Chapter 120: The Child’s Father

Celine dashed into the city hospital, she had rushed past the front desk, only after fruitlessly searching around the hospital, not knowing where Rachel was, did she realize what she’d done and ran back to the lobby again.

“My…my daughter was just brought in here, Leah…her name is Leah Roberts.” Celine was panting as she asked the nurses at the front desk.

She could barely hear the noises of patients being pushed into the hospital in a stretcher, barely see past the tears circling her eyes at this moment. She waited impatiently for the nurse to check before she replied,

“She was taken to the emergency room. Emergency ward 108, just around the other corner.” The nurse described.

Celine forgot to thank the woman as she rushed away, she forgot many things in this moment because she could hardly think straight. She was running, running across the hospital halls, immediately she turned the corner she spotted Rachel, holding Leo next to her as she cried.

Celine suddenly stopped, her heart pounding. She couldn’t take another step forward, her fear rooted her in that single spot.

“Mommy.” Leo called, gazing up at her, his hazel eyes glistening, a lone tear slid down his face as he saw her and that caused Celine’s heart to break, the dread at seeing her daughter scaling up into a paralyzing fear.

Her Leo never cried…he never would shed a tear, even as an infant, Leah would bawl and wail but he would remain still and quiet, he showed his little smiles at her, only at her.

When he was two he had cried, but only because his sister had gotten hurt, she fell and bruised her delicate little knee and little Leo had cried for his sister.

Celine staggered, unable to hold herself upright, perhaps she would have fallen if Rachel hadn’t rushed up to her to steady her.

Celine held herself up, squatting down to her son’s height. She wiped the tear from his face and he looked down, avoiding her eyes apologetically.

“I’m sorry Mommy…” Celine knew what he was sorry for, so she pulled him into her arms not allowing him to apologize for something that wasn’t his fault.

“It wasn’t your fault sweetheart.” She held her own tears, looking up to Rachel to ask, “Where is she?”

The other woman could hardly look her in the eyes, guilt marring her features. “In the emergency room, they told us to wait out here…they haven’t come out yet.” Rachel could barely form words, she looked agitated and scared.

The same fear rushed into Celine’s heart, she needed to see her daughter, she needed to see her condition.

Celine rushed up to the double doors of the emergency room but a nurse stopped her from entering. “Please be patient ma’am, let the doctors do their jobs.”

“But she’s my daughter, I need to know how she’s doing.” Celine tried to push into the ward again but the nurse held her back.

“If you interrupt it now your daughter might not be treated properly.”

Celine froze at those words, momentarily hating herself.

Her child…her poor little girl must be in so much pain.

A hand touched her shoulder from behind and she heard Rachel’s sobbing voice. “It was all my fault, please forgive me Miss Roberts.”

“What happened?” Celine queried.

She had no idea exactly what had happened to Leah, she had just been told that there was an accident and her daughter was rushed to the hospital.

“We were at the playground after school, Leah wanted some ice cream so I left her on the swing with Leo to buy some ice cream from the truck but…I don’t know how it happened. I only left them because I thought I would be gone for a second, the ice cream truck was just across the street, I didn’t know something like this would happen…I just heard… people screaming and the tires of a car screeching, when I turned…there was so much blood, it was Leah…hit by a car, I was so scared…”

Celine closed her eyes, her tears hot, almost scalding as they rushed down her cheeks.

“I never should have left them alone, I’m sorry…”

Something tight sqeazed Celine’s chest, the fear inside her heart growing every second. She held Leo to her chest as she waited, patiently because she didn’t want to interrupt the doctors doing their job.

Nothing should happen to her little Leah. Every part of Celine’s body trembled, quacking with fear.

The little hand suddenly patted her back, gently, quietly. Celine hugged her son even tighter, breaking down into quiet sobs.

She couldn’t stand the thought of losing her daughter, so she composed herself, wiping off her tears.

