July 1993 – Belfast City Hospital – Children's Ward
Rosalie Jane Callaghan was perched on the end of her hospital bed, dressed comfortably in a Pocahontas sweater and matching leggings. Jennifer Callaghan, the little girl's aunt, was dealing with the discharge paperwork at the nurse's station; she glanced across to the ward entrance periodically and pressured the nurse to progress quicker.
Rosalie winced as she shuffled off the end of the bed; her right arm was treated to a cast after being broken in two places; the right side of her torso was heavily bandaged after suffering a long laceration. She sauntered over to the window and watched the rain pummelling the pavement five floors down. She caught her reflection and blinked hard; her right temple had a long line of stitches and harsh bruising from the impact of the other car; each blink stung a little.
The little girl heard the commotion just outside her door but did not flinch at her aunt's unforgiving tone, nor at the nurse's heated threats to call security, but her ears did prickle at the sound of her father giving back as good as he got.
"I don't give a shite what a piece of paper tells you, I'm her da!" Filip Telford scorned back at Jennifer. He shook his head and barked at the nurse to mind her own business.
"You are, aye, sure. But more importantly, you are the reason I laid my sister to rest last week, you are the reason my niece almost joined her!" Jennifer scorned, and pushed the man back as he made for his daughter's room, "DON'T. This was it. This was the wake-up call! You will bring nothing but a shower of shit down on that little girl, Filip, and you know, you know it's true! She deserves better than this, you know that!"
"She's my daughter, Jenna." Filip sighed harshly, "She's my little girl."
"Let me take her away from all of this, just like Lizzie always wanted, just like she was preparing to do!" Jenna implored, and grasped at Filip's arm, "I know you love her, and I know you want to protect her, but this is how you do that! Do right by her and…let her go."
"Let me say goodbye, at least." Filip uttered with a waver in his voice.
Jenna nodded and waved off the security guard who had been summoned to address the shouting match. She turned to Filip and implored him to be quick, they were already running late for the airport. Jenna took a seat outside the room and allowed them to have one final private moment together.
"Hey darling." Filip uttered with a shaky tone.
Rosalie had never seen her father look like this, he looked exhausted; a whole lot older than the last time she'd seen him.
"Are you okay, daddy?" Rosalie asked and made her way over to him.
"All the better for seeing you, kiddo." Filip rasped and embraced his daughter tightly. She repressed the wince his embrace had caused and simply focused on the feeling of safety instead. He kissed the top of her head, and eventually pulled away, crouching down to her level.
"You don't have to say nothing." Rosalie uttered, "If you don't want to."
"What's that?"
"Mummy says if you have nothing nice to say, you shouldn't say nothing at all. And I think you're going to say goodbye, so I don't want you to say it." Rosalie uttered with a tell-tale glimmer hazing over her eyes and a wobbling lip.
Filip took a long slow draw of breath and squeezed her hand as he composed himself. She always had something smart to say, and words were failing him; he needed to convey how much he desperately didn't want her to go and how much he was going to miss her mischievous smirk; she needed to know how truly sorry he was, how much he hurt that she was ever put in harm's way, how deeply he grieved for her mother; words were not enough.
"I'm not gonna say it." Filip rasped, "Because your ma also wasn't a big fan of lies. And we're gonna see each other again, and we're gonna be together again; that much is keeping me going, darling, I can't make sense of much, but I know that to be true."
"Why don't you come with us then?" Rosalie asked, in earnest, "You can come to America too?"
"I've got a lot of things to put right before I can do that." Filip rasped and shook his head, he needed to focus here, this wasn't the time for logistics, "You're so loved, little one. Aunt Jenna is going to take such good care of you, and you're gonna have such a whale of a time, you won't be thinking about silly old me."
"Yes, I will." Rosalie uttered in a quiet tone, breaking Filip's broken heart into even smaller pieces.
"Filip." Jenna uttered, and leant against the doorway, "That's the taxi."
"Alright. Alright." Filip uttered back, and turned back to his daughter, "You promise me that you'll do your ma proud, you'll be good, and you'll listen to your Aunt?"
"I'll promise if you promise." Rosalie shrugged sadly.
"What am I promising?" Filip asked.
"You won't forget me." Rosalie uttered, every syllable felt like a stab to his heart.
"Darling, I think about you every single moment of every damn day, no way in hell am I ever forgetting you." Filip uttered and received a scorn from Jenna for cursing, but he ignored it. Rosalie snorted at the response. He plucked a drawing Rosalie had done of them both from his shirt pocket and showed it to her, noting, "You're the light in my dark world, little one, I can't forget you, you make me better. I keep that right there, right next to my heart, that's where you stay, doesn't matter where you are."
Rosalie beamed and traced the outline of the drawing with her finger as he spoke. She looked up at her father and squished herself against him, against the bellowing pain radiating from her side.
"I love you, baby girl." Filip uttered and kissed her on the top of the head.
"I love you, daddy." Rosalie uttered into his chest.
