Daisy didn’t need to be told twice. Breaks from school meant that she got unprecedented access to television, and she took every chance she could to exploit the opportunity to watch her favorite Christmas cartoons over and over again.
Once James heard the sound of singing from the other room, he dialed Belle’s number. It rang for so long, for a moment, he thought that she might not pick up.
“Yeah?” she answered finally, her voice sounded exhausted, and he could tell that something was wrong.
“Belle? What’s going on?”
There was a long pause before she said anything and when she finally did, his heart dropped all the way down to his feet. “I’m at the hospital with Meg,” there was the sound of someone objecting to being left out of the conversation, “and Gladys. She’s here too, for moral support. But Meg is still back with the doctors.”
“Annabelle, why are you at the hospital? What happened?”
She proceeded to tell him everything that had happened, from finding Meg on the kitchen floor, disoriented, to the fact that they still didn’t know anything about what was wrong. James didn’t even stop to think.
“We’re on our way over now.”
“No,” she objected. “You don’t have to do that. It’s Daisy’s first day off. Go do something fun. It’s terrible here,” she was interrupted by more objections. “Except for Gladys, who is of course keeping my spirits up. Seriously, James, it’s fine. There’s nothing for you to do here.”
He knew that there was absolutely no way he was going to leave her there in the hospital waiting room, even if she was with her grandmother’s best friend. “Forget it. We’re on our way.” He hung up before she had a chance to argue with him anymore. As he expected, Daisy had no objection to checking on Meg; she had loved Belle’s grandmother, especially because her own grandparents lived on opposite sides of the country. They agreed to put their shopping off a day and do whatever they needed to in order to help Belle and Meg.
James and Daisy got to the hospital as quickly as they could and immediately spotted Belle and Gladys sitting in the family waiting room. Belle looked absolutely worn out, she was still in her pajamas and an oversized sweater that appeared to be Meg’s. Her hair was in a haphazard bun on top of her head and from the face she made when she sipped from the cup of coffee in her hand, it had long gone cold.
Daisy didn’t even pause; she ran straight up to Belle and threw her arms around her, almost spilling the coffee everywhere. James made a move to slow his daughter down, but Belle collapsed into Daisy’s hug like it was the one thing she needed more than anything in the entire world.
“Hey, sweetie,” Belle whispered. Then she looked up at James and said, “thank you for coming. Really. But you didn’t have to.”
He had been worried that she would still angry with him, maybe even enough to send them away. Instead, her eyes were full of grateful tears, and he knew they had made the right decision.
James just smiled. “Can we get you ladies anything?”
Gladys stood up with a stretch. “Actually, I’m starving. Daisy, would you like to come with me for a piece of cafeteria cake?”
Daisy looked at her father for confirmation that it was okay for her to leave and he nodded. “Go ahead! Can you bring Belle and me back some coffee? I think we could probably both use a fresh cup.” James handed his little girl a ten-dollar bill that she accepted excitedly, and she and Gladys disappeared around the corner.
He sat down next to Belle in one of the hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs. “So… no one is telling you what is going on?”
“A doctor came out a little while ago, but it was just to tell us there was nothing to tell us. As far as I know, she’s still back there... they’re keeping her sedated until they can do something, but they won’t let me see her. It was so awful to see her so confused, and in so much pain. That isn’t the Meg Harrison I grew up with.”
James sat back with a sigh. “No kidding. We haven’t talked a whole lot in the last few years but every time I saw her, she was out running around or coming back from a ski trip. She never stopped moving. Maybe it’s time…”
Belle held up a hand. “I’ve already had this conversation with Gladys. I know. I’ll talk to her about it as soon as she’s well. We’ll have to figure something out.”
They sat there quietly for a while, watching people come and go, jumping anytime a doctor walked near them, and then groaning when they called out another family’s name. Finally, James couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“Belle, I feel like we need talk about last night.”
He was afraid she might be angry with him for bringing it up now, but instead, she just smiled, sadly. “I don’t disagree, but can we talk about it later? My head really isn’t in it right now.”
“Yeah, of course. I just…”
“Annabelle Harrison?”
A young woman in green scrubs walked into the family room and Belle jumped to her feet.
“Who are you? Where’s Dr. Benjamin?”
The woman smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Dr. Fisher. Dr. Benjamin’s shift ended an hour ago, so I took over his patients. I wasn’t happy with how long it was taking the lab to process your grandmother’s blood work, so I just had our lab tech rush it here. As we expected, Ms. Harrison has a blood infection called septicemia. When we took her cast off, we found a small piece of wood that had embedded itself in the wound and caused the infection. The cast created the perfect conditions for the infection to spread unchecked and that’s how we ended up here.”
James instinctively reached down and grabbed Belle’s shaking hand. She squeezed it back.
“So… what does that mean?”
Dr. Fisher smiled reassuringly. “There’s nothing to worry about, Miss Harrison. She’ll be perfectly fine. We’re going to give her IV antibiotics and fluids and keep her here for a couple of days while they do their work, but she should be awake and alert in an hour or so. We want to keep her here in the air cast, so we can monitor the infection. We’ll recast the leg before we discharge her. I don’t anticipate any further problems.”
