“I need to be by myself, now more than ever.”
“I know a couple of cops. I could have them drive by a little more regularly.”
“No, Chuck. Just drop it.” She eased herself up onto the sofa. The phone rang again. “Where ...?” She pointed under the coffee table. “There it is.”
Chuck handed her the phone.
She clicked it on, and pushed her hair behind her ear. “John, I’m sorry. I was cordless. We got disconnected ... I’ll be fine. Jack’s dad is here ... I know you did all you could. I, uh ... Thank you, John.” She laid the phone down on the sofa beside her. “John said to tell you how much he enjoyed talking with you.”
Chuck felt his face flush. “About that ...”
Tracy shook her head and waved a hand. “I knew you’d call him.”
Jack returned from the kitchen walking slowly, carefully holding a glass in both hands. His serious expression couldn’t hide the smile in his eyes. “I put a bendy straw in it just like you do when I’m sick,” he said. Tracy smiled and took the glass from him. She took a long sip from the straw, and then patted the sofa beside her. He hopped on the couch. “So why’d you faint?”
“I don’t know. People just do sometimes.”
“Jack, sometimes when people don’t eat right, they get a little weak and can pass out,” Chuck said. “I bet your mom hasn’t eaten the way she should in a couple of days.”
“Is Dad right?” Jack crossed his arms across his chest.
“Maybe so,” Tracy said.
“If I leave you alone this weekend, do you promise to eat and not pass out?”
“I promise,” Tracy said, raising her hand. “I’ll be okay.” She kissed the top of his head. “You go ahead and go with your dad.”
Jack hugged her tightly. “Dad can bring me right back if you need me.”
“I know. You go have a great weekend at your dad’s.”
“You sure you don’t need an ambulance? ’Cause I can call.”
“I’m sure,” Tracy answered.
Chuck handed Jack his keys. “Push this button and it will unlock.”
“Cool!” Jack said. He hugged his mother once more, and headed outside, already pushing the unlock button.
Tracy spoke before Chuck had the chance to. “Don’t say anything. It’s hard enough.”
“I’ll check on you tomorrow.”
“No. Please, I need some time alone.”
“I’m worried about you.”
“I can’t help that.” Tracy walked toward her front door. “Jack needs you.”
“He needs you, too.”
“Your wife loves him. He’ll be fine.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You love Jack, right?”
“Of course.”
“You believe I love Jack?”
“I know you do.”
“Then I need you to trust me to do what’s best for him.”
Saturday, October 20
“Daddy!” Shannon called from the family room. “We’re ready to start the movie!”
“I thought you wanted popcorn.” Chuck stepped into the doorway, his hands on his hips.
Shannon slumped onto the sofa between Bobbi and Jack. “Oh, right. Can we start the previews without you?”
“Yeah, go ahead. This won’t take five minutes.” He threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and punched in the cook time. Before he could get a bowl from the cabinet, the telephone rang. “Molinskys’. This is Chuck.”
“Uncle Chuck, this is Kara. You need to get down here. They brought Tracy in a little bit ago. She’s in pretty bad shape.”
“What happened?” Chuck gripped the doorframe to steady himself. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I let her talk me into ...
“Did you hear me?” Kara asked.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“She wrecked her car. Flipped it, and she wasn’t wearing her seat belt. Kenny told me she was probably going fifty around the curve.”
Fifty? In town? Was she drunk? “What curve? Who’s Kenny?”
“He’s a cop. You know as you’re going west on Lanham, past the grade school?”
“Toward 270.”
“Exactly. There’s that sweeping left just before it turns into the on ramp.”
That’s 270-West. Was she leaving town?
“Listen, I gotta go. You okay?”
“Yeah ... Should I bring Jack?”
“Honestly, if you want him to see his mother alive again, you’d better.”
“Dear God,” Chuck whispered.
