The Million Dollar Gift

by Cheree Alsop

  Chase could see Martin and Daniel’s panicked faces when their car hit the railing. A blue SUV slid across the ice toward the others. Clara screamed when it hit the minivan by Martin and Daniel, pushing it into them for the third time. The railing broke with a series of loud, angry snaps.

  Mrs. Clark gave another scream. The black Neon teetered on the edge. Daniel tried to open the door, but it was smashed shut from the impact. His eyes, wide with panic and fear, met Chase’s as the car tipped as if in slow motion, then fell off the bridge. It turned in the air so that it hit the water on its hood fifteen feet below. Water and ice rushed up in a loud spray as if claiming the car.

  Chase’s memories flooded forward, clouding his vision with images of his mother’s Lincoln upside-down in a canal, his family trapped as icy water flooded the interior.

  “No!” he shouted. Chase tore off his seatbelt and opened the door, leaving his coat in the car. The icy air bit at his bare skin, but he didn’t feel it. He ran to the edge of the bridge where the occupants of the other cars were already congregating.

  Chase heard the Clarks running behind him with panicked yells, but saw only the car upside down in the water. His thoughts contorted with panic and he saw the Lincoln again. A woman screamed and he heard his mother’s voice calling for help. Before anyone could stop him, he dove off the bridge.

  The shock of the icy water forced the air from his lungs. Chase surfaced, coughing, and saw the black Neon only a few feet away. Taking a shaky breath, he dove again. He felt along the edge of the car to the shattered windows. The pitch black freezing water obscured his vision and stole the breath from his lungs. He forced his head and shoulders through the window, ignoring the icy stabs as the glass cut into his shoulder blades.

  He groped around until he felt clothing under his fingertips. The body moved at his touch, then grabbed his hand hard. Martin was struggling to release the seatbelt. The teenager fumbled, his fingers growing numb in the icy water, but managed to push the release. Chase grabbed him tightly under the arms and pulled him through the window. They both kicked to the surface, their lungs screaming.

  Someone was already in the water waiting for them. Chase heard sirens above, sounding the arrival of more help. “I’ve got him,” Samuel yelled to Chase. “Get Daniel!”

  Chase let Martin go, took another deep breath through chattering teeth, and dove again. Every nerve screamed with knife-edged pain at the bite of the freezing water. It was all he could do to follow the car back down and force himself through the same window, hoping to reach Daniel’s seatbelt.

  He was surprised to feel that the seatbelt was already undone. He reached for Daniel, his movements clumsy in the cold. He felt an arm, grabbed it with both hands, and pulled. Daniel came easier than he expected. Chase jerked back, hitting his head against the side of the window frame.

  He let out his breath in a gasp. Water tried to force its way into his lungs. Chase gritted his teeth in protest and pulled again. Daniel didn’t fight as Chase eased him out through the window. Chase’s lungs screamed. He kicked toward the surface. Daniel hung limp in his arms, a dead weight.

  Chase saw the hospital room again, his family lying quietly on the beds, the smell of rain in the air. He wanted to beg his mother to get up, for his brothers and sisters to climb off the hard beds and be alright again, but he knew no amount of begging would make them come back.

  “Do you believe there’s a heaven?” he heard himself ask Daniel.

  “I didn’t use to,” Daniel replied.

  “No!” The protest burst out of Chase’s mouth from the last remaining air in his lungs. He couldn’t find his way up and struggled weakly with the weight of Daniel’s body. He had to make it. Daniel had to live. A prayer, the first prayer he had uttered since his family died, came from his heart with a rush of sincerity. “Please, I love him,” was all he said.

  Firm hands reached down through the water and grabbed both he and Daniel. He felt himself lifted up and took a shuddering breath when his head cleared the water. He heard a gasp and looked over to see Daniel coughing weakly, his eyes half shut.

  “Daniel,” Chase forced out.

  “Hang in there,” Samuel’s steady voice replied. He and the paramedics pulled them from the icy water.

  Mrs. Clark ran through the snow as the men carried Daniel from the water. Her hands touched his face, his chest. “Daniel, are you alright? Talk to me, Daniel, please!”

