Next, he tried calling Carly. He just wanted to touch base with her to make sure the pick-up had gone off as planned. Carly’s phone rang three times and then went to voice mail. “Hi Carly. I’m done with my overtime and I’m heading home now. I just wanted to make sure everything went okay with my mom picking up Grace. Okay, talk to you later.”
He drove home and parked on the street out front. Letting himself in the front door, he walked straight to the door that led from the family room into the garage and opened it. He blinked at the two empty stalls. He figured his dad was still working. His job often had him working till seven or later in the evenings. But where was his mom? He fully expected to see her red Lexus sitting on its side of the garage, but it was not there.
A tinge of nerves tiptoed down his esophagus. He expected his mother to be home, with Grace, waiting for him. If she’d taken his little girl somewhere else, she should’ve called him and let him know of her change in plans. Or at the very least, answered her phone when he’d called her.
He placed a call to her again, hoping that she had just missed the first call, and would put an end to his anxiety. But, no answer.
He closed the garage door and stood staring at it for a moment. This was what it was like to be a parent. Worried over the slightest thing, if it involved his daughter. Imagining the worst-case scenario.
He turned into the family room, settled into a recliner and worked hard to intentionally put his mind at ease. He was sure there was a logical explanation. He’d just need to be patient.
“ARE YOU UP FOR THAT movie?” Haley asked her.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Carly responded. Truth was, she was having way too much fun to go sit in a dark theater and concentrate on a movie. She was enjoying the rare and unfamiliar night life and didn’t particularly want it to end this early.
“Want to stay?”
Carly smiled. Her heart was light, and she figured this night was exactly what she needed. What so many other young people her age were doing at this exact time on this exact night. She never got out and enjoyed herself like this. There was nothing wrong with this.
Nothing.
“Or, do you feel like dancing?”
Carly looked around. “I don’t see a dance floor.”
“No, I’m talking about going somewhere else. Rocky’s has a fun DJ and lots of people dancing. Want to go there?”
Why not? Why not, for once in her life, would she not go dancing on a Friday night with a girlfriend? “Sure!”
They made their way outside where Haley summoned the Uber driver with her phone app. They only had four minutes to wait. The miracles of modern technology.
“I’ll have to download that Uber app too.” Carly pulled her phone out to see if she could find the app and noticed that she’d missed a call. “Oh, Ryan called me earlier. Let me see what he wants.”
She stepped a few feet away and placed the call to Ryan. He picked up on the first ring. “Hey.”
“Hi,” she said. “I noticed you called. Sorry I didn’t hear my phone ring at the time.”
“No problem,” he said, but she detected some tension in his voice.
“Ryan, what’s wrong?”
He let out a breath. “Probably nothing. Have you talked to my mother?”
“Your mother? Well, no. Not since she picked Grace up earlier tonight.”
“Hmmm. So, she picked Grace up on time?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” The pause caused a crackle of tension over the phone line. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But I’ve been trying to call my mom since I got home from work and she’s not picking up.”
Dread gripped her heart, and she made her words downplay the unwanted emotion. “Is your mom good about keeping her cell phone nearby? My mom throws hers in her purse and doesn’t even hear it unless she happens to be carrying it.”
He didn’t laugh. “We tease my mom about having a third appendage – she’s never far from the thing.”
“And you’re sure she has Grace with her.”
“I’m honestly not sure of anything right now.”
“What can I do to help?”
He paused and then a sigh came over the phone. “I don’t want to worry you and I don’t want to interrupt your free night. I’m sure it’s nothing. They’re probably at the mall or something and my mom accidently left the phone in the car.”
But even as he said it, Carly knew he didn’t believe it. He was just saying it to make her, and himself, feel better.
“I’m sorry I bothered you, Carly. Go have a good night and I’ll call you when I get in touch with her.”
She didn’t want to hang up and break the precious tie they had formed over their mutual worry of their daughter. She gripped the phone and didn’t speak until the pause had drawn out. There was nothing more to say, really. “Okay. Please call me, no matter what time.”
“You bet.”
She dropped the phone back into her purse and turned unsteadily to Haley.
“What is it? My gosh, you look drained.”
“Ryan’s mom has Grace, but he can’t get a hold of her.”
Haley shrugged. “So, is that bad?”
“No, not necessarily. Just unusual. I guess we’re both a little worried. We’ll feel better when she answers her phone.”
The Uber driver arrived, and Haley and Carly got in. “Rocky’s Bar and Grill on 21st Avenue.” They settled in for the ride. Carly leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She couldn’t shake the feeling of worry over Grace’s well-being. Where was she? Was it just a simple case of Mrs. Melrose not answering her phone? Or was there something wrong?
She slipped into a silent prayer, “Dear Lord, please keep my little girl safe. I can’t be there to watch over her and Ryan and I have this strange feeling that something is wrong. Please keep her safe and watch over her for us.”
She kept her eyes closed while her thoughts went on a continuous loop to God. She felt Haley’s hand on hers and she put a second hand over Haley’s and squeezed.