“Leah, will be fine. Nothing bad will happen to her.” She muttered, not knowing if she was saying this to others or to herself, all she knew was that Leah needed her right now, she needed her to be strong, she had to be strong to support her child.

The doors to the emergency ward was suddenly pushed open, a few nurses rushed out and Rachel frantically approached them but they seemed to be in a hurry to leave. Celine quickly got up to approach the doctor as he emerged.

“My daughter…how is she?”

The doctor sighed as he adjusted his glasses then said, “She sustained severe injuries which have been treated accordingly, but we have a situation…”

Celine held her breath, unable to even blink.

“She has severe hemolytic anaemia, her body is attacking her red blood cells. She needs a transfusion immediately.”

Blood…it was just blood, she would give hers, she would give all of it if she had to.

A painful ache spread around Celine’s chest at the amount of pain Leah must have gone through, “Take mine, I’ll give her my blood.” Celine said without hesitation.

The doctor nodded, “Alright, but we’ll have to run some tests first. Please keep in mind that blood typing and cross-matching are mandatory, and if you’re a match we can proceed immediately.” He said then sent her off with a nurse to carry out the tests.

The next few minutes were a blur of cold antiseptic wipes and sharp sting of needles pierced into her skin but she barely felt any pain, all she felt was the urge to yell at everyone around her to hurry up, her daughter was waiting.

She was made to sit in a waiting room, but she wasn’t able to stay still, her legs bounced against the floor impatiently, her mind cycling but she avoided thinking of the worst case scenarios.

Leah was safe…the doctors said she was safe, that was all that mattered. They would take her blood for Leah and everything would be alright.

She chanted this repeatedly so her mind wouldn’t spiral until someone entered the waiting room and she looked up. It was the doctor.

“Are you ready to take my blood now?” She asked urgently getting up to her feet.

“Mrs Roberts, please calm down, have a seat first.” He said and Celine didn’t even bother to correct him. She sat down patiently yet she couldn’t fully sit still.

“We have a problem.” He said making the panic in her heart escalate.

“What kind of problem?”

The doctor pulled out a chart, studied it for a moment before he began to explain. “Your blood type is O positive, your daughter’s is AB negative. She cannot receive your blood. It would cause a severe transfusion reaction. Her body would attack the donated cells aggressively.”

Celine stared at him, the words not quite making sense. “That’s… that can’t be right. I’m her mother. How can she not have my blood type?”

It sounded completely implausible to her.

The doctor’s gaze held hers, as he patiently continued,

“Blood type inheritance doesn’t always follow a simple pattern. Two O positive parents can only have O positive children. But if one parent has a different type, the possibilities expand considerably. Your daughter’s blood type indicates that…” He paused, choosing his words carefully.

“Her father must have contributed the B antigen. Which means he has either B or AB blood type.”

Celine’s blood ran cold. “Her…her father?”

The word father made her heart race.

The doctor continued, “We’ve checked our blood bank. AB negative is extremely rare. Less than one percent of the population. We have none in storage. We’ve put out urgent calls to other hospitals in the region, but it could take hours. Your daughter doesn’t have hours.”

“I’ll give her my blood.” A smaller voice said by the entrance of the waiting room. Celine looked over to see Leo who had arrived with Rachel, she instantly extended her hand to him and he came to her.

The boy looked at the doctor steadily and said, “She’s my twin, I can give her my blood right?”

The doctor smiled kindly at the little boy, “How old are you little friend?”

“Five.” He replied steadily.

Celine didn’t want to put her son through this, at the same time there was a flicker of hope as she looked at the doctor.

The doctor spotted that hope in her eyes and said, “There is an extremely high possibility that your son would be a perfect match, but even if he was, we would need a full unit, that’s too much blood volume for a child his size. We can’t take blood from a five year old, it would endanger him and her too if we don’t have enough. Not to mention legal restrictions.”

The hope that flared suddenly died off immediately.

“There is one other option.” The doctor said, “The child’s father, if he’s a match we could draw from him immediately. Is he available? Can you call him?”

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