The Unexpected Life of Carnegie Lane

by Virginia Higgins

  “Hello.” The voice seemed rather abrupt, but Nate knew that Sienna told him who was on the phone, and he figured that was why.

  “Hi. It’s Nate, Nate Bowman, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but there’s been an accident...”

  It seemed to take forever for him to explain, and after he made the arrangements with Leonie to get the family over here immediately, he went to the room where Carnegie was now lying, stable but critical. Her heart machine sounded as mechanical as a metronome in a recording studio. Her breathing was fully supported by tubes and pumps. Her hand was still warm and he held it, turning her fingers over with his.

  “Well, you certainly got my full attention didn’t you?” He almost expected her to laugh… there was nothing.

  “Carnegie, I know you can hear me. I don’t know what to do. I love you. And I’ll be here, right here for however long it takes for you to come back to me.”

  Beep…Beep…Beep… The machines talked for her. He could almost hear her answers from within them.

  “Now, it won’t be long, and I’m going to take you to the park, and we can walk in the rain, and you can sing me a song, just like you did before. Oh, you have a beautiful voice, my Carnegie Lane. Just hold on, don’t leave me alone here.”

  Nate talked and the machines answered. Eventually those hours turned into days. Three days after the accident, there was no change. As much as no change didn’t sound that positive, there had also been no change in the brain waves, they were still responding to outside influences.

  Nate was asleep sitting in a chair with his head on the bed, and his hand in hers when those children walked into the room, accompanied by their father. He woke up to Sienna calling his name. She ran straight into his arms.

  “Make mummy better Nate…” She buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed. Olivia and Sobian walked over to him and threw their arms around him, all the time looking at the still and almost lifeless body of their mother.

  Her ex husband sat down in the chair opposite Nate on the other side of the bed. Even though he was all but covered in his children, his eyes told the story that he blamed him for all of this. Connor stood next to his father looking at his mother with the hint of a tear in his eyes. Those two men said nothing to each other, not for a very long time, although when they did, it got very interesting in that room. A nurse stood at the door, waiting to pounce if it got heated. She had seen it before, this was not an uncommon event.

  Nate began to forget his company, the girls had settled down to different parts of the room, and Sienna was sound asleep on the bed that had been brought in for Nate. He leaned forward and began talking to Carnegie as if she was right there and part of it all.

  “Well, Sienna has made herself at home. The girls are as beautiful as ever. They said the trials went well, you said you had it under control.”

  “She can’t hear you, I don’t know why your bothering.” Nate looked up, he really didn’t like this man at all, and they only just met.

  “I believe she can hear me.”

  “Look at her, it would be kinder to pull the plug and get it over with.”

  “DAD!” Sobian and Olivia yelled out in tandem.

  Nate just looked at him in horror.

  “You don’t know her if you think she would give up that easily.”

  “Of course I know her, she’s my wife.”

  “Ex-Wife” Nate made a point to remind him of that.

  “Well what are you? Her boyfriend? Seems to me your kind condemned her before she even got a chance to defend herself.”

  “That wasn’t my doing. And you know it.”

  “All I know is you nearly let her die. I read the papers.”

  “So you believe everything you read? You’re more stupid than I thought humanly possible.”

  “What do you know about what she needs? Nothing! You’re just a musician, and most likely the cause of all this mess in the first place.”

  It was the second time in a week that Nate wanted to reach out and punch someone in the nose. His self control was amazing.

  “I know a lot about her. I know she loves those four kids with a passion, clearly more than you bothered to. She loves some great bands, like The Cure…” he was cut off.

  “The Cure!” her ex said in a mocking way. “Carnegie hasn’t listened to The Cure for twenty years, she grew up…and moved on. Perhaps you should do the same.”

  “Is that what you think? Then you’re wrong, she listened to them every day for the past twenty years, she did most of her housework listening to songs from the 80’s. She closes her eyes and sings to the objects in her room, wishing they were an audience.”

