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THE SINGLE DAD 75
Twenty-TwoSydneyI opened the backseat door of Ford’s SUV and said to Everly, “Jump in, my little muffin.”She climbed into her high-back booster seat and got settled. “Syd, I’m pooped.”I laughed, adjusting her placement and securing her in, locking the seat belts in place. “That makes two of us, girlie.” I checked to make sure it was all tight. “Comfy?”“Yep.” She yawned, and once Ford joined us in the doorway, she added, “Daddy, that hike was haaard.”“I was trying to tire you out. Did it work?”I knocked him on the shoulder—for Everly and for me. “It worked. We’re exhausted.”“Exhauuusted,” Everly echoed.I shut the door and giggled to Ford. “That kid,” I said before I went over to the other side of the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat.Ford started up the car and pulled out of the lot. “Are we stopping for ice cream? Or are my girls too tired?”“Ice cream!”“We’re never too tired for that,” I told him.His hand went to my thigh, and I watched him look into the rearview m
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Her skin was pale, ghostly.She took in a breath, her lips slowly parting, her eyes filling. “Daddy …” The first tear dripped, followed by many more. “It hurts.” And then, “Help … Daddy.”“I can’t open”—Ford slammed his fist into the door, shaking the SUV—“the fucking door. Get me the fuck out of this car!”“You’re going to hurt yourself even worse,” I cried out to him.“I don’t give a fuck. I need to get to my daughter.”“I’m climbing back there right now.” I slid through the small opening between our seats and landed on the seat beside Everly’s. “Tell me where it hurts.” I gently touched one leg and said, “Here?”She didn’t answer.She just looked at me, confusion filling her eyes.“How about here—”“Ow!” she shouted when I reached her belly.“What’s going on, Sydney?! Tell me what’s wrong!”I lifted her shirt; a large bruise was forming on her abdomen.“Oh God, Ford, there’s a bruise on her side.”What does that mean?I touched her forehead.She was sweaty.Not like when she’d been
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“Your arm—”“It’s fine, Sydney.”“It’s not fine,” a woman said, stopping us before we even took a step. Her uniform told me she was also a paramedic. She held his arm with gloved hands. “It’s definitely broken.”He pulled his arm away from her and said, “I need to be with my daughter.”“Then, I’ll look at it when we get in the ambulance.” Her gaze moved over to me. “Were you in the car with them?”I nodded. “Yes.”“Do you need to get checked out as well?”“No, I’m okay.”“You two, follow me,” she said.As I held Ford, we hurried behind the paramedic, weaving around the people who had pulled over to watch or help along with the firemen and police.When we arrived at the back of the ambulance, a paramedic was standing there, gripping the doors.He asked, “Who’s going with her?”“I am,” Ford replied. He looked at me. “Meet us at the hospital.”The hospital.I tried to find my breath, my chest pounding. “How? What hospital?”“Cedars-Sinai,” the paramedic replied.He helped Ford into the b
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Ford was walking in.His arm in a sling, a bandage on his forehead, another on his neck.I threw my arms around him. “You’re okay.” I pressed my cheek against his chest. “Thank God you’re okay.” I finally pulled my head back and reached up to his face, holding it, taking him all in. “How is she?”He wrapped his uninjured arm around me and said nothing for a few seconds. “I don’t know. They took her somewhere, and they won’t tell me anything.”“I called your mom. She’s on her way here. She’s going to get in touch with your brothers.”Silence built between us as we stared at each other.An aching quietness that I felt in my gut.“That car”—his head dropped, his hand rubbing across the top of his hair—“it came out of fucking nowhere. I didn’t have time. I couldn’t …”“Ford”—I gripped his good arm, shaking him, making him look at me—“this isn’t your fault.”“But she’s back there. All by her-fucking-self. And she’s hurt. And that’s my fucking fault.”“No, it’s not, do you hear me?” I squee
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I continued looking at the nurse, ignoring my father as I tried again to say, “I’m happy to give AB, but I know that won’t be of any help.”She shook her head. “It won’t.”“I can donate,” Sydney said from behind me.I turned to face her as she was pushing herself off the wall, walking toward the nurse and me.“I happen to be O positive,” she added.I glanced at the nurse as she asked, “Are you all right with this? Her blood will be tested before it’s given to Everly.”“Yes,” I replied. “Of course.”The nurse held the door open a little wider and voiced, “Please come with me,” to Sydney.As they disappeared and the door shut, I felt everyone’s eyes on me.Still, I didn’t worry about them.They weren’t important at the moment.I needed my baby out of surgery.I needed her safely in my arms.Where she belonged.I didn’t know what her recovery was going to look like, how long it would take her to heal, but I knew I wasn’t going to leave her side until she was back to being the little girl
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“So, she devised a plan,” Dominick said.I looked at my oldest brother and nodded. “Once she found out she was pregnant”—I lifted my uninjured arm, pressing my palm onto the top of my head—“I was the lucky guy who walked into the bar at just the right time.”“You’re well dressed,” Jenner said. “You opened a tab with a black card. She asked a few questions, found out you’re a lawyer, where you live—she had her man.” He shook his head. “She probably got you so drunk that you wouldn’t remember if you’d put on a condom.”That was the way he saw it.Probably the way all of them did.Not me.I wasn’t the sucker who’d walked into the bar that night.I was the man who’d eventually become Everly’s father.I didn’t care that I’d gotten hustled.I didn’t care that I’d gotten lied to.She wasn’t a fucking burden.She was the biggest blessing of my life.I looked at Sydney, who hadn’t known any of this. Who had apologized endlessly for lying when there was something I was holding back from her.So
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There were pads stuck to her chest, machines beeping as they monitored her, a needle taped to the crease of her elbow, which was attached to a full IV stand.My baby.She was so tiny in the bed, her head so small as it sank into the pillow.I looked at the nurse as she said, “She’s going to be a bit out of it from the anesthesia. Don’t worry; we’ve got all eyes on her, and we’ll be handling her pain.”I thanked her and moved to Everly’s side, sitting on the bed next to her. I pressed my lips against her forehead, my eyes closing as I breathed her in. “My princess. I love you so much.”As I pulled my mouth away, her eyes fluttered open.And as she stared at me, I saw the recognition in her eyes.“Daddy … where am I?”I held back the emotion—she didn’t need to see that—and kissed her cheek. “We were in a car accident, and the doctors had to fix you up, but you’re going to be okay, baby girl.” I held her hand and brought it up to my face. Her skin, usually so warm, was cold, the scent no
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And then there was the poor old man who had fallen asleep behind the wheel—the cause for all of this.Nothing premeditated, nothing malicious.Just an unfortunate mishap that could have happened to any of us.But it’d resulted in something we would never forget.“I do have my hands full,” I finally replied. “But as long as I can see them both and be with them, that’s all that matters.”“Syd …”I continued to stare at my reflection, pulling the towel tighter around me. “Yes?”“Are you okay? I feel like no one’s asked you that question, nor have you even taken the time to think about what your answer would be. You’ve just been so focused on Eve and Ford.”I’d been in this bathroom for almost twenty minutes, making myself smell better than I had in days, and I hadn’t thought once about whether I was okay.I hadn’t even thought about myself.I’d thought about Ford and Eve.If they needed anything while I was gone.What I would do for them once I returned.“I don’t know,” I answered. “I th
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