It was a fascinating place filled with fascinating people, especially Esther Stillwaters. She was an extraordinary woman, so full of wisdom, but he questioned what she had said to him about Bev. There was a ten year chasm between them that she was afraid to breach, and he still wasn’t sure that she had forgiven him for coming to Stillwaters. As for Dana, he wasn’t sure whether they were still friends. Her childish antics were not to his liking. The woman was delusional if she thought that someone from her illustrious family would jeopardize all that they had acquired for—what? The answer still wasn’t clear. He hoped that she would drop her witch hunt and eventually accept Mitch’s death as a suicide.
It was the day before Ray was to return to work that Dana called him. He was loading his golf clubs into the trunk of his car when his cell phone rang. He guessed that this call from her meant that he was forgiven.
“Well, hello there.” There was a smile in his voice. Despite her quirks, he did care about Dana and was glad to hear from her.
“Hello.” Dana’s tone was brisk. “I’m back from Stillwaters.”
“And?” Ray was amused. From the tone of her voice he guessed that he wasn’t forgiven. “And I’ve found something.” Dana’s voice rose with excitement.
The smile went out of Ray’s voice. “You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not. I want to show it to you and see what you think about it.”
Ray didn’t like the sound of that. “You’re scaring me, Dana. This isn’t another one of your lies, is it?” Their already precarious friendship was in serious jeopardy if it was.
“No, Ray. I swear to you that this is no lie. What I’ve found is very serious, and right now you’re the only one that I can turn to. You’re the only one that I can trust.”
Ray thought that he heard a hint of fear in her voice. “Do you want me to drive to the Valley?” Dana owned a condo in the San Fernando Valley.
“No, I’ll come to you. Expect me around six this evening.” She disconnected.
Ray stood beside his car with the cell phone still in his hand. What was happening? What could Dana have possibly uncovered that would have frightened her? Was there really a murderer in her family?
Putting his cell phone away, he started the car and headed toward home, anxious about his upcoming visit with Dana and what it would bring. However, it was a visit that was not to be.
It was five thirty-five in the evening when the telephone in his home rang. He had been dozing and it awakened him. Groggily, he groped for the receiver, expecting it to be Dana informing him that she might be late. She usually was.
“Hello.”
“Yeah, is this Ray Wilson?” The voice on the other end was male and hoarse from years of smoking.
“Yes, it is.” Who was this? He didn’t recognize the voice.
“This is Officer Alexander from the San Fernando Valley Police Department. Mr. Wilson, do you know Dana Mansfield? We found your telephone number in her cell phone as the last number called.”
Ray was fully awake now. “Yes, she’s a friend of mine. What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Mr. Wilson, but Mrs. Mansfield has been in a serious accident. She’s been taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA.”
* * *
Bev tried to appear calm as she hurried down the hospital corridor to her sister’s room. Darnell had called her earlier this morning about Dana. It was Bev who broke the news to her mother. Eight hours later they were in L.A. Instead of going home to Chicago, Bev had remained in Stillwaters after Grandy’s birthday celebration. After all of the excitement of the previous week she found that she needed the down time in the quiet hamlet to unwind. Dana had left town without the issues between them having been resolved, but Bev had vowed that she would not give up on her effort to get closer to her sister. The telephone call that she had received from her daughter could mean that she might never get a chance.
Darnell had been in tears when she called. Ray had given the authorities her telephone number. According to what she had been told by the police, Dana had fallen down the stairs in her home and hit her head. Her housekeeper had found her unconscious.
Uncle Gerald was a licensed pilot, and he had flown Bev and Ginny to L.A. in the family’s private plane. Ginny was on the telephone from the moment that she was told about Dana to the minute that they landed in Los Angeles. There were doctors from a variety of disciplines in the family and she called them all, gathering all of the information that she could to see that her daughter got the best of care.
When they arrived at the hospital, Dana was in critical condition and in a coma. While her mother conversed with the doctor, Bev stood at her sister’s bedside regretting all that had recently occurred between them. That seemed to be how it was in life. Regrets move to the forefront when disaster strikes. As she looked at her sister lying there, she prayed that God would give her another chance to remedy the mistakes that they both had made in their relationship with each other.
As the tears flowed, Bev felt her mother’s comforting arms around her.
“The doctor said that she has a lesion close to her brain, and they’ll have to operate,” she said softly.
“When?” Bev’s heart sank like a stone. She didn’t like what she was hearing.
“Later this evening, and as a professional courtesy I’ve asked to be an observer.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” She was concerned about the toll that being in the operating room might have on her mother. Yet in spite of that, she felt relieved that she would be there.
“Yes, I think that it’s the best idea. The operation is delicate, but I’ve got confidence in Dr. Owens. I know his reputation and he’s one of the best, but my child will be in that operating room and I will be trusting him with her life. I plan on being in there to remind him of that.”