“Just ask for me at the ER. I’ll get you back here.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” Chuck hung up the phone, and slammed his hand on the counter. “I am so stupid!” He closed his eyes to make the room stop spinning. It all made sense. Your wife loves him. Trust me to do what’s best for Jack. Running is all I know. She’d have a day’s head start and he’d never find her.
A gentle hand rubbed across his shoulders. “Chuck? What’s wrong? Who called?”
He slowly raised his head and looked in Bobbi’s eyes. He’d asked so much of her already ... “It was Kara. Tracy, uh, Tracy wrecked her car. It’s bad. I have to take Jack to the ER.”
“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can get somebody to stay with Shannon.”
“Bobbi, what am I supposed to tell him?”
“Tell him the truth. Don’t sugarcoat it.”
“Yeah,” Chuck said, taking a deep breath and wiping his eyes. “Can you get him?”
Bobbi wrapped her arms around him, her quiet strength bolstering him. “I love you,” she whispered. A moment later, he heard Jack.
“Dad?” He tiptoed across the kitchen floor. “What’s wrong? Did my mom faint worse?”
Chuck knelt down to the boy’s eye level, and put a hand on his shoulder. “Jack, your mom’s been in a car wreck. She’s hurt really bad, and we need to go to the hospital right now.”
For an instant, Jack stood motionless, too stunned to react. Then suddenly, he threw his arms around Chuck’s neck, held on tightly and sobbed. Chuck held him for several minutes, his own angry tears dotting the boy’s sleeve. How could she do this to him? “I love you,” he whispered, then kissed Jack’s forehead. “We better go.” Chuck braced himself, then scooped his son up and carried him out to the car.
Jack had seen hospitals on television, and he visited when his grandma was here, but he’d never even been in one, like in one, except when he was born. He was born in a hospital. That’s what his mom told him anyway. He didn’t remember. At least no more tears were sneaking down his cheeks. He pinched off one side of his nose, and tried to breathe.
“Here.” His dad flipped up the thing in between the front seats and handed him a tissue.
He took a deep breath and blew until his ears popped. “Did my mom call you? About the wreck?”
“Your cousin, Kara, called. She’s a nurse in the emergency room. She was there when they brought your mom in.”
“Who brought her?”
“An ambulance.”
“Did they have to shock her?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and find out.”
Jack rolled the tissue into a tight ball. “Does God fix car wrecks?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why not all the time?”
“I don’t know. God does a lot of things I don’t understand.”
At the next stoplight, Jack saw a tall, brightly lit gray building. “Is that the hospital?”
“Yes.” His dad turned into the lot and passed a long row of cars. “Thank you, Jesus,” his dad said quietly.
“What for?”
“A parking place.” His dad parked the car and unlocked the doors.
Jack took three deep breaths. “Okay, I’m tough. I’m ready to go in.”
“You’re very tough,” his dad said. “Can you be tough enough to let me go in first by myself?”
“I think so,” Jack said. H
is dad squeezed his shoulder, which he still hated, then reached for Jack’s hand. Jack hop-stepped to keep up with his dad’s long strides through the sliding doors. “I don’t see her.” Jack said looking through the waiting area.
“She’s back in the back,” his dad said. “Kara said she would take us back when we got here.”
“Uncle Chuck!”
Jack turned around and almost didn’t recognize Kara in her nurse clothes. “She was watching for us,” his dad said.
“Hey, Jack,” Kara said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Just don’t squeeze. “Is my mom going to die?”
“Your mom is hurt really bad. Most of her insides are damaged one way or another.” Kara looked at his dad and kept talking, but she never said any of the "sick" words Jack knew, like fever or stomachache. Just weird stuff - spleen, pelvis, then she said broken. He understood that.
“What’s a pel ...pelvis?”
Kara put her hands on Jack’s hips. “This big bone here.”
“Whoa,” Jack said. “Did she cry?”
“I haven’t seen her cry.”
“I haven’t either. She’s really tough.”
“Come on. I’ll take you to her.” Kara walked faster than his dad did, so Jack had to trot to keep up. “They operated on her, Jack, to take out that busted spleen.”
