Chapter 3
"Saige is such a pretty name pumpkin, do you have another one?"
I looked back at the doctor to make sure he was listening and found him scribbling away at the clipboard in his hand.
"Mhmm, it's Miles.
My name is Saige Miles.
I don't have another name though.
Some people have three names and some even have four but I only have two.
It makes me sad sometimes," she pouted her lip and looked down sadly.
"Well you don't need to be sad, baby because your two names are prettier than any other name I've ever heard," I assured, loving the smile that returned to her face.
"Saige, you've got some bruises honey and there is this really nice man here who would like to help make them better.
Don't you think we should call him over?"
Her face scrunched up as she appeared to be thinking hard and I chuckled at the intense look of concentration on her face.
"Okay," she said finally.
"But you have to be here the whole time Remi."
I knew I'd set myself when I tried to make her laugh earlier but I guess I'll just have to suck it up.
If calling me Remi is what she wants to do, so be it.
Pride be damned.
"Saige I'm never going to leave you, okay."
I helped Saige back into her bed properly and called the doctor over.
"Hello Saige," he greeted quietly, receiving a soft 'hello' in return.
"My name is Dr. Jonas Nix and I'm here to help you get all better, okay?"
Saige nodded and he went about checking her vitals.
The whole time she kept her hands around mine in an iron grip and I didn't understand how she was so strong.
Dr. Nix started joking with Saige, trying to get her to open up and gain her trust.
"Saige, do you think I look old?" Dr. Nix asked and I wondered where he was going with this.
Her thinking face came on again and I couldn't help the smile on my face.
She was adorable.
"You don't look very old Dr. Nix but you don't look as young and pretty like Remi."
Her statement was completely unexpected and so was the blush that coated my cheeks.
I cleared my throat awkwardly as the doctor chuckled at my reaction.
"Remi, how old are you?" Saige asked.
"I'm twenty-eight years old honey."
"And what about you Dr.Nix?"
"Oh well I'm forty-two," Dr. Nix replied.
Saige stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking, before she spoke again.
"Well I'm sorry Dr. Nix but you're the oldest in this room.
Then Remi, then me 'cause I'm only seventeen."
She was seventeen?
I guessed that she was around sixteen.
She had the face of a baby and from what I could tell she was average height.
"Really, that means you're about to be an adult soon," Dr. Nix said animatedly.
"When is your birthday Saige?"
Her face lit up and I figured that her birthday was something very special to her.
"My birthday is in two weeks.
Can you believe it?
I can't wait!
I am going to watch all the TV I want and no one is gonna tell me no!" she clapped excitedly and I watched as her emotions changed to one of curiosity as she looked around the room.
"Remi, where is my father?"
RAYLAN
"Remi, where is my father?"
I looked at Dr. Nix in panic.
How was I supposed to tell this traumatized little girl that her father had burnt to death in a fire that had also burned down her apartment and almost everything in it?
I looked at her eyes.
I looked at the way they seemed to twinkle.
It was so bright, so innocent and I knew I couldn't have told her the truth just yet.
"He's not here Saige." I didn't lie, technically, I just didn't elaborate on the truth.
I can't bear to see her go back into that traumatic state.
"Oh, well okay.
He probably disappeared again.
He'll come back in a few weeks," Saige said dismissively, going back to rubbing my thumb with her tiny fingers.
"Saige, how often does your dad leave you?
Is there someone who stays with you while he's away," Dr. Nix pushed and I glared at him from across the bed.
"Okay, I think that's enough questions for now.
Saige needs her rest," I placed my hand on her head and guided her to lay back down on the pillow.
"But I am not tired Remi," she complained before turning to Dr. Nix.
"And to answer your question, my daddy leaves all the time.
I'm always by myself.
He would go and when he comes back he brings me all different kinds of stuff.
He always brings a lot of groceries and he'd bring more paint for me-"
"Okay Saige, that's enough chatter for now," I cut her off, not wanting to hear anymore.
I didn't understand what was going on here and I felt as though manipulating her into talking wasn't the right approach.
"I think Raylan is right Saige.
Here's what, I'm going to send in a really nice nurse, who's going to take care of the bruise on your hand, okay?
Then, she's going to give you some medication that'll help you sleep.
Is that alright with you?" Saige nodded and Dr. Nix turned to leave but not before sending me a look that said it all.
What the actual hell was going on here?
The room was silent after he left and Saige and I just sat there, staring at each other.
"Remi," Saige started and I hummed in response.
Her face was socaptivatingto me.
From the soft dusting of freckles across her tiny nose to her rosy, chubby cheeks.
Her eyelashes were so long they brushed against her cheek every time she blinked and don't even get me started on the hazel irises they protected.
Her curly, reddish-brown hair was messily braided in two and it only added to this sickeningly innocent aura that was sending me crazy.
This caramel-skinned angel was making me feel things that a twenty eight year old man should never feel for a seventeen year old girl.
Especially one who was currently going through one of the most traumatic experiences a person could ever go through.
The nurse came in right on cue and stopped my mind from wandering down a very dangerous path.
Saige gripped my hand tighter as the nurse approached us and introduced herself.
I didn't respond, I just kept my eyes on Saige and whispered words of reassurance.
With every whimper, I felt my chest clench as the nurse worked quickly and skillfully to mend the damage to her hand.
I was so grateful that Saige wasn't burnt in the fire.
I just know she wouldn't have been able to bear that kind of pain.
The nurse injected the pain medication into her new IV line and I watched as her eyes grew droopy.
"Promise you'll be here when I wake up Remi?" Saige slurred as her pretty eyes struggled to stay open.
"I promise Saige.
I am never leaving you."
~ ~ ~
"Alright Doc, spit it out," I demanded as I walked into his office unannounced.
"Now look here Mr.Porter, you know full and well that I can't disclose any information about Ms. Miles to you.
She is a minor, part of an ongoing criminal investigation and to top it all off, you're not related to her."
I stayed silent and walked further into his office, mentally counting down the seconds until he cracked.
"Okay fine," he huffed and took his glasses off, rubbing his forehead frustratedly.
"Can't believe I'm risking my job for some obsessed six and a half foot lumberjack," he grumbled under his breath.
"If you think for one second that anything that is said in this room-"
"Oh cut the crap," I interrupted, trying to hide my desperation to find out more about Saige.
"Fine, because you so insist.
Let's start from the fire.
According to our tests, Saige has an extremely weak respiratory system.
From the moment she started inhaling smoke, she passed out within minutes."
I kept my eyes trained on my sweatpants as I processed this new piece of information.
"What did the cops say?"
"Well, we ran some DNA tests on her and in case you were still wondering, the dead man was indeed her father." He paused and passed me a file.
I browsed through it as he continued talking.
"Kairo Miles, thirty-nine years old, lived in Gulltown for his entire life.
He was married a really long time ago.
State records say that her name was Lola Powell.
She migrated from Nysa and as soon as she got here she met Kairo.
They were married five months later.
Seven months later, Lola died giving birth to their baby girl.
The baby, Saige, and Kairo have been off the radar ever since."
"There is no record of Saige attending kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school," I paused my reading and looked up at him.
She never went to school.
"Most likely Kairo has kept Saige locked in that apartment for her entire life and from what we just heard, she may have been there all by herself for the majority of the time."