Hunter's p.o.v.
It's tomorrow.
Finally, the wedding is tomorrow and I've been feeling jiggly since
morning.
If jiggly is indeed a word.
I've gotten a suit picked out with the help of Guillermo and Michelle
says she's already got her gown too.
The venue was being set up by Claudette and Jenny while Cheryn took
charge of the caterers.
Edward handling the convoys and my family and friends are flying in
today.
I'm honestly feeling like a girl who's about to have her first kiss.
Fucking excited!.
Nothing can honestly dampen my mood right now.
I'm on my way home and a little early from work cause I promised Louisa
that I'd take her out and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.
Because I seriously doubt if Michelle would allow me to hang out with
someone else's kid.
Scratch that, hang out with Iris's kid.
I drove in through the gates and pass a smile to the young men who stood
on guard before furthering.
Driving down the pathway till I got to the entrance of my house and
seeing Edward on a phone call by the doorstep.
I parked at the foot of the stairs cause I would be needing the car soon
and hopped out.
Walking up the step, I catch a bit of Edward's conversation on the phone
with whoever just in time for me to send him a nod of acknowledgement.
" Yes, the limousine would be labeled for the bride and the groom's
decorations should be centered on mainly black" he instructs and sets
out his hand for me to pass him the car keys.
But I shook my head in response and he nodded in understanding then
carried on with his discussion.
I stepped into the building and used my eyes to roam around the living
room in hopes of sighting the little damsel that was my reason for being
home at this moment.
When I didn't see nor hear her tiny footsteps and voice I decided to
call out to her.
" Louisa?"
But no replies nor reactions were heard. Infact her name echoed through
the building making me suspect that Edward was all alone at home with
the girl.
" Louisa?" I called again but Edward replied me instead.
" The girl should be in her bedroom"
" In her bedroom? Is she okay?" Louisa wasn't one who actually liked to
stay alone.
" I don't really know, she was complaining of drowsiness when I picked
her from school so I made her drink some milk and go have a nap"
That explains.
" Oh, alright. Thank you" I smiled at him and began heading for iris's
bedroom.
I've been smiling a lot of recent.. hehehe
I approach the door to their bedroom and met it wide open.
But that wasn't the only thing I saw.
I also saw a sight I was never expecting.
Louisa passed out on the floor seemingly lying in her own vomit.
" Jesus!"
I didn't know when I screamed out in shock and ran towards her still
body.
" Louisa? Louie wake up!" I hollered as I tried shaking her to
consciousness all to no avail.
I picked her body up and she fell limp in her arms.
Her body temperature was actually my greatest fear at this point.
Iris can't lose two kids in a lifetime.
" Edward!! Edward help!" I yelled as I carried Louie in my arms and ran
out the room.
In a few seconds Edward appeared with fear stricken all over his face.
" Hunter what's- My goodness!" He exclaimed when he saw the situation of
things.
" Her body is going cold so we have no time. I mistakenly dropped my
keys on the floor. Hurry!" I spoke in one breath and began making a race
for the car.
Edward too was as fast as can be because he was already by my side once
I got to the vehicle.
In no time we were in and we're driving out of the compound.
I placed two fingers on her pulse to be sure that she was only just
unconscious.
Her heartbeats were slow and heavy and the fear in my chest heightened.
" Edward faster!" I demanded, making the elderly man step on the pedals
with more effort.
Soon enough, we were at a hospital that was just around the corner,
while Edward was trying to slow the car down so he could find a parking
spot, I jumped out and ran to the entrance.
A few nurses saw my distressed expression with a numb baby in my arms,
so they rushed out to meet me with a stretcher.
One of them took Louisa away from me and placed her on the mobile bed
while shouting ' ER ' to the others who trailed behind in swift motions.
Only one of them took hold of my arm.
" Sir, Please you're gonna have to fill out some files"
I nodded and followed her steps. Now Edward had parked the car and was
also following behind with his phone on his ear.
She led us both into a little room and urged us to take a seat while I
filled out the documents.
" Miss Jules isn't answering her phone calls" he complained and dialled
her number again.
" Keep trying, she'll definitely pick up" I responded and continued to
write down whatever information I could.
After a short time, I was done and I ran my hands down my face in
frustration as I took a deep sigh.
" How long had she gone to take the nap before I arrived?" I asked to
give myself an assurance that the case may not be so critical.
" Nothing more than three minutes, as soon as she left I made the phone
call"
I nodded and prayed silently that Louisa would be okay.
After agonizingly waiting for at least fifteen minutes, the doctor came
in and he didn't look tensed up at all.
That was a slight relief.
" Good evening, please is she alright?" I hurriedly asked.
" Well, in a way. I want to know what happened right before she was
brought in" the young man answered and leaned against the table.
" She had complained that she was feeling dizzy not up to an hour ago so
I gave her some milk and advised she take a nap. Just a few minutes
later we found her unconscious in her own vomit" Edward replied and the
doctor nodded in understanding.
" How old is she?"
" She's five" I answer that one, remembering the day she had told me.
The man took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking again.
" Alright then. We suspect anaemia to be the cause of her dizziness
because the girl doesn't have much blood and she may have passed out due
to choking on her vomit. The two conditions don't make it easy for
oxygen to access the brain" he detailed and I saw the issue wasn't
entirely serious.
