Daddy's Pet

4. Aiden

4

AIDEN

FOUR HOURS LATERI insisted that Scarlett have someone stay with her and follow Doctor Bakshi’s orders. He released Scarlett, saying there were no signs of a serious head injury. Scarlett called her friend Roxy who agreed to come over and stay with her to ensure that she remained alert, moved normally, and was responsive.

I had a few ideas in mind to get Scarlett to “respond” all right, but they weren’t fitting for a baby girl recently conked on the head by a creature twelve times her size. Roxy arrived, and tucked Scarlett into bed with a cup of tea, and walked back out to the kitchen where I hovered at the counter.

“Mind if I stop by a time or two and see how she’s doing?”

Roxy raised her eyebrows and gave me a crooked smile. The next couple days it would be her job to watch for her headache, confusion, nausea, dizziness, and excessive fatigue. I was having a hard time leaving and entrusting Scarlett to someone else’s care. “Will you stay in her room so you can hear if anything is amiss?”

She nudged me, “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her and make sure she isn’t sleeping too much over the next couple of days. If she has symptoms of any kind, I’ll take her to the hospital. I might be tiny, but I’m hard to refuse. She doesn’t stand a chance against me.”

My body was rebelling. After an interminable day, my Friday, I wanted nothing more than to hit the mattress, but my protective side had other ideas. “Will you call me if anything goes wrong?” I rubbed my face several times and looked into Roxy’s eyes, trying to impart the seriousness of the matter.

Roxy’s eyes were squinting back at me, “I promise. I’ll make sure she’s okay, and if anything happens, I promise to call. Now, if you don’t mind, it’s getting late and pregnant people need a lot of sleep.” She patted her belly for emphasis.

“Sorry,” I felt the grittiness behind my eyelids, “I don’t know why I’m finding it so hard to leave. I’m just worried about her, I guess. Seeing her like that, lying on the barn floor…”

Roxy kindly patted me on the shoulder, “No need to explain. Scarlett’s special. She tends to get under your skin.”

It was an odd thing to say, coming from a friend. But I realized she was absolutely right. The girl had gotten under my skin.