Chapter 3: The Bright Lights of the ER
“I need help!” I roared, the sliding doors barely parting fast enough as I burst into the triage area. “She’s not breathing right! I need a doctor!”
The sterile, fluorescent-lit room erupted into controlled chaos. A nurse materialized with a gurney in seconds.
“How old?” she demanded, her hands already moving over Elsie’s tiny frame.
“Three,” I choked out, running alongside the gurney. “Massive fever. Barely responsive. They’ve been home alone. I don’t know for how long.”
The nurse’s eyes snapped up to mine, a hard, sharp judgment flashing in her pupils before she masked it with clinical detachment. “We’re taking her to Trauma One. Stay here.”
They crashed through double doors, leaving me stranded in the harsh hallway. I looked down. Micah was gripping my pant leg so tightly his knuckles were white, his whole body vibrating like a plucked string.
I dropped to my knees, right there on the linoleum, ignoring the stares of the waiting room. I pulled him tight against my chest. “They’re fixing her, buddy. I’m not going anywhere. I swear to you, I am right here.”
“She’s gonna wake up, right?” he pleaded, his voice cracking.
I had never made a promise with less certainty, but I injected every ounce of authority I possessed into my voice. “Yes. She’s going to be fine.”
The next two hours were a waking nightmare. I paced the floor, gave my insurance information, and then found myself sitting in a cramped, windowless office with a hospital social worker. Her name was Sarah, a composed woman with silver-rimmed glasses and a notepad balanced on her knee.
I told her everything. The custody arrangement. Delaney’s text about the lake house. The empty kitchen. The crust in the cup.
“Do you have any idea where their mother is?” Sarah asked, her pen pausing.
“No,” I said flatly, the anger finally beginning to overtake the panic. “I haven’t heard her voice since Friday. She lied to me.”
“Are you prepared to take temporary full, emergency custody of both children while the state investigates this neglect?”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “I will burn the world down before I let them go back to that house.”
Before Sarah could reply, a doctor tapped on the glass door and stepped in. He looked exhausted, but the tight lines around his mouth had softened. “Mr. Mercer? Elsie is stable.”
I dropped my head into my hands, a jagged breath tearing out of my lungs.
“She was severely dehydrated and battling a nasty gastrointestinal infection,” the doctor explained. “It escalated rapidly because her body had no fuel to fight it. We’ve got her on aggressive IV fluids and broad-spectrum antibiotics. She’s sleeping naturally now. You got her here just in time.”
I nodded, unable to speak. I walked back to Micah, who was gnawing on a graham cracker a nurse had given him. “She’s okay,” I whispered to him.
He slumped against me, the tension finally leaving his tiny frame.
Just as I let myself believe the worst was over, the charge nurse approached me. Her face was unreadable. “Mr. Mercer? Can you step out here for a moment?”
I followed her into the hallway.
“We ran a routine family notification trace,” she said softly. “Another hospital flagged the mother’s information. Your ex-wife was admitted to Nashville General very early Saturday morning.”
My blood ran cold. “Admitted? For what?”
“She was in a severe car accident,” the nurse said. “She came in as a Jane Doe. Unconscious. The man driving the vehicle fled the scene on foot before paramedics arrived.”
I Adopted a Little Girl After a Fatal Accident—13 Years Later, My Girlfriend Showed Me Her Phone… and My World Stopped 1
I Adopted a Little Girl After a Fatal Accident—13 Years Later, My Girlfriend Showed Me Her Phone… and My World Stopped 2
My mother pushed me into the freezing rain, and my sister threw my suitcase after me, sneering that I’d lost Dad’s estate by marrying a poor mechanic. But when three black SUVs arrived and my husband stepped out in a tailored suit, their confidence disappeared instantly. 1
My mother pushed me into the freezing rain, and my sister threw my suitcase after me, sneering that I’d lost Dad’s estate by marrying a poor mechanic. But when three black SUVs arrived and my husband stepped out in a tailored suit, their confidence disappeared instantly. 2
I Married a Stranger from a Hospital Waiting Room So He Wouldn’t Pass Away Alone – After Our One-Week Marriage, His Lawyer Handed Me His Backpack 1
