"The doctor gave him an injection, but the fever won't break. What are we supposed to do…? What if his brain gets damaged from the heat?"
If something happened to the boy, and the master started asking questions, what would she do then?
Danielle kept her composure. "Go get some rubbing alcohol. And ask the doctor for another round of meds."
She specified the medication.
Every time Raffy had a fever, only that medicine ever helped—Danielle had learned that from years of looking after him.
Raffy had been born premature, frail from the start, and everyone doted on him. If he had a food allergy, it could quickly spiral into a high fever, and only antihistamines would help bring the temperature down.
Julia watched as Danielle gently dabbed Raffy's skin with alcohol. Then, she coaxed the medicine into him. Ten minutes later, she checked his temperature again—finally, the numbers began to fall.
Julia let out a small sigh of relief.
When a child burns with fever in a hospital, the doctors rely on standard treatments, but it's the parents who know their child's constitution best.
Danielle sat quietly by Raffy's bedside, gazing at him as he slept.
Her feelings were tangled.
She couldn't say she didn't love Raffy. In truth, she could never really harden her heart and walk away from him. She had raised him from his first fragile days, from nursing to his first word, all the way until now. The only thing missing was that he hadn't come from her own body—for everything else, she was his mother in every way that counted.
If anything, she'd always worried about Raffy more than Niki, simply because he was so delicate.
If she hadn't come tonight, there was a real chance his fever could have done lasting harm.
Danielle didn't leave that night.
By dawn, Raffy stirred and opened his eyes. He saw Danielle slumped asleep at the edge of his bed.
He reached out with his small hand and tugged at her sleeve, his child's voice raspy: "Mom… I'm thirsty."
Danielle woke and, seeing he was conscious, poured him a glass of water. "Does anything else hurt?" she asked as she handed it to him.
Raffy looked up at her, pitiful. "My head aches, and my whole body feels weak…"
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