“No. He doesn’t need an ambulance. It isn’t that kind of sick. He just needs you, Eva. I’m taking him to the County Hospital for a procedure. He doesn’t want you to know but I found him today bent over and he was… He was throwing up… He was throwing up blood, Eva.”

It was if my heart stopped. Throwing up blood? That wasn’t normal. Oh God that was so not normal. Tears filled my eyes as started the engine to my Jeep and pulled out onto the road. “When are you leaving for the hospital?” I asked anxiously. I needed to get to my dad. “He needs to go now,” I snapped.

“He’s changing his clothes right now. I’m outside waiting on him then we are headed that way.”

“Go inside with him, Jer. Please. Go inside with him,” I couldn’t keep the sobbing in. “Don’t leave him alone. I’ll meet you at the hospital. Hurry Jeremy. Hurry, please,” I begged.

“Drive careful. I’m going inside to check on him now. I got him, Eva. Just meet us there. We will figure this out. I swear we will.”

Jeremy’s words didn’t ease the fear clawing at me. My daddy, my big strong invincible daddy was throwing up blood. What did that even mean? Why would someone throw up blood?

I couldn’t fall apart. I had to be strong. I had to show him that I believed he was going to fine. If he saw me cry he’d worry about me. He didn’t need to be worrying over me. Swallowing the sob in my throat I took several deep breaths.

I was going to have to tell Cage. He would be looking for me. I dialed his number and waited. It rang twice.

“Hey, baby,” he drawled. The ease and happiness in his voice only made the tears burn my eyes.

“I’m headed to the hospital. Daddy’s sick. Jeremy called me. I have to go,” I managed to get out with only a few small sobs.

“Where are you? I can drive you. You don’t need to be driving upset.” I could tell he was moving. Probably running for his car. I couldn’t wait on him. I loved him for wanting to come with me but I couldn’t wait.

“I’ve already left. I have to get there. I can’t wait. He’s throwing up blood. He,” I hiccupped, “he was going to the doctor today anyway for a procedure. Something is wrong with him and he hasn’t told me. That can’t be good. I can’t lose my daddy, Cage. I can’t.” I was freely sobbing now.

“I know, baby. He’s gonna be okay. We gotta believe he’s gonna be okay. Please pull over and let me come get you. Driving like this is dangerous. I need you to calm down. Okay, please, please calm down and pull over.” The panicked pleading in his voice was hard to ignore. But I had to get to my daddy. I couldn’t do this for him.

I fought back the tears again. “I’m okay. I am. I can’t stop. I can’t I need to get there.”

Cage swore under his breath. “What hospital?”

“County Hospital,” I replied.

“I’m on my way. Be careful. For me and your daddy be careful,” he begged.

“I will. I promise,” I assured him.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. Always,” I replied then hung up. Gripping the wheel with both hands I focused on getting to the hospital then I started to pray.

*

I was pacing the entrance to the hospital when I saw Jeremy’s truck pull into the parking lot. I wasn’t sure if he’d told Daddy I was going to be here or not. Either way he was going to fuss. He didn’t want me to know about this obviously.

I waited on them to get to the door before stepping forward to greet them. Daddy’s pinched frown at seeing me wasn’t one of surprise. Jeremy had told him I was going to be here. Good.

“Stubborn boy wasn’t supposed to call you. I was gonna talk to you before you left. I just wanted to wait until you had your new life ahead of you before and were ready to move on before I explained all this,” Daddy said. His voice still sounded as strong and rumbly as always. My fear eased some at the reminder he was alive and he didn’t look like he had been throwing up. Except the circles under his eyes weren’t normal and the pale color of his skin wasn’t that noticeable but it was there.

“I can’t believe you were waiting to tell me you were sick. I could have been the one to take you to the hospital. You don’t have to be sick alone,” I said walking up to him and wrapping my arms around his waist to hug him. I needed to smell his aftershave and the feel his strong body. All the thoughts that had played out in my head on the way here had messed with me. I was afraid I was losing him. But he was here and we were going to get him fixed.

“We need to get him to the third floor. His appointment is in ten minutes,” Jeremy said. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d gotten here. The haunted look in his eyes bothered me. He knew something. Or maybe I was imagining it. I grabbed Daddy’s hand and we walked to the elevator.

“I was coming over tomorrow and I was leaving on the next day. Were you gonna wait until tomorrow to tell me? That was a bad plan,” I informed him pressing the three when we got into the elevator. I didn’t look at Jeremy. The look in his eyes was scaring me. I couldn’t look at him. I had to focus on how my dad was alive. He was fine.

“I didn’t want you to have time to back out of leaving. It’s what you want. I think it’s what is best for you right now.”

My dad thought me running off to another state with Cage York was what was best for me. Did he have a fever? Was this a bad case of pneumonia?

Before I could ask him about that the door opened and we walked out of the elevator. The first thing I saw was a woman standing there with a bandanna around her head. She was bald. I could tell that much. She didn’t even have eyebrows. Her skin was a sickly color but she smiled at me when our eyes met then she walked past me and got in the elevator. I followed Daddy but I could feel Jeremy’s eyes on me. I wasn’t going to look at him. Even if he wanted me to. Then a couple came by us and this man was bald too but he wasn’t covering his head. He was also in a wheel chair and I realized his leg was missing. Glancing up I saw the lady pushing his wheel chair toward the elevator. Two bald people… I stopped. I didn’t look to see where Dad was going. Instead I slowly scanned my surroundings. They were all the same. Each one of them. Maybe they were all in different stages but they all had a sickly pallor to their skin. And they were all bald. I reached over and grabbed the closest thing I could find. It was Jeremy’s arm.

At some point he’d walked over to me. He had expected me to figure it out. He had known where we were going. It was hard to take deep breaths. Everything started to get blurry. Jeremy’s arm came around me and he was talking to me. I didn’t understand what he was saying but from the tone of his voice he was trying to ease my mind. That wasn’t possible. I knew where we were. I knew why my daddy had been throwing up blood. The cool hard plastic of a chair touched my back as Jeremy eased me down into the seat.

“Breathe, Eva. Take slow even breaths,” he encouraged. I understood that. So that’s what I did. I focused on breathing. I didn’t think about where we were.

“He’s gonna need you to be strong. When he isn’t around you can scream and cry and let it all out. Completely break down and I’ll be there to help you but when he’s around you gotta be strong. You hear me, Eva. He needs that from you,” Jeremy’s words confirmed my worst fear.

I lifted my eyes and looked at Jeremy’s worried face. “How bad is it?” I asked.

The sorrow etched in his face answered for him. “You need to let him talk to you. But right now get it together. He’s going to need you to be strong.”

I looked around and my eyes were once again focused. “Where is he?” I asked.

The nurse saw your face when you realized where we were. She saw me take you and she got your dad’s attention while I dealt with you but he’s gonna realize you’re gone any minute. You gotta be strong here. For him.”

He was right. I had to keep it together. I didn’t know everything. People were cured from this all the time. I didn’t even know the specifics. I was cracking without even talking to my dad about it. He was perfectly fine. He had his hair. Why that made me feel better I don’t know but it did.