Chapter 41
Forty-one
Ewan parked the car and jogged into Emergency, waiting with barely contained impatience behind a woman who was complaining about a sore throat. Finally, his turn came and he approached the tired-looking ward clerk with a polite hello.
‘How can I help you?’ the older woman asked in an almost bored tone that immediately set his nerves on edge.
‘My daughter was just brought in by ambulance.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Poppy,’ he said.
‘Surname?’ she asked, typing slowly.
‘Campbell … I mean, Knight,’ he fumbled.
‘Date of birth?’
Fuck. When was her date of birth? Ewan frantically searched his memory for the elusive date. He knew her birthday was in July. ‘The twelfth of July,’ he said, feeling as though this was a game show from hell and wishing he could call a friend or pass the question.
‘Would you like to have another guess?’ the woman asked without any kind of expression.
Ewan swore silently. ‘The fifteenth?’
‘Nope. Sir, there isn’t anyone listed on her medical record as her father, so I can’t let you in anyway.’
‘Her mother came in with her. She’ll tell you it’s okay,’ he said tightly.
‘I have a number of other patients waiting in line. Take a seat and if I get a chance, I’ll try to track down the child’s mother to see if she wants you in there.’
To see if she wants me in there? He understood that hospitals had strict protocols in place to protect against domestic violence incidents, but he wasn’t some deadbeat dad.
Suddenly, it hit him—he didn’t have any rights where his daughter was concerned.
And she was his daughter—there was no doubt in his mind.
He was Poppy’s father, and he was going to make sure he was part of her life.
A door opened further along the hallway and a dark-haired nurse poked her head out, calling his name. ‘I’m Ewan Campbell,’ he said, suddenly fearing the worst.
‘Poppy’s mum just asked me to come out and see if you were in the waiting room.’
‘They wouldn’t let me in,’ he said as she stepped aside, closing the door behind them before setting off at a fast pace that, despite his long legs, Ewan found difficult to match.
‘Here we are,’ she said cheerfully, holding open a curtain that surrounded a bed holding his sleeping daughter, who looked tiny. Kenzie was at the bedside, looking fraught.
‘How is she?’ he asked Kenzie.
‘She’s got a broken arm that they’re going to put a cast on soon, but there’s no other damage. They want to keep her in overnight for observation because she lost consciousness at the scene, but it’s just a precaution.’
‘Thank God,’ he said, letting out a sigh of relief.
‘What took you so long?’
‘I wasn’t listed on Poppy’s records as her father,’ he explained. ‘They wouldn’t let me in.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t even think about that,’ she said with a small wince.
‘It’s all good. Everything worked out.’
‘You don’t have to stay if you’ve got things to do. This is going to take a while, and she’s going to be here overnight.’
‘I’d like to stay, if you don’t mind?’
‘Of course I don’t mind. It’s just going to be pretty uncomfortable and boring.’
‘That’s okay. If I wasn’t here, I’d only be worrying about her … and you. Are you doing okay?’ he asked, taking in her red-rimmed eyes and tired expression.
‘Yeah,’ she said, smiling weakly. ‘I am now. You were great today. I’m glad you were there.’
‘I wish I’d been able to stop her falling,’ he said, briefly reliving the moment she fell.
‘You can’t wrap ’em in cottonwool,’ Kenzie said, trying for a humorous jab.
‘Would you like a coffee? I think I could use one,’ he asked after a moment. He felt useless sitting there doing nothing.
When he came back into the room, Poppy was awake, looking a little groggy. He handed Kenzie a cup and took a seat on the other side of the bed, careful not to bump the small arm resting on a pillow beside her.
‘Hi, Daddy,’ she said softly.
His heart squeezed. ‘Hi, pumpkin.’
‘Will you stay here with Mummy and me?’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he promised, gently touching her face with his fingertips, as he watched her eyes flutter closed.
‘Here,’ Kenzie said, when Poppy finally fell asleep again and he eased back in his chair beside the bed.
‘What is it?’ he asked, looking down at the paper she was holding out towards him, fearful it was bad news. At first, he couldn’t see what it was he was supposed to be looking for. He glanced through the patient details, then searched for some kind of diagnosis, before looking up confused.
‘I had the nurse update it,’ she said with a smile.
His eyes shot back to the top of the page. There it was: listed under Father was his name. His throat tightened and his eyes began to sting a little.
‘We’ll do another test. They could probably do it while we’re here, I don’t know. But I want you to be certain that, without a doubt, you’re her father,’ Kenzie said.
‘I don’t need a test to prove anything. The minute you walked out the door back at Laire-Mor, I knew that I didn’t care if I wasn’t her biological dad.’
Kenzie rolled her eyes. ‘You are her biological dad.’
‘I know. And that’s great, but I want to be more. I want to be the dad who matters. The one who’ll be there every time she needs me, and the one who loves her mother more than life itself.’
It was her turn to be shocked, and he liked how it looked on her. He smiled, standing up and reaching a hand out to tug her to her feet.
‘You and Poppy are my family—today, tomorrow and forever,’ he said, kissing her gently.
‘Oh my God, that would make one of the most amazing wedding vows,’ she said, grinning. ‘It’s going straight into my file.’
‘Then I guess we’d better set a date—the sooner the better.’
‘Seriously?’ she asked, pulling back to look at him more clearly.
‘I don’t plan on losing you a third time. How’s six weeks from today?’
‘What?’ she gasped.
‘Poppy’s arm should be healed by then, in time to be a flower girl,’ he said decisively. ‘I’m serious. I don’t want to waste a single second longer than we already have.’
‘But … there’s so much to organise! I’m not sure six weeks will be long enough,’ she said, looking somewhat panicked.
‘If only we knew a wedding planner.’
‘Okay,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Let’s get married in six weeks.’
‘It worked,’ Poppy said quietly.
They spun to find her staring at them with sleepy eyes and a big smile.
‘What worked, sweetheart?’ Kenzie asked.
‘I wished for Daddy to come and live with us, and he did.’
‘Wow!’ Ewan said indulgently. ‘Maybe it was the fairies?’
Poppy scrunched her eyes shut tight, and Ewan shot Kenzie a look of alarm.
‘Does your arm hurt again?’ Kenzie asked, moving to take her little hand.
‘No, I’m making another wish. Since I got a daddy … can I have my baby brother?’