The phone rang at 6:14 a.m., cutting through the quiet of a cold January morning. I was sitting in my car with the engine already running, one hand on the steering wheel, the other adjusting the rearview mirror. My mind was busy with numbers, deadlines, and a meeting scheduled for later that morning. I remember thinking about profit charts and quarterly targets, believing those were the things that truly mattered.Then the dashboard screen lit up with a name that made my chest tighten.Riverside Children’s Medical Center.I was thirty-nine years old. I had always seen myself as practical, steady, someone who didn’t panic easily. But before I even answered the call, a deep, instinctive fear settled in my stomach—the kind only a parent understands.Mr. Reynolds?” The woman’s voice on the line was calm but heavy.
“Yes. This is him.”Your daughter, Hannah, was admitted about twenty minutes ago. Her condition is critical. You need to come immediately.”
The rest of the world faded into noise. I don’t remember ending the call. I don’t remember pulling out of the parking spot. I only remember the road blurring past me as I drove far too fast, my hands shaking on the wheel.I kept telling myself it had to be an accident. A fall. A sudden illness. Anything but what my heart was already afraid of.The Life I Thought I Was BuildingHannah was eight years old. She had my dark hair and her mother’s quiet eyes. Since losing her mom two years earlier after a long illness, she had changed. She spoke less. She smiled less. Every professional told me the same thing: children grieve in their own time.I threw myself into work. Long hours. Late nights. I convinced myself it was necessary. I was doing it for her. For school. For stability. For the future her mother would have wanted.That was when Melissa entered our lives.
