Chapter 25
Schmidt
As soon as the plane lands and we’re dropped off at the stadium, I climb inside my car and plug in my phone. It died on the flight and I was exhausted. I didn’t care enough to charge it because I knew I’d sleep the entire time.
I wait for it to power on and I'm about to back out of my parking spot when my screen lights up with dozens of missed calls and texts.
Liliana: Call me ASAP.
Liliana: Where are you, Schmidt?
Liliana: Smithy and Wheeler aren’t answering their phones either.
Liliana: You need to get to the hospital.
The blood drains from my face as I read the last text message. I press the icon to call Liliana and speed out of the parking lot.
“What took you so long?” Liliana hisses as the call connects.
“Rosewood University Hospital?” I ask, ignoring her attitude.
“Yes.”
“What happened?” My voice comes out so much calmer than I feel. My heart is hammering against my ribs as multiple scenarios play out through my head.
Did something happen to Tali? Or did something happen to Winnie? What if they were both hurt?
“I… I don’t really know. Winnie called me and told me to get to the hospital. You can-” Her words cut off and I hear someone talking in the background. She responds in a muffled voice before her voice comes through clear again. “I need to go, Schmidt. Come to room 453 when you get here.”
She hangs up before I can say anything else. I punch the steering wheel with frustration as I race towards the hospital.
I need to see Tali. To know she’s ok. I can't lose her. If anything happened to my little girl… I can't even think about it. The idea of something happening to her makes my stomach roll and my anxiety spike. I need her to be safe.
When I pull up in front of the hospital, I don’t even bother parking my car. I leave it right in the circle of the emergency room. I sprint into the emergency room and skid to a stop at the desk.
“How do I get to room 453?”
“Sir, you can't park your car there.” She points out the door.
“Then tow it! I don’t give a crap. If you want it moved so badly, you can move it.
” I toss my keys on the desk and slam my hands down on the wood, making her jump.
“My two-year-old daughter is here and I don’t know what happened.
I don’t know if she’s even alive. Tell me how to get to room 453,” I growl.
She swallows hard and nods her head. She motions to someone else to cover the desk and then tells me to follow her.
“I’ll move your car for you. I don’t want them to tow it, then I’ll bring the keys to you. I shouldn’t be doing this, but I can only imagine what you’re going through right now.”
I don’t bother responding to her, I have nothing to say. I'm just happy she’s walking quickly down the hallways and soon we’re stopping outside of room 453.
“I’ll tell the nurse you’re here and see if the doctor can come in and talk to you.”
I push open the door, unsure of what I’m going to find on the other side. Tali’s sitting in the center of a stretcher with Liliana perched on the foot of the bed.
“Hey, Tali Girl,” I whisper, trying to keep my voice soft. I still don’t know what happened and I need to make sure she’s ok before I react.
“Daddy!” Her bottom lip trembles and she holds her arms out for me.
I sweep her into my body and cradle her against my chest. I pepper her head with kisses and squeeze my eyes shut as I fight off the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
“Daddy’s here, sweetie. Everything is going to be ok.”
I'm not sure if the words are to comfort her, or if they’re to soothe the anxiety pumping through me. Either way, I’ll keep saying them if it helps one of us.
“Mr. Schmidt? I'm Dr. Johnston. I ran a bunch of tests on Tali, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, but everything came back clear.”
“Can you tell me why my daughter is here? No one seems to want to tell me anything.”
“Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were aware. She was in a car accident with…” She flips a page and scans whatever is written on it. “Her nanny was driving. The car went off the road and was totaled. They came into the hospital to get checked out.”
“Do you know where the nanny is?” I arch a brow. I can't believe Winnie crashed the car with my daughter in it. How could she be so careless? Was she not paying attention? Was she on her phone when she should’ve had her eyes on the road?
“She’s in room 365,” she says after checking the chart again.
“Thank you. Is Tali free to go home?”
“Yes. I’ll start writing out the discharge instructions.
She has a small cut on her arm, but we cleaned it up and bandaged it.
Just keep an eye for any sort of infection, but I don’t anticipate anything developing.
It was fairly superficial. It will take me about thirty minutes to get your paperwork together. ”
“Thank you. You can take your time, I want to go talk to my nanny.”
She nods and exits the room. I pull back and stare down at Tali. She looks exhausted, but other than that, she seems normal.
“Lils, can you stay with Tali while I go talk to Winnie?”
“Of course.” She eyes me cautiously, but doesn’t say anything else.
“Daddy will be right back, baby girl. Right back.” I press a kiss to her head before handing her over to Liliana.
Luckily, she’s been over my house and around Tali enough that Tali’s comfortable with her.
Otherwise, I think this visit to Winnie’s room would have to wait until Tali was officially discharged from the hospital.
