From the back seat Micah asked, in a voice so small Rowan almost missed it, “Is Mom mad?”
Rowan kept his eyes on the road. “No. Your mom isn’t mad at you. Right now I need you to listen to me, okay? I’ve got you. I’ve got both of you.”
Micah was quiet for a second.
Then he said, “I tried to make Elsie crackers, but she wouldn’t eat.”
Rowan’s throat burned. “You did the right thing by calling me.”
The Bright Lights Of The ER
The emergency room doors slid open, and within seconds a nurse met him with a gurney.
“How old is she?”
“Three,” Rowan answered. “High fever, barely responsive, she hasn’t been eating, and I think they’ve been alone too long.”
The nurse’s expression sharpened at once, but her voice stayed steady. “We’re taking her back now.”
Another nurse crouched near Micah. “Hey there, sweetheart, do you want to stay with your dad while we help your sister?”
Micah grabbed Rowan’s pant leg and nodded without speaking.
Rowan knelt, even as orderlies wheeled Elsie away. “They’re taking care of her. I’m not going anywhere.”
Micah’s eyes filled. “She’s gonna be okay, right?”
Rowan had never made a promise with less certainty and more need behind it. “Yes. She’s going to be okay.”
While doctors worked on Elsie, Rowan gave the registration desk every piece of information he had, then repeated the same story again for a hospital social worker and then for another staff member from pediatric intake. He explained the custody arrangement, Delaney’s message about being away with friends, the unanswered calls, the empty house, the fact that Micah had said this was not the first time she had left them alone, only the first time it had gone on this long.
The social worker, a composed woman with silver glasses and a notepad balanced on her knee, asked, “Do you know where the children’s mother is right now?”
“No,” Rowan said flatly. “I haven’t known since Friday.”