Bev nodded, but as a mother she knew the conflict of emotions that her mother had to be feeling. She hugged her tightly, offering her love, solidarity, and support.
* * *
Ray had just pushed the down button on the elevator when an urgent request from the hospital corridor drifted through the closing doors asking that he hold the elevator. He reacted, pushing the open button in time for the voice to appear and step smoothly into the elevator. It was Bev Cameron. For a second they both reeled in surprise from the sudden encounter.
“Thank you.” Bev’s words were polite but curt. Turning her back to Ray, she started to push the button to the floor that she wanted. It was already lit. The doors closed. The two of them were the only occupants in the elevator. Leaning back against its interior, Ray waited to see what she would do.
He had been aware that Bev and Ginny would be arriving today and he had tried to wait for them on Dana’s floor, but having spent most of the night at the hospital, he had decided to take a break and was heading for the cafeteria. How he had missed their arrival he wasn’t sure, but he did know that Bev wouldn’t continue to ignore him. No matter how awkward their last parting might have been, Bev was gracious. He was right. She turned to face him.
“I want to thank you for being kind enough to call my daughter about Dana.”
Ray accepted her gratitude with a nod, but said nothing. There was an awkward silence.
Bev cleared her throat. “Uh, Darnell said that she and Thad might be flying down.” Once again, her words were met with silence. “Nia has the sniffles and she wants to make sure that she’s okay before they travel.”
Ray nodded again. Bev glanced up at the elevator lights to see how far they had descended. It wasn’t very far and there had been no stops. How she wished for just one. This elevator ride was becoming uncomfortable, and Ray wasn’t helping.
Bev jabbed the down button harder. What was wrong with the thing? Nothing could be this slow. Once again, she tried to fill the silence.
“Did the doctor tell you that Dana has a lesion close to her brain?”
Ray uttered one word. “No.”
; “The doctor will be operating this evening.”
“I hope that she’ll be okay.”
“Thank you.” She was grateful for his consideration and that he had finally spoken more than one word.
The tension that Bev was feeling confined in this small space with Ray was unbearable, but he didn’t appear bothered at all as he leaned casually against the elevator’s back wall. She didn’t like the feeling of unease that she was experiencing. It made her feel out of control. It had always been much easier dealing with him as someone that she disliked. She felt justified, rationalizing that he had given her reason. He had helped Thad with the legal fight against her daughter and then he’d had the gall to openly flirt with her. That had been the only excuse that she needed, and over the years she had been comfortable giving him the cold shoulder, but now that seemed trivial. Ray had displayed integrity when he was in Stillwaters. That had made an impression on her, and she wasn’t the only one. Grandy had been nearly effusive in her praise of him. She had encouraged Bev to get to know him better…for Dana’s sake, of course.
Bev hadn’t made any promises. At the time she didn’t know when she would see Ray again. But here he was, big as life, and all she wanted was to escape him.
Much to her relief, the elevator doors opened. She stepped out. Ray was right behind her. She whirled on him.
“Are you following me?”
“Relax,” he countered smoothly. “I’m going to the cafeteria.” He nodded in that direction.
Bev felt about two feet tall. “So am I.” Too embarrassed to say more, she continued walking.
Ray decided to save the day. Stepping up his pace, he fell in beside her. “Then we can eat together.”
Bev searched for an excuse to decline. “I’ve got to order a sandwich and drink for my mother and take it up to her.”
Ray shrugged. “No problem. Get what she likes and have it sent upstairs to her.”
Bev sighed. Unable to come up with another excuse, she relented. “Okay.”
It turned out that dining with him was a good decision. Ray was pleasant company. He kept up a steady stream of conversation as he told her about his Detroit childhood as the only child of a widowed mother who worked as a nurse.
“I was always in trouble at school,” Ray recalled. “I had a big mouth and didn’t know when to shut up. My mother practically lived at the school, and I stayed on punishment. But when I was in fifth grade she finally got fed up. She did a drive-by.”
“A drive-by?” Bev looked perplexed. “Was she in a gang?”
Ray had a hearty laugh. “No, I mean that she came by the school unexpectedly one day. She stood outside the door and peeked into the classroom through the glass to see what I was up to. That day I was acting a complete fool.”
“What did she do?” Bev leaned forward, her dark eyes shining in anticipation.
“The door opened. She stepped into the classroom and quietly asked the teacher if she could see me for a minute.”
“Were you surprised?”
“Yes, but her manner was so mild that I didn’t think that I was in trouble. So, I bounce up to follow her outside and when we get in the hallway she snatches me up by the collar and jams me against the wall.”
“Whoa!” Bev could visualize the entire scene.
“I’m telling you that the woman swept me off my feet in one swoop.” He demonstrated with a brush of his hand. “Then this magic shoe appears. I call it that because I swear it came off her foot so fast that I didn’t see it. All I know is that she proceeded to give me the worse spanking that I ever had in my life. That woman spanked me up and down that hallway like I had stolen something. She told me that if I ran she would kill me.”
