Chapter Twenty Seven
After calling his wife to let her know that both of the girls were fine, he’d showered quickly, trying to go over in his head what he could say to his daughter. Though he knew nothing in the world could take away her pain at the present time, he needed to talk to her, to reason with her, to let her know that it wasn’t the end of the world. Scratch that. He didn’t want to do or say anything that would make her feel like he was trying to down play the hurt she felt.
So after plenty of serious consideration, he made his way down the hall, pausing in front of her door. From where he stood, he could hear her pitiful cries, and his heart broke for her. Sure, it wasn’t a big deal to him, but to his daughter, that boy had meant the world.
He raised his hand and knocked softly, pushing the door open just enough to peek inside. “Hey baby? Can I come in?” He asked softly.
She lifted her head to look over at him, her face red and stained with tears. She brought her arm up and swiped at her nose before nodding. Sitting up, she pulled her pillow to her chest, hugging it as a fresh batch of tears started to pour down her cheeks.
“It’s not fair,” she said softly, her voice congested. He offered her a weak smile as he sat down on his bed, holding his arms out for her.
“I know that baby. And I know how much it hurts to have your heart broken, especially the first time. I wish there was some advice I could offer you, something I could say to take the hurt away, but I can’t.”
“I just don’t understand,” she said, hiccupping slightly as she coughed. “I don’t… he’s the one who came to me. I was just… ugh! It’s not fair!” She shrieked, picking up her old teddy bear and chucking it against the wall.
Sliding into his arms, she collapsed against his chest, allowing him to hold her in an attempt to soothe the pain she felt. She fell asleep in his arms way before the tears had finally stopped and only once her soft hiccupping had stopped did he release her from his arms, getting her situation in the bed. With a sigh, he tucked her in as he’d done many years ago and headed to the door, glancing back at her.
He knew that her first broken heart meant that she truly was leaving childhood. “I never said you could grow up,” he said wistfully before pulling it closed behind him.
~*~
It was much later that evening when Abbi and Julie made the decision to go back to the hospital. Even though she was feeling less than perfect, Julie knew that her support was needed. Besides, if she’d stayed in the house alone, she would have been left to dwell on her thoughts. Not a good thing.
The ride over to the hospital was silent with the exception of the soft crooning of the radio. They were all caught up in their thoughts over all the drama that had happened in the last few days. It had been quite a week.
When they arrived at the hospital, JC was surprised to see that Joey was still there, along with Justin. He had originally had no intention of bringing the incident with Brianna up, but frankly, if his daughter had become some loose little hellion, he’d want to know about it. Maybe.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts, Julie’s eyes widened as she grabbed onto her father’s arm, tears pooling in her eyes once more. “Please don’t make this worse,” she begged. She knew from experience that Brianna was spiteful and plain out mean. School was soon starting and Julie knew that if JC mentioned anything to Joey, Brianna would come up with something just as nasty to get her back. It was something she wasn’t willing to chance.
Looking down at her face, JC fought an internal battle. Part of him felt like his friend should know just what kind of a child he’d raised, but the way his daughter pleaded with him and the fact that most parents were oblivious to their child’s wrongdoings kept him from mentioning it just yet. He would just have to wait and see. Besides, it may not be tomorrow or the next day, but JC was pretty certain that in due time, Brianna would get what was coming to her”in a big way.
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