Soon the car came to almost a complete stop, moving forward in spurts and stops. Carly peered out the windshield and saw red brake lights on a long line of cars in front of them. She looked over at Haley and rolled her eyes.
“Friday night beach traffic, gotta love it,” Haley said with a chuckle. Carly tried to smile but she couldn’t adopt the carefree attitude Haley was projecting. The evening had taken a turn for the worst. Gone were the carefree moments of Happy Hour and chatting with peers, without a care in the world. The truth was, she was a mother. She had responsibilities. And even when someone had given her a break from them, she still cared.
She turned to Haley. “Would you hate me if I changed plans for the evening?”
“Of course not! What do you want to do?”
“I want to find my baby.”
“Okay! Where do we want to look?”
“I think my first step is to hook up with Ryan. We can join forces and figure it out together.”
“You got it. Where’s Ryan?”
“He’s at home. Let me ...” She didn’t have his parents’ home address memorized, but she had made a note of it in her phone. She pulled up the note and tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Excuse me, change of plans. Can you take us here instead?” She read him the home address.
He nodded and tapped the new address into his GPS system. “Sure. There’s a two-lane back road up here in about a mile where we can get off this highway. Only thing is, it gets real dark at night because there are no street lights. But it’ll cut over and get us there.”
“Thank you.”
The moments dragged on, torturing Carly. Inside, she was pounding the back of the driver’s seat with her fists. She was driving herself crazy. Instead, she repeated a prayer in her head, “Lord, keep her safe. Let us find her. Let her be fine.”
The sound
of the driver putting on his turn signal brought her out of her reverie. He maneuvered the car into a left turn lane. Finally, they were getting somewhere. It still took several moments to complete the turn but soon, they had left the world of stop and go traffic and brake lights and entered a quiet road covered with peaceful darkness. The driver increased his speed. “Okay,” he said. “If the road stays like this, we’ll be at your destination in fifteen minutes.”
A few minutes later, the driver slowed. “Whoa,” he said under his breath. Haley, sitting on the passenger side of the car, let out a low whistle. A red sedan had partially left the road, its hood down in the ditch and its rear end still on a portion of the road.
“I’m going to call 9-1-1 and let the police know this car is obstructing the road. This could cause future accidents.”
“Yes, please do,” Haley said. They came to a stop behind the wrecked vehicle. Haley turned to Carly, “Someone had a bad night.”
But Carly was focused on the vehicle – a red Lexus sedan. In the back window was an adhesive bumper sticker that looked familiar. Dreadfully familiar. “I’m gonna get out,” she murmured, and opened her door. She approached the back of the car and saw the light blue logo of a N and a C on top of each other. The logo of the University of North Carolina Tarheels.
Ryan’s old school.
Her heart jumped into overdrive, pumping furiously as she ran around to the front of the car. She ignored shouts from Haley to be careful and to stay out of the road. The sight that met her was bone-chilling. A deer, embedded in the broken front windshield of the car, its front legs dangling into the car through the shattered glass, its torso and back legs on the outside of the car. Blood covered the shards of the windshield and spattered across the exterior.
“Oh, dear Lord,” she said out loud. “Please take the soul of this deer and let me help these people inside this car.”
She turned and dashed to the driver’s side of the car. The driver was a woman, slumped over the steering wheel, her hair pushed forward and covering her face. And that’s when it became clear to Carly. This wasn’t just any red Lexus with a Tarheels bumper sticker. This wasn’t just any woman driving.
This was Ryan’s mother.
She let out a scream, a piercing, painful scream and heard a “What is it?” from Haley before she reached for the backdoor handle and attempted to fling it open. “My baby!” she heard herself wail, and those same words came running out in an endless stream that she couldn’t stop.
But she couldn’t get to her. She could barely even see her through the dark window, but the door was locked so she couldn’t get in there to grab her sweet child and pull her to safety. Was it too late? Would God have brought her here to this spot at this precise time, only to find that her precious daughter had died in a terrible car accident?
She found Haley at her side. She continued to tug at the locked car door and she pointed into the back seat, wailing wordless screams, a stream of nonsense because her brain wasn’t working. Instinct had taken over. The maternal need to protect and save the one little life that meant more than any other life in this world.
“We’ll get her, we’ll get her, we’ll get her out,” Haley started her own endless stream of words. At least they made sense, and they were exactly what Carly needed to hear. Carly felt like sinking to her knees, no longer having the strength to stand, but she couldn’t lose sight of the glimpse of Grace that she had standing next to the dark window and looking in.
She wasn’t moving. She was snapped into her car seat, but there was no movement whatsoever.
“Come on!” Haley’s shouted words snapped Carly out of her daze. “Help me!” She looked up and saw that Haley had moved over to the front passenger side and was attempting to move the deer, so she could reach in the broken windshield and unlock the car doors. It was crazy, it was insane, the deer was too heavy for her to move, but she was the only clear-headed one and it was a plan.
Carly raced over to where Haley was, and soon the Uber driver was there too. “They’re on their way with a tow truck and an ambulance.” He frowned at the frantic actions of the two of them, and Haley yelled an explanation, “That’s her daughter in there!”