“Didn’t that fix everything?”
“Not everything, but that’s all they can do right now. She’s not bleeding inside anymore, though.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s very good,” Kara said.
“My dad’s going first,” Jack said.
“That’s probably a good idea. I’ll wait with you.” She led them through two big doors to a room of curtains. “We’re full right now, so they brought her back down here after her surgery. She’s in that second one, Uncle Chuck.” Kara pointed to her right. “Jack, I’ll show you what all these machines do while your dad is with your mom.”
“I’ll tell her you’re here, and get you in there as soon as I can,” his dad said. Before stepping around the curtain, his dad bowed his head. He should’ve thought of that. Jack bowed his head, too, and whispered, “God, my dad is a good pray-er. I hope You listen to him. And me. ’Cause my mom needs a lot of help getting better right now. Thanks.”
Father God, don’t let her go just yet. She’s not ready. Be merciful. Especially for Jack’s sake. Chuck let a deep breath go, and stepped around the curtain.
Tracy was propped up in the hospital bed, a sheet and blanket tucked tightly around her. An intravenous line inserted into the back of her left hand ran to a metering pump. More lines from the EKG patches ran from slits in her hospital gown to the monitor by her bedside. Other monitors and readouts flashed her vital signs, updating themselves every few seconds. The rhythmic whoosh of the respirator and the periodic beeps broke the awful stillness.
Chuck approached her bedside, and laid his hand on hers. Her hand was soft, and cool, and yellow antiseptic dotted the scrapes and scratches on her arm. “Tracy?”
“Nnnnn ... Chuck?” Her eyes opened halfway and her words slurred from a heavy dose of painkillers. “You came.”
“Of course, I came. I should have never left you alone last night.”
“It’s ... better this way.” Her eyelids slowly closed.
“What do you mean better? Did you do this on purpose? Dear God, tell me you didn’t ...”
Her eyes opened again and he felt a weak squeeze on his hand. “Jack? Where’s Jack?”
“Tracy, answer me,” Chuck said firmly.
“It’s done. Doesn’t matter how or why.”
“You wrecked your car on purpose?”
“I’m not ... I don’t remember.” She took a long, labored breath. “I want Jack.”
Chuck hung his head in resignation. “I’ll get him.” She was the most exasperating woman. Drugged up, and half dead, yet she still wouldn’t give him a straight answer. If that woman wrecked her car with the express intention of taking her own life ... When he yanked the curtain back, he saw Jack flinch. “Your mom is asking for you.”
“Is she okay?”
Chuck shook his head. “She’s hooked up to a lot of machines, and they gave her medicine so she doesn’t hurt so much. The medicine makes her sound really sleepy.”
“Will she still know it’s me?”
“I’m sure she’ll know.”
“Do I need to be tough again?”
“It might help.”
He made a fist with his right hand and punched his left palm three times. “I’m ready. Mom needs me.” Chuck guided Jack around the curtain with a hand on the boy’s back. Then he felt Jack’s body tense. “She looks bad,” he whispered.
“But she really wants to see you,” Chuck said. “Think you can do it?”
“Yes. I was just a little surprised, that’s all.” He tiptoed to the bedside, leaving his dad by the curtain. “Mom? It’s me, Jack.”
Tracy managed to draw the left side of her face into a smile. “Jack ... I love you.”
“I love you, too. What happened?”
“I don’t re ...member.”
“Can I touch you, or will it hurt?”
“It won’t hurt.”
Jack reached out and gently touched his mother’s arm. “You feel cold,” he said. “You need another blanket. Want me to get one?”
“No, Jack. Listen to me very carefully. I’m dying.”
Tears dropped from Jack’s eyes onto the bed sheet.
“Tracy, no,” Chuck said. “They did surgery. They stopped the internal bleeding.”
She ignored him and reached for Jack’s hand. “I’m ... I thank God I got to talk to you one more time.”
