You have her. She is fine." His phone buzzed. He glanced at it. Victoria, Marcus told me.
How is she? He typed with one hand, the other arm still holding Amara. Probably broken wrist. At school now, taking her to the ER. 3 seconds later.
Which hospital? Is there anything you need? He stared at the text. Then he typed back, "We're good. I'll let you know."
He pocketed the phone. He got Amara into the cab. He held her hand in the emergency waiting room for 2 hours while they waited. And she alternated between leaning on him and explaining to Gerald in serious detail exactly how the monkey bar incident had unfolded and why it was actually a very impressive attempt, even if the landing needed work. The wrist was broken, a clean fracture.
The doctor called it minor and used the word straightforward several times. And Daniel held himself together through the whole conversation and through the casting process where Amara chose purple obviously and only once said quietly when they were adjusting the position. They got hot chocolate big marshmallows. They sat in a diner three blocks from the hospital and Amara held her purple cast in the air and said, "Actually, it looks kind of cool." And Daniel said, "Yeah, it does."
And meant it. His phone had four more texts from Victoria by the time they got home. He responded to the last one. She's fine. Purple cast declared it cool.
Currently telling the stuffed turtle about her traumatic experience. The response came immediately. Tell her I said she sounds very brave. Daniel looked at the text. He went to Amara's room where she was explaining the cast to Gerald with great seriousness.
Hey, he said. She looked up. Miss Hayes says, "You sound very brave." Amara looked at Gerald, then at her dad. She knows Marcus told her.
She texted to check on you. Amara was quiet for a moment. Turning this over. She checked on me. She repeated.
She did. Another quiet moment. Okay. Amara said she can come to dinner. Daniel blinked.