attempted a soft smile of understanding and support.

Melanie offered half an attempt at a grin and returned her gaze toward her daughter.

“What did the doctors say?” he asked as he pulled a second chair close to Hope’s side.

“They called in a pediatric neurologist. But he isn’t here yet.”

“Jo said something about bleeding.”

Melanie nodded, kept her voice low. “Yeah, but they said it isn’t moving anything around inside, which is a good thing. When Hope woke up right after we got here, she didn’t make a lot of sense. The doctor said it wasn’t abnormal after the knock she’s suffered and the amount of time she’s been unconscious.”

Hope twitched in her sleep but didn’t wake up.

“Do they think she’s been out all this time?”

“They can’t tell. We won’t know until she wakes up and makes sense. Even then we have to base the timeline on her memory, which might take some time to come back.”

Wyatt covered the hand Melanie used to hold Hope’s.

Their silence was interrupted by one of the nursing staff walking into the room. Her genuine smile and kind eyes gave him a passing feeling of comfort.

She set some supplies down on a rolling table and moved about the room. “The orthopedic doctor is here to set and splint her arm,” she told them.

“Is it gonna hurt her?” Melanie asked.

The nurse squinted and sighed. “A little. The doctor will inject some pain meds in her arm, and with any luck, she won’t feel much after that.”

“All right.” Melanie stood when a man wearing a suit walked into the room.

“Mrs. Bartlett?”

Melanie corrected the man, like Wyatt had noticed her doing repeatedly throughout the day. “It’s Miss.”

He smiled. “I’m Doctor Johnson.”

The doctor glanced between the two of them as he explained what he was going to do.

As he spoke, he turned on a lighted box used to view X-rays and slid in what Wyatt assumed were Hope’s films. The break was clearly visible in her forearm, both bones crossed over each other in the wrong places.

That had to hurt.

“Once I line up the bones, it’s just a matter of time for it to fuse together again. In six weeks we’ll take the cast off. I don’t anticipate any problems.”

Another set of hands came in the room and started adjusting the bed to a higher level. Wyatt stood back and watched.

Hope stirred on the bed.

“Hope, sweetie, Mommy’s here.”

Hope moaned and blinked her eyes a few times. For Wyatt, it was the best thing he’d seen all day.

“Miss Gina’s gonna be mad.” These were the first words out of Hope’s mouth.

Melanie laid a gentle hand to Hope’s forehead as the staff in the room opened different packages of what Wyatt assumed was the splinting material for Hope’s arm.

“Miss Gina’s not mad,” Melanie told her daughter.

“Mommy?” The question and tone of Hope’s voice made Wyatt pause.

“That’s right, sweetie. I’m right here.”

“Something’s not right.” Hope looked beyond Melanie to those around the room.

“You’re in the hospital, honey. You fell.”

“Mommy . . . Miss Gina’s going to be mad.” Hope tried to move on the bed and cried out.

“Don’t move, baby.”

Hope opened her eyes again and stared at Melanie as if seeing her for the first time. “Mommy, is that you?”

Melanie started to tear up again. “Why does she keep asking me that?” she asked the doctor.