Tessa's Wishes (Whispered Wishes #3) (3 page)

Tessa nodded, trying to act surprised that her daughter was sick. The truth was, Sophie hadn’t felt well that morning either. In her heart, Tessa knew she should have kept her home, but the reality was she couldn’t. The big Schilling meeting had been on tap for tomorrow, and even though she’d had the reports done correctly and on her boss’ desk way ahead of schedule,
the first time
, she had a feeling he’d find something to complain about.
He usually did.
All that aside, however, the reality was that she was out of personal days. Mr. Abbott wasn’t one of those bosses who just shrugged and said, “
Aw, your daughter’s sick? No problem, take the day off.
” Or even, “
Take the day, but I’m not paying you
.” No. He was one of those bosses who said, “
If you don’t show up, don’t bother coming back.
” The fact that she worked more than her share of hours this week was completely irrelevant. She really needed to find a new job.

Putting her hand to her daughter’s forehead, she felt the heat radiating off it before even making contact.
Crap.
There was no way she could send her to daycare tomorrow. But who would stay with her when she went to work? Ava had already gone above and beyond. Tessa didn’t feel right asking her for another favor. Holly was out of the question as she worked full-time, and her parents were away on a two-week cruise.
Damn you, Scott. You should be here sharing the responsibility.

“Are you hungry?” Ava asked. “I can give Sophie some medicine, and she can rest here for a bit longer. I’ve got chicken left over from dinner. Or, I can make some tea if you just want to unwind a little.”

Tessa was both stressed out and hungry. Starving, in fact. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, if you even wanted to call it that. Technically, she was supposed to get an hour lunch every day, but she rarely took one. Mr. Abbott usually scoffed at her if she left her desk to even use the restroom, let alone leave for lunch. Her afternoon
meal
generally consisted of stale coffee, a power bar, and an apple at her desk while her boss was out at one of his own fancy lunches—at which time, she wasn’t
allowed
to leave the office. God forbid she left the phones unattended, she’d never hear the end of it. Still, food was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

“Thanks, but I think I should get Sophie home. It’s been a long day.” Picking up the daycare bag, she slung it over her shoulder and gazed at her daughter. She looked so peaceful with thick dark lashes covering her closed eyes. Her breathing was calm, almost melodic, casting a spell over Tessa as she watched the dark curls turn into waves that framed her beautiful yet delicate features.

“Are you okay?” Ava asked, disturbing the trance. “Do you need help carrying her out to the car?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I just want to get her to bed.” Gently lifting her daughter up to her shoulder, Sophie clutched her doll and blanket even tighter as she nuzzled into Tessa’s neck. She stopped to savor the warmth of her daughter’s closeness. It brought her a comfort no man had ever been able to duplicate.  Her daughter may not have been planned, but Tessa couldn’t imagine a life without Sophie in it. “Thank you for picking her up, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“It’s never too much trouble.” Ava smiled at her. “Sophie’s family.”

Was that a look of understanding or pity?

“I hope she feels better. Will you call me tomorrow and let me know how she’s doing? I’m assuming you’ll keep her home?”

Looking at her sister, Tessa nodded and noted how carefully worded that last sentence was. It purposefully lacked an offer to help. She didn’t blame her sister. As much as Ava loved Sophie, she had her own two children to think about first. Keeping them healthy was most likely on the forefront of her mind.

“Yes. Hopefully my boss will be okay with me working from home. I mean, he’s just going to have to be.”
Either that, or I’ll be out of a job. Guess I’ll find out in the morning.
She tried to force a smile as she headed toward the door. Sophie moaned in her sleep as Tessa moved. “It’s okay, baby,” she soothed. “We’ll get you home and to bed in just a few minutes.”  As Tessa reached down to get her daughter’s coat off the couch, the bag on her shoulder slid down her arm, bumping Sophie in the leg.

“Mama, I hurts,” she whimpered softly waking up with tears starting to stream down her face.

“I know, sweetie. I’m sorry. Let’s go home and get you all better.”

Ava followed her sister out to her car and helped to get Sophie buckled safely into her seat, despite Tessa’s earlier protests that she didn’t need assistance. Sophie was back asleep with her blanket and doll secure in her arms within seconds.

