LF47 - Love Finds You in Folly Beach, South Carolina

by Loree Lough

  After pushing several buttons on the bed, Maude sat up a little straighter and began with an apology. “I’m sorry to foist this on you, sweetie, but there isn’t anyone else I’d trust to carry out my wishes, you know, in case…”

  “Maude, really,” Holly scolded gently. “The doctor says you’re going to be just fine. He told us he has performed this operation a hundred times, and—”

  “That’s good to know, and I’m planning to come through this with flying colors. But things happen, you know? And I like to be prepared.”

  “But what about Hank? I’m sure he’d be honored to—”

  Maude laughed softly. “Parker thinks a lot of Henry, I’ll grant you that, but he’s in love with you.” She paused as if to give her words time to register in Holly’s confused brain. Then she started out by blaming herself for Parker’s poor choice in women, for the way he held everyone—even herself and Hank—at arm’s-distance. “He isn’t like that with you, Holly. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, the way he hangs onto your every word. He trusts you, and that’s why I know I can trust you too.”

  “But, Maude, trust me with what?”

  “With watching out for him, that’s what. He’s spent so many years playing the part of the big, tough fighting man that he isn’t even aware of his own vulnerabilities. He’ll need you, sweetie, when he finds out that…” Maude licked her lips and swallowed.

  “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, they’ve cut me off, I’m afraid. Too close to surgery time.” She patted Holly’s hand. “I can handle a little thirst, knowing you’re going to take care of Parker.”

  And then she launched into the story Hank had told her in the diner, adding that her boy had a right to know that he wasn’t fatherless—and that Daniel had a right to know he had a son. “If I make it through this, I’ll tell him myself.” She held up a forefinger to forestall Holly’s attempt to assure her that she would make it through this. “But on the off chance that I don’t, I want Parker to hear it from someone who loves him as much as I do.”

  For the second time that day, Holly said, “Does it really show that much?”

  “It’s written all over your face…and in your voice, and in the gentle way you do things for him. He needs you, Holly, and I have to believe that he’ll admit it before too much longer.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you—well, except that Dr. Williams is going to unclog your blocked arteries—but you have my word that if something does, I’ll do everything you’ve asked.” She scooted the chair closer and added, “If God ever blesses me with children, I hope I’m half the mother you’ve been.”

  “No, no…I’m a terrible mother. I’ve kept this awful secret for so long, and I’m the most impatient woman you’ll ever meet.”

  “That’s nonsense. You didn’t keep that secret because you’re selfish. You kept it because you were afraid. Afraid that Parker might suffer the pain of rejection you felt when you thought Daniel chose the Air Force over you.”

  “When I thought he chose jet planes over me?” Maude laughed. “That’s exactly what he did, dear girl, and you know what? After this is over, I’m going to throw away every copy of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and change every plaque on every door at the cottage. The ghost of Daniel is finally gone!”

  From the other side of the striped curtain, a woman’s voice said, “Mrs. Brant?”

  “There’s another lie I have to make right,” Maude whispered. “Poor Parker,” she cried softly, “what’ll he think when he finds out he was born out of wedlock?”

  The curtains parted and two masked, gowned nurses entered.

  “It’s time,” the tallest one said, unlocking the bed’s wheels.

  The second nurse whipped back the curtain. “It’ll all be over before you know it.”

  They took up their places, one on either side of the bed, and pushed Maude into the hall. “Mr. Brant?” the tall one called. “You and your friend can walk with us as far as the surgical suite if you like.”

  Holly watched Parker and Hank hurry down the hall, each taking one of Maude’s hands and murmuring words of assurance as they reached her. The nurses stopped outside the OR doors and gave them a minute to kiss her cheeks and forehead.

  The men stood side by side as she was rolled into the OR, their shoulders sagging as the doors hissed shut.

  Tears filled Holly’s eyes as she bowed her head and prayed. Prayed that Maude would come out of there fine. That Parker and Hank would stay strong in the meantime. That she’d have the courage to keep her promise to Maude in case things didn’t go as planned.

