Jude and Derek “Bad Day” Bonus

Note from the author: I get requests from readers all the time for simple “day in the life” type stories, which is exactly what this is. Hope you enjoy it!

Jude

I hadn’t even finished my travel mug of coffee that morning when I had to tell my husband—the quintessential alpha male, protector of the family and keeper-away of all pain and evil— that our three-year-old daughter had fallen off a jungle gym at the park and was en route to the emergency room at the local children’s hospital.

For some reason, I wasn’t freaking out.

Yet.

When Rosie’s scream had split the early morning air at the park, my heart had jammed up into my throat and stayed there while I’d scrambled across the wood-chip mulch to see what had happened. The sound wasn’t the kind of cry of a child who’d been pushed by a bully or lost her place in line. It was the screech of unimaginable pain and fear that comes from a new and awful experience.

“Shit, shit,” I hissed under my breath as I fumbled for my phone and pressed the button for a voice command before sliding to my knees by my baby’s writhing body. “Call 9-1-1!”

“Baby, are you okay? What happened? Where does it hurt?” I asked Rosie while my eyes frantically searched for her twin brother, Lennon. He was blissfully ignorant stomping on fallen leaves with another kid his age.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the faraway voice asked on the other end of the line. My six-year-old son picked up the phone from where I’d dropped it.

“My sister fell on the playground,” Wolfe said politely. I could hear a frisson of fear in his voice but he spoke clearly and effectively. “She hurt her leg and needs a doctor.”

Tears poured from Rosie’s eyes as she tried to reach her battered leg. The tiny shin was turning purple but nothing was sticking out. I began explaining what I saw to the operator. She dispatched an ambulance and asked us to stay on the phone with us until it got there.

Two moms and another dad came racing over when they realized what had happened. Sidney Holner offered to take Wolfe and Lennon home with her while I rode in the ambulance with Rosie.

“Want me to call Derek?” Sidney asked with wide eyes.

For the first time since Rosie’s scream, I felt the hot prick of tears behind my eyes. “No,” I breathed, trying to comfort Rosie without moving her too much. “He’ll flip out. I’ll call him from the ambulance.”

The few minutes before the ambulance arrived were chaotic. I grabbed Wolfe’s hand in mine and squeezed while we hurried over to collect Lennon. “Mrs. Holner is going to take you home with Grace, okay? I’ll call her as soon as I know anything.”

Wolfe’s chin wobbled, but he nodded. I reached up to the thick, dark hair on his head and ran the fingers of my free hand through it. “I know it’s scary, but it’s probably just a broken leg that will need a cast. Remember Jayden who broke his leg water skiing?”

He nodded and stepped into my body for a hug. His nose poked my neck and a muffled sniffle hit my ear. “I’ll be okay,” he said when he stepped back, firming his jaw just like his dad.

I nodded back at him. “I know you will. But it’s okay if you’re not, too. I love you.”

“Love you too, and uh… I’ll take care of Lennie.” He took his little brother’s hand in his. Lennon was on the verge of figuring out that his twin was in pain, so I whisked him over toward Sidney before he could put two and two together.

After mouthing a thanks to Sidney and watching her lead Wolfe, Lennon, and Grace away to her minivan, I turned back to answer the questions the EMTs had for me.

When I finally climbed into the ambulance with Rosie’s tiny, clammy hand still in mine, I dialed Derek with one hand.

“Bluebell,” he said, the warm affection familiar in his voice. “Miss me already?”

Tears spilled out of my eyes, but I swallowed down the lump of fear and did my best to hide it. “Hey, yeah. So…” I swallowed again. “Everything is fine, but… can you meet us at the children’s hospital?”

This hadn’t been the first time I’d had to give scary news to my husband, so I knew enough to pull the phone down to my lap for a few moments while he screamed.

What the fuck do you mean, children’s hospital? What the fuck happened? Where are you? Bluebell put the goddamned phone back up to your ear and tell me what the fuck—

I smiled weakly at the EMT who was clearly trying to hide a smirk. “He’s really a nice guy once you get to know him,” I said.

Tell me you are okay. Tell me our babies are okay!

I pulled the phone back up to my ear. “Probably just a broken leg. Rosie fell off the jungle gym at the playground.”

Derek’s voice vibrated with concern. “I’m on my way. How are you?”

I lowered my voice and tucked my chin to my chest. “It was scary,” I whispered, looking down at our daughter’s tiny, dirt-and-tear-streaked face. She was quiet now that they’d been able to give her something for the pain, but her stillness freaked me out even more than her pain. “I… I…” I want you here with me. Please hurry.

