She frowned. Was his head injury worse than she thought? Hadn’t she already told him that his daughter was being cared for? “Merry and Dr. Allen are taking good care of Lexi, remember? Does your back hurt anywhere? I need you to be honest with me, because if you have a cracked spine that goes undiagnosed, you could become paralyzed.”
He opened his eyes and glared at her, but she refused to back down. She couldn’t understand why he was downplaying his injuries. “No, my back doesn’t hurt. My neck is sore, and my head hurts a bit, too. The right side of my chest feels like it’s on fire, but nothing hurts as much as listening to Lexi cry.”
She smiled gently, feeling bad for him. She could only imagine how difficult it would be to stay on a gurney if her niece had been injured. “I know, and I’m sorry. But the best thing you can do for your daughter is to make sure you’re all right. She needs you.”
“I’m fine, nothing a little aspirin won’t cure. Bruised and battered from the airbag and the crash, but fine.”
There was no point in arguing. She glanced over at the next gurney, where Gabe and Merry where in deep conversation.
“I don’t see any sign of serious injury,” she heard Merry saying to Gabe. “The paramedics believe she was likely in a proper booster seat in the back on the passenger side, opposite from the point of impact. When they arrived, they found her out of the seat and clinging to her father. Apparently, they had a heck of a time getting her away from him, and they had to give her a mild dose of Versed to get her onto the gurney. She’s probably fine, but we should get a chest and abdominal CT scan, just to be sure there is no internal bleeding from the straps of her car seat.”
Julie waited until Merry finished. “Since they both need CT scans, I should take them down the hall to radiology together. I think Lexi will be calmer if she can be with her father.”
“She can’t go into the scanner with him,” Gabe pointed out with a frown.
“No, but I could sit with her in the viewing room, behind the lead glass,” she argued. “And once Lexi sees her father going through the scanner, maybe she’ll cooperate when it’s her turn.”
Gabe and Merry looked at each other and shrugged. “Fine with me,” Gabe finally agreed.
Satisfied, Julie waited for Gabe to finish his exam of Derek and then entered the necessary radiology orders for both patients into their respective charts.
She made the arrangements and then quietly told Derek the plan. “I’m going to put Lexi in a wheelchair and have her sit with me in the viewing room to watch you go through the scanner first. The machine makes some loud noises, which can be scary. I want to reassure her it doesn’t hurt.”
His expression was guarded. “Are you sure she’s well enough to sit in a wheelchair?”
His protectiveness for his daughter made her smile. “Amazingly, Lexi doesn’t seem to have any injuries at all,” she assured him. “But we’d like to get a body scan just in case there’s some internal bleeding. Kids aren’t always good about being specific with their aches and pains. Or maybe she gets that streak of stubbornness from you.”
For a moment, a flicker of grim amusement flashed in his eyes in response to her gentle teasing, and he subtly relaxed. “All right,” he agreed. “If you think it will help. Can I talk to her while I’m in there?”
“Not while they’re scanning. You’ll need to stay still and hold your breath when they tell you to. You can talk to her before and after, though.”
“Okay.” He lifted his hand and gingerly rubbed the right side of his chest.
“Show me exactly where it hurts,” she said, noticing the gesture.
The stubborn look came back into his eyes, and she feared he was going to deny any pain at all, but he gently fingered the area where his lowest ribs were. “Right here, mostly. You were probably right about the cracked ribs.”
“Maybe. Or you could have some damage to the lower lobe of your lung or damage to your spleen.” She figured blunt honesty was best, so he would understand the seriousness of his situation. “Your breath sounds were a bit diminished on the right side, but the CT scan will tell us everything we need to know.”
He reached out to grasp her wrist again. “If they have to take me to surgery, I need you to promise you’ll look after Lexi.”
Stunned, she gaped at him. Look after Lexi? What on earth did he mean? “Is there someone I can call for you? Her mother? Grandparents? Friends?”
“There’s no one to call,” he said flatly. “Lexi and I are on our own.”
She swallowed hard and nodded, desperate to reassure him. “All right, but try not to worry. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
He didn’t let it go. “Promise me. If something happens, I want you to look after her. Don’t let strangers take her away. Promise!”
____________
Derek knew he probably sounded like a lunatic, but he didn’t care. The pain along the right side of his chest was bad, far worse than he’d let on, and after what the petite brunette nurse had said about the possible damage to his lung, he was very much afraid that, once they’d completed the scan, they’d whisk him off to surgery.
He’d downplayed his injuries because he didn’t want to stay overnight in the hospital, unless, of course, Lexi needed to be observed. No matter what, he was not going to leave his daughter. Lexi had already been through so much, more than any six-year-old should have to handle. With her mother dead and buried, she needed him now, more than ever.
If only he’d stopped for something to eat earlier, he wouldn’t have been driving through the intersection at the same moment as the idiot who’d run a red light, slamming into them.
“Daddy?”
He turned his head, hiding a wince, to look at his daughter. True to her word, the pretty nurse—what in the world was her name?—had gotten Lexi into a wheelchair and brought her over to the side of his gurney. He forced a broad, reassuring smile. “Hey Lexi, how are you feeling?”
Her solemn gaze didn’t waver from his. “Fine,” she whispered. “Can we leave now?”
If only they could. He’d been all set to leave without the scans until the nurse had mentioned the possibility of a cracked spine. At this point, he needed to know exactly what he was dealing with. Besides, he needed to be sure Lexi was all right, and if that meant getting a scan first, so his daughter could see it wouldn’t hurt, then that’s exactly what he’d do. He held his daughter’s gaze, holding his smile in place. “Afraid not, baby-doll, first we have to get checked out by the kitty-cat machine.” Lexi wasn’t easily distracted, especially when she wanted something. But that didn’t stop him from trying.
“I don’t want to stay here.” Lexi’s eyes, blue like his, revealed a hint of fear. “It’s scary.”
The pretty nurse, he couldn’t read her name on her ID badge because his vision was blurry, another tidbit he hadn’t fessed up to, came over. “Lexi, we need to make sure your daddy’s not seriously hurt. So we’re going to take him for a CT scan, but you can watch from behind the glass the whole time, all right?”
Lexi barely spared the nurse a glance. He wanted to apologize for his daughter’s behavior, but there was no point, since Lexi had no idea she was being rude.
“Okay, let’s go,” the woman said in a cheerful voice. She went behind Lexi’s wheelchair to push her forward, while his gurney was maneuvered by a tall guy who was likely some sort of orderly. When the gurney went over a bump, he had to clench his teeth against a surge of pain. He focused on the nurse, who was talking to Lexi.
“We’ll be finished with these scans in a half hour, Lexi,” she was saying in that same cheery tone. “See the clock on the wall up there? It’s seven o’clock in the evening. Do you know how to tell time?”
Derek was surprised when Lexi’s head moved in a barely discernible nod. His daughter was listening, even if she didn’t appear to be paying attention.
“The big hand is on the twelve, and we’ll be all finished before the big hand gets down to the six.”