“I bet you took her threat seriously.”
“You bet I did. I was the entertainment for the whole second floor that day. I was whooping and hollering, begging and pleading, promising and swearing to her that I wouldn’t ever be bad again. People were coming out of their classrooms wondering what was happening.”
“What did the teachers do while all of this was happening?”
“They were cheering her on. Of course the kids thought it was hilarious. I had raised hell in that school since kindergarten and everybody figured that I was getting what I deserved. Mr. Carter, the gym teacher, even offered my mother his shoe. He said that the one she had wasn’t big enough.”
Bev scoffed. “Nobody called the police?”
“Are you kidding? If parents had been jailed for spanking their kids in those days half of Detroit would have been in jail. I’m just glad that she only used a shoe as her weapon of choice.”
Bev wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. “I know that I shouldn’t enjoy that, but it was funny. What happened after that?”
“You’re looking at a reformed man. It only took one drive-by for me to straighten up. After that I became a model student. I went from C’s and D’s on my report card to A’s. I graduated at the top of my high school class and earned a scholarship to college. From there I went on to law school, where I put my gift for gab to work.”
“Is your mother still in Detroit?”
Ray shook his head. “No, she retired last year when she turned sixty-two and moved to Arizona. No more snowy winters for her.”
“Hmmm.” Bev looked thoughtful. “Your mother is only ten years older than me.”
Ray understood what her words implied. “And she’s twenty years older than me. That seems to be a decent interval between mother and child. It’s not likely that a ten-year-old could be my mother.”
Bev understood what he was implying, too. She looked him in the eye.
“Nothing is impossible.”
Bracing his arms on the table, Ray leaned forward. “You’re right about that.”
They held each other’s gaze, each daring the other to retreat first. Neither one did. Ray decided to change the tone of the conversation.
“What about you?” He sat back in his chair, still holding her eyes. “I heard that you were quite a rebel when you were young.”
“What do you mean?” She looked at him over the cup of tea she was drinking. “I was a model student all through high school.”
“According to Dana, it was right after high school that you rebelled—ran away and got married. She said that had been done in your family only once before.”
Bev broke eye contact then. Draining her cup, she sat it down on the table before answering. She didn’t appreciate her sister talking about her personal business.
“It seems that Dana had a lot to say.” She didn’t try to disguise her displeasure.
Ray kept it simple. “Yes, she did.”
He knew some of the story about Bev and Colton Cameron, and he was willing to listen to anything else she might want to share. He watched as her hand went to a gold chain around her neck and absently played with it.
“Some things need to remain private.” Bev looked at him hard. “Don’t you think?”
Ray agreed with an almost undetectable nod, but by saying little she had told him what he suspected. Bev Cameron was a woman who loved hard, and that was how she had loved her husband. He had died young and was still perfect in her memory. So was the love that they shared. The question that he needed answered was whether she was willing to open herself up to the possibilities of what she could have with someone else.
His cell phone vibrated. Withdrawing it from his pocket, he checked the screen.
“It’s your son-in-law.” He answered the call.
“We’re in L.A.,” Thad told him. “I’m having the limo driver take us to your place. Where are you?”
“I’m still at the hospital. Bev is sitting here with me. Her mother is with Dana.”
Ray and Thad talked about the possibility of Darnell and him coming to the hospital.
Ray had already made arrangements with the administrative staff to have the superstar couple snuck into the facility through a back entrance. A private waiting room had been reserved for them and
for Dana’s other relatives. Darnell wanted to speak with her mother. Ray handed Bev his cell phone. Pleasantries and information were exchanged. They disconnected and Bev handed the phone back to Ray.
“I’d better go upstairs and see how Dana is doing.” Bev got up from the table.
Ray followed suit. “I’ll go with you.”
As they made their way to the bank of elevators, Bev slowed his stride with a touch on his arm.
“Darnell told me how you made all of those arrangements for our family’s privacy, and I want to tell you how much it’s appreciated.”
“Thank you.” Ray was pleased by the compliment. Progress was being made.
When they reached the elevators it was clear that this time they wouldn’t be going upstairs alone. A group of people was waiting to ride. Yet it didn’t matter to either of them as they squeezed inside the crowded cubicle and stood side by side. It was a different trip this time.
CHAPTER 9
Other members of the Stillwaters family had arrived at Cedars-Sinai hospital. Joining Bev in the private waiting room as they awaited the results of Dana’s surgery were Thad, Darnell, Uncle Gerald, and his son, Gerry. Ginny and one of her nephews, who was a respected neurosurgeon, were observing the operation. Grandy and a host of other relatives were checking in by telephone and text message. At times the waiting room looked like Grand Central Station with people coming and going. Due to their celebrity status, Thad and Darnell were confined to the room, but there was plenty of communication between them and their cousin Nedra. Their baby daughter was still recovering from the sniffles, and they had left her with the Reasoner family.
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