Wildflowers; After the long wait

chapter 9

Two months had gone by before they knew it, Emma's first set of baby teeth were beginning to form, and she was miserable. One evening, Dwayne was still at the office, and Alice had just taken Emma up from her grandmother's house. She had fallen asleep, on the walk back home, so naturally, Alice took her to her crib. An hour later, she woke up crying loudly, and Alice ran upstairs to her room.

"Hey baby," she called lovingly. Her daughter had gotten accustomed to the sound of her voice and usually hushed when she heard Alice's soothing tone, but that was not the case this time, Emma continued to cry. Alice ran to her. "What's wrong, baby girl?" She called, growing more concerned. Alice reached for Emma placing her hand on her little forehead. She had a temperature, and Alice panicked. 

Marlene had warned her before that Emma might get feverish while she was teething. Although Alice had been told what to do, she still felt helpless, she wanted to cry. Alice removed Emma's clothes, taking her over to the bathtub. While she filled the tub, Emma continued to cry. "Don't worry honey mommy has got you." She whispered while kissing the baby on her head. "Were just going to take a little bath ok?" She gently placed Emma into the tub of cool water and the child screamed in protest, splashing the water all over with her tiny limbs. Alice cried as she held Emma with one hand using the other to pour water over her tiny body. "It's going to be okay princess. She continued to reassure the wailing baby. After she felt Emma's temperature was down, Alice took her out of the water and changed her. The fever had broken, but Emma wouldn't stop crying. She got her phone and called Dwayne. "Where are you?" She cried out. "You were supposed to be home an hour ago."

"Alice, what's wrong?" Dwayne demanded, he could hear the baby crying in the background and he panicked, Emma wasn't a usually noisy baby. He had been held back in traffic, apparently, there had been a three-car collision off the bypass, and he couldn't find any other way through the traffic.

"It's Emma. She won't stop crying and I don't know what to do, she had a slight fever and I gave her a bath to cool her down but she won't stop crying! Alice wailed.

"Calm down, It's going to be okay," Dwayne reassured her, not feeling any bit of reassurance himself as he spoke with a calm and collected tone. "I'm stuck in traffic. Let me call Dawn, he's probably at home. He'll take you guys to the hospital. I'll be there soon, I promise," he paused. If there was a major accident, the General hospital would be in chaos. He didn't want his wife and baby to be caught up in that hell. "Alice take Emma to the private hospital downtown. I'm going to call Dawn."

"Okay," she sobbed. Dwayne wanted to reach through the phone and hold her. He could hear his sweet baby crying even harder and it broke him, he felt helpless. "I'll get to you as fast as I can, okay?" She ended the call and Dwayne swore out loud, he then called Dawn immediately after.

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"Where is she?" Dwayne demanded as he rushed into the doctor's office an hour later, he had spotted his brother instantly as he scanned the room in one sweep. Dawn was seated along the third row of red chairs in the very clean and pristine waiting room, there was barely any other patients in the hospital that night.

"A nurse took Emma into the examination room a while ago. Alice is with her." Dawn told him as he made his way up to him. He was about to rush into the exam room after her when Dawn called him back holding him by the arm. "Hey, why don't you wait until they're finished?" Dwayne looked like hell. Dawn sighed, he felt bad for his brother. "He was desperately in love with both Alice and Emma. He didn't like to think about what Dwayne would do when Alice finally decided it was the right time for them to get a divorce. He had no idea if Alice would ever forgive his brother. Dwayne didn't deserve it, but Dawn wished she would. He wished Alice would give Dwayne a second chance, his brother was trying so hard.