  Daniel’s gave a weak thumb’s-up, his eyes still partially closed. Mrs. Clark burst into tears and grabbed his hand as he was loaded onto a stretcher.

  “Chase!” Clara called. Her shoulders shook with sobs as she enveloped him in a tight hug. A paramedic threw a blanket over them both. Chase was shaking so hard he could barely lift his arms to hug her back. “You need to go to the ambulance,” she said, her voice trembling.

  “I’d rather hold you,” he replied through chattering teeth.

  She helped him toward the ambulance and Mrs. Clark met them halfway with another armful of blankets. Clara wrapped them around Chase’s shoulders and assisted him into the ambulance next to Daniel.

  “Back to the hospital,” the teenager croaked weakly.

  Chase laughed then coughed; his lungs burned with the water he had inhaled. He closed his eyes and leaned against Clara, letting her warmth chase away the worst of the chills.

  At the hospital, they were rushed into separate rooms and treated for hypothermia. Chase’s cuts on his shoulder and the side of his head were stitched. Daniel had a large gash on his forehead from hitting the passenger window when they landed in the water that also required stitching. Martin had a few bruises from the seatbelt and the fall, but was shaken up more than anything. At Chase’s request, the nursing staff put them together in a big room.

  Daniel, Chase, Martin, and Samuel shivered under their blankets. When the rest of the family was allowed to see them, Clara ran right up to Chase and threw her arms around him, kissing him soundly.

  “Well,” Samuel said with a laugh, “At least there’s no question she cares about you!” Ilene slapped him on the shoulder, then kissed him even sounder than Clara had kissed Chase. “But I’m the most cared about,” he said breathlessly when she was done. They all laughed.

  “Ew!” Matty and Kavin exclaimed together.

  Mrs. Clark bustled around the room checking to see that they were being properly cared for. She paused at Chase’s side and gave him a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered with tears in her eyes before letting him go.

  “Maybe we should have Christmas here since everyone’s at the hospital anyways,” Matty suggested persuasively.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Grandma Clark said. Grandpa Clark nodded, a twinkle in his eyes.

  “Will Santa be able to find us?” Isabelle asked worriedly.

  “Don’t worry, Santa’s magic. He can find every little girl and boy, right Mom?” Matty asked.

  Mrs. Clark nodded with a smile. “Right.”

  Chapter 11

  That night Chase couldn’t sleep. The hum of the neon lights and the steady beeping of heart monitors invaded every thought. He finally sat up.

  “You’re awake, too?” Daniel asked. He pushed up from his bed and shook his head to clear his mussed hair from his eyes.

  “Too much excitement, I guess,” Chase replied quietly.

  Daniel studied his hands for a moment. “That water was cold,” he said, then he looked at Chase. “I don’t know how you dared jump into it like that.”

  Chase toyed with a fold in the colorful patchwork quilt Grandma Clark had brought when she deemed their thin white hospital sheets too chilly. “I couldn’t do it,” he said, his words almost too quiet for Daniel to make out.

  “Couldn’t do what?” Daniel asked, puzzled.

  Chase met Daniel’s eyes. “I couldn’t lose another family that way. I saw them in my mother’s car when yours landed in the water. I thought they were in there.” He closed his eyes to keep in the tears. “I c
ouldn’t let you drowned like they did.”

  The soft pad of bare feet across cold tile was followed by a crinkle of sheets when Daniel sat on Chase’s bed. The teenager threw his arms around Chase and hugged him tight. Chase returned the embrace. “You’re my brother,” Daniel forced out. “As much as Martin or my best friend Ryan, you’re my brother and we’ll always be family.”

  Chase hugged Daniel close. “I’ve missed having brothers,” he replied with tears in his voice. Something released in his heart with an overwhelming sense of relief. Chase took a testing breath and realized that the painful absence he had carried with him since the loss of his family was gone. Now, instead of a gaping hole, hugs and laughter, smiles and love from his time with the Clark family made it overflow.

