Read Online A Sister's Forgiveness by Anna Schmidt - Free Book Online Page A

phone. “Your niece is being taken to surgery. Let’s get your daughter treated and then see where things stand.” Once again she glanced at the officer. “Next,” she called, and Dan’s father stepped past Emma and Lars to lean against the desk, his face only inches from the receptionist’s.
    “Do you know who I am?”
    “That’s what I’m here to find out,” the clerk replied wearily.
    “Excuse me,” Emma said. “My sister—Tessa’s mother…?”
    “Will be in the surgical waiting room,” the clerk assured her, and Lars did not miss the way the woman looked at her with an expression of abject pity when just ten minutes earlier she had been annoyed with the entire family.
    The man in scrubs stepped forward and grasped the handles of Sadie’s wheelchair. “This way, folks,” he said. The police officer followed close on his heels as he wheeled Sadie into an area with a bed and one straight chair and then pulled a curtain to give her privacy. “The doctor will be right in,” he said and disappeared.
    “Ma’am,” the officer said, indicating that Emma should take the lone chair.
    “Danke.”
    Sadie was staring blankly at the floor. Lars stood next to her, his hand on her shoulder. Sadie showed no reaction, no expression at all.
    “Sadie?” Emma said.
    Nothing.
    Lars exchanged a look with Emma and then glanced at the officer. The man was standing outside the cubicle, his back to them, his hands clasped behind his back.
    “She’s so still,” Emma mouthed.
    “Der Arzt…,” Lars began, and at that moment a nurse came in, slid the sliding door closed, and softly asked Sadie for her name and birth date, checking to be sure the information matched what was typed on the paper bracelet the receptionist had given Emma to wrap around Sadie’s thin wrist. The questions were simple enough. Name. Date of birth. But Sadie remained mute and staring at the floor. Lars answered for her until the nurse came to the tough question, “Can you tell me what happened?”
    Sadie looked up for the first time.” We hit Tessa,” she whispered, and then she started to shake, her entire body convulsing.
    “Are you cold?” Emma asked, edging closer to where the nurse was bent over Sadie.
    Sadie said nothing.
    The nurse wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, and finally the shaking subsided. “Sadie,” she said, her voice now gentle and kind, “we need to check you over for any injuries you may have sustained beyond the cut on your lip. Are you in pain? Can you tell me where it hurts?”
    Sadie sat stone still for a second and then pointed to her chest.
    “Did you hit your chest on something?”
    Sadie shook her head vigorously. “I hurt in my heart. We hit Tessa,” she repeated, staring at the nurse as if the woman wasn’t very bright. Then she turned to Emma. “We hit Tessa,” she repeated and then seemed to fold in on herself as she clutched her arms tightly around her body and once again started to rock back and forth.
    “Okay, okay,” Lars said, patting Sadie’s hand. “That’s enough. We need the doctor in here.”
    The nurse looked over her shoulder at him. “I really need to—”
    “Der Arzt,” Lars demanded. “Doctor now.”
    The nurse looked from Lars to Emma.
    “Bitte?” Emma pleaded.
    With a nod, the nurse put away the blood pressure cuff she had started to attach to Sadie’s thin arm and left the room.
    Sadie continued her rocking.
    “Sadie, let’s keep the ice on your lip,” Emma said, kneeling next to her and pressing the ice pack against her face. From the corridor outside the exam room, Lars could hear the booming voice of Dan’s father. He also heard a calmer male voice say something about running some tests as he assured Mr. Kline that as soon as they knew what they were dealing with, Dan would receive the treatment he needed.
    The calmer voice came closer, ticking off instructions to some unseen person as he moved. There was a brief exchange with the police officer, and