“Tracy, you’re scaring him,” Chuck said, ready to take the boy back outside the curtain, but neither of them acknowledged his presence. Tracy and Jack were locked in their own world, the way they always had been.
“I still need a mom,” Jack sniffled.
“I made it without a mom, and you’re much stronger and braver than I am, Jack.” She lifted a shaky hand to his face, and clumsily swiped at a tear. “You have people that love you very much. Your dad and Bobbi ...” She closed her eyes, and winced.
“Mom!”
“Just a second, Jack,” Tracy whispered. She took a breath, and opened her eyes slowly again. “Maybe you should go ahead and go.”
“But I don’t want to go.” Jack laid his head on the bed.
“Climb up here, and hug me.”
“Really? I can get up there?” He wiped his eyes and brightened a little.
“Just watch the wires and things. Maybe your dad could help you.”
They did remember he was there after all. Chuck lifted the boy up and set him on the bed, making sure all the wires and lines were out of the way. “Be easy, Jack. She’s in a lot of pain.”
Jack leaned down and laid his head on his mother’s shoulder.
Tracy raised the hand with the IV line to smooth Jack’s hair. “I love you so much. Don’t ever, ever forget that.”
“Can I kiss you?” Jack asked.
“I wish you would,” Tracy said weakly. Jack kissed her cheek gently, and again she tried to smile. “I love you.”
“Can I stay a little more? Please?”
“Jack, it will be harder for me if you’re here. I hope you can understand that someday.”
“I don’t like that,” Jack muttered.
Chuck lifted Jack down from the bed. “I’ll be right back, Tracy.” Chuck took Jack’s hand and walked around the curtain with him. They were both surprised to see Bobbi standing against the wall. She knelt down and Jack ran to her and threw his arms around her. “That was fast,” Chuck said quietly.
“Rita was home. I talked to Brad and Joel, and I called Glen, too. He should be here soon. How’s Tracy?”
“Jack got to talk to her.” He glanced back toward the curtain. “If you don’t care, I want to go back in. I don’t want her to be alone ..
.”
“I’ll stay with Jack.” She patted the little boy’s back. “Let’s get Kara to find us someplace we can wait. Your dad is going to stay with your mom.”
“I think she’s scareder than she says,” Jack said, wiping his eyes.
“I’m sure she is,” Bobbi said, “but your dad knows what to say and what to do. Come on.” She stood and took him by the hand, and led him back through the double doors.
“I wish I knew,” Chuck said to himself. He stepped back around the curtain, and took Tracy’s hand. “Tracy, it’s Chuck.”
“If I had met someone like you twenty years ago ...” she said in a dreamy voice. Her eyes were barely open now. “I wish things had been different, Chuck,”
“That doesn’t matter now.”
“I’m sorry for what I did to you and to your family ... Make sure you tell your wife ... She’s the most gracious woman ...”
“Tracy ...” One of the monitors began to beep, and Tracy’s grip grew tighter.
“I took care of everything ... I have a will at the office, and you’re the executor. I should have asked you ...”
“Tracy, what about Jesus?”
“I took care of ... everything ...” She closed her eyes and her hand dropped away from his. Immediately, the monitors began to buzz and alarm.
A team rushed in and began shouting numbers back and forth. “Sir, you’ll have to step outside,” one of the nurses said as she pulled the curtain around. Chuck nodded absently and backed up.
Tracy didn’t answer him. Or did she? Did she mean she took care of dealing with her sins too? Or had she even realized he’d asked her? He felt lightheaded and dizzy. Just that fast and she was gone. She died peacefully. Maybe there was some hope in that.
He walked through a set of double doors, and slumped into the first available chair, burying his face in his hands. It didn’t have to be this way. Why wouldn’t she let him help her? Chuck felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Glen and Laurie Dillard.
“How’s Tracy?” Glen asked
Chuck glanced back at the double doors and shook his head. “She just ... uh, I think ... she went into cardiac arrest or something. They were working with her.”
“Oh no,” Glen said quietly. “Were you and Jack here?”
Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series Page 29