“Sweetheart,” he said, lowering his voice into the calm, steady, man-in-charge tone he knew I needed to hear. “You’re doing great. You’re the exact right person to be there with her right now. She adores you. I’ll be there with you soon. Where’s Wolfe? Where’s Lennon?”

“Sidney was there. She took them. I’ll… I’ll call Mom to go get them.”

“Good. Do that right now while I pack a few things for us to have at the hospital, okay?”

I almost smiled at the sound of his complete and utter bullshit façade of calm. I could hear things being knocked over and scattered as he tore through the house, probably yanking out charging cables and shoving mini water bottles into a random reusable shopping bag. When our friend Solome had gone into labor early with Rosie and Lennon three years ago, we’d shown up with such a random assortment of things, Solome had thought she was hallucinating. “What are you planning on doing with that can opener, exactly?” she’d asked. “And does the doctor maybe have a more sterile tool for the job?”

“Just bring clean clothes for Rosie,” I said with a sniff and a smile. “And bring yourself.”

“On my way, beautiful,” he said softly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said before hanging up and calling my mom. She was the epitome of actual calm.

“I remember when Thad did the same thing, but he broke his wrist because he thought it would be fun to do a flip on his dismount,” she recalled with a chuckle. 

I didn’t feel like laughing.

“Can you go by Sidney Holner’s and pick up the boys? Wolfe’s scared but was trying to be brave.”

Mom’s voice changed to all business. “Of course. Poor thing. I’ll head over right away and keep them overnight. Your father will be secretly delighted to have someone to play Mario Kart and eat pizza with. Wolfe’ll forget all about it by the time we get ahold of him, don’t you worry.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said with a sigh of relief. What would I do without her?

“Just take care of our Rosie and let us know how it goes, okay? And work your magic with poor Derek.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a tired chuckle.

“You know exactly what I mean. He’ll be a wreck by the time he gets there. He knows how upset you probably are and he can’t stand it when his family is in pain.”

After ending the call, it only took a few more minutes before the ambulance pulled into the Emergency Room drop-off. I said my goodbyes and followed Rosie’s gurney into the sliding glass doors.

The noise and bustle of the busy ER increased my tension. How busy were they? How long would it take to get seen?

Thankfully, before I had to worry about it any longer, my sister-in-law, Sarah, came racing through the corridor and pushed into the intake area. “Jude! Come on back. Derek called Thad to ask if this was the best place to bring her. He didn’t realize I worked here now. We’ve already got a bay ready for her.”

I let out a breath and followed them through the doors and into a small cubicle where a nurse was already waiting to take Rosie’s vitals.

Leave it to Derek to look out for us even when he wasn’t even here yet.

Derek

Nothing crawled under my skin and tore my heart to shreds more than knowing my family was in pain.

The only thing that kept me from driving like a Formula One driver was the knowledge someone else’s baby girl could get hurt from my recklessness.

It seemed to take hours before I pulled the car into the hospital’s parking garage. I raced down to the ER and straight to the intake desk.

“My daughter was brought in with an injured leg,” I said, too quickly. “Rose Marian. And my husband is with her. Jude. Jude Marian.”

The man at the desk looked at me with widening eyes. I bit my tongue against saying, “Yes, that Jude Marian.” Instead, I clenched my teeth and waited a beat for him to do his job.

“Oh, uh… oh!” He glanced at the computer and began to type as slow as a snail stuck in molasses. My teeth ground together even more. “Let’s see… Rose… Marian… How do you spell… ah! Here she is. Bay number six.”

I was through the door before he finished saying the words. “Jude,” I called, losing my patience when I realized the bays weren’t numbered clearly.

“In here,” he said. My husband’s familiar voice slithered into my chest and allowed me to take a breath. I followed the sound until I found him.

And then I yanked him into my arms and squeezed the ever-living fuck out of him.

“Where is our daughter?” I asked when I realized the bed was empty.

“Stop growling,” he said, his voice muffled in my shirt.

“Not growling. Where did they take her and why didn’t you stay with her?” I let him pull away from me, but only enough to answer me clearly.

“They took her for X-rays. They said I wasn’t allowed to come with them, but Sarah is with her. Rosie is out of it on meds anyway.”

Jude’s hair hung over one eye. I ran my fingers through it gently before tucking it behind his ear and leaning down to kiss him on the lips. It was a kiss of reassurance, of connection, a kiss to let him know he wasn’t alone. After the kiss, Jude snuggled up against my chest again and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I’m so glad you’re here. I know kids break bones all the time, but…”

“It’s our first,” I said with a little self-deprecating laugh.

“Yeah. Are we being stereotypical helicopter parents by freaking out this much?”

I kissed the top of his head. “I think it’s reasonable to freak out when your three-year-old needs an ambulance and X-rays. Thank god it wasn’t something more serious.”