Belle threw her arms around the doctor, who laughed in spite of herself.
“Thank you so much.”
The doctor nodded. “Just doing my job. But before I go, I have to say. I saw in the notes that she broke her leg falling off the roof. I think maybe someone should talk to your grandmother about taking it easy. She’s seventy-years-old and…”
Belle shook her head with a sad smile. “I know. Believe me, I know. As soon as she’s better, we’re going to have a chat. Thank you so much.”
The doctor disappeared back through the door, leaving Belle and James to collapse back into their plastic chairs.
“Well… that’s a relief, huh?”
“No kidding. It could have been so much worse. I heard the paramedics say ‘septicemia’ and I looked it up online and well… let’s just say that was a mistake.”
James chuckled. “It usually is. So…”
“So…”
The silence grew heavy between them again as neither knew what to say to fill it. Now that they knew Meg was going to be okay, there was nothing to distract them from all of things they still had left to say to each other. But James knew it was on him to fix everything that had gone wrong the night before, so he took a deep breath and turned to Belle.
“Can you come by the Inn later? Around four? I know you’re going to want to be here with Meg, but I don’t feel like this is the best place for us to really clear things up. Why do hospitals always smell like this?”
“I think it’s to encourage people to stay away from them if they can help it,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll come. As long as everything is okay here. I can text you if I have to stay for some reason, but at least here Meg has nurses and doctors keeping an eye on her. Which reminds me, I have to call Cassie. She probably showed up at the house like Gladys did and is flipping out.”
They chatted for a littl
e while longer until Daisy and Gladys came back with their cake and coffee. They were both thrilled to hear that Meg was going to be okay and Gladys ran off to call all of the other Green Mountain Grannies to let them know what was going on.
Once James was sure that Belle was going to be okay, he and Daisy begrudgingly left to do some of their holiday shopping. But all he could think about was Belle and how he was going to make everything up to her.
He didn’t know exactly how he going to do it, but he was sure as heck going to try.
17
Belle
Belle spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in her grandmother’s hospital room while she drifted in and out of sleep. Dr. Fisher had assured her that this was normal, especially after how sick she had been, but promised that Meg would be better by the evening.
With the hope that Meg would continue to sleep soundly for a while longer, Belle decided that maybe it would be okay if she went to the Inn to talk to James. She hadn’t been sure before if she wanted to, even after he and Daisy had rushed over to check on them.
Everything they had said on the porch the night before was still bouncing around in her head and she didn’t know that either of them was right or wrong. Most of all, she was afraid that they would end up fighting again, and after everything that had happened that day, she wasn’t sure if could stand it.
She also knew that she couldn’t handle being in Wintervale for any further measure of time and stay angry at him. It was like a weight on her shoulders, and the only way to get rid of it was to clear the air with James.
Belle hated confrontation and she hated it even more when she had something to lose by instigating it. But at the same time, she knew she also had something to gain. If she and James could find a way to talk through whatever was going on with them, then they could move on with the next chapters of their lives, whatever that may be.
Once she made sure the nurses were keeping an eye on Meg and that her grandmother had everything she needed until she got back, Belle took a taxi back to the house to put on some proper clothes and a dash of makeup.
She hadn’t even thought about the fact that James had seen her in her pajamas looking as though she’d had a fight with a raccoon until she saw herself in the bathroom mirror.
Once she was re-dressed in a clean pair of jeans and her favorite sweater, she jumped into her monster SUV and drove straight to downtown Wintervale. Things were a little more peaceful since the bulk of the tourists had left town, which meant that the roads were a lot easier to navigate than they had been the other day. She found a space for the car and made a beeline for the Middle Road Inn, anxious to talk to James.
She walked into the restaurant and discovered it was completely empty… except for that waitress whose name she had suddenly blanked on. There was no sign of James anywhere. The waitress walked up to her with a sickly-sweet smile on her face that made Belle’s skin crawl.
“Hi… I’m sorry, I can’t seem to remember your name? Abigail?”
The girl tilted her head and blinked a few times too many as she continued to grin at her. “Addison. How lovely to see you again, Annabelle. What can I help you with? I’m afraid we’re closed for prep between lunch and dinner, but if you come back at 4:30, that’s when we start serving the early bird special for our local seniors.”
Belle stood there silently for a second, trying to figure out whether the waitress’ comment was insulting or informational, but she suspected it was the former.
“I’m not here for food, Addison. I was supposed to meet James here at four. I don’t think I’m early,” she said, looking at her watch.
“You’re not. The babysitter was running late, so he asked me to keep an eye on things until he could get back. I guess your little meeting wasn’t important enough for him to rush.”
What is this chick’s problem? Belle thought as she took a step back toward the door. “Uh-huh… Well, I should probably head out in that case. It was nice seeing you again, Addison.”
She hadn’t made it two steps when Addison called out to her.
“Hold on a second. I’d like to talk to you for a moment, if that’s okay?”