  He took a deep breath and felt whole again and at peace. It was as though jumping into the water gave him back all he had lost. He could say goodbye to his family and not be alone. He had another family, others to love and who believed in the best of him. He would live for both families.

  Daniel sat back and gave him a watery smile. “Now you’ll always have to put up with us.”

  “Gladly,” Chase replied.

  “Of course, that means putting up with Clara,” Daniel teased.

  Chase grinned. “I think I can handle that.”

  They fell into companionable silence and listened to the squeak of sneakers when one of the nurses passed down the hallway.

  Daniel let out a slow breath. “We’ve spoken around it, but I don’t know how to thank you for saving my life and Martin’s.” His voice dropped. “You saved me twice.”

  “You saved me, too,” Chase replied. At Daniel’s sideways look, he smiled. “If you don’t remember, my life wasn’t too peachy when your family took me in.”

  “You were a mess,” Daniel said.

  Chase laughed, “Thanks.”

  Daniel gave a small smile. “I guess we can both be recovering messes together.”

  “Deal,” Chase said. He held out his hand.

  Daniel shook it with a laugh. “Look out world.”

  ***

  The next day, everyone crammed cozily into Mr. Clark’s room for the makeshift Christmas. The guys, who had finally convinced the nurses that one night of monitoring after the accident was more than enough, were comfortable in their now dry and clean clothing as seen to by Mrs. Clark.

  Chase watched the Clark children eagerly open their presents; he only regretted that he didn’t have a gift for Clara. She sat with her fingers entwined in his, her eyes emerald green from the Christmas sweater Grandma Clark had given her. The sleeves were a bit long and she wrapped her fingers in them under the blanket she shared with Chase. All four of the boys had a hard time getting warm since the icy cold river. Chase shivered slightly and she leaned into him with a contented smile.

  Paige giggled when her new Elmo toy started to laugh. Matty and Kavin raced around the room with toy airplanes, while Daniel and Martin compared the video games Clara had picked out for them.

  Mr. Clark, smiling the soft smile of one who realizes now more than ever the joys he holds, clasped a heart-shaped necklace around his wife’s neck. She bent low so he wouldn’t have to move far, then stood and gasped at its elegance. Christmas songs played softly over the intercom while nurses and doctors shared toasts of sparkling cider.

  By evening, the kids played quietly in the corner with their new toys as their energy wound down. All of the adults wore the Christmas sweaters Grandma Clark had picked out and sat sipping eggnog and talking softly.

  Chase wore the green and red checkered sweater that fit him like a balloon and felt more comfortable than he had in years. He decided it was time. He pulled the letter from the pocket of the coat next to his chair, stared at the handwriting on the envelope for a second, then handed it to Mr. Clark without a word.

  “What’s this?” Mr. Clark asked in surprise.

  “Oooh,” Matty said, “What could it be?”

  Mr. Clark eased himself up straighter and Mrs. Clark fluffed the pillow behind him, her expression anxious. At Mr. Clark’s questioning look, Chase motioned for him to open the envelope. Mr. Clark did as he was bidden and took out a letter on fine stationary.

  Everyone grew silent as he read the brief words once, then again. Chase could see the curves of his father’s meticulous handwriting on the Brockson Enterprises stationary. A knot formed in his throat when Mr. Clark finally read his father’s words aloud.

  ‘Dear Mr. Clark,

  There will never be enough words to thank you for what you have done. All I can say is you have my gratitude for taking care of my son and for being there when I wasn’t. He is in charge of the company now and might need a bit of guidance from time to time, but he’s as sharp as a tack and I am sure he won’t let things go. It’s hard to realize I should have trusted him a long time ago, but it’s too late now. He has a good head on his shoulders and I’m sure he will do just fine. It’s a moment of mixed feelings and pride when you realize your child has far surpassed you in strength and maturity. He deserves the family we lost more than I, but as fate will have it, I’ll be the first to go home. Take care of your loved ones and please watch over my son. Again, I thank you. Please accept this token of my appreciation.

  Sincerely,

  Chester Andrew Brockson, II’

  Mrs. Clark looked at Chase. “Sweetheart, what happened to your father?” she asked gently.