  Most of all, she prayed as she never had before that Parker’s love for Maude would overshadow any hurt and anger that the truth about his conception and birth might awaken.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They’d been waiting for more than three hours with no word from the OR. Holly took it upon herself to approach the woman manning the desk, to see if the surgeon had called up a progress report.

  “Sorry,” the lady said, “nothing yet.” She glanced over at Hank and Parker, pacing in opposite directions in the middle of the room. “Tell you what,” she whispered. “I’ll call down there and see what I can find out.” She picked up a pen. “Sometimes they get so busy that they forget the patient has family up here worrying.”

  “Thank you,” Holly said.

  She clicked the pen. “What’s the patient’s name?”

  “Maude. Maude Brant. And Dr. Williams is her surgeon.”

  After scribbling the information on the tablet beside her many-buttoned phone, the woman picked up the receiver. “I’ll call you even if there’s no news yet.”

  “Thanks,” Holly said again. She walked back to Parker and Hank. “You two are going to wear out the rug if you keep that up.”

  Parker slapped a hand to the back of his neck. “They said there would be reports.”

  “Every hour or so,” Hank added.

  “That nice lady,” Holly said, pointing, “is trying to get us some information right now.” She shook her head and sighed. “I know you’re scared. And concerned. But it could be another four or five hours yet. You’ll wear yourselves out if you don’t sit down.”

  Nodding, Parker sat on the chair closest to him, and Hank chose the one across the way. The television blared with a story about tornado damage in the Midwest and fires in Texas. If the constant noise and bad news was driving her to distraction, Holly wondered what it was doing to Parker and Hank.

  “While we’re waiting, I’m going to drive back to the cottage and see if Maude has any guests checking in. If there are, I’ll call the people who’ve registered and explain things. Under the circumstances, I’m sure they won’t mind moving to the Shoreside Inn. It’s nearby.”

  She returned to the help desk, where the nice lady had just hung up the phone.

  “She’s doing fine,” the woman said, “and I asked the nurse if she’d call back in an hour or so.”

  “That’s wonderful news,” Holly said. “I’m going to run an errand for the family. But I wonder if I could bother you with another request—would you turn down the volume on the TV?”

  “Oh, thank the good Lord,” she said, grabbing the remote. “I’m not allowed to choose channels and things like that, but if a patient’s family asks me to, I can click this thing till the cows come home.” She pressed the Down arrow on the volume control and let it go after a second or two. “There. Is that better?”

  Holly nodded. “Much.”

  “What about the show? You’re the only ones in here, so if you’d rather not watch the news… .”

  Holly glanced over at Parker and Hank, who weren’t fooling anyone by pretending to read—Parker, a sports magazine, and Hank, the morning paper. “I doubt they’re paying attention anyway, so feel free to turn it to whatever you’d like to watch.” Smiling, she thanked the woman, gave a little wave, and left.

  It took nearly two hours to make sure that everything was taken care of
at the B&B, and when she returned, Holly went directly to the help counter and then joined Parker and Hank.

  “That nice lady says Maude’s doing fine,” Holly told the men, “and that the nurse told her it’d be another hour or so before the doctors wrap things up.”

  Both men nodded.

  “Everything okay back at the cottage?” Parker asked.

  “Yes. She only had one couple checking in tomorrow, so I called and made a tentative reservation at the Shoreside in their name. They were really nice about it and told me to let you know they’d be praying for Maude.”

  “That’s nice of them.”

  Parker didn’t sound very convincing, but Holly chalked it up to nerves.

  “Thanks, Holly,” he said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

  “That’s for sure,” Hank agreed. He folded the paper, placed it atop the stack of tattered reading material on the table nearest his chair, then slowly rose to his feet. “Think I’ll head down to the vending machine. Either of you care for coffee or a soda?”

  “Nothing for me,” Parker and Holly said together.

  After he’d rounded the corner, Holly whispered, “I’m a little worried about him.”