Thank God.
" But is she going to be okay?" Edward asked.
" Yes she will. And she may need transfusion "
Luckily, her mom is a universal.
But she isn't here.
Damn Iris pick up your cellphone!
" What's her blood group?" I asked, hoping I could help.
" The test results show that she's a B "
Perfect.
" I could help with that. I'm a-" I began but Edward cut me in.
" I don't think that's a good idea, why not wait for her mother to come
do the donation"
Is he going crazy?
" As you can see, her mother isn't present"
" And we need the blood soon so we can run the compatibility test in
time" the doctor added after me.
" I still think-" Edward began but I wasn't having any of it.
" Are you a B?" I asked, maybe he wants to make the donation himself.
" No but-"
" Then don't complain" I cut in and turned to the doctor " let's go"
He led the way to the laboratory.
.........................................
Well guess what..
It's almost midnight.
Then guess what again...
Louisa is finally awake, Thank God.
Then finally. Guess what....
Iris fucking accused me of causing whatever happened to Louisa.
Seriously, I tried explaining how it all went down to her but she simply
yelled " that's all you're ever good at. Hurting little things"
I honestly didn't understand what she meant by that but if she's
referring to the past then that was damn low.
Presently, I was leaning against the wall and a couple of feet away from
the bed where Iris wanted.
So in summary, I was standing pretty close to the door.
Iris held her little girl in her arms as she slept with the transfusion
needle still inserted in the back of her palm.
She got in just in time to give her own blood instead of mine, but I had
already donated by the time she arrived so I told them to just place it
in a blood bank instead.
To be truthful, Iris looked like she was about to lose her mind when she
heard I was gonna give my blood.
Her expression was more of 'that poisonous venom underneath your skin?'
I felt highly insulted but I chose not to complain. Miss Jules had put
on quite an attitude of recent thinking I didn't sense it but the rift
in her atmosphere was very clear.
Edward took permission to go do a last minute check up on everything
prepared for the wedding so he was no longer with us.
I shuffled a bit when I heard the door open and I looked up to see the
doctor step in with a firm look on his face.
" Miss Jules" he greeted and sent her a nod " once this transfusion is
done she can go home but she shouldn't stress for at least three days"
Iris nodded in understanding and it was then I noticed how almost tight
her grip was on Louisa like the girl was dying. Only when I looked at
her face did I see she had actually been crying and I didn't notice.
" Mr McConnell, I need to discuss the bills with you" the doctor called
and pulled my attention back to him.
" Don't tell him anything, I'll pay it" iris's cracked voice protested
and I muttered a 'bullshit' under my breath.
" I'm sorry ma'am, but it's his name that's on the sponsors file" he
gently responded and motions for me to follow him.
I cast one more glance at Iris and she only threw her face away from me.
Wow.. childish much?
I shook my head and sighed before following the doctor up to his office.
He walked into a moderately sized compact room that was almost filled up
with neatly arranged and organized books and files.
" Have a seat" he says and gestures to the seat at the opposite end of
his desk.
I gently seat down and unavoidably use my eyes to scan round the entire
room.
" Mr McConnell, we would like to thank you for your blood donation to
the bank. We would be forever grateful" he started and I waved him off.
" It's alright, what about the bills"
He sighs and slides some papers already set aside on his desk which I
willingly pick up.
The first paper contained the cost of oxygen use and bedspace.
A total of one hundred and twenty dollars.
The next was the cost of treatment, laboratory tests, drugs and
transfusion.
Another total of two hundred dollars.
The third was a DNA results sheet of Miss Louisa Shawn and Mr Hunter
McConnell.
Showing a total of ninety seven point three two percent.
Wait what!?
" What's this?" If this is a sick joke, I'm in no mood for it.
" Sir, when they were running a compatibility test between miss Louisa
and her mother, the technician mixed up your blood with her mother's and
I apologise for the inefficiency but in the process, we discovered
something else. Infact, it's your blood that had just been transfused"
" That's not possible"
My kid is dead.
" To be honest, after the technician ran the test, he assumed it was
truly her mother's. Till he began filling out the results sheet and
realized her mother is an O positive and he ran the compatibility test
on a B positive"
I was entirely speechless.
I can't believe I've been so stupid and blind.
She's really five years.
That feeling of familiarity whenever I looked at her. I always thought
it's because of our similar eyes and hair color.
Little did I know that she's mine.
Fucking hell!!
" Mr Hunter, we decided that you shouldn't pay the bills because of your
donation" the doctor says again, throwing a blanket over my thoughts.
" No, I'll send a friend of mine to come pay tomorrow. Thank you" I
replied and left his office.
As I walked back to Louisa's room, I couldn't help the anger and
embarrassment brewing in me.
What was I actually going to say to Iris?
I fucking found out that I'm Louisa's Dad?
I can't even picture my own self saying that.
Once I arrived at the room and stepped in, Iris and Louisa were still in
the same position they had been when I had left.
A sudden pang of guilt and pain of being lied to hit me.
Then I decided to say just one thing.
" Let's go" and marched out before anyone could react.
Remember when I said nothing could dampen my mood earlier?
Well guess what...
Something just managed to.