In My Daughters Eyes

She paced back and forth in the waiting room, waiting to hear anything from the doctor. She had just gotten a call saying her daughter, Shiya, was brought to the emergency room. The door burst open as she looked up. "Dave..." she whispered, arms wrapped around herself.”What happened, Sam?" he asked concern in both his eyes and voice. "I-I don't know...They won't tell me anything..." Just then, the doctor came in, holding a chart. "Mrs. Calaway?" I nodded as the doctor introduced himself. "Your daughter, Shiya, was brought in. She was in a car accident and was prepped for emergency surgery. She broke two of her ribs and her left leg, she hit her head pretty hard when they impacted...she's in a coma..." I gave a shaky sigh and thanked him. "Can we see her?" Dave asked. The doctor nodded and led us to her room. We both walked in and I sat on her right, Dave on her left. "We have to put all our bullshit behind us, Dave...Shi's our only daughter...I can't lose her, brown eyes...I can't..." I didn't even know I said the Old Nick name; I focused on Shi's face, willing for her to open her eyes..."We won't lose 'er, Sam...She's strong...and stubborn..." I gave a teary chuckle and stroked Shi's hand.

                The night wore on as Shi’s condition remained the same. I stayed in the room next to her, glancing at Dave occasionally. “She loves you, y’know…” he looks at me and nods, voice soft. “I know, Sam…I know…” I nodded. “This isn’t about us…this is about our daughter…she needs us. She needed us and we were too busy screaming at each other to fuckin’ realize it…” I took a breath. “I don’t even remember what half those arguments were about…” he shook his head. “The funny part about that night, though, Dave…you claimed to be drunk, but you weren’t…” Just then, Shi’s machine started to flat line as the crash cart came in, Dave and I cleared the room. I watched with tears in my eyes as they tried to make her heart pump again. I gripped Dave’s arm tightly, not noticing the tears rushing down my face. They finally got her breathing again on the third try.
               
The doctor came out and sighed. “It was a close call…She’s not fighting back…if she doesn’t, She won’t wake up and we’ll have to pull the plug…” We both nodded. “I’ll be checking up on her every couple of hours; see if her progress has changed…You can both go see her.” We thanked him and headed back into her room. I brushed some hair out of her face and started to sing No Good in Goodbye by Jason Michael Carroll. Dave watched us as he stroked Shi’s hand. I started to stroke her brownish blonde hair softly, the song coming to an end. I swallowed a sob as Dave reached over and squeezed my hand. “Gawd, Dave…What if…What if she doesn’t wake up?” He squeezed harder, swallowing his own tears. “We won’t, blue eyes….She’s stubborn like you…” I chuckled softly and nodded. “She always did like In My Daughters Eyes by Martina McBride…Honey…please…wake up…” I begged softly. “Open those beautiful brown eyes, ShiShi” Dave pleaded quietly, using her old nick name. “Wanna hear a story?” I asked her, softly squeezing her hand. My other one, still stroking her hair; “The first time I found out I was pregnant with you…I was scared on how yer dad was gonna react…” I started, sniffling. “But when they placed you in my arms…those big, brown eyes, I nearly lost you, Shi…Y’were so small and fragile…I was scared. But yer dad found out and he placed that teddy bear in your little crib and I knew he knew. Kind of hard not t’know…y’have his eyes and caramel skin…Gawd, Shi….I’m sorry…I’m sorry for having you hear me and dad screaming at each other all the time…” My voice started cracking, so Dave took over.
               
 “We are sorry, ShiShi…We tried to make it work for you…we did…honest. In the end…it never worked out. We wanted you to be happy. We…We want you to be happy…We can’t take back what happened. Please…please come back to us. Mom’n’I will be on friendlier terms, I promise…” he promised. I locked my watery eyes to his and nodded. I started to softly sing In my Daughters Eyes.
               
 A few hours later, we both heard Shi groan low. “Shi?! C’mon, baby…open those beautiful brown eyes….c’mon!” I cheered her on softly as she opened her eyes. “M-mommy? D-Daddy?” she asked, her voice raspy and small. “We’re right here, baby…” He said. Squeezing her hand; the doctor came and checked her out, telling us that everything would be alright. “She’ll have to stay the night for some tests…” We nodded.
               
“Thank you…” Dave and I kept talking with her, a smile on all of our faces. Everything was going to be alright. I glanced at Dave and smiled as we both listened to Shi talk. Just glad to have our baby back;