Page 90 of Fall of a Kingdom

Barrett pulled out a clean bottle and a container of baby formula and then leaned over to her side of the bed and pressed the call button.

A few minutes later, the same nurse that had come to tell me Barrett was back from her MRI entered the room. “Do you need something, Mrs. Campbell?”

“Call me Barrett,” she said. “And yes. I was wondering if you could fix a bottle for my daughter.”

The nurse took the bottle and formula. “Absolutely.”

“Thank you.”

When Piper was half-way finished with her bottle, the doctor finally made his appearance. He was a tall, lean man with dark hair. Confidence radiated from his brown gaze.

“Mrs. Campbell,” he greeted, holding out his hand to Barrett. “I’m Dr. Elmond. Thank you for waiting. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come and speak with you.”

“Do you have the results of my MRI?” she asked bluntly.

“I have the results, but I can’t access them. The computer system has a glitch. I do not want to discharge you until I have your results. The hospital is liable if—”

“I’ll sign a waver saying I left against medical advice,” Barrett interrupted. “You won’t be held accountable if anything were to happen.”

The doctor clamped his mouth shut, clearly wanting to argue but realizing it was futile. "All right, I’ll discharge you, but only into the supervision of another adult.” He looked at me and then back to Barrett. “You’ve had a seizure, and you need to be monitored. When I can access the results of your MRI, I will call you immediately.”

“Doc?” Barrett asked, stopping the man in his tracks as he’d been heading for the door. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Should I be worried?”

He paused ever so briefly and then said, “I wouldn’t waste the energy. Worry when and if there’s something to worry about.”

With a nod to me, he left.

“That felt like a non-answer,” Barrett muttered. She got off the hospital bed and reached for her clothes that were folded on the wooden nightstand.

I turned my gaze away to give her privacy.

My phone pinged again, but I didn’t bother to look at it.

“Shouldn’t you get that?” Barrett asked.

“No.”

There was a rapid fire of pings and I sighed.

“Let me guess. Quinn?”

“Da.”

“What are you going to tell her?”

“Is it safe to look at you?”

“Yes. I’m dressed.”

I glanced at Barrett. “I haven’t come up with a decent excuse yet. But I respect you and your need to keep this private for however long you need to.”

She appeared pensive for a moment. “No one can know until after I tell Flynn. I hate asking you to keep this a secret from her, but—”

“I’ll do it,” I assured her. “I’ll tell her you’ve taken me into your confidence and when the time is right, I’ll tell her.”

“Jesus, more fucking secrets between all of us,” she muttered.

The nurse returned with Barrett’s discharge papers which she quickly signed. It was early evening by the time we made it back to Dornoch and still the doctor hadn’t called.