“Lindsey?” Hannah said as she walked toward them.
“She’s fine,” Dr. Benton said, then went on to tell the child’s joyful mother what she could expect over the next few hours.
Leaving them to talk, David excused himself and headed to check on his own son.
Sarah stood as soon as he opened the door. He saw the empty breakfast tray across the room and then his son sleeping soundly and he relaxed. Davey was a picky eater when he was sick, but by the empty tray it looked like he was feeling better.
“Lindsey?” Sarah asked.
“She’s in recovery,” he said, then looked down at the paper she was clutching in her hand. Were those tears in her eyes?
“Are you okay?” he asked as he moved closer, then stopped when she moved back from him. “What’s wrong?”
“I received a note from Davey’s heart recipient,” she said, then wiped at her eyes.
“It wasn’t the one I sent?” he said. Knowing that a part of her had been hoping that it had been.
“No, his name is Joshua and he has blue eyes,” Sarah said, then sobbed again. Looking around for the standard cardboard box of tissues that was expected in a hospital room, he found one sitting beside Davey’s bed.
“Why are you crying?” asked Davey from the bed. “Did Daddy hurt your feelings?”
“No, your daddy didn’t do anything, sweetheart. I just got some news is all,” Sarah said as she walked over to where his son lay. He was hit by the perfect picture they made together. With their dark heads bent together the two of them could pass as mother and son.
“I’m sorry you got some sad news,” Davey said, as he looked up at her.
“It’s not sad news,” Sarah told him, “It’s just not what I was expecting. It was actually a nice note from a very nice lady. And now that your daddy is back I’m going to run and check on some of the other patients on the floor while you tell your daddy about all the rules of taking a horse we discussed earlier.”
David watched as Sarah slipped out of the door before he could think of anything to say to get her to stay.
“Are you sure you didn’t do anything to make Sarah cry?” his son asked.
He started to deny that he had said anything that could have hurt her feelings, but he couldn’t. He’d told her in the most painful way that he didn’t have a place in his life for her because he had to put Davey first. He’d expected her to accept that things were just too complicated in his life for her. To understand that life with him and Davey would always be complicated. He’d thought she’d leave and not look back, but instead she’d shown up here today and entertained his son so that he could attend a surgery that she knew he’d want to be part of. Sarah was like no other woman he had met and yet he had sent her away. What kind of fool did that make him?
“I don’t know, Davey, but if I did I promise I’ll apologize,” he told his son, then decided it would be best to change the subject. “Tell me what you were doing while I was gone.”
“Sarah told me that what I did when I took Humphrey and left without telling Mr. Jack was wrong and that if I ever do anything like that again I won’t get to ride any of the horses,” Davey said.
“She’s right. What you did was wrong,” David said as he took a seat beside his son’s bed. “You had a lot of people worried about you.”
“I think Sarah would be a very good mother. She used to have a little boy, Mr. Jack said, but he had to go to heaven.”
“I’m sure Sarah would be a good mother,” David said.
“Good, ’cause I think it would be a good thing if you got me a mother,” Davey said, then reached for the remote that operated the television.
David didn’t know what to say to Davey’s announcement. Davey had never said anything before about a mother and he had always assumed that he had accepted that it would always be just him and his father, but apparently he had been wrong. He had more than just himself to think about. Even right then he was being torn between wanting to go check on Sarah and wanting to stay with Davey.
He’d promised his son that he would always take care of him.
And you also promised your son that the two of you would live every day you were given to the fullest. But instead of going out there and doing what you want, you’re sitting here, hiding behind your son and living a life of solitude.
Was that what he was doing? Using the excuse of his son needing him to keep himself from getting hurt again like he had been hurt by Lisa? Sarah had been right about living a life alone. That wasn’t what he really wanted. He’d been so set on taking care of Davey that he’d isolated the two of them. It wasn’t until he had come here and met Sarah that he had opened himself up to anyone else. He had to decide whether he wanted to isolate him and Davey for the rest of their lives or if he wanted to take that leap of faith and learn to trust others. One thing for sure, he wanted Sarah. His heart hadn’t been the same since she had walked away from him the day before and he needed to put away his pride and admit that he needed her.
Picking up the phone, he reached out and asked for help, something that earlier that day he’d have sworn he would never do.
David had looked everywhere for Sarah. He’d checked Lindsey’s room, but saw only Hannah at her daughter’s bedside. Next he’d checked with the other nurses but no one seemed to have seen her. Then it hit him. He