  “He passed away two nights ago. He’s with my mom, now,” Chase replied. Tears filled up his eyes and he knew with a surety that what he said was true. His father was home.

  “Oh, Chase.” The concern and love in Clara’s tone broke through the carefully constructed control that held Chase together. He leaned against her and she held him tightly, running a hand through his hair. Tears flowed down her face to mix with his, creating dark spots on his new Christmas sweater. He felt Mrs. Clark’s comforting hand on his back; Samuel gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

  “I’m sorry, son,” Mr. Clark said with sorrow clear in his voice.

  Chase dried his eyes on his sleeve and looked around the room. Everyone was crying with him. “It’s alright,” he said. His heart felt lighter as if sharing his pain helped to ease it. He gave a small smile, thinking of Dad with his mother and his brothers and sisters. “He’s finally okay.”

  “And so are you,” Mr. Clark said with a firm nod. “You’ve got another family now.”

  “That’s right,” Clara replied, squeezing his hand and smiling up at him.

  “A crazy, mixed-up, on the verge of insanity but love you the way you are kind of family,” Daniel put in.

  “That’s the best kind,” Chase replied. Everyone laughed. He glanced over in time to see Mr. Clark pull the second item from the envelope. He stared at it, rubbed his eyes, then studied it again.

  He looked at Chase. “Is this right?” he asked, astonished.

  Chase nodded, a glow of contentment growing in his chest.

  Mr. Clark stared at him for a moment, then back down at the paper.

  “What is it?” Martin and Daniel asked at the same time.

  Mrs. Clark leaned over and looked at it. Her eyes widened. “It’s a check for one million dollars,” she said, staring back at Chase. Clara and Ilene gasped.

  “A million dollars?” Grandma Clark repeated. She and Grandpa Clark looked at each other in awe.

  “Merry Christmas,” Chase replied, unable to keep the smile from his face any longer.

  “A million dollars!” Daniel exclaimed. He and Martin exchanged a wide-eyed stare.

  “We could buy a race car,” Matty shouted.

  “We could put you through college,” Ilene replied.

  “This isn’t possible,” Mr. Clark said. He shook his head. “We can’t take this.” The others quieted down around them.

  Mrs. Clark nodded with a hand on her husband’s shoulder. She gave Chase a warm smile. “It’s too much, sweetheart.”

  Mr. Clark tried to h
and the check back to Chase. “We didn’t help you for the hope of a reward.”

  “You couldn’t have,” Chase said. At Mr. Clark’s questioning look, he explained, “When you took me in, I looked like the last person on earth with a multi-billion dollar inheritance. Keep it, please. As a friend.”

  Mr. Clark shook his head. Chase then gave a determined smile. “How about as family?”

  Clara slipped unnoticed from the room, her head spinning as the reality of the check sunk in.

  Mr. Clark looked at the letter again, then at the check. His eyebrows came together, but he nodded. “Only if you’re there to help use it.”

  “Deal,” Chase agreed warmly. He noticed Clara’s absence and a fist of concern tightened around his heart. “Please excuse me a moment.”

  He stepped into the hallway and hurried to the stairs. When he opened the door to the roof, she stood near the edge watching the snow drift gently to the street below. “Clara,” he said quietly.

  Her face showed a mixture of emotions, and when he called her name again, she turned toward him reluctantly.

  “Are you alright?” Chase asked. He stopped a few feet away in uncertainty.

  She nodded, then shook her head. “Yes, I mean no, I mean I don’t know what I mean.”

  He took another step toward her. “Is it about the check?”

  She hesitated, then nodded. “You don’t need to give us your money,” she said quietly, refusing to meet his eyes. “You’ve been through so many hard things, and yet look at all you’ve done for my family. It’s too much.”

  He closed the space between them and took her arms softly in his hands. “Clara, look at me.”

  Her green eyes met his and tears filled them. “How I feel about you has nothing to do with your money or what you’ve done for my family. All of that is just so. . . incredible that I don’t know how to handle it.”

  “Forget about it,” Chase replied.