  “So am I.”

  I’m a little worried about you too, she thought, sitting beside him. He closed his magazine and let it dangle from the fingertips of one hand.

  He stared at some unknown spot across the room and shook his head. “Maybe this will be her wake-up call.”

  Holly wasn’t sure what, exactly, he meant, but she didn’t press him for an explanation. Instead, she scooted as close to him as their armed chairs would allow and sandwiched his free hand between hers. “Now I’m really sorry I pulled that all-nighter,” he said softly.

  She’d thought he looked a little rougher around the edges than usual but had blamed it on worry. “What were you doing when the hospital called?”

  “Wasn’t the hospital that called. I’d been up all night, painting. Hadn’t touched those canvases in weeks, and I lost track of time.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he groaned. “Feel like a first-class heel for the way I handled things.”

  “Handled what?”

  “When the phone rang, I was really into it, and, well, I…” He shook his head. “Then she said she was having chest pains.” He tossed the magazine onto the table and ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t remember hearing her sound like that before.”

  “Sound like what?”

  “Scared. Quiet. Weak. And that scared me. So like an idiot, I barked at her. ‘For the love of all that’s holy,’ I said, ‘go lay down. I’ll call 911 on the way over.’ And I hung up. Didn’t even say good-bye.”

  Several seconds passed before he continued. “I got there four, maybe five minutes before the ambulance did.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “She looked bad, Hol, real bad. I feel like such a heel. What if that was the last time—?”

  “Don’t talk like that,” she interrupted. “Maude knows you better than you know yourself, and she understands why you were… abrupt. And anyway, she’s in good hands now. God’s hands.”

  He exhaled a shuddering sigh then leaned his head into hers.

  It was such a small thing, and yet Holly’s heart swirled with tenderness. Help me know what to say, Lord. When his nervous grip on her hand relaxed a little, she said a prayer of gratitude. She took it to mean that all Parker really needed right now was the quiet understanding of a friend.

  By the time Hank returned carrying a cup of coffee and a candy bar, Parker’s breathing had slowed. So it was no surprise to see Hank’s eyes widen and his brows rise. “Sleeping?” Hank whispered.

  She would have told him how Parker had been up all night, painting, when the terrifying call came. And how afraid he’d been. Or that the stress of seeing his mom in a life-threatening situation was taking its toll. But, afraid of waking him, she smiled and sent an “Oh, well” expression Hank’s way.

  “I’m not asleep,” Parker mumbled. “And I can smell that coffee from over here. When was it brewed…last week?”

  Until he sat up, Holly hadn’t acknowledged how good it was, knowing he’d felt comfortable enough to lean on her.

  “Trust me,” Hank said, “it smells way better than it tastes.”

  “Then why don’t we all go down to the cafeteria? I’m sure they have a whole row of fresh-brewed pots lined up.” Realizing that the men might not want to leave the waiting area, she got up and headed for the counter, adding, “I’ll just leave my cell phone number with this nice lady.”

  “Oh yes,” the woman said. “I’m happy to call if there’s any news.”

  After she’d written down her number, she rejoined Parker, who was watching Hank pour the contents of the waxed paper cup into the drinking fountain. “I hope the hospital’s pipes are copper, ’cause that stuff’s liable to eat clean through anything made of PVC.”

  Chuckling, they made their way down the long hallway toward the bank of elevators. As they waited to get their car, Holly thought of her family. She’d been putting off talking to them, mostly to avoid hearing them complain about how much time she’d been spending away from home lately. They’d lecture her about doing a better job of staying in touch. Tell her that avoiding them wouldn’t help her “put the whole Jimmy thing” behind her. But the first chance she got, she intended to call. Enduring their scoldings would be a small price to pay for the assurance that all was well in Baltimore.

  “Why so quiet?” Parker asked when the elevator doors hissed shut.

  “Just thinking it’s been a while since I talked to my mom,” she admitted.

  Hank’s thumb lit up the Number One button as Parker nodded. “Yeah, you really ought to call her.”

