Biker Held The Screaming Toddler For 6 Hours When Nobody Else Could Calm Him Down

“Tell you what,” Dale said. “You be brave and let your mama hold you. Get some more rest. And tomorrow, if your mama brings you to my room, I’ll make the rumble sound again. Deal?”

“Deal,” Emmett repeated, though he clearly didn’t want Dale to leave.

Snake and Bull helped Dale out of the room. He could barely walk. The chemo and the six hours sitting had wrecked him. But he was smiling as his brothers helped him back to his treatment room.

They got him back to his bed. The nurse who’d brought his IV to him was waiting, along with her supervisor.

“Mr. Murphy,” the supervisor said sternly. “You violated hospital policy by leaving your treatment area and—”

“Write me up,” Dale said tiredly. “I’m dying anyway. What are you gonna do, kill me faster?”

The supervisor’s face changed. She looked at Nurse Patricia, who nodded confirmation.

“The child?” the supervisor asked.

“Sleeping. First time in three days. And not just passed out from exhaustion—real sleep.”

The supervisor’s stern expression cracked. “How did you—”

“I just held him,” Dale said simply. “Made him feel safe. Sometimes that’s all anybody needs. Someone to make them feel safe while they hurt.”

Dale’s brothers got him settled. He was exhausted, could barely keep his eyes open, but he kept talking about Emmett.

“You should have seen him,” Dale kept saying. “Tiny little guy. So scared. Fighting so hard just to exist in a world that doesn’t make sense to him. And I helped. I actually helped.”

Repo understood. “You’ve been feeling useless, brother. Like the cancer made you into nothing but a dying man.”

“Yeah,” Dale admitted. “But today? Today I mattered.”

The story should have ended there. But it didn’t.

The next day, Jessica appeared at Dale’s room at 10 AM with Emmett. The toddler was calmer, but still clearly anxious in the hospital environment. The moment Emmett saw Dale, though, his face lit up.

“Dale!” he said, pulling away from his mother and running to the bed.

Dale was hooked up to more machines today, looking worse than yesterday, but his face softened. “Hey there, little man. You remember me?”

Emmett nodded vigorously and held up his arms. The universal toddler signal for “pick me up.”

Dale looked at Jessica. “If you’re okay with it?”

“Please,” Jessica said. “He woke up asking for you. I didn’t think he’d remember, but he did.”

Dale shifted over in the hospital bed and patted the space beside him. Emmett climbed up carefully, with his mother’s help, and snuggled against Dale’s side. Dale started the motorcycle rumble immediately.Continue reading…