Jude nodded. “Can you imagine the parents who are here dealing with so much more than this?” A shudder wracked his body. “I want to make a donation to the hospital after this.”

I couldn’t hold in a laugh. “Jude, baby. We donate an obscene amount of money to this place already. In fact, when I first worked for you, you were raising money for children’s cancer charities. And Aunt Tilly gives tens of thousands to this place, too, especially after Thad told her about their willingness to let her fund a reproductive health clinic for teens.”

Jude flashed me with his warm, brown gaze, the eyes that had melted my heart for years now. “Fuck,” I muttered. “Fine. Whatever you want. I’ll write the check.”

It wasn’t like we couldn’t afford it. Jude’s band still made significant money on residuals even though they didn’t tour anymore, and Jude himself made even more money writing original songs for new and upcoming artists. Having him at home while the kids were young had been a gift, and my work for Joel at On Your Six Security was mostly done from my home office when I wasn’t in the company’s gym training new recruits.

Because of our flexible work, we were both able to spend a ton of time with the kids. We were some of the luckiest parents alive, and we tried not to take it for granted.

“Are you mad at me?”

I looked down at Jude in confusion before moving over to sit in the chair by the wall and pull him onto my lap.

“Why would I be mad at you, Bluebell?” I murmured, threading my fingers through his long hair again.

“I took my eyes off her for a few minutes,” he admitted in a small voice, leaning his head against my chest as if he was afraid of meeting my eyes. “I wasn’t there to catch her.”

My heart squeezed. I reached out and took Jude’s face between my hands. “Jude Marian.” I shook my head and tried not to laugh. “You’re being ridiculous. We both know we can’t always be there to catch them. We can’t have our eyes on them twenty-four, seven. Jude… she’s a baby bird trying to wobble her way into the world. She’s going to stumble. Literally. And that’s okay. It’s part of the deal.”

He shook his head and made a sound of defeat. “I let her down. How will she be able to trust me again?”

“Do you remember when Jet poked himself in the eye with his toddler fork and had to wear an eye patch for a week?”

I thought of my nephew in his adorable pirate patch. He loved that damned thing. But then I remembered the guilt my brother-in-law Beau had felt after “The Fork Incident”.

Jude groaned. “This isn’t the same thing. He gave his son a toddler fork. He was a toddler. That’s what you do with toddlers. How was he supposed to know Jet—” He stopped and thunked his forehead into my chest. “Shut up.”

I laughed into his hair. “Exactly. Rosie was on the playground at a park. That’s what she was supposed to be doing at her age. Today’s fall and injury were a fluke, honey. It’s what happens sometimes to kids. The alternative is to put them in bubble wrap and keep them safe from the world. But then they wouldn’t get to live.”

I thought of all the times my own mother had been forced to hold her tongue when I went rock climbing. “Have fun and be safe honey!” she’d always said. It must have killed her. Every time. But she let me do it anyway.

“Parenting sucks,” he said on a deep exhale.

“No shit,” I agreed.

A few minutes later, they wheeled our daughter back into the room with a white bandage around her leg. Sarah lifted her eyebrows at us. “Well, it’s a very clean and easy break of the fibula. Should be only three to four weeks in a cast once the swelling goes down and they can cast it. She’ll get to pick the color which, I promise you, will make her happy about the whole thing.”

I lurched forward to pick Rosie up from the gurney and hold her to me. Having her safe in my arms made me feel like I could finally take a full breath.

Rosie was still loopy from the medicine, but she definitely recognized me.

“Papa! Can I have a puppy? Daddy, tell him I need a puppy.”

Jude opened his mouth, no doubt planning to offer her the world, and all the puppies in it, but I reached out to pinch him in the side before he could answer. “Don’t even think about it,” I warned him under my breath.

I frowned at Jude over her head. “Don’t we already have dogs? Is she seriously asking for more?”

Sarah’s laugh drew our attention. “The X-ray tech promised her a puppy for being so good,” she said with a grin. “A puppy sticker.”

Rosie’s little pink lips gave us a sunny grin. “Yeah! A puppy sticker! I want one. Or two… ’cause I need one for Lennie.”

By the time Jude opened his mouth to promise her all the stickers in the world, she was dead asleep in my arms.

I leaned down to press my forehead to his. “Let’s go home, Bluebell. It’s been a long day.”

He glanced at his phone before looking back up at me. “It’s not even three in the afternoon.”

My eyes narrowed and heated in a way only he would recognize. “Regardless. We’ll be going home and putting everyone in bed.”

He bit his top lip to keep from saying what he really wanted to say, but it was written all over his face.

Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir.

Now that our family was happy and whole, I planned on celebrating it in the best way possible.