Falling for the Good Guy (Can't Resist #2)(24)

Skylar was only twelve.




BRIAN WOKE UP TO THE SOUNDS of hospital clatter, and the warm weight of Abby against his chest. Scritching her hair to wake her gently, he pressed a few soft kisses to her temple. “It’s morning, sweetheart. I’m going to go check in with the doctor and see if Skylar’s awake.”

Abby stretched and nodded. “I’m heading to the restroom to splash some water on my face. Then I’ll see if I can find us some coffee, give you two a chance to talk and spend some time together before I head in.”

He was grateful that she inherently got things like that. That he’d want some time to just be with Skylar for a bit. Hold her hand, talk to her, convince himself that she was still really here.

Once back in the inner walls of the ICU, he found Beth’s doctor and Skylar’s pediatrician outside of her room discussing her case. He’d left messages for them both last night. After chatting with them for about ten minutes and hearing them reiterate everything they’d already discussed for years, Brian thanked them both and headed in to check on Skylar.

“Hey Sky-bug, how’re you feeling today?”

She shrugged and stared off at the wall, mumbling, “Fine.”

His heart cracked right down the middle. “What’s going on, munchkin?” He tried infusing as much normalcy into his tone as he could. “Is it the meds?” Right, as if this were a normal conversation for them.

After a brief headshake, she quietly repeated, “I’m fine,” before turning over and closing her eyes, shutting him out completely.

For the next ten minutes.

Just when he was about to try, yet again, to engage her in conversation, he sighed in relief when he saw Abby pop her head in. “Look, sweetie, Abby’s here to visit.”

Skylar’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open all the way.

Abby shot him a worried look and he shook his head helplessly. He had no idea what was going on.

“Hey kiddo, want to talk about it?”

The quiet ‘no’ was filled with tears. And Brian felt his legs grow weak under him. His little girl was suffering and he had no clue how to help her.

Abby pulled up a chair next to Skylar’s bed and held her good hand. “Is the finger bothering you? Do you need us to call the doctor?”

“What’s the point?” she bit out in harsh, broken whisper. “It’s not like I’m going to need it.”

A sad look of understanding washed over Abby’s expression, and she shut her eyes for a brief second before directing a calm, stern look at Skylar. “Of course you need your ring finger, silly. Where else is your future groom going to place your wedding ring?”

Skylar’s body stiffened and Brian felt rage at the universe start to boil in his veins. His daughter thought she didn’t need her ring finger because she thought she’d die before she ever got a chance to get married. His hands fisted when he saw the tears running down Skylar’s cheeks, and he barely checked the impulse to punch a hole through the wall.

“I’m never going to be able to get married, and we all know it,” cried Skylar into her pillow.

Brian saw instant tears fill Abby’s eyes a second before she blinked them back. “Honey? Are you under the misguided impression that your seizure last night was something like the ones your mother used to have?”

Skylar stilled for a second and then peeked up from her pillow slowly, almost as if she were afraid to look. To hope. “Wasn’t it?”

The sheer fear infused in those two words was enough to make Brian want to bawl like a baby. His daughter did not deserve to be going through this.

“Kiddo, there was nothing in the tests that showed your seizure was at all connected to a Huntington’s symptom. Yours was labeled unexplained, so it could very well just have been a seizure caused by growth spurts during adolescence because of how it affects cortisol levels and blood sugar.”

All completely factual truths.

“Really?” Skylar sat up. “We learned about blood sugar in health class. The doctors wouldn’t tell me anything last night. Not really. So you mean it could be because I skipped lunch yesterday?” Skylar sat up even more, hope brimming in her eyes.

“That could actually have a lot to do with it,” agreed Abby. “Seizures have also been linked to gluten, being overtired or stressed, and—brace yourself, babe—video games.”

The look of alarm on Skylar’s face would have made Brian laugh if he weren’t so busy worrying over her.

Abby patted Skylar’s hand reassuringly. “But since you didn’t play any video games yesterday, we can safely rule that one out.”

Christ, the woman was incredible. She actually had his daughter close to smiling already.

Skylar sighed with relief before she ventured quietly, “So you guys are sure that this seizure wasn’t a Huntington’s seizure?”

Thank God she didn’t know the mechanics of the disease well enough. “Nope,” answered Brian answering the question she worded, not the one she asked. And he made sure to fill his voice with all the confidence he didn’t feel when he added, “Abby’s right. I talked to the doctors and though it’s not common, apparently, it’s not all that rare for kids your age to get unexplained seizures. The doctors aren’t even considering testing you for HD, kiddo. They said we shouldn’t even be thinking of it as a possibility.” This, again, was all true, in some shape and form.