  “I will, just as soon as Maude is in the recovery room.”

  No one spoke again until they were standing in line at the coffee counter. “I think I’ll skip the coffee,” Hank said, grinning a little as he rubbed his stomach. “What would you say if I drove to your place to check on Cat?”

  Parker paid the tab and dropped the change into the “Help the Children” jar on the counter. “I’d say that’s a great idea. I blew out of the house so fast this morning, I didn’t even think to check if she had food or water.”

  When Holly handed Hank her key ring, Parker’s brows rose slightly.

  “We were having breakfast at the diner when you called,” Hank answered his unasked question. “Little Miss Thinks of Everything, here, figured I was in no shape to drive.”

  Parker cut her a quick glance, and in that instant, she saw something—approval? affection?—glittering in his dark eyes. “You want to pack up Cat’s stuff and take her to your place today?”

  He walked with Holly and Parker to a nearby table. “Think I’ll wait until things settle down a bit, if it’s all the same to you. No point in uprooting her in the middle of all this chaos.” He jangled the keys and winked at Holly. “Thanks, kiddo. I’ll top off the tank for you on my way back here.”

  Holly would have told him that there was no need to do that, but he was gone before she could find her voice.

  Parker watched Hank hurry toward the exit. “I see what you mean.”

  “About what?”

  “His behavior does raise some concern, doesn’t it?”

  “He’ll be his old self again once the surgeon tells us Maude’s going to be fine. And in the meantime, we’ll keep a close eye on him and make sure he takes care of himself.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s—”

  Holly’s cell phone rang, startling them both. “Really? That’s wonderful,” she said into the phone before snapping it shut. “Maude is in the recovery room already. The lady said you can see her if you want to.” She relayed the directions from the cafeteria to the cardiac-care unit and reminded him what Dr. Williams had said about the condition Maude would be in—completely out of it, thanks to anesthesia, and attached to tubes and monitors— after surgery.

  He gulped his coffee the
n got to his feet. “Don’t worry,” he said, chucking her chin, “I won’t keel over.”

  “I think while you’re in there, I’ll call Hank. I’m sure he’ll be relieved.”

  “Good idea.”

  She walked with him to the elevators. “And then I think I’ll go to the chapel.”

  Parker stared at the red-lighted numbers above the door and shrugged. “Can’t hurt, I suppose.”

  Oh, Lord, she prayed, bless him with some peace of mind and ease his fears? She grabbed his hand as the white Up arrow dinged. “She’s strong and stubborn, Parker, with a whole lot to live for. She’s in good hands with Dr. Williams, so don’t worry.” The doors opened, and she gave his hand a squeeze. “She’s going to be fine.”

  He stood in the shaft’s opening and, for what seemed like a full minute, studied her face. Then Parker kissed her knuckles, let go of her hand, and stepped into the elevator. “See you in the chapel,” he was saying as the doors swooshed shut.

  As she waited for Hank to answer his cell phone, Holly couldn’t decide if Parker had looked more sad than scared, or the other way around. Maude’s influence had imprinted deeply on the men in her life, that much was certain. And something told her that somewhere out there was yet another man who’d been forever changed by knowing her.

  * * * * *

  Parker stepped into the hushed chapel and slid into the pew beside Holly. And although they were alone, he whispered, “Dr. Williams wasn’t kidding when he said she’d look scary.”

  Holly pretended she didn’t notice the way he sat, linking and unlinking his fingers in his lap. “I remember how my dad looked after open-heart surgery. Well, not right after, because they wouldn’t allow anyone but my mom in there at first.”

  Nodding, he stared straight ahead. “So you called Hank?”

  “Yeah. Left a message on his cell phone.” She snickered quietly. “Guess he’s giving the cat some TLC.”

  “Did he tell you he might take her home and keep her?”

  “No.” That surprised her a little, because when Parker had talked about the stray, he’d seemed attached to it right from the start. “What made you change your mind about adopting her yourself?”