  Her ex huffed. As if he had never heard so much crap in his life. Sobian spoke up for Nate.

  “She did Dad…when you were at work, and we were at School, and even when we were home. She always played them. That’s how we know every song they ever wrote, because she wouldn’t have it any other way.” Sobian walked forward and grabbed her mother’s hand. Then she looked up at her father.

  “This is the car song, we sing this one in the car.” Then she started singing The Cure, ‘In between Days’. She was only half way through the first verse when her twin sister joined her, then Connor, and even Sienna started singing it, even though she never moved or opened her eyes. Their father just sat there, motionless, Nate had a grin from ear to ear. He got it!

  “Yesterday I got so old

  I felt like I could die

  Yesterday I got so old

  it made me want to cry

  go on go on

  just walk away

  go on go on

  your choice is made

  go on go on

  and disappear

  go on go on

  away from here

  and I know I was wrong

  when I said it was true

  that it couldn't be me and be her

  in between without you

  without you”

  They stopped when the machines attached to their mother started to make more noises than they had. A nurse walked into the room and ushered everyone out into the hall way. Then she walked out and began speaking to Nate, which, we’re sure, ticked off her ex…ever slightly.

  “What were you just doing in there? Because whatever it was, it caused her brain responses to increase remarkably.”

  “The kids were singing to her.”

  The nurse smiled, “Then I suggest you keep singing. It seems it’s exactly what she needs to hear. Give us a little while with her now, we are just going to move her a bit, make her more comfortable and give her a bath, go get a coffee, I’ll find you later.” She turned and walked back into the room leaving them awkwardly alone in the hallway.

  “I’m hungry.” Sienna was complaining more for the fact she was woken from her state of restful sleep…kind of.

  “Sienna, you’re always hungry.” Her father huffed at her.

  “And you’re always mean.” She huffed back. There was a clear dislike factor happening here. Nate didn’t like the way he spoke to her, not one bit. He wondered if this man had a sympathetic bone in his body, especially given the circumstances.

  “I think I’ll take the kids back to the hotel, get them sorted then, make some decisions on what is best to do.”

  “Regarding what?” Nate asked gruffly.

  “Well, it is probably best if I have Carnegie moved back to Australia at the first available opportunity, don’t you think?”

  “She’s not going anywhere with you. She stays here, with me, where she belongs.”

  “And what about her children? What do you suggest I do, I can’t work from here, and take care of them too.”

  “Then you go. I’ll take care of them all. They can go stay with my sister Kat and my brother until this is over.”

  “Olivia and Sobian, what do you want to do? Do you want to come with me, or stay here…with him?”

  It was such a stupid question for him to ask, those girls didn�
��t care right now if they never laid eyes on that man again, it hadn’t exactly proved to be a joyous reunion so far.

  “Stay…”

  “Well, I’m not staying. I know when I’m not wanted, or needed. Good luck with Carnegie, Nate Bowman…or what’s left of her.”

  They watched as their father walked down the hallway, and out of the hospital. Sobian turned to Olivia.

  “Well, that will make his stupid girlfriend happy.”

  “What girlfriend?” Nate asked, shocked at the way he behaved right from the beginning.

  “The one at the hotel waiting for him to come back, the one he brought with him! While our mother was lying in a hospital bed. The man has no heart. Both of them drove us insane when mum left, she was gone two days and he had her at our place. He’s insane. I’m convinced. I’m pleased he’s gone.”

  “So am I.” Said Nate honestly, “More than I can tell you.”

  “So can I get a sandwich now?” Sienna asked again, with an edge of grumpy to her voice this time. It was clear seeing her father leave had little impact on her. He left nothing of himself behind for her to hold onto.

  “Yep, you can have a sandwich little Princess.”

  Nate picked her up and walked them all down to the cafeteria. He called Katalie who arrived with Lilli at the hospital. Lilli went right into mother mode, and fell in love with those four children individually before they left.

