Anna mumbled what sounded like yellow tires, but when Megan asked what she"d said, Anna didn"t answer.
Never in her life had Megan exited the parking garage or driven through the city so fast. She sent a prayer of thanks skyward that the predawn streets were empty and every streetlight went her way. As she pulled into the emergency entrance at the hospital, an orderly sitting on an outside bench crushed out his cigarette and approached the car. He took one look at Anna and called for a.s.sistance. First in Catalan, then in English when he realized Megan"s Catalan was limited, he told her to take her car to the parking lot down the hill from the hospital and meet them in the emergency room. In the meantime, two nurses unbuckled Anna, moved her to a wheelchair, and whisked her into the hospital.
Megan"s heart pounded against the walls of her ribcage so hard she thought it"d burst, and not from the exertion of sprinting back up the hill from the lot. The orderly"s expression when he saw Anna was troubling enough, but the utter silence from Anna as the nurses wheeled her into the emergency room terrified her. This was no ordinary headache, nor was it a case of the flu.
As Megan pa.s.sed through the sliding emergency room doors, a nurse approached to let her know that Anna was being evaluated in a nearby room and that Megan could join her daughter once the evaluation was complete. In the meantime, the staff needed Megan to complete paperwork for admission.
"Admission?" Megan asked in alarm. How could they know already that she needed to be admitted?
The nurse directed Megan to a seat in the waiting area. "When a child presents with a fever as high as your daughter"s we admit them as a matter of policy. We"ll get her situated, then you can join her."
Minutes felt like hours as Megan answered the necessary questions and inked her signature on a slew of forms, hoping against hope that a doctor would come out from the emergency wing to let her know that Anna had nothing more than a high fever and that they would soon get it under control. That the admission was nothing more than a precaution and Anna would be back to her normal, bouncy self soon.
No one came.
Megan clutched the clipboard in her lap and stared at the doors leading to the patient evaluation area. At long last, the same nurse who"d given her the paperwork came to collect it and waved Megan into a side room. As the older woman flipped through the pages on the clipboard, Megan asked, "Will I be able to see my daughter soon? It"s been quite a while."
"The doctor will come in to speak with you in just a moment," the nurse said before ducking into the hallway and shutting the door behind her.
Megan sucked in air through her nostrils, willing herself to keep her composure despite the fact the nurse hadn"t met her gaze, and despite the fact the woman moved her into a private room to speak with the doctor rather than ushering her into the area where Anna was being seen. In her experience, medical professionals were far more likely to be honest and give you the full picture when they knew you could handle the information. And now, more than ever, she needed information. For Anna"s sake, she had to appear calm.
"Ms. Hallberg? I am Dr. Serrano."
She looked up to see a middle-aged, olive-skinned man with a serious, though thankfully not grim, demeanor. Forcing herself to keep an even tone, she said, "Yes. Please, call me Megan. You"ve seen Anna?"
"Yes." He closed the door before pulling a rolling stool from one corner so he could sit facing her. "I am afraid my accent is difficult for some to understand, so if my English does not make sense to you, please tell me. I can call the nurse back in to translate."
She forced a smile. Thank goodness she was used to Catalan accents. "Your English sounds fine to me. Please, go ahead."
He opened a file across his lap. "Your daughter has a very high fever, which can be dangerous in anyone but especially in a child her age. So" -he paused, as if searching his mind for the proper words- "I have given her medicine to help lower her fever and I asked for a test of her blood. The nursing staff is doing this now and I asked for a quick processing from our lab."
"All right." Though Megan had to concentrate to understand his words, there was a kindness and intelligence in his eyes that engendered trust. "Is she awake?"
"No, but for now, she is stable. Her fever is no worse than when she arrived. However, I am very concerned about her neck stiffness, her headache and her" -again, he struggled for the word- "her confusion. She was awake for a short time while I examined her, but she did not seem certain about where she is. She had difficulty answering basic questions. How long has she been this way?"
"Since about five, so a couple of hours now. I heard her moaning in her bedroom and went to check on her. I brought her here as soon as I took her temperature." She thought through everything Anna said since returning from the beach the previous afternoon. "She was tired last night and didn"t want much dinner, but I a.s.sumed it was because we spent the morning walking through the marketplace, then she had a big lunch and spent the afternoon running around the beach with friends. She told me she was pretty worn out."
