For My Daughter - Kane Brown
3 years later...
"Daddy!" Charlie's little voice echoed towards me as I hopped off the ice. She clapped her hands, wiggling herself out of my mom's grasp. She ran over to me as I kneeled down, embracing her in my arms.
"Hi munchkin, I missed you." She grabs my face, planting a kiss on my lips.
"Pizza?" She asks.
"Sure, baby." I say and she claps.
"I can take her while you go change and shower." My mom offers, putting her hands out.
"Thanks." I say, smiling appreciatively. "Time to go back to Mamaw." I say going to pass her back over.
"No!" She yells, her face turning red.
"Hey. No, we don't yell." I scold her and she starts crying.
"Just go, I got her." My mom says, practically forcing her out of my arms.
I quickly head to the locker room, ripping off my gear, showering, and changing.
"Hey man, tell me how her appointment goes." James Rennard, my best friend, says, patting me on the back on his way out.
"Will do." I say, shortly following after him.
I walk out, seeing my mom holding Charlie's in her arms, talking and laughing. Charlie sees me and instantly reaches for me. "Hi baby." I say, kissing her cheek. "Ready to go?" I ask and she nods.
"Alright, thanks Mom. I love you. I'll talk to you later." I say, kissing her on the cheek.
"Bye Mamaw." Charlie's says, waving.
"Bye Sweetie, I love you."
"I watch PJ!" She exclaims, referring to PJ Masks.
"You did? Without me?!" I pinch her cheeks, making her laugh loudly, throwing her head back. Her dimples showing on both cheeks.
I am happy to say, she doesn't resemble her mother all that much. Thank God.
"Sorry!" She says, smiling at me.
"You little stinker!" I say, tickling her side. She lets out a big belly laugh.
"Daddy! Stop it!"
I stop, my mood changing to serious. "Okay Charlie, remember what we talked about earlier this morning?" I ask and she nods. "I'll be right there the whole time, you have to let the doctors do their job." I say and she just nods again.
"Understand me?" My voice was gentle but stern.
Once the toddler era began, I quickly learned that yelling did nothing but stress both of us out. A more gentle and calm but stern approach worked best, for the both of us.
"Yes Daddy." She says quietly, resting her head on my shoulder as I walk through the double doors of the arena. The 10 A.M. autumn weather hitting me in the face.
"Can we watch Elsa?"
"Yeah baby." I say, kissing her forehead. "We can watch whatever you want."
*
"Daddy! I forgot my blanky!" She says, tugging my hand back. I sigh, turning around as we make our way back to the car. At least we didn't make it all the way inside before she remembered this time.
I unlock the SUV, opening the back driver side door to retrieve the fluffy pink blanket. "Here baby." I say as she grabs ahold of it. I scoop her up in my arms as we make our way inside.
The scent of hand sanitizer and antiseptic immediately hit my nose as we made our way up to the Cancer Treatment floor. "Will I get a sucker?" Charlie asks as we step into the elevator.
"Maybe." I say, and she nods, resting her head on my shoulder. "Are you scared?"
All she does is nod. I stroke my hand over the top of her head, kissing her forehead. "You're going to do great." I reassure her, squeezing her leg.
"I love you Daddy." She whispers and my heart melts just a little bit.
"I love you too, munchkin." I say as the elevator dings and I step out.
We make our way to the front desk and check in before sitting down on the waiting area.
"iPad?" Charlie asks, looking up at me.
"It's in the backpack." I say and she slides off my lap, unzipping the top zipper. She pulls out an iPad in a pink case and climbs back onto my lap. She opens Disney+ and clicks on The Princess and the Frog, a movie that's in our usual watch rotation.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah Sis?"
"Why don't you have a princess?" She asks, looking up at me.
"Well for one, I'm not a prince." I chuckle.
"You should be." She says, shoving a fruit snack in her mouth.
"Thanks munchkin." I say, kissing her cheek.
"Charlotte." A female voice echoes throughout the waiting room.
"You ready?" I ask and she nods.
I stand up with her in my arms, holding the backpack with one hand as she holds the iPad.
We follow the nurse to the back and she weighs her and everything before we're taken to a room and she's put in a little hospital gown. "The doctors will be in shortly." The nurse says on her way out.
"Thank you."
Charlie sits on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs back and forth. Her light brown hair was up in a bun, thanks to my mom, and there are some pieces that fell out, because they were too short, hanging in front of her face. Not to mention how frizzy her hair was from playing at the park this morning.
She looks down at her iPad, her heels hitting the plastic part of the bed as she swung her legs rhythmically. She looked adorable, as usual.
Only about ten minutes pass before we hear a knock on the door and in walks, what I'm guessing, is two doctors. One female, one male. "Hi!" The female, who I'm guessing is Doctor Simmons, greets, putting her hand out towards me. I stand up, shaking it, "I'm Dr. Olivia Simmons, and this is Dr. Colton Bennet". I turn to him, shaking his hand also.
"Christian Brooks." I say firmly. "This is Charlotte." I say turning to her on the bed.
"Charlie." She corrects, smiling up at them.
Dr. Simmons sits on the bed next to her, "Hi Charlie, I'm Dr. Simmons, but you can call me Olivia, if you want."
"Hi Olivia." She says quietly.
"This is Dr. Bennett. We're gonna be doing some tests on you today. Is that okay?"
Charlie nods, "If you pay attention, and do everything you're supposed to, there might be some treats waiting for you when we're all done." Dr. Bennett says.
"A sucker?"
"Better than a sucker." He says, smiling over at her.
"Now, another Doctor, who I think you're gonna like a lot, is gonna come in and give you some shots." Charlie's eyes widen. "Don't worry, Dad is gonna be with you the whole time, and Dr. Cameron is really fun!" Dr. Simmons explains.
"Okay, we'll see you in a little bit, okay?" Dr. Bennett says as Dr. Simmons stands up.
"Bye." She says, waving at them.
"Thank you." I say and they both nod before closing the door.
"Is it gonna hurt?" Charlie asks with sad eyes.
"It'll be like a little pinch." I say and she sighs. I reach over, pinching her arm and she laughs. "See, that didn't hurt, did it?"
"No!" She says before a knock comes through the door and it opens.
In walks an average height, curvy brunette. Her hair was pulled back in a low bun with a few strands sticking out, and she had bangs that went across her forehead.
Her eyes slightly widen as we make eye contact, "Christian Brooks?", she asks, her mouth barely gaped open. A thick southern accent filled her voice.
"That would be me." I say, reaching my hand out to shake her hand.
"You're in major enemy territory right now." She says, a playful smile on her lips.
"Hockey fan?"
"Huge."
Word Count: 1,311