Chapter 2 - The X-Ray Results and the Shadow of Regret
Within forty-five minutes, Sophie's trauma workup was complete, and the pediatric radiology report popped up on the high-resolution diagnostic monitors across the nurse's station.
I stepped out of the trauma bay, shedding my sterile gloves into the biohazard bin, and walked over to where Elias was pacing anxiously back and forth across the linoleum floor. His hands were jammed deep into the pockets of his slacks, his shoulders tense and rigid.
"Elias," I said, my voice cutting cleanly through the ambient noise of the emergency department.
He spun around instantly, stepping toward me with desperate urgency. "How is she, Adelaide? Is it a severe fracture? Do the bones need surgical pinning? Please tell me she's going to be okay."
"Relax, she's going to be fine," I assured him calmly, pulling up her digital X-ray scans on the monitor. "It's a clean distal radius torus fracture—often called a buckle fracture. It's common with playground falls, but the growth plate wasn't damaged. We've applied a lightweight fiberglass cast, and she'll need orthopedics follow-up in three weeks."
Elias closed his eyes tightly, exhaling a long, shuddering sigh of pure relief as he leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the nursing station partition. "Thank God... thank God."
"She'll need to stay overnight in the pediatric observation ward just to monitor her post-sedation recovery from the wrist manipulation, but she's stable and resting comfortably," I added professionally, turning to walk toward the chart rack.
"Wait," Elias called out, stepping quickly to block my path. He didn't care that the charge nurse was watching us from across the desk. His eyes were locked onto my stomach, dark with a turbulent mix of shock, fear, and terrifying realization. "Adelaide... we need to talk."
"I am on duty, Mr. Vance," I replied coldly, refusing to look up from my charting tablet. "If you have administrative questions about your daughter's discharge protocol, you can speak with the morning shift supervisor."
"That's not what I want to talk about, and you damn well know it," he muttered, his voice dropping to a harsh, desperate whisper. He reached out as if to grab my arm, but thought better of it at the last second, letting his hand drop back to his side. "You're... you're pregnant. Seven months pregnant."
"Good eye for gestation tracking," I retorted dryly, not missing a beat. "Must be all those real estate development timelines you manage."
"Adelaide, please," he pleaded, his voice cracking slightly around the edges. "Is... is the baby mine?"
My hand stopped moving across the digital screen. I slowly raised my eyes, letting my gaze lock onto his with a chilling, unapologetic intensity that made him flinch.
"Your daughter is resting upstairs in Room 412," I said quietly, every word deliberate and measured. "She needs her father right now. Focus on her."
"Don't do this," he whispered, shaking his head in frantic denial. "You can't just drop a bomb like this and walk away. How could you not tell me? How could you hide a child from me for seven months?!"
A bitter, humorless laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it.
"Hide?" I echoed, my voice rising just enough to snap the tension between us. "Elias, let's refresh your memory. Six months ago, you packed your designer luggage into the back of your German sports car, told me you weren't built for family life, and walked out of my life without looking back. When I tried calling you three weeks later to tell you the news, your phone number was disconnected. You blocked my email, deleted your social media, and changed your office address. You didn't just leave me—you erased me."
Elias staggered backward as if I had struck him across the face. The harsh truth of his own cowardice hung in the air between us like a physical weight.
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"I... I was panicked," he stammered, his face twisting with agonizing regret. "My mother was pushing me into an arranged corporate merger with the Sterling family, my commercial development projects were facing bankruptcy, and I felt like my entire life was spinning out of control. I bolted. It was the biggest, most cowardly mistake of my entire life, Adelaide. I've regretted every single second of it since the day I walked out that door."
"Regret is a luxury, Elias," I said softly, turning my back on him to finish my shift notes. "Babies require a little more than late-night apologies."