Dr. Serrano scribbled a note in Anna"s file. "There was no confusion or fever when she returned from the beach?"
"She was a little warm and she did say she had a slight headache. It wasn"t enough to worry me, and I didn"t bother to take her temperature. Other than being more tired than usual, she seemed perfectly normal. Definitely no confusion."
"All right. It is very good that you brought her in."
Megan tried to remain patient as the doctor added more notes to Anna"s file. Finally, he met her gaze. "Unfortunately, I suspect that Anna has meningitis, which is an inflammation of the" -he pointed to the back of his neck- "membrane around the brain and spinal cord. We must do a lumbar puncture to confirm the diagnosis and should have results shortly, but you will need to read and sign some forms first. Are you familiar with meningitis?"
No, no, no, her mind screamed, but she said, "Yes, I am."
Children died from meningitis. Anna could die.
Chapter Twenty-Seven.
Megan clenched her teeth against the thought and tried to focus on the doctor"s words.
"Do you know of anyone with meningitis? Or with symptoms like Anna"s? For instance, any of the friends she was with at the beach or any children from her school? Maybe from a camp, if she is in summer camp?"
When Megan shook her head, he exhaled. "Meningitis is very serious, yes? But fast treatment can prevent complications. This is why it is good you brought her here quickly. I wish for you to let me know right away if you learn of others with symptoms. They must get medical treatment immediately."
"Of course."
"I have a sheet with questions for you to answer. It will help us find the cause of Anna"s illness and speed our treatment."
He handed her the permission form for the lumbar puncture and the questionnaire, then went on to explain the course of antibiotics he was starting for Anna. Thankfully, his English was solid whenever he spoke in medical terms. "We are moving her into a room upstairs. She will need more tests, including X-rays and a CAT scan, but I wish for her to be as comfortable as possible. Do you live near the hospital?"
When Megan nodded, he urged her to go home and pack a bag once she"d completed the questionnaire. He handed her another slip of paper. "This will be her room. It is on a pediatric floor. Until we determine the cause of her illness, she will need to be in isolation. However, there is a room beside hers that you can use. It has a window so you can see all that is happening with her. When she is awake and alert, she will be happy to see you there."
"Thank you." Her eyes filled with tears, but she willed them back. As frightened and upset as she was, it wouldn"t do Anna a bit of good to cry. Not now.
Dr. Serrano"s voice lost its businesslike tone as he said, "I do not wish to be...to intrude...but I know this is very hard. You may wish to call the father? Or someone else?"
"Maybe." Should she call Stefano? Her parents? Or wait for more information? "I don"t know. Not yet. It"s still very early in the morning."
He nodded in understanding. "Cell phones are not permitted inside the hospital, but you may use the phone at the nurse"s desk on the pediatric floor anytime you wish. For now, Anna cannot have any visitors. Only parents in the next room until we know more."
Megan swallowed as the doctor stood. She looked up at him and asked, "Is there anything else I can do?"
"Not at the moment. The antibiotics must have time to work." Dr. Serrano put a hand on her arm for rea.s.surance. "This will be a matter of days or weeks, not hours. Take care of yourself now so that you can be there for her when she is awake. In the meantime, we will do everything we can for her. I will let you know when results come from the lab. I want you to ask questions if you have them, whenever you have them."
"Thank you. I will." She liked this man. He seemed knowledgeable, caring, and-what she needed most right now-competent. "I"m sure I"ll have plenty, I just...I need some time to absorb this."
"Anna is a strong girl. I am" -again, he seemed to struggle for the proper word- "optimistic. So we will hope for good news."
Once Dr. Serrano left, Megan bit her lip and forced herself to concentrate on the questionnaire. It was extensive, covering where Anna had been, what she"d eaten, what immunizations she"d had. After finishing, Megan handed it to the nurse and walked to the parking lot in a daze, realizing when she climbed into her car that her shoes didn"t match. Not that it mattered.
The drive back to the hotel felt like an out-of-body experience, as if she were watching the rush hour traffic from afar rather than sitting in it, waiting for lights to change and cars to move.
Once in her suite, she packed a bag for herself in two minutes flat.
