Beautiful Broken Promises(36)

Raegan’s body was light and conformed to the front of mine easily. Her head burrowed into the side of my neck, and I almost took that moment to rub my face across hers. It was a little too tempting.

Braden was the last to climb out of the yellow car and right after he shut the door, the * screeched his tires in his retreat. I wished I had the time to catch his license plate.

“Hey, Braden, you remember where Officer Charlie’s office was right?” He nodded and glanced nervously at his mom in my arms. “I need you to run real fast inside. If anyone tries to stop you, just ignore them. I’ll take care of it. Find Charlie and tell him I need a Gatorade right away. Make sure he knows it’s super important.”

“I want a Gatorade! What’s that?” Kate asked excitedly. It was obvious she was blissfully unaware of the situation, unlike Braden.

“Tell him we need two Gatorades. Now run! Please.” I tried to not freak him out, but I needed his little feet to get a move on.

I had scooped Raegan up with my injured arm and I knew if I tried to transfer her over, I would likely pull something. I walked slowly, trying to not jostle my burning shoulder in the process. When we made it inside, all eyes were immediately focused on us. Braden had likely just run past all of them and they were curious.

“Hey, what’s going on?” April, the desk clerk, asked softly.

“I think she’s having a low blood pressure episode.” My mom used to get spells like this sometimes, which was the only reason I had half a guess. I looked down at her and her eyes were open, but she seemed exhausted.

“Hey, Frank’s back there having lunch with his wife!” She perked up with this information but I gave her a look, wondering if I should give Frank a cookie for having a wife or for having one that would actually want to come see him. Why was April wasting my time? Her expression instantly flipped and she said, “His wife is an RN, sorry! I keep forgetting you don’t know what goes on around here anymore.”

“Oh, thank God! Grab her and bring her to Chief’s office for me.” I spoke to her over my shoulder as Kate and I made my way up the stairs. My dad’s office was the only one with a couch.

As I turned the corner toward his door, Charlie and Braden came barreling down the hallway with Gatorades in their hands. I knew Charlie kept a ton with him. He was always downing the yellow-colored sports drink. They all followed me into my father’s office and my Dad looked up at the sudden intrusion with wide eyes.

“What the hell did you do to her, son?” His words felt incriminating, but his tone told me otherwise.

“I think it’s her blood pressure.”

“Move, please,” a soft elderly voice called out. I looked up as I placed Raegan on the couch and watched a little old lady with white hair part the crowd with authority. She carried a large bag in her arms.

Frank walked in behind her and placed a chair in front of the couch for his wife to sit on. I knelt down in front of Raegan, offered her the Gatorade, and she lazily sipped at it. I heard Charlie behind me explain to the kids how he had envelopes in his office that they could put stamps on for him. I knew he was just trying to be nice by getting the kids out of the way, but I didn’t want Kate out of the way.

“Leave them here, Charlie,” I said without turning around.

“She’ll be okay, my office is the next door over.”

“She’s fine here.” My voice was final.

“Actually, if we could get the psych evaluations going, it would move this process along for all three of them,” my dad said from where he still sat at his desk.

“I don’t know…” I hesitated. “I think we should wait for Raegan to be fully present.”

“The counselor will need to speak with them individually so it will take a lot of time, son. They’ll be okay. Her office is across the hall.”

I turned to look at both children standing against the wall with their little hands clasped together. They had already been through so much, but I knew they didn’t really understand any of it. I got up, leaving Raegan with the nurse. I looked back at her and then back at the kids. Why was I getting so caught up in all three of them? My sole focus was on Kate, but I wouldn’t lie and say Raegan and Braden weren’t creeping under my skin as well.

“Hey guys, remember how Raegan explained we were all gonna have to talk to a nice lady today? Well, I think it’s time to do that while Rae takes a little nap. I wish one of us could go in with you, but you’ll be fine. You can color pictures and she might even have some paint.” Both of their faces perked up at the mention of drawing pictures. “We will be right here when you get out, okay? And if you don’t want to talk anymore, just come right back here to me.”