Waiting for Sunrise by Eva Marie Everson

Author:Eva Marie Everson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042040, FIC027020, Cedar Key (Fla.)—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441237576
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-03-23T04:00:00+00:00

21

Gainesville, Florida

What was his father doing walking into Alachua County Hospital? Carrying long-stem flowers, no less?

Billy paused long enough to watch until Ira disappeared on the other side of the front doors. He jogged across the street, up the steps, and walked into the foyer to the U-shaped desk he remembered. An older woman with short gray hair and a firm line for lips sat on the other side, working a crossword puzzle with a short pencil. She looked up with a sigh. “May I help you?”

Billy looked beyond the desk and into the foyer. Collections of vinyl couches, chairs, end tables, and coffee tables topped with worn magazines met his gaze. No more than five people were scattered among them. None of them were the man he called “Daddy.”

“Um . . . my father just came in.” Billy raised his hand, keeping his fingers horizontal. “Tall man. Big.” He tried to look as confused as he felt. “He forgot to tell me where to meet him.”

The woman smiled at him as if they were in on a secret. “Fifth floor, hon. The elevators are over that way.” She pointed to the left.

“Thank you, ma’am.” The file was heavy in his hand. He clutched it tighter under his fingertips.

His feet felt like lead. Something was wrong; he knew it. Anyone his father was an acquaintance of, they knew as a family, right? Unless, of course, there was someone here from his father’s job. Well, of course. That was it.

He pushed the top brown button in the brass plating next to the elevators and waited for the doors to slide open. When they did, he stepped into the tiny cubicle, pressed the 5, and waited again.

The elevator was painfully slow in its ascent. There were no stops along the way, and when it finally rocked to a stop at the fifth floor, the doors opened to a small L-shaped desk. Behind it, a thin young woman dressed in a white nurse’s uniform and a dark blue bib apron looked up. Her cap held three blue ribbons at the top of both sides. On the desk was a stack of metal charts, which her hands rested upon, as though attempting to keep them from sliding away. Above her was a sign with bold black lettering.

5th FLOOR

MATERNITY

“May I help you?”

Billy blinked as he read the sign. “Yeah . . . yes, ma’am.” He looked from the sign to the nurse. “My father just came through here. I was supposed to meet him, but I don’t know where.”

Keeping her hands on the charts, she turned her attention to a piece of paper to her right. “Mr. Liddle?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“He’s with his wife in room 512.”

“His wife.”

“Yes,” she answered, beaming. “Congratulations on the birth of your little sister, by the way.”

Billy’s heart hammered so loudly, he couldn’t hear himself respond, “Thank you.”

He just stared at the woman as though he were looking through her. And perhaps he was. At that moment, he couldn’t be sure of

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