The room tilted around me.
"What happened? Are they hurt?"
"Your daughter had a severe allergic reaction. She is stable, but the doctor needs to speak with you."
I stopped breathing.
"How did they get there?"
"Your brother-in-law brought them."
I was already running toward the car.
Hillcrest was four blocks away.
I do not remember driving there.
I remember leaving the car crooked in the parking lot and running through the clinic doors.
A nurse led me into a treatment room.
Emma was on a bed with an oxygen tube beneath her nose.
Red patches covered her cheeks and neck.
One of her hands was taped to an IV board.
Noah sat in a chair beside the bed, clutching a packet of crackers.
Tyler stood against the wall.
His shirt was stained. His hair was wet with sweat.
I ran to Emma.
"What happened?"
A doctor stepped closer.
"I'm Dr. Patel. Your daughter experienced anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction. She developed hives, facial swelling, vomiting, and breathing difficulty."
I looked at Emma's swollen eyelids.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"She responded well to epinephrine. We have called an ambulance to transfer her to the hospital for observation because symptoms can sometimes return."
My legs weakened.
"What caused it?"
"We do not know yet. Your brother-in-law said she ate a bite of a cookie shortly before the reaction began."
I turned toward Tyler.
"A cookie?"
He looked terrified.
"It was from my bag. I forgot they had nuts."
"I told you not to give them any snacks."
"I didn't know she was allergic."
"Neither do I. That's why we are careful with any snacks we introduce to them."
The doctor raised a hand gently.
"Food allergies can appear without a previously diagnosed reaction. Right now, the important thing is that he recognized something was seriously wrong."
I looked at Tyler again.
He swallowed.
"She started scratching her neck," he said. "At first I thought she was tired. Then her face got red, and her lips looked bigger."
"What did you do?"
"I wasn't thinking, I just reacted," Tyler said. "I have seen allergic reactions in some people in school, and I knew what it was when her body started changing."
His voice shook.
"Emma started making this sound. Like she couldn't pull air in."
Noah stared down at his crackers.
"I panicked, but I knew the clinic was close. So, I put Noah in the stroller, picked Emma up, and ran."
The image came together.
The front door left open.
The bunny dropped near the entrance.
Tyler's scraped knee.