Every bone in Belle’s body told her to run in the opposite direction, but she felt like if she tried to so much as move, Addison would unhinge her jaw and swallow her whole. So, she just stood as still as humanly possible and nodded her head stiffly.
“Go ahead…”
Addison laughed as if they were old girlfriends having a chat. “Don’t be silly, Belle. Come in and sit down. I just want to have a quick word.”
Addison didn’t seem entirely harmless, and the expression in her eyes was enough to put Belle on edge just a little. Belle took a seat across from the dark-haired waitress at one of the booths folded her hands on the table in front of her.
“So… what do you want to talk about?” she asked, hoping to keep whatever was going on short, if only so she could get back to her car and call James.
“You’ve heard James and Daisy talk about Marisa, right?”
The mention of James’ wife immediately put Belle on the defensive; not because Addison had said it, but because she could already feel her wielding it like a weapon.
“Of course, I have. Why?”
Addison leaned forward conspiratorially. “Everyone in this town really loved Marisa, I’m sure you know that already. She was a wonderful woman, and a fantastic wife and mother. And the truth is, when she died, a lot of us thought that James and Daisy would never get over it. But time went on, and they found a way to keep living. Still… I can’t imagine anyone ever comparing to her, you know?”
Belle sat back against the booth, her heart sinking down to the floor. She could already feel where this conversation was going. It was like a freight train was barreling at her at a hundred miles-per-hour and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“Listen, Addison, I think I know what you’re getting at…”
“But you don’t. You don’t know what I am getting at. I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but do you really believe you can be the kind of wife that James needs? The kind of mother that Daisy needs?” Addison shook her head and kept her unblinking stare on Belle’s face. “Marisa set a high bar and the only woman who can meet it is someone who’s fully committed to them, someone who’s fully committed to this town. Will that ever be you, with your head back in New York all the time? Your mind can’t always be on your business and all of the exciting things you could be doing there? You’re not ready to be someone’s mother, Annabelle. And you don’t have to be. Maybe that isn’t what you want. But it’s what they need and if you can’t give it them, maybe it’s time to go.”
Belle felt a mixture of frustration and sadness swirl through her chest. She was smart enough to know when she was being manipulated, but there was also some truth to everything Addison was saying. How could she ever measure up to Marisa, who had been the perfect wife and mother? How could she manage to be what they needed when she hardly even knew what she needed? Addison was trying to push her away, probably for her own selfish reasons, but maybe this was just the push she needed to do the right thing and go back to New York, back to Arcadia, before things got any more serious.
Belle reached down and picked up her bag, noting the time that flashed on her phone. It was 4:30, and she should probably be getting back to the hospital anyway. She also didn’t want to still be sitting there talking to Addison when James walked in, that would have introduced a whole new level of discomfort that she wasn’t prepared to deal with.
“As enlightening as this conversation has been, I really should be going. But thank you for your advice. Really.”
She stood up and took a step away when Addison grabbed her wrist; the girl’s grip was tight and prevented her from moving.
“You will think about what I said, won’t you, Belle?” she said with a serpentine grin. Belle shook off Addison’s hand and stepped just far enough away from the booth so that she couldn’t g
rab her again.
“Oh, I’ll think about it. Don’t you worry. Goodbye.”
As she walked out the door and back into the cold, she considered for a moment whether or not she should tell James what the waitress was up to, but she didn’t want to make things worse for any of them. Plus, it would just create a whole new set of problems for James, who was probably already well aware that Addison had designs on him.
Completely sapped of every last trace of joy she had been feeling earlier, Belle drove back to the hospital, hoping that even if her grandmother wasn’t awake, that she might find some comfort sitting by her side in her hospital room. Once she got to the parking lot, though, she found herself unable to move, paralyzed by the fear of everything that had just happened in the restaurant.
At some point, she was going to have to face the truth in what Addison had said to her, but maybe it was better to avoid it all together. She needed perspective, and whatever that perspective brought her, she wasn’t going to find it in a town full of memories of James and their time together.
Belle trudged through the hospital lobby and up to the room where they had taken Meg. She didn’t even say anything as she walked past the nursing station; she just walked sadly to her grandmother’s room, expecting to sit there quietly and try to formulate a plan that would make her next steps easier on everyone.
Instead, she rounded the corner and found Meg sitting up in bed, eating ice chips and watching an old black-and-white Christmas movie on the giant TV that hung on the wall.
“Gran!” she yelled, loud enough to be admonished by the nurse walking by.
Meg smiled and set down her Styrofoam cup. “Hey, kiddo! I’m sorry I scared you.” Belle rushed over to the bedside and gave her grandmother a gentle hug, choking back tears that she didn’t anticipate.
“Why didn’t anyone call me and tell me you were awake?”
Meg waved a dismissive hand. “It’s no big deal. Those blasted drugs they gave me finally wore off and I was able to clear my head enough to tell them to stop giving them to me!”
A Sugar Cookie Christmas: A Sweet Holiday Romance (Wintervale Promises Book 1) Page 12
