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.“What is it, honey?” Darcy sat on the side of the bed and rubbed the girl’s back.“I want Daddy!” Taylor moaned.“He’ll be back soon.Just as soon as he can.Meanwhile, I’ll look after you.I need to take your temperature, okay?”Taylor nodded and Darcy inserted the thermometer in her ear.A hundred and three.Very high.She tried to remember what Riley’s pediatrician had told her about fevers and children, but it was all a blur.She patted Taylor’s back.“I’ll see if I can find something in the kitchen to settle your stomach.”A search of the refrigerator and cabinets yielded nothing helpful.Mike had stocked the pantry, but not with a sick child in mind.Darcy called his cell phone.“Hi, this is Dr.Mike Carter.Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”She supposed the doctor was for the benefit of his answering service.She left a brief message and hung up.Maybe he was already on his way back, traveling through one of the areas where it was impossible to get a cell phone signal, or over an icy pass where it wasn’t safe to answer the phone.“Darcy!” Taylor’s cry was weak but urgent.Darcy raced back to the bedroom in time to see the child throw up again.“It’s all right, honey.I’m here.” She hurried to get another washrag, praying Mike would be back soon.AT THE HOSPITAL MIKE STUDIED the latest results from the lab test he’d ordered for Brent.The numbers weren’t nearly what he’d hoped for.“Fax these to Dr.Munroe,” he said, returning the papers to the nurse at his elbow.The pediatric cardiologist had consulted by phone with Mike from his house in Aspen.Unlike Mike, he’d seen no need to make the drive back to Denver in yet another snowstorm.“Keep the boy in the hospital for observation if it makes you feel better,” he’d told Mike.“But he’ll be fine until Monday.”Fine was a relative term when dealing with chronically ill children.Fine might be a lower temperature than usual or less pain than the child normally experienced.His cell phone beeped, reminding him he had a message.He hit the voice mail button.“Mike, this is Darcy.I don’t want to worry you, but Taylor has come down with some kind of bug.She’s vomiting and has a fever of a hundred and three.I’m worried she might have thrown up her noon meds and I’m not sure what to do.I hope you’ll be back soon.”He was already pulling on his coat by the time the message ended, punching in Darcy’s number with his thumb while he searched for his gloves.“Mike?” She answered on the second ring.“I just got your message.What’s up?”“Mike, I’m so glad to hear from you.Are you on your way here?”“I’m just leaving.What’s going on with Taylor?”He listened to her list of symptoms.“It sounds like the stomach flu that’s been going around,” he said.“Nasty stuff, but it usually resolves within a couple of days.”“Then you don’t think it’s serious?” He could hear her relief through the phone.“You say she’s not keeping down her medication?”“She’s not keeping down anything.The lunchtime doses were only in her for an hour before she threw up.Should I try to give her everything again?”“No.Overdosing is as bad as underdosing in these cases.Just try to keep her quiet and I’ll be there as fast as I can.”He hung up and finally found his gloves in his coat pocket.He put these on as he headed for the elevator.“Dr.Carter, where are you going?” A young nurse—Daphne, he thought her name was—intercepted him near the elevators.“I’m headed back to Breckenridge.My patient seems stable for now, but call me if you need anything.”“But you can’t drive to Breckenridge,” Daphne said.“It’s a howling blizzard out there.”The storm Friday hadn’t kept him from his daughter; he certainly wouldn’t let a little more snow keep them apart.“I’m a good snow driver,” he said.“Don’t worry about me.”“I mean, you really can’t go.All the roads are closed.”“They shut down I-70 again?” His shoulder muscles tensed as he thought of the torturous drive over three mountain passes on Highway 285.“Yes.And they’ve closed 285 too.The news re ports I heard said there were wrecks everywhere.”“The roads are closed,” he repeated, numb.“Yes.The police are advising people against even traveling locally.We’re setting up all our empty rooms for personnel to spend the night here.I can see if there’s something available for you.”“Do you know what the weather’s like in Breckenridge?” he asked.“Oh, I think the high country’s getting lots of snow, too.The skiers are loving it.”The skiers might love it, but what if Taylor took a turn for the worse and needed advanced medical care? Breckenridge had a small hospital, but what if an ambulance couldn’t get to her? Darcy had sounded pretty stressed on the phone just now.She didn’t have any experience looking after a child as sick as Taylor could get.He was Taylor’s father.It was his responsibility to look after her.He’d have to find a way, if he had to commandeer a team of sled dogs to take him to her.“TAYLOR, HONEY, sit up and try to eat some toast and drink some of this tea,” Darcy said.“I don’t want to.”“Honey, you have to
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