The Sweet Escape

Chapter Twenty-Five

 Chapter Twenty-Five

When they landed in San Francisco Ian took a cab straight to the hospital. Skylar didn't go with him and instead took a separate cab to his house to drop all their things off. She was worried, of course she was. How could sweet little Emily be in a coma? How could something like that happen to a child like her? It wasn't right.

The thing that bothered her the most was that she hadn't really offered much comfort to Ian on the plane. Yeah, she was extremely worried and could only imagine what Ian, as Emily's father, was feeling at that moment. But she didn't know how to comfort him. She didn't know what else to say besides telling everything was going to be okay. And she knew that any other girlfriend would have known what to say. But she wasn't one of them. And she hated that. She'd always had a hard time comforting other people. It just wasn't in her to know the rights words to say. Unlike Ian who had helped her so much when she'd broken down. He'd known what to say and do. There were two types of people in this world apparently.

When Ian arrived at the hospital he quickly paid the cab driver and rushed inside. He asked for Emily and was directed toward the wing she was in. And when he reached it, he saw his parents sitting in the waiting room. They looked at him with looks that said they felt sorry for him.

His mother was the first one to say anything as she hugged him. "Oh, honey, she's going to be okay."

But was she? She was just a child. All he wanted was to talk to a doctor and know for sure how bad her condition was.

"Where is she?" he asked. "I want to see her." It took a lot for him not to start crying. No. He had to be brave for his little girl. He wouldn't think the worst. Not right now.

"Christina is in the room with her right now," his mom explained. "Poor thing, she's been crying so much. She's really worried about Emily."

"Yeah, well so am I," he snapped. "And I want to see my daughter."

One of the nurses led him to Emily's room. His heart broke at the sight of his unconscious daughter on the bed. Christina sat next to her holding Emily's hand. Her face was blotchy and her eyes had dark circles. She looked as if she was in pain. But Ian understood, because so was he.

"You're here," Christina said, a look of relief washing over her.

Ian took cautious steps towards Emily as he took the sight in. "I'm sorry for not answering sooner," he said, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying.

"It's understandable," she said. "What matters is that you're here now."

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

"She fell off one of the swings at the park," she explained. "I'm so sorry, Ian. I was there. I was watching her. But all of a sudden she was on the ground and she wasn't moving." Tears started to stream down her face.

"Calm down," he said walking over to her, taking her into his arms as she cried.

"It's my fault," she said. "I try to come back into my daughter's life and this happens. Maybe it's a sign that there is no forgiveness for someone like me. I'm a terrible mother."

Ian hugged her tighter. He didn't believe that. Sure, at first he'd been weary of her and didn't believe she had good intentions, but now...well, now he thought differently. He'd noticed just how much Christina loved Emily, and she made his daughter happy. "No, you're not," he said. "This isn't your fault. Accidents happen. But what is her condition?"

"Well," Christina said pulling away and trying to compose herself, "she has a concussion. She's in a coma, still hasn't woken up. Doctor said he won't know exactly how bad her condition is until she wakes up. But she's stable."