  Kat went to their hotel where their father was and collected their things, then took them back to her apartment. Connor found an instant connection with Jason, as they discovered a new game together on X-box. It seemed that the Lane children would fit in fine with the Bowman’s, for the moment at least.

  Leonie arrived at the hospital and had with her Nate’s guitar, he had asked her to bring it.

  “Leonie what would I do without you?”

  “A lot more for yourself I suspect.” She reached over and gave him a hug.

  “How did everyone take the news, about the break?”

  “We are all tired Nate. We would follow you to the ends of the earth if we thought it would make you happy. You know that…Don’t you?”

  “I do know that Leonie, you are my truest friend. You more than all of us deserve a rest, because once she is back on her feet, I’ll be right back in there.”

  There was a pause in their conversation for a while, Leonie had Carnegie’s hand firmly in hers. She had grown to love her too and this was hard.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me…about Taylor Nate?” It was the one secret he had never shared, yet she could see no reason to keep it from her.

  “I kept Taylor in my heart, in a box. In every song I wrote.”

  “I can hear that now. And I get it, why there was never anyone else. So why her? Why Carnegie?”

  “It’s hard to explain why her. She just, healed me. I can’t lose her Leonie, you understand why, don’t you?”

  “I get it Nate, I get both of you. Well, now you get to do the same for her, she healed you, you heal her. I wish for you both only the best outcome. Are you going on Friday to the book launch? Lucky they were able to delay that by a few days anyway.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Three more days and the world gets to know a little more about her, then they won’t question who she is, or why she matters to me as much as she does. That much I know. ”

  “Well my friend, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I’m going home! Back to the States, just for a while. I have family to catch up with and things to do. If you need me, you just call won’t you. I’ll be here in a flash. ”

  “Oh Leonie, enjoy every second of it. I’ll keep you informed, I promise.”

  “I intend to. Take care Nate.”

  “I will.”

  He stood at the door and watched her disappear down the hallway. Then he turned back to the room, and opened his guitar case. He began singing to Carnegie, every song he knew she wanted to hear. Her metronome that signaled the beating of her heart, would occasionally beat a faster time. He knew she could hear him. Now he just had to get her to come back home.

  At the door of her room nurses would gather, standing and listening, finding within the tragedy of the situation some joy. Nate Bowman was their hero too, just when they were working, they had to be professional and not let it show. Now they got to work, and listen to him perform live at the same time. One thing they knew, Carnegie Lane, was in one way, the luckiest woman in the world. Now all she had to do was wake up and recognize it.

  Somewhere on the other side of this story.

  Carnegie was lost. In her world she was standing in the corridor of a hospital, but all the doors were locked. She couldn’t go anywhere, all she could do was walk that hallway and check for open doors. She kept calling and calling, but no one could hear her. She felt frightened and alone. In her mind, she knew something had happened, something that tore her from everyone that mattered to her, what she didn’t understand was why she was here. To her, the world around her was solid and three dimensional, it wasn’t a haze, or even an afterlife.

  Carnegie believed she was locked in the hallway of a hospital, abandoned by everyone. She heard her kids singing, The Cure, she started to sing it too, she could feel herself being pulled closer to a door, right down the end of the corridor. Then it stopped. From time to time she could hear Nate singing too. She would scream out, and try to open the door where the voice was coming from, but it wouldn’t budge, eventually she just floated, and chose to rest when she heard his voice, it was a constant comfort to her. She wondered if he could hear her singing along. Occasionally she could see a light, one of the rooms was full of light, but she didn’t want to go in there. It was as if that room had the potential to take her further away from where she really wanted to be. Then there would be nothing, as if none of it was real and again she was floating all around, in the ethers of time. Oblivious to how her world, that remained living, was about to change.