“Oh, my Lord,” said the Uber driver and he hesitated not a moment longer. “Here, let me help.” He took hold of the deer’s back legs and began pulling, and Carly and Haley grabbed wherever they could and helped move the heavy animal off the car. It took several moments and they all got completely covered with the animal’s blood but with a final hoist, the animal dropped to the ground beside the car. Carly jumped onto the hood, reached in through the broken windshield, pushed back the expelled air bags with both arms and unlocked the passenger side door. Sliding off the hood, she opened the door and climbed in, and scrambled into the backseat. “Baby, Grace, it’s Mommy, I’m here, how are you sweetheart ...,” an endless stream of words, words that helped herself as well as hopefully, her daughter.
She unfastened Grace from the car seat and saw with elated thanksgiving that the seat had done its job. It had protected Grace and kept her secured inside during the accident.
But the little girl wasn’t moving. She hadn’t seen that her mommy had come to rescue her. She wasn’t seeing or responding to anything. Her eyes were closed, and although there wasn’t a drop of blood on her, Carly had no idea if Grace was alive or dead. She lifted her precious daughter from the car seat and cradled her in her lap, rubbing her hair, caressing her cheek, whispering in her ear, “You’re going to be okay, you’re going to be fine,” and just hoped beyond hope that it would be true.
Carly heard sirens, and soon saw flashing red lights through the backseat window. First responders took control of opening the drivers’ side door and removing Mrs. Melrose from her seat. Another one helped her and Grace out of the back seat and into the ambulance. Everything was fine now. The professionals were here, and they would take care of everything. The only question in her mind now was Grace. Would she be okay? Or would this be the worst night of her life?
Instead of letting her mind wander, she focused instead on prayer. God would not let her precious daughter lose her life before her third birthday. Not like this – not now. She needed to trust and have faith that everything would be okay.
If only Grace would just open her eyes and say hello.
She clutched onto Grace in the back of the ambulance. Haley came to the back of the ambulance and looked in. “I’ll meet you at the hospital, okay, sweetie?”
Her mind was racing but she pinpointed on one thing and yelled, “Get my phone and call Ryan, Haley. Tell him to meet us at the hospital.”
Haley gestured an “Okay” with her thumb and forefingers and the ambulance door slammed shut.
Chapter Thirteen
Ryan stared at the television, which was on, but although the volume was up, he wasn’t hearing it. His phone sat beside him on the arm of the chair he occupied and when it rang, he answered it immediately, “Carly.”
“No, it’s Haley. I’m on Carly’s phone.”
“Oh ...”
“Ryan, there’s been a car accident.”
“Oh, God.”
“Your mother and Grace were taken in an ambulance to Tidelands Hospital. Carly wants you to meet them there.”
Ryan wasn’t sure if he even said good-bye before he disconnected the call and ran for his car.
ABOUT TWO MINUTES INTO the ambulance ride, Carly’s prayers were answered as she stared fixed on her daughter’s face. The sweet angel stirred, then opened her eyes. They flickered around their surroundings before focusing on Carly’s face. Then she said, “Mommy.”
“Yes, sweetheart! You’re okay. You’re going to be fine.”
An Emergency Medical Technician came over and shone a flashlight into Grace’s eyes, took her temperature and blood pressure, and a quick examination of her joints. “She looks pretty good,” he said to Carly, “but the ER doctor will wa
nt to have a look at her.”
“How’s my ...” Carly paused. She was about to say ‘mother-in-law’ but boy, what a faux pas that would be. Where on earth had that come from?
“The driver?” the EMT asked.
“Yes.”
“She’s still unconscious. She hit her head pretty hard, whether on the steering wheel or the airbag, not sure which. She’s got some abrasions and a laceration on her arm. But don’t worry. She should have a full recovery. These two were lucky.” He scooted to a bench on the other side of the truck and started writing in his folder.
Carly pulled Grace closer and hugged her gently. Lucky? Could’ve been luck. But she preferred to believe it was something else that had protected them in their accident. Or, someone else. She said her silent thanks to God.
RYAN PARKED HIS CAR and raced into the Emergency Room. He went straight to the receptionist and asked, “Has Barbara or Grace Melrose come in? They were in an ambulance from a car accident.”
The receptionist shook her head. “Not yet, but they’re on their way. You can wait right here.”
Only a few minutes passed before the ambulance pulled up. As they unloaded its patients, Ryan ran outside and was relieved to see Carly holding Grace tightly in her arms. He pulled them both into an embrace, thankfulness flooding through him. Carly clung to him with the arm that wasn’t holding Grace. He pulled back long enough to ask, “How is she?” When Carly responded, “She’s just fine. She might have a slight concussion but other than that, she’s perfectly fine.”
“Oh, thank God,” he murmured and pulled his two women back to him. If he’d ever needed a concrete reminder that being in the lives of these two special ladies, every day, day in and day out, was the right thing for his life, this was it. He didn’t know what he would do if he didn’t have them. His life would have no meaning, no purpose. And to have had them and lost them. He couldn’t think of anything worse.
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