C H A P T E R T H R E E
Adam
Isabel’s face has been constantly on my mind since I last saw her. Her big green eyes staring at me from beneath full lashes haunt me. I could die a happy man if I could see her smile, just once, but more importantly, if I was the man to put that smile on her face. I’m sitting on my wrap around porch trying to think of the best way to accidentally run into Isabel when my pager goes off.
Damn it! Can’t I get one day off?
“Nurse’s Station, this is George.”
“George, this is Lieutenant Patterson. Why was I paged?” I bark into the receiver.
“Yes, sir. Reese told me to page you if an Isabel Alexander came in. She’s in the ER, sir.” George answered hesitantly.
“Thanks, George,” I say before hanging up.
What do I do? Go down there? What if her husband is there?
“I have to see if she is okay or if he hurt her. I can make sure to get the proof I need this time,” I say to myself.
Grabbing the closest pair of scrubs I can find, I quickly change and make a beeline for the hospital.
What happened to her? How bad is it? Did that asshole hit her? I’ll kill him.
I try to calmly make my way to the nurse's station, but I can’t help scanning the waiting area for her husband.
“Petty Officer, I was informed my patient Alexander, Isabel has been admitted to the ER. I want an update on her condition.” I surprise the Petty Officer behind the desk, he wasn’t expecting me to show up.
“Sir, Mrs. Alexander is here, but she isn’t the one being seen, it’s her daughter, Sophie.”
Must have been the little girl in the elevator.
“Where are they? Is she the only one with the child? What is the child here for?”
I need to know where that damn husband of hers is!
“Well, sir, Sophie was brought in with a broken arm claiming that she fell, but her x-rays tell a different story.”
“What do the x-rays show?”
“Multiple breaks in multiple places. It looks like abuse, sir.”
Now I just have to get one of them to admit it, and I got him.
“Is there a man with them or is it just the mother?”
“Just the mother. Bed 4.” He points to a curtained off area.
“Thank you. If a Petty Officer Alexander shows up, call the MA’s, and don’t let him in. In fact, he’s dangerous, lock down the ward if he shows.”
“Don’t you mean Captain Alexander, sir?”
Fuck me! He couldn’t be some Petty Officer dumb shit. Oh well, either way, something has to be done about this asshole.
“I don’t care if he is the Secretary of the God damn Navy. If he shows up, lock the damn ward down. That’s an order. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
I take a deep cleansing breath, trying to calm down as I walk toward where Sophie and Isabel are. I take one more cleansing breath before pulling back this curtain and see the most adorable little girl I have ever laid eyes on. Just one look and I know she is going to have me wrapped around her little finger.
Sophie has strawberry blonde curls, her mother’s big green eyes and light freckles across the tops of her cheeks and nose. She looks to be about four, and she’s beautiful, just like her mother. Isabel is surprised to see me, and I cannot resist winking at her.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Patterson. I heard you had a nasty fall. Can you tell me what happened?” I say as cheerfully as I can.
Sophie tries to burrow into the bed and avoid looking at me. I can imagine how afraid she is right now, of men specifically, with a father who likes to use her as a punching bag. Moving as slowly as possible, I walk toward the bed and have a seat, ducking down, so we are eye level before I try to address her again.
“My name is Adam, what’s yours?” I ask soothingly.
“Sophie,” says a squeaky little voice.
“Sophie, that’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. You must be very brave to not be crying. I bet your arm hurts pretty badly.”
Sophie smiles slowly and finally looks up at me.
“My arm hurts,” she says. “Can you make it better?”
“I can, but I have to look at it first. Can you tell me what happened when it started to hurt?”
I slowly inch closer to Sophie as she raises her arm, so I can get a better look. Her arm is obviously very swollen and according to the x-rays, I know it’s broken.
Poor thing, she must be used to being in pain.
“Daddy hit me,” Sophie whispers.
Isabel gasps from behind me, so I am sure I heard her correctly. I try not to let the surprise and pain show on my face at her words.
“Oh,” I say “Why would he do that?”
“I made him mad. I was hungry and asked for something to eat.” She says as a few tears slip from her eyes.
I can hear Isabel is quietly crying behind me, but I refuse to take my eyes off Sophie. Just then an ER nurse comes inside the curtain.
“Nurse, can you keep Sophie company while her mom and I head outside to talk for a moment?” I bend down to eye level with Sophie again.
“We will be right back, okay, Sophie?”
“Okay. You aren’t mad at Mommy, are you? You aren’t going to hit her, right?” Sophie says in a rush.
“No Sophie, I’m not mad at your Mommy. I just want to talk to her for a minute. I would never hurt her or you. It’s my job to make people feel better, and I take my job very seriously.” Sophie seems more relaxed as she sits back on the bed.
“Isabel?” Isabel immediately takes my hand with tears still running down her face. I pull her through the ER, the waiting room, and outside gripping her hand tightly.
“I was asleep when it happened. I woke when I heard her scream and him yelling.” Isabel says, tears running down her face, “I have always been there to protect her, to take the brunt of his anger. Why wasn’t I there this time? This is all my fault!” she cries, covering her face with her hands.
“Isabel, look at me.”
“We can’t stay there any longer. I have to protect my little girl, what am I going to do now?” She sobs.
I reach out and lift her chin, so I can see her eyes. I tenderly wipe the tears from her face.
Damn, she’s beautiful.
I lean forward and cradle her face in my hands, I can feel her stiffen as I slowly let my hands travel down her neck and across her shoulders until I’m hugging her tightly to my chest. Finally, she relaxes against me. She surprises me by wrapping her arms around my waist in a tight hug.
“How did you know I was here?” she says against my chest.
“The front desk called me. I have your file flagged on the computer,” I tell her simply.
“Why?” she asks, pulling back to look up at me.
“I wanted to know if anything happened to you. I needed to see you again and make sure you were alright. Why didn’t you tell me about your little girl?”
“You didn’t ask, and you aren’t my friend, you’re my doctor,” she states simply.
“I could be. I could be more, if you would let me,” I whisper.
“I should get back to Sophie.”
I tightened my arms around her, “You can’t go back to him.”
“I don’t have a choice. He’s her father,” she says, a defeated tone in her voice.
“No father would break his daughter’s arm because she was hungry! You do have a choice. Don’t go back. Please,” I beg.
“We have nowhere else to go. I have no friends or family, no money for a hotel,” she’s talking to my chest again, doesn’t want to meet my eyes.
Tears once again began streaming down her face. She struggles to get me to release her, but it just makes me hold on to her harder.
“There are shelters. I’m sure they will know who to contact to help you.”
She shakes her head no, “I can’t go to one of those places. I can’t take Sophie there.”
“I’m sure there is someone you can contact to help you.”
“There is no one, we have nowhere else to go.”
“Isabel, please. I’m begging you, don’t go back to him.” I’m begging her again when a thought occurs to me.
“You can live with me. I have more than enough room for you both. Plus, I work a lot. I’m not there very much.”
I hold my breath waiting for her to answer. I can see the gears turning in her head as she weighs all her options before answering me reluctantly,
“Okay,” Isabel whispers.
“Thank you.”
“I should get back to Sophie.”
Did I really just ask a woman that I’ve spent all of ten minutes with to move into my house with a kid?