  Nate never stopped singing to her for three days, unless he was sleeping from exhaustion. Katalie came and picked him up from the hospital, it was time for him to get ready. He was going to be Carnegie’s representative at her book launch. They drove back to her place in relative silence, except for some light conversation about the kids. Nate didn’t like being separated from her for too long. He never wanted her to feel like she was abandoned. He had a stereo put in her room, and when the nurses had asked him which album they should play to her, while he was away, his answer had surprised them.

  “Billy Idol.”

  There was a lot of media gathering at the offices of Grays and Wilson Publishing Agents in downtown London. Everyone knew by now that the Author of this book was fighting for her life in a hospital bed, and that Nate Bowman was going to be her voice for the launch.

  In a way, the media had turned around and instead of condemning her, they were talking up the strength of this romance, for all it was worth. The only other thing better than a gutsy scandal in the eyes of a tabloid, is an undeniable love affair.

  Katalie and Ross seemed to have everything under control, and even the children, with a little help from Lilli turned up scrubbed and looking spic and span. They were so proud, and yet capable of bursting into tears at any moment.

  There were pictures of Carnegie everywhere, it was hard for Nate, it felt like a wake. He moved around the room, talking to those that had come from the publishing industry, and some from his own. Eventually, those minutes turned into an hour, and he stood with live cameras active. All four of those children stood with him, and spoke not only to those in the room. Nate Bowman was live streamed to the world. The story had grabbed such a frenzy of media attention, that most main stream television stations made room for him to be seen. They counted him in, then he began the hardest speech of his life.

  “I’m here tonight to honor, and speak on behalf of my beautiful friend…undeniably, my girlfriend, Carnegie Lane who was injured in a terrible accident, as you know. I stand here with her four chil
dren, Sobian, Olivia, Connor and Sienna, who have also gone through this bravely, with pride for their mother, and not without their own scars for it. Now I know that you have all read some pretty incredible fiction where she is concerned, and it’s a shame you did. But I can’t blame you for seeking the truth from other sources when it wasn’t offered from those of us who should have been honest and spoken up for her in the first place.

  So your first question is answered. Yes, she is my girlfriend. She is also a beautiful mother, and now proven to be an amazing author, a part of her I’ve had the honor to be aware of for a while now. Carnegie’s book represents hope in so many ways, and it also begins with a tragedy not unlike the one she is suffering now.

  We all hope and pray that she will come back to us soon, and I can’t wait to tell her I opened her book launch for her. She will probably kill me for it. Yet strangely, it’s fitting that I am. I was the first person who ever read this story, I even beat my sister, her agent to the mark on that one. It was a random selection of manuscripts that I flipped through and chose hers. I never knew what she looked like, or even looked at her name until I opened that package. Right from the start, I knew it would be a book that so many of you in the world that had ever wanted some closure and resolution, would understand.

  When I was eighteen, I lost my girlfriend, in a horrible accident, her name was Taylor, that car crash also took the lives of three other friends. She died in my arms, but not before I promised her, I would never let her go, and I’ve struggled to move forward all of my life because of it. Well, I now understand that it’s time to let go of the past, and move on to what is right in front of me. Carnegie Lane showed me how, and I love her for it.

  So your second question. Will this book prove the calibre of her talent? Yes it will. Buy it and enjoy it. And while you read it, send her a prayer. We hope she will be back with us soon. Thank you everyone for your support. Let’s now just wish, for impossible things.

  The crowd clapped in appreciation. The books that were there moved out the door faster than candy in a store full of children. Simultaneously, in Australia, several book stores were holding vigil openings, watching the official release on television. All of them showing support not only for Carnegie, but also for Nate and the children that were so strongly supporting her every move. The book began to move in record numbers. It took twenty four hours before the first critique of that book came out. It out-did every ones expectations. Within the first three days of its release, it was clear that the next print run was going to be needed sooner than expected. The book was selling out all over the world and about to be translated into twelve new languages. It wasn’t selling through sympathy, although it’s undeniable the initial attention helped. The book was now selling, simply because it was… that… good.