I stop outside of Winnie’s room and take a deep breath. There’s so much anger coursing through my body. I want to know exactly what happened. I'm not leaving until I know.
I push open the door and step in without knocking. Winnie’s lying in the hospital bed with a gown on. Her face is pale, but she isn't banged up at all.
She blinks her eyes open as I step closer to the bed, not caring how much noise I make. She tries to sit up higher in bed, but she winces.
“Hey, is Tali ok?” Her brows furrow together as she searches my face, looking for any clues how my little girl could be. “I haven’t seen her since we got here and none of the nurses knew.”
“She’s fine,” I growl.
“Thank goodness. I was worried about her.” She leans her head back on the pillow and blows out a long breath.
“What happened, Winnie?” I fold my arms over my chest and glare at her.
“Someone hit the back of my car and I lost control. We went off the road and into a ditch.”
“How could you let that happen?”
“I didn’t-”
“Why were you even out?”
“I ran to the store to get something. We were going straight home.”
“You know I don’t want Tali out if she doesn’t need to be. We discussed that.”
“I know, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“You didn’t think. That’s all there is to it. You shouldn’t have been out and because you decided to do whatever you wanted, my little girl almost got killed. You totaled your SUV, Winnie.” I run my hands through my hair, tugging on the ends in frustration.
“I'm sorry, Jamie,” she whispers as the first tear slips down her cheek.
“And why would someone run into your car?” I throw my hands up in the air, trying to understand what’s happened because none of this makes sense.
“I think it was the paparazzi that kept trying to snap our pictures.”
“Are you kidding me!” I roar, making Winnie jump.
The tears are falling down her cheeks faster than ever before. Her bottom lip trembles, but she doesn’t look away. She holds my gaze, taking on all of my wrath.
“You let a paparazzi get close to my baby girl! How many times did I tell you I didn’t want Tali’s face splashed across a magazine?
Why can't you just listen when I tell you not to do something? You always have to push. You think you’re right and you keep pushing until I give in and do what you want. ”
“Jamie, I didn’t-”
“I don’t want to hear it, Winnie. Tali isn't your daughter, no matter how much you wish she was. She’s mine and I’m going to raise her the way I want to.
” I scrub a hand down my face and try to reign in my anger.
“As soon as Tali’s discharged, I'm taking her home. You can call me when they say you can leave and I’ll come get you.
” I blow out a long breath and shake my head.
“I’ll call Liliana and have her get me,” she whispers so quietly I almost don’t hear her.
“I’ll text you later. I need to get Tali home, she’s scared and exhausted.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just focus on Tali.”
I give her a tight smile before I exit her room and return to Tali. I can't believe this happened today. Winnie got lucky. Tali could’ve been really hurt and it’s all her fault.
Collapsing on my bed, I drape an arm over my eyes and I'm half asleep when it dawns on me, I never asked Winnie if she was ok.
“Jeez,” I mumble under my breath as I reach for my phone and quickly dial her number.
I didn’t mean to ignore her and not ask about her, I was terrified when I got that text from Liliana. Every horrible possibility of why my little girl was in the hospital sped through my head and put me on edge. I was so worried about her, I didn’t even think about Winnie.
When she doesn’t answer, I send her a text.
I want to make sure she’s ok, or I’ll never sleep.
Honestly, if I had someone to stay with Tali, I’d go back to the hospital to see Winnie.
Normally, I’d even wake Tali up and take her with me, but she took forever to go down tonight.
I don’t know how long she was at the hospital, but she was so scared.
The entire time I was rocking her, she kept whimpering for Winnie. The two of them are like two peas in a pod and she loves Winnie.
Jamie: Can you talk?
Winnie: I'm exhausted and you should be focusing on Tali.
Jamie: I finally got Tali to sleep. Are you ok?
Winnie: I’ll be fine. Go to bed, Jamie.
Jamie: When will you be home?
Winnie: Not for a few days probably.
Jamie: What happened?
Winnie: I told you, I’ll be fine. You should worry about Tali, not me.
I swallow hard as reality crashes into me. She’s pulling away from me. She’s pushing me out of her life and I have a feeling I'm the one to blame.
I never asked her if she was ok. I never let her give her side of the story. I jumped to conclusions because I was terrified of something happening to my daughter. Today was my worst nightmare come to life. It was everything I’ve ever feared.
‘Why does it feel like I'm losing you?’
Wheeler’s words rush through my head and I can't help but feel the same way. I'm losing her and I don’t know how to stop it.
Jamie: Answer your phone.
I call her again and again, but she doesn’t answer. After the third try, it goes straight to voicemail. She turned off her phone because she doesn’t want to talk to me.
How did I mess this up so quickly? Twelve hours ago, I was the happiest I’ve ever been, now I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest and I can do nothing to stop it.