Dare To Love

Elise's POV "Isn't she cute Max?" Laurie asks my little boy Indeed Laurie's daughter Mia was cute just as my Riley was. Max nods approvingly. "You know Laurie, maybe Max could marry Mia one they when they're older and we could all be a family" I say jovially. "Hmm, so I wasn't the only one having such thoughts?" Laurie says and we both laugh. "What do you think about that Max" I ask him, who only stares back at me in confusion. "Don't ask him such things. He's only four." Laurie says "Marry?" Max asks innocently "Yes" I say nodding but Laurie nudges my side with her elbow. I ignore her. "Like you and daddy?' Max continues to ask. I nod. "Wow!" He exclaims excitedly. "I get to live with Mia everyday. Yay" He does this cute victory dance "Well see who is excited" Laurie says and we both burst out laughing. Both Riley and Mia sat at our feet minding their own little businesses. They seemed to play individually with their respective toys. "Okay, I'll be on my way" I hear Tom say as he descends the stairs. He places his phone in his pants pocket as he walks up to us. "Elise, honey, I'm so sorry but something came up at work. There was a road accident and the hospital is short of staff because it's a holiday" Tom apologizes. "It's always like this Tom" I sigh in frustration. We plan something together as a family and he has to ruin it. "Always ditching" I add. "I know Elise but the lives of the people matter too. I'm a doctor so have to understand this" Tom argues. "So the lives of others come before your family?" I ask as I wave my hand over the kids. "Elise" Tom sighs and rubs his palm against his face "Not this again. We've dealt with this on several occasions." Tom interjects. "Then I guess we may not have dealt with it well enough." I say "Oh my God Elise what do you want me to do" He says. His voice raising a notch. "Family before work Tom. That's what I want you to do. I need you to pay more attention to your family, to the kids" I point toward Max and Riley, not being able to keep my anger under control. "So shall I let people lose their lives? Every second I stand here arguing with you somebody is at the verge of death!" He says "Well don't you have a lot of colleagues? Let them do it" I argue. "Oh come on Elise you're better that that" Tom says with annoyance. " It is my responsibility" He yells. "So is this family" I yell back at him Tom took in a deep breath and slowly let it go "Listen Elise, let's deal with this later. How about we schedule the family trip to another time" He says pleadingly, placing his hand on my shoulders. I instinctively flinch away from him, out of his grasp. "When Tom? Because I know when your job needs you you're gonna leave us"  I say just as his phone rings. He picks it up. "Hello Garry" He says into the phone as he begins to hurriedly walk towards the front door. "Yeah I'm on my way there"  He says, ignoring as. I watched as he made an exit, closing the door behind him. I felt Laurie hold on to my arm. "Calm down Elise" She says in an attempt to keep my temper under control. I burry my face in the crook of her neck and sob. *                      *                          *                      *                     * THE CENTRAL STATE HOSPITAL Thomas' POV "Dr. Harper", Daisy one of the nurses greets me as I pass their desk.  She quickly gets up to follow me.  She hand me copies of the files of the patients that were rushed in not long ago. "What exactly happened?" I ask Daisy as I flipped through the pages of the documents, briefly assessing the information in it. "The was oil spillage" Daisy fills me in on information. "There were no explosions, but the spillage was so sudden that several vehicles had a collision as a result of the slippery nature of the affected road." She adds all in one breath. "What a shame" I say out of pity as we turn around a corner to the neurosurgery department.  "It is a shame indeed. If not for that carnival coming to town this holiday we wouldn't have had that many people using the road leading out of town." "Carnival" I simply say and that's when realization dawned upon me and I froze.