“Promise to call me tomorrow, okay?” Ava asked, eyes full of worry.

“I will, promise.” Sliding into the front seat, Tessa checked behind her to make sure her daughter still looked comfortable before starting up the ignition.

Chapter 5

Twenty minutes after Tessa finally fell asleep, the crying started. It wasn’t full-blown screaming, like when Sophie was having a nightmare, it was more of a constant sob, mixed in with a horrible wheezing sound … and it didn’t sound right. A mother’s intuition was never wrong.

Stumbling out of bed, Tessa wearily made her way to her daughter’s bedroom. She didn’t have far to go. Their two-bedroom apartment was more like a one-bedroom that had an extra wall put in as an afterthought to create the additional room. She’d had more space in her tiny college apartment.

“I’m here, baby,” she said, padding her way through the dark, past the stuffed toys and piles of laundry strewn on the floor toward the sounds coming from her daughter.

Tessa cradled Sophie in her arms, trying to get her to sit up in hopes of helping her breathe a little better. Her eyes remained closed. Was she still asleep? Her daughter’s cheeks were bright red, while the skin underneath was ashen grey, not the beautiful porcelain color everyone always raved about. The temperature coming off her neck was red hot.

“Mama needs to grab the thermometer and a cool cloth for you. I’ll be right back.” Kissing her daughter on her forehead and propping her up against some pillows, she tried to think if her skin had ever felt so warm before. Sure she’d been sick in the past, but never so hot and lethargic. And she’d never heard wheezing like that as far as she could recall.

