Page 278 of Under Her Skin

“She’s right, honey,” her husband says, then takes her out of theroom.

As I look down at the sleeping baby, I feel terribly about her condition. I don’t understand why these things happen to anyone, much less children. I do know this medicine will help her and that gives me the strength to do the hard part—make hercry.

In the beginning, five years ago, when I become a pediatric nurse, things were so hard for me. Even giving children shots that prevented them from getting horrible diseases was hard for me to do. Day by day, little by little, I came to terms with what I was doing forthem.

A bit of pain one day, opposed to a terrible illness, is worth it. And I have exceptional abilities to calm them back down. The baby moves a little in agitation as I move her around to positionher.

The door opens and in comes the other nurse to hold her still for me. “Hi, Betty. You ready?” I ask as she washes her hands, then comes tous.

“I suppose so. Let’s get this over with. I totally hate this part of our jobs,” shesays.

I nod in agreement, take in a breath, and hold it as I push the needle into the baby’s chest. Her scream comes out as I do. Then my mind shuts off so I can help her without feeling terribly aboutit.

Three hours later,and a couple of coffees, too, I’m on the other side of the hospital, checking on the third-floor patients. With a quick knock on the door, I grab Samuel Peterson’s file hanging next to it, then go inside as I look it over. “Good morning,” I say as I come into the room where a ten-year-old little boy is fighting pneumococcalmeningitis.

A very tired father sits at one side of the child’s bed and another young man sits in a wheelchair on the other side. “Good morning,” he says to me. “I’m Danny. Sammy’s brother. How ishe?”

“His numbers are going down, which is a good thing,” I tell him as I look at his chart. “I’m here to get his vitals, so we can see if he’s still improving. If you don’t mind my asking, Danny, what happened to have you in thatchair?”

“The same thing,” he says, then blows a chunk of blonde hair out of his eyes. “Only thing different is my parents got him to the hospital three days earlier than they realized they needed to take me. We’re all hoping he doesn’t end up likeme.”

With a nod, I start taking Samuel’s temperature and hear the sound of someone clearing their throat. It’s a deep sound with a smooth edge to it. “Can we comein?”

“Sure,” Danny tells the man. “Hello, Mr. Vanderbilt. It’s a pleasure to see you heretoday.”

“I wish things were better,” the mansays.

I turn around to grab the blood pressure cuff and stop as I see one of the most handsome men I believe I have ever seen before. His light-brown eyes land on mine without any words coming out of hismouth.

There’s a nice-looking younger man behind him and a woman too. I quickly get back to my task at hand and try to stop envisioning the built man without any clothes on.Shame onme!

“Dad, this is the man who owns the whole company of Bargain Bins, my big boss,” Dannysays.

Oh no! Not thatasshole!

He’s my family’s mortal enemy. I never realized he was so attractive. I’ve only seen a few pictures of him in the paper. But I hate this man. He’s the reason my parents live in public housing and I have to help them just to make endsmeet.

When he opened a Bargain Bin in my hometown of Lockhart, Texas, he drove my parents, who owned a small tire shop, completely out of business. They lost their home, and in just a matter of three years, were onwelfare.

That man is as close to the devil as theycome!

“I brought your brother a video game. I had no idea he would be sleeping,” the devil mansays.

“Yes, he’s sick with meningitis. I do hope you’ve been vaccinated,” I say as I busy myself with taking care of the poor, sickboy.

“All of our vaccinations are up to date,” the young woman says. “Our father made sure of that. Even after we all grew up, he still kept records and called us after he’d scheduled our appointments to get them done. He died lastweek.”

My ire is quickly smashed by her news. I turn back to look at the three of them and notice they all have a resemblance to each other. “I’m sorry to hear that. Your father, you said? All three of yours?” Iask.

The great-looking man who ruined my family nods, making his dark-blonde hair move around his chiseled face in such a way that it makes my knees weak as he says, “Yes, we’re siblings. I’m Blaine, this is my sister, Kate, and that is our brother, Kent. I know how deep that bond goes. When Danny came into my office yesterday, he made me realize how important it is to have them around when things gettough.”

“Yeah,” Danny says. “Mr. Vanderbilt gave me time off with pay to come and be with Sammy. He’s not a bad man like everyone says heis.”

I stifle a laugh as the evil man’s perfect eyebrows arch. “I have a lot of changes to make. I think I have been kind of a bad man. But thanks to my father passing and you, Danny, I think I’ve seen alight.”

I doubt that, or perhaps it’s the light from the fires of hell, where the man is sure to go, he’sseeing!

Chapter5