No Regrets

Chapter Sixty-One - Heartbeat

DOMINICK'S POV

   Bursting through the doors of Erin Park Hospital Emergency Room, I find my way to the front desk. Leaving school,the forty-three minute drive, and the time it took to park, felt as if they took decades. "Mollie Benji." I say breathlessly, I ran in from the garage. The man at the desk types something in the computer. "No patient by that name." He says.

"Check for Mollie, a year old." I say quickly.

More typing and then, "Family only are allowed back there." He says.

"She's my daughter." I say. My heart is pounding fast to the point where I can't tell one beat from another. "Please." I say.

"I am sorry, sir but without identification or proof-" the man starts.

"Please, she's my daughter." I say. I grab my phone from my pocket, the adrenaline coursing through me causes me to fumble with the metal rectangle. I open my photos and show him a picture of Mollie and I, then another, and another. "See." I say as I flip to several other photos.

  The man, looking conflicted, looks away from the phone and looks around behind him a bit,  "Dad-to-dad, she's in room 5." He says. He hands me a visitor sticker and presses the button that opens the doors. I rush through them. I dart and dodge nurses, doctors, carts, and other people as I search for Room 5.

   I don't need to see the number to know when I find the room. I find Aria standing outside glass doors where curtains on the other side have been drawn cutting off the view inside. She is crying. "What is happening?" I ask running over.

   Aria looks at me, she struggles to catch her breath. I grab her shoulders and my eyes look into hers, searching for the answers. However, like Nikki's, the answers and everything else in her eyes is kept behind a locked vault. She continues to cry, "I'm sorry." She cries. "I am so sorry."

   I tighten my grip a bit, "What is happening? Aria, breathe, and tell me." I say. I barely could make out the name of the hospital over the phone.

"They won't tell me anything, the monitors started going off and i had to leave the room." The words are rushed, they blend together.She wipes her nose and face. "I-" she gasps for breath.

"Aria, breathe, you will-" I can't finish because Aria starts coughing and dry heaving. "Aria." I say as I gently lower her to the ground. "Breathe in and out. In." I say as calmly as I can. I sit in front of her, one hand on her shoulder.

   It takes a few seconds but soon Aria takes a breath in. "Now out." I say. She releases the breath. I instruct her until I feel her body start to ease up. Her shoulders stop shaking so violently and she is able to actually speak a bit. "I think she stopped breathing."

   I can't stop myself from tensing and a flood of panic comes rushing in. My hand drops from her shoulder. "How did this- What happened?" I ask.

   Aria covers her eyes and lets out a cry, "I left her in her room so I could shower before heading to school and dropping her off at daycare." She says shaking her head. She lowers her hands and starts up at the laugh. She hugs her shoulders. "When i walked out, she was at the bottom of the staircase, limp and hardly breathing."

   Before I can process and react, the door to the room opens. I am on my feet within a heartbeat. The doctor and other people in scrubs leave the room. The doctor turns to face Aria who slowly rises to her feet. "She is stable again, for now. But, I will not lie, Misses. Wilton, things still do not look good." Aria raises her hand to her mouth.

"What are we looking at? Injury wise?" I ask.

   The doctor looks at me, "Sir, I am unable to discuss this with you." He says.