Coming back quickly, Tessa draped the wet towel across Sophie’s head and waited for the familiar beep from the thermometer already in her ear. Within seconds, she pulled it out and blinked her eyes as she looked at the number on the display. Hitting clear, she placed the tip back in her daughter’s ear a second time just to be sure. Once again it beeped, and Tessa read the number. One hundred and five point five.
Twice.
There was no mistake. She’d given Sophie a dose of fever reducing medicine just an hour before. Her temperature should have been going down, not up. She wrapped her daughter in her blanket, made sure she had Biddy and Daisy, grabbed her own purse and keys, and headed out to the emergency room at Crestmont Memorial Hospital.

~~~

The E.R. was packed, but they took Sophie back to a triage room right away. Over the next hour or so, several nurses, medical students, and interns came in and out of their room—asking questions, looking, examining, taking vitals, and poking. Poor Sophie. All she wanted to do was sleep. All Tessa wanted was some answers and something to help her daughter get better …
fast.
 

So much for getting called back to a room quickly. They would have been better off being left out in the waiting room to rest. The doctor on call still hadn’t seen them yet. She tried to lay Sophie down on the bed in the room, hoping she would get some sleep, but she only wanted her mama to hold her in an upright position. Managing to get up on the exam table with her back against the wall and her daughter resting on her shoulder, Tessa felt her eyes getting heavy.

She woke with a start an hour and a half later as the curtain to their room screeched open.  A man in a white lab coat, holding a chart, introduced himself as the doctor.  The real doctor—not the med student or the intern—but the person they’d come to see almost three hours ago. Tessa was so annoyed at the fact she’d been waiting so long, she didn’t bother to pay attention to his name, nor did she accept his handshake.
She merely stayed on the exam table and waited for him to do whatever he needed to do to help her daughter.

Quickly looking down to his chart, he scanned it before starting to speak in a rushed voice.
Great. He’s going to look at her for thirty seconds, say she’s sick, and send us on our way. In ten days, I’ll get a bill. Awesome.

“It seems your daughter has the flu, Mrs …” The doctor flipped through the chart, apparently looking for Tessa’s last name.

“It’s Miss,” she replied with an irritated tone. Why did they always assume? “Miss Haines.”

He looked up. Was that a smile? Surely he wasn’t hitting on her in the middle of the night when she was there holding her sick child.
Ugh!
So what if he was swoon-worthy with piercing blue eyes and a perfect three a.m. stubble. She was way too peeved about the wait and only cared about getting Sophie better.

“… and she had the flu shot. She gets it every year,” she added, still aggravated. Between a stressful day and evening at work, a sick child, and now sitting in this room for hours, she was completely out of patience.

The doctor closed his chart and examined Sophie as Tessa held her, listening to her heart and lungs, and checking other vitals, before hopping up on the exam table to sit next to them. Tessa slid down slightly to move away.

“You didn’t hear this from me,” he said, leaning into her, “but the flu shot is kind of worthless, at least this year.  The manufacturers of the vaccine have to try to figure out which strain of the flu will hit months before the shot goes into production. This year they didn’t even come close to getting it right. We’re seeing more and more cases of it every day. Especially in little ones.”

 “Fabulous,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. Sophie moaned as she nodded off again, placing her head back on her mom’s shoulder. At least she was getting some rest. “So, how long until she’s feeling better?”

“It’s hard to say,” he responded. He reached his hand to push Sophie’s hair out of her eyes and felt her forehead. “You were smart to bring her in. We can give her something for her fever and an anti-viral medication that has had some success in helping to relieve some of the symptoms when it’s caught early, as in this case. The good news is the vaccine sometimes lessens the duration of the virus even if it doesn’t prevent it. She’ll be fine in a week or so. It just has to work its way through her system. Make sure she gets plenty of fluids and lots of rest.” He hopped off the table and pulled a prescription pad from his coat pocket.

A week or so? I’ll be unemployed in a week or so!
 

“Are you okay, Miss Haines?” he asked, looking at her. “You look a little pale.”

Taking a deep breath, she tried to control her breathing.
Now is not the time to have a panic attack, Tessa. You have to think about Sophie.

“I’m fine,” she said, in a final long breath as she felt her heart beginning to self-regulate. She’d been in worse situations than this and survived.
She was Tessa Haines. The fighter. The one who didn’t take crap from anyone. The one who was unbreakable.
She took the prescription from the doctor and was thankful she made it home before the tears began.

Chapter 6

Tessa nervously tapped her fingers on her kitchen table as she listened to the phone ringing through her receiver … one, two. She knew he would be in the office early as he would have had to pick up the reports for his meeting with Nicholas Schilling. Maybe he hadn’t seen the note and left? Three, four …

“Steven Abbott,” the brusque voice finally answered.

She let out the breath she’d apparently been holding.

“Good morning,” she said, trying her best to sound like a confident professional despite the fact that her heart was beating so loud she could barely hear her own words. “It’s Tessa. Did you see my note about Mr. Schilling? And my reports?”

“Yes,” he replied.

She waited. No, “
Thank you, Tessa. I so appreciate you working your ass off late into the night even though the client cancelled
.” Or even a gruff, yet simple, “
Thanks
.” Did she really expect one?

“Well, um, my daughter’s sick. We were at the hospital until early this morning. I don’t think I’m going to—”

“I’ve already spoken to Nicholas,” he interrupted. “We’re meeting next quarter. The reports will have to be completely revised to reflect new projections. There’s a lot of work to be done. Find someone to watch your kid. I expect you here in thirty minutes.” He hung up the phone before she could respond.

Closing her eyes, she sighed. What did she expect? “
I’m so sorry, Tessa. Of course you should take the day off to be with your daughter. In fact, you worked so hard, let me pay you for the day. You deserve it. The important thing is that your daughter gets better.”
No, that’s what Bruce would have said. Not Mr. Abbott. He said exactly what she would have expected. Except, there really wasn’t any work to do today for this client. Three months out was too early to make any new projections. She needed to wait at least a month or two to see the trends in the market, plus she would have to gather all new broker and bank statements to get an accurate picture of his portfolio. Those wouldn’t even be available yet. The truth was, Tessa normally waited until the week before these meetings to drop her numbers into her formulas and then tweaked them a few days before. Who could really predict the market? If it were that easy, she’d be a rich woman. All she really had to do today was catch up on work for the other clients she’d neglected while working on the Schilling reports. And those could wait another day or so. There was nothing pressing, and he knew that. Regardless, she knew trying to explain that to her boss would be a useless effort. He was just being spiteful.