I held down a sob that wanted so badly to tear through my lungs and out my mouth. I had to grit my teeth and clench my fists to hold it back. I watched as Kyson went to the side of his daughter’s bed, put one hand to her cheek and the other to her free hand.
“Hey, bug, Daddy’s here and you’re okay. The doctors are taking real good care of you, sweetheart, and I’m right here. Me and Izzy are by your side, baby. You just sleep and get better, yeah? We’ll be here when you wake up. We love you,” he promised our sleeping angel.
“Isa?” He gestured to Hope, stood back, but kept his hand to the top of her head.
“Hi, little miss. You gave your daddy and me a real scare, but you’re safe and sound and getting excellent care. Like your daddy said, we love you baby, and we’re right here, waiting for you to get better.” I couldn’t stop the tears from trailing down my cheeks.
Kyson pulled me into his arms and together we cried, wrapped in one another’s embrace. We stood there desperately holding on to one another, letting out all the fear the past few hours had brought, and breathing in the reality that his daughter was hurt but alive.
* * *
The forty-eight hours of Hope’s induced coma were a nightmare for Kyson. The man wanted, no, needed, to look into his daughter’s eyes. Thankfully, at the beginning of the third day, the doctors announced she’d had a dramatic improvement in the swelling around her brain and they were going to remove the tube and wean her off the medication.
Hours passed as Kyson and I sat by Hope’s bed. He held her hand as the doctor and the nurse checked in on her. I stood in the far corner, trying to stay out of the way and be still as a mouse so no one kicked me out.
The prettiest sight in the entire world was when Hope blinked open her glorious blue eyes, frowned, turned her head and smiled when her gaze made contact with her dad. I swallowed down the emotion coating my throat that made it dry.
“Daddy,” she whispered, her voice hoarse from being intubated for three days.
Kyson’s eyes filled with tears and he picked up his daughter’s hand and kissed her fingers over and over. “How are you feeling, bug?”
She frowned. “My head hurts. And I can’t feel my arm. And it’s hard to breathe here.” She tried to move her injured arm then realized that wasn’t happening. She turned her head and saw her arm.
“Baby, you were in an accident. The doctors are going to look you over really quick and make sure everything is good.” Kyson’s tone was gravelly.
Hope nodded as the doctor stepped forward and did his checks, wrote things down. He told Kyson everything looked excellent so far but she’d need to be monitored in the hospital for two or three more days, which would also be around the time they would x-ray her arm again to ensure the setting of her bones was good to cast.
The doctor and nurse left as Kyson kissed his daughter’s head.
“You’re gonna be okay, Hope. Daddy promises.” He brought her hand to his cheek and held it there.
Hope’s eyes filled with tears as if she’d just remembered something. “Daddy, the mean lady, she said she was my mommy and was taking me away from you and Izzy.”
Kyson shook his head. “That was never going to happen. And you will never see that woman again.”
Tears fell down her cheeks. “She was drinking from this big bottle that was clear and stinky. She drove crazy. I was so scared.”
Kyson’s lips tightened. “You’re okay. You’re not going to see her again.”
“I cried a lot and told her I wanted you and Izzy. She said I was never going to see you again!” Her mouth twisted up and she started to cry harder.
I covered my mouth and cried into my hand as I watched my man console his baby girl.
“I want my mommy!” Hope sobbed.
“Baby, that woman...” he started but she cut him off.
A tortured cry left Hope’s lips. “Not the bad lady! I want Izzy. My new mommy!”
“I’m h-here, baby. Right here, honey.” I jetted over to the same side of the bed as Kyson and leaned over her, bringing my face close to hers.
Hope reached out to my cheek and started to take deep breaths, her eyes lasered on my face as her lips trembled.
I held her hand to my cheek the same way Kyson did. “I’m right here, baby. Not going anywhere.”
“Never?” she whispered on a hiccough-like sob.
I shook my head. “Not ever.”
“Are you gonna be my mommy?” she asked between ragged breaths.
I nodded. “If you want me to. I’d love nothing more than to be your mommy, Hope.”
“I want you to,” she said clear as day, and my heart filled with such love, I thought it might burst.
Tears slipped down Hope’s cheeks and mine. Kyson tunneled his hand through my hair and curled it around my neck.
“Izzy’s moving in and we’ll be getting married soon. You can be a flower girl and everything. Would you like that, bug?”
Hope nodded and then smiled. “Can I help make the cake?”
I grinned so big and Kyson laughed out loud. “Girl after my own heart.”
“I’m going to be a baker, just like my mommy.” She smiled but her eyes started to droop. She had to be tired. All of us were exhausted but her words, the fact that she was awake and didn’t seem to have any brain issues, was everything I prayed for. I’d take tired and exhausted if it meant Hope was on the mend and would be coming home soon.
I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “You sleep, little miss. We’ll be here when you wake up. And the next day, and the next day after that.”
Hope yawned and closed her eyes and whispered, “I’ll frost the cake,” before slipping into dream land.
Kyson and I stared at our girl for a long time before he stood up and took my hand.
He brought us to the small futon-sized bed we’d been trading off using since she’d been admitted. He lay down with his back to the wall and patted the small space in front of him.
“Curl up next to me.”
I eased down onto my side and pulled up my knees. My kneecaps hung off the edge, but I didn’t care. Kyson wrapped me up in his warmth and held me like I was his world, when we both knew his world was lying in a hospital bed a few feet from us. I was good with being second in this scenario.
Kyson yawned and tightened his hold, pressing his face into the back of my hair so his chin rested in the crook of my neck.
“So it looks like you earned a new title,” he murmured.