Page 277 of Under Her Skin

Kate answers on the third ring, “What’s up,Blaine?”

“Me,” I say. “I want to take you and Kent out for breakfast. I’ll have my driver take us and afterward he can drop you both off at your jobs, or you two can come with me to visit this kid in the hospital if you want to take the day off. I’d like to hang out with youboth.”

“I can’t afford to take the day off. But breakfast sounds nice. I’ll get up and getready.”

“I’ll pay you for the day you’ll be missing. Come on, go with me to the hospital. I don’t want to go alone,” I cajoleher.

“I’ll call and see if that’ll be okay, then. See yousoon.”

Next, I callKent.

“Hey, what are you doing calling me this early?” he answers hisphone.

“I’m up and want to take you and Kate out for breakfast. You think you can take the day off? I’m paying your missed wages if you’ll take it off and come with me to visit this sick kid in thehospital.”

“I’m in,” he says without hesitation. “Where do you want me to meetyou?”

“I’m getting my driver to take us, so just get ready and make yourself look decent too. I want us to look respectable when we go to the hospital,” I tell him, then end thecall.

With a pretty great day ahead, I get out of bed and feel kind of lighthearted. I usually don’t feel a thing like this when I start my days. My plans usually consist of getting online and making sure I’m getting the cheapest productspossible.

It’s nice to have such a gratuitous plan for my day, and as I go to the bathroom, I think of another thing I should do—take Danny’s little brother some kind of toy or something to make his hospital stay a little morepleasant.

I don’t have a clue what a ten-year-old would like, though. Maybe Kate will know since she works with kids. All I know is, I have a pep in my step that I don’t usually have. It’s oddly amazing and I think I like thisfeeling.

Stepping into a warm shower, I have to fight to settle my brain down. So many thoughts are moving around inside my head—thoughts I’ve never had before. I suppose it’s my father’s death that has me thinking about making changes in my life. A pressure is on me to get things moving in a new direction. A gooddirection.

As I wash my hair, I think about how my brother and sister are living. They’re making a living doing honest work, and I should be prouder of them for how well they’ve turned out. I never tell them anything like that. I actually say opposite things to them about working so hard to earn abuck.

I need to let them know that not only am I proud of them, but I’m here to help them do anything they want to do with their lives. Anything at all. I wonder how they’ll react tothat.

My money has often been called the devil dollars by them. They may not want that money helping them to get where they want tobe.

But then again, with my changing attitude, they might start thinking of that money differently. All I know for sure is that I need their help to figure out how to make things right again—how to keep making money, but stop hurting others while I dothat.

I hope they can figure out how to helpme.

Chapter4

DELANEY

“I need you to have that PICC line in before I get there, Nurse Richards,” the doctor in charge of the neonatal unit for the day ordersme.

“I’ll have it done. Don’t worry. I’m about to start a double shift, going to the opposite side of the hospital for the next eight hours to help out over there with the older children. If you need me for anything, then just call me and I’ll come back overhere.”

“Okay, thanks. I appreciate it,” he says, then ends thecall.

I head to the small room where a tiny newborn is having a difficult time staying with us. The poor baby was born with a hole in her heart that’s going to have to be repaired if she’s going to have a chance atsurviving.

To add to her problems, she’s developed an infection and antibiotics will have to be pumped straight into her tiny heart. Her mother and father are with her in the little, dark room, and I find them holding each other as I come inside. “Goodmorning.”

They let each other go and turn away from the little incubator that holds their daughter. “Good morning,” her mother says. “What’s the plan? Do you knowyet?”

“I’m going to be putting in a PICC line. It’s not going to be easy to watch. If you two would like to go down and get some breakfast from the cafeteria, now would be a good time. I promise to have her calmed back down as soon as possible,” I tell them as I move about the room, getting together the things I willneed.

“I’m staying,” the young mother says. “If my baby’s in pain, then I need to betoo.”

Her husband wraps one arm around her and stays silent. I look over my shoulder and offer the same words I offer all the parents of the sick children I take care of. “There’s no reason to look at things in that way. Staying strong for her is much better than suffering along with her. That way you can come back in here and let her feel your calmness rather than you being upset after hearing hercries.”