Inevitable Fidelity (Book 3 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six

Nathan swallowed, blinking hard to fight back his tears again.

"I also need to call dad and have him bring Mara. Sigh... I don't even know how i'm going to tell her, Adam."

Nathan looked to his friend who was staring back at him with dread.

The brunette shook his head, unfortunately telling Nathan that it wasn't going to be easy, and that Nathan was going to need to prepare for the reaction Mara would give, but that Mara had to know.

"She's Mara's daughter as much as yours. If you keep this from Mara, she will never forgive you, Nate."

Nathan knew Adam was right.

His wife would forever stay mad at him if Nathan didn't tell her about their daughter. There was no way around it--even if he thought it would be best to not say anything to protect them--it would only make it much worse later on.

And he and Mara were going to have to look into options for seeking out a therapist for Darla. It was absolutely heartbreaking that they would have to be planning out their five-year-old's therapy sessions instead of her birthday. It was going to be hell when he and Mara would be woken up in the middle of the night to Darla screaming and crying from the infinite nightmares she'll eventually start getting.

Nathan couldn't explain the shameful feeling he had in the very depths of his soul at not living up to his fatherly role of protecting his children. He had thought they and his wife were safe. He thought it was impossible for harm to come to his family if he was around. But he wasn't. He hadn't been the night before and it made it so much easier for his daughter's captives to take her from her home.

Nathan sighed again, looking back to his daughter and mumbled, "Let's just go. I need to get her checked-in, call Mara, and then check on Chambs."

He opened his door without waiting for a response from the driver, shutting the door quietly. He was careful to lift Darla into his arms without waking her and nodded his thanks when Adam offered to close the door. They walked in through the hospital doors and headed for the counter where a blonde woman with her head down as she wrote was sitting.

"Excuse me..."

The woman looked up and blinked from Nathan to Adam and then glanced at Darla before giving a small smile.

"It's extremely early, but good morning."

Nathan nodded, swallowing and shifting his darling against him better before leaning closer to the woman. He quietly asked her what the procedure was for victims of sexual abuse. It stung his chest and heart to have to require that information, but held strong anyway.

The blonde woman blinked, frowning as she stood up slowly and glanced down at Darla. She looked up at the men and warily asked who the victim was. Nathan shifted Darla again, her head now resting on his shoulder, still sleeping away.

"My daughter," he motioned to the sleeping child in his arms.

The woman's eyes widened and she started scrambling about the closed in office space she occupied. She was gathering paperwork from one file cabinet with her desk phone wedged between her cheek and shoulder as the woman made a call asking in urgency for a specific doctor, find a room available, and a police officer.

Nathan and Adam waited patiently watching her move around quickly until she pushed through the short swinging door at the end of the counter and placed the paperwork she gathered in front of Nathan on the counter.

He handed Darla carefully over to Adam before leaning close and nodding to the instructions the woman was telling him. She was pointing at specific areas with a blue pen, highlighting areas requiring a parental signature, and then looked up at Nathan to inform him that it was part of the procedure, but that he and Adam would be questioned by the officer about the assault.