It wasn"t until she entered Anna"s empty bedroom and pulled her daughter"s backpack from the closet that Megan allowed a tear to roll down her cheek without attempting to blink it back. She sat on the edge of Anna"s bed and looked around the room as she tried to think through what to bring to the hospital. The bedsheets were askew and the room held the lingering scent of Anna"s favorite strawberry lotion. A jeweled hairbrush rested on the room"s small desk beside a pile of ponytail holders and a sh.e.l.l Anna had found on the beach.
Set off by itself, carefully displayed beside her alarm clock, was the small leather bracelet Stefano bought Anna from the street kiosk during their first Sat.u.r.day outing.
Another tear followed the first. Then Megan couldn"t stop.
Stefano woke with a start to unfamiliar surroundings. He blinked in the semi-darkness, attempting to separate the last vestiges of his dream from the reality around him.
Frequent business trips out of Sarcaccia meant he"d been in this situation before, lying on his back and taking few moments to figure out which city and hotel he was in and what was on his schedule for the day, but it"d never happened while wrapped in his own sheets, with the gray digital light of his own alarm clock beside the bed.
To his left, moonlight streamed in through wide, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Mediterranean. City lights sparkled on hillsides that rose on either side of a softly lit marina, reminding him where he was. He pushed to a sitting position and took in the familiar panorama of Cateri"s waterfront. Though he"d been asleep less than an hour, he smiled to himself in the dark.
New apartment. A new start. He"d brought only the essentials from the palace, limiting himself to toiletries, linens, a few days" worth of clothes, and his computer. He"d ordered a few basic pieces of furniture rather than peruse the selection in the palace"s storage rooms, craving modernity over the centuries-old antiques with which he"d been raised.
Beautiful though it was, the s.p.a.cious apartment wasn"t his ideal. He"d much rather wake to find Megan beside him. But if he couldn"t have her, at least he could have the gift she had given him-normalcy-and embrace it. It might take awhile for the people of Sarcaccia to accept that he lived outside the palace, perhaps longer for the paparazzi to get bored as they watched him come and go each day and decide they were better off covering other stories, but he knew in his gut this was where he wanted to be. In the new section of the city, rather than the medieval section his ancestors had settled, in an apartment any of his friends might own-all right, larger than most of his friends might own, since he"d purchased the entire top floor of the building-within walking distance of shops, cafes, art galleries, and the waterfront, rather than the age-old palace. He could even walk to the new convention center and the transportation hub currently under construction alongside it.
A muted light on the dresser across the room caught his eye, followed by a soft hum. Flinging back the sheets, he crossed the hardwood floor to retrieve his cell phone.
"Yes?"
His secretary"s voice came over the line. "Your Highness, I"m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but you asked me to let you know immediately if I heard from Megan Hallberg. She called the palace and insists on speaking to you, despite the hour. The night answering service put her through to me. I have her on the other line."
"I"ll take it. Thank you."
Adrenaline woke him fully as he waited. Finally, he heard the click of the connection. "Megan?"
"Hi, Stefano. I"m sorry to call so late."
The forced steadiness in her voice sent a chill along his spine and p.r.i.c.ked the fine hairs at the back of his neck. "Something happened."
"Yes. It"s Anna." Her voice cracked as she explained, "I"m with her at the hospital."
His world seemed to spin off its axis. "What"s going on? Is it serious?"
The question was rote. He already knew the answer. Megan wouldn"t call for a sc.r.a.ped knee or broken pinkie finger. h.e.l.l, she hadn"t called at all since he"d left Barcelona. Their only contact had been via Anna, when he"d called to hear about her last day of school and Anna mentioned that Megan was in another room on a work phone call.
"It"s serious." He sensed her steadying herself. "She was mumbling to herself when she woke up this morning. I went in to check on her and she wasn"t herself. She had a high fever, complained of neck pain, and didn"t seem able to hold a coherent thought. I brought her straight to the hospital and they admitted her."
Bile rose in his throat as he recognized the symptoms. How many times had he visited hospitals and heard stories from doctors and nurses about treating stubborn cases? He sat on the end of his bed, steadying himself for what he suspected would come next. "She has meningitis, doesn"t she? That"s what they think."
"Yes. The doctor suspected it when I first saw him this morning, but I just got the official diagnosis a few minutes ago." She paused, then on a deep breath said, "I know you"re mad at me for hiding the job offer, Stefano, but...but I had to call you as soon as it was confirmed. There was an answering service at your number, so I insisted they let me talk to your secretary. I wasn"t sure they would. She said you weren"t at the palace-"
"I"m not." Stefano put a hand to his forehead and rubbed his thumb against his temple, as if by doing so he could will away what was happening to Anna. "Mad, that is. Or at the palace. I told my a.s.sistant to let me know if you called, day or night."
"Thank you. I...Stefano, I don"t know what to do. I"ve never been so scared in my life." On that, she broke, unable to stop him from hearing her tears. "I mean, she seemed fine last night when she went to sleep. A little run down, but nothing worrisome. Then she woke up in terrible shape. I didn"t know what to think other than knowing I had to get her to the hospital. Wait. How...how did you know it was meningitis?"
Because when I was seven, I met a boy with meningitis who later died.
"I"ve spent a lot of time visiting pediatric wards and talking to doctors," he said. "Part and parcel of my job. Over the years, you see it all."
He pushed away the image that scarred his young soul to focus on Anna and what could be done in the here and now. "Who"s treating her? What do they say?"
"His name is Dr. Serrano." She gave him information on the hospital and all the details of Anna"s situation, everything from her current vital signs and bloodwork to the doctor"s a.s.sessment of the infection raging through Anna"s small body. Megan finished with a description of the course of drugs being used to treat her.
"Now I have to call my parents and tell them. They"ll want to fly over, but since they were here last month I doubt they can afford another set of plane tickets." A feeble laugh escaped her. "I"ll have to convince them that it"s better for them to stay where they are. It"s not like there"s anything they can do. Anna"s getting wonderful care, but now it"s a matter of waiting to see how she responds to the drugs."
"Did Dr. Serrano give you any indication how long it"d be?"
"We"ll know more in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours." On an exhale, she said, "Watching her makes me feel so helpless, Stefano. I wish there was more I could do. I have a horrible feeling in my gut that I"m failing her."
"You"re not. Hold tight and tell her I love her. I"ll do what I can on this end."
"There"s nothing to do, Stefano, not until we know if the drugs are working. But thank you."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Megan? I"m glad you called to tell me."
"I wouldn"t dream of not telling you. Even if I know it"s not something you want to hear."
"All the same...thank you. Keep me updated, all right?"
She promised, then hung up.
He dropped the cell phone to the bed and stared out the window for several minutes, wracking his brain for what he could possibly do. His gut instinct to control an uncontrollable situation, or so Megan would say.
Finally, he picked up the phone and started flipping through his contact list.
He might not have been there to a.s.sist at Anna"s birth, but he"d be d.a.m.ned if he"d sit idly by and let her die.
Chapter Twenty-Eight.
Anna wasn"t improving.
Thirty-six hours after she"d been admitted, fever still ravaged her body. She"d been conscious for a while, but that was nearly six hours ago. Megan had been permitted in the room, wearing scrubs and a mask as she leaned over the bed and talked softly to Anna, letting her know that the doctors were taking good care of her and that she"d be back to herself soon.
While she"d managed to display an upbeat att.i.tude for Anna, even drawing a weak smile from her daughter, Megan felt like a liar. She had no more power over what was happening to Anna than she did over the sunrise and sunset.
It had taken everything in Megan"s power not to cry when Anna"s eyes drifted closed once more. Instead, she"d thanked the nurses for all they were doing and gave them s.p.a.ce to work.
A nurse stuck her head into Megan"s room. In broken English, she offered to bring Megan a cup of coffee from the cafeteria.
Megan thanked her but declined. She"d had so much coffee since her arrival her stomach ached. Or maybe that was stress. She"d hardly left the small room adjacent to Anna"s. Though she deeply appreciated having the ability to monitor Anna, the four walls seemed to be closing in on her. Even the television mounted to the wall provided little distraction. The English news channel the nurse found for her after Megan gave up on a Spanish soap opera left her feeling maudlin. Stories about stock markets and foreign elections weren"t exactly mood boosters.
Fingers interlaced, Megan stretched her arms in front of her, then over her head before pushing out of her chair to cross to the window. Anna was still out cold, lying on her back with an IV hooked up to one arm while monitors beside the bed ticked off her vital signs.
She swooped a hand over her head. She needed to call her parents and Stefano with an update soon, even if she had no real news to share. Her parents would offer their prayers and say what they could to make her feel better. But there"d be fear in their voices as they did so.
She had no idea about Stefano.