Tom gave his second-in-command a dismissive shrug and climbed into his truck. “Nah. Get someone else to do it. I’ve got some stuff to take care of.”
The digital clock on the console told Tom thirty-seven hours had passed since he last saw Pam at the hospital. He knew her schedule. She was on duty again today and into tonight in the ED. If he went to the hospital, she’d be there. But he wasn’t ready to see her. Not yet. He put the truck into gear and sighed. Maybe never.
Tom took the first left out of town and headed toward the highway. Going where? He had no idea. His head hurt. His gut ached. Emotionally, his nerves were strung tighter than a bowstring ready to snap. It reminded him of fourteen years ago. When he learned Susan was pregnant. When Pam had the accident. When she left.
“Ha!” He released a humorless laugh and floored the accelerator. This was a million times worse!
An hour later, Tom found himself two counties over. Hunterdon County High School’s football team was Middleton’s biggest rival. It had been that way for decades. He commanded his memory to recall close scoring games, winning plays and victory parties. Anything to keep his thoughts away from Pam. When he reached the next county line, he pulled over to the side of the road and slowed to a stop. If he kept going, he’d soon cross over into Ohio. Not a bad state, he reasoned. Starting over in some place new sounded pretty good right about now. Then his frown deepened. Eventually, he’d have to turn around and get his life back in order.
Making a U-turn, images of Pam snuck into his thoughts. After all this time, she’d finally returned to his life. And now they were apart again! How awful was that? Could things get any worse?
For an instant, Tom squeezed his eyes shut to block out her smile, bright eyes, tears… The way she felt in his arms… Even if she was right. Even if he agreed to give in to Susan this time, the underlying problems still remained. Susan made it her life’s mission to ruin him. And she eagerly used their sons to accomplