I was almost there when my feet skidded to a stop. Beatrice and her husband, Edgar, stood right outside. Her eyes locked on me, and a dark, furious expression crossed her face. She took a step toward me, holding up her hand like it would stop me.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Get out of my way, Beatrice,” I said, continuing down the hall toward her.
I didn’t care if I had to barrel through her. She wasn’t going to stop me from getting to my son. I was done letting this woman walk over me.
“You don’t have the right to be here. You aren’t needed,” she said. “Go to the waiting room, and I’ll have Grant come speak with you when he has the time.”
I stepped up to within inches of her and looked directly in her eyes, making sure she could see just how serious I was. “You are the one who doesn’t have the right to be here. Get out of my way right now, or I will move you out of my way. That is my child in there. Mine. I’m going in to see him right now, or you will have the police and my lawyer on your ass again. Is that what you want?”
Grant’s mother looked stunned. As much as I would have like to stand there and enjoy that look on her face a little bit longer, I needed to get into the room with Remy. I still didn’t know what happened or what condition he was in. I walked around the Grant’s parents and burst into Remy’s room.
Grant was sitting in a chair next to the bed and stood when I got inside.
“Lindsey, I’m so glad you’re here.”
“What happened?” I asked. “Is he alright?”
Remy looked so tiny where he lay in bed, covered up by white hospital blankets with his head propped on a pillow from home.
“He fell off the back deck while he was playing,” Grant said. “The weather was really nice, and all he wanted to do was go out and play. I swear I turned away for just a second. I didn’t realize he could go that fast, and before I knew it, he was at the edge and scrambled up the bars on to the railing. I couldn’t get to him before he got startled and fell off. I didn’t know he could climb like that that. I had no idea he would even know how to crawl up on to it.”
“Of course he would know how to climb onto something,” I said. “He climbs up onto things all the time.”
“I know,” Grant said. “But this was nothing like the couch or his bed. It just didn’t go through my mind that he would climb onto something he didn’t even realize was there. I feel so stupid. He was right there, and I started toward him, but he fell. His leg is broken, and he sprained his arm. They have him pretty well medicated. It’s going to be okay, but I just…”
There was something different about Grant’s voice. I took a step closer to him, feeling less afraid. My son was hurt, and I hated that. But at least I knew it wasn’t a horrible accident or abuse. It wasn’t even neglect. It was just a fearless three-year-old who also happened to be blind.
“Thank you for calling me.”
He looked at me and his shoulders dropped. “He asked for you.”
“He did?” I asked.
“Yes. He started asking for you as soon as he got hurt. We got him here as fast as we could, and they started working on him. Mom told me I shouldn’t even call you.”
“There’s a shocker,” I said bitterly.
“But I did,” Grant said forcefully. “He didn’t calm down until I told him I would call his mommy and she would be here when he opened his eyes. I told my mother I was going to call you, no matter what she said.”
I didn’t know what to say to him. All I could do was nod before going over to the bed and sitting down in the chair where he been sitting. Scooting it closer to the edge of the bed, I took Remy’s hand and stroked the back of it with my thumb.
“I’m here,” I said softly. “Mommy’s here, baby. You’re going to be ok.”27VinceI’d been thinking about the weekend with Lindsey all day. It made it hard to concentrate at work, but I forced myself to focus on the tasks at hand so it would make the time go by faster. Knowing I was going to get so much time with her even made wrestling Frankie into his carrier worth it.
“You’re going to like it over at Lindsey’s house,” I had told him. “All new rooms for you to explore. She even said she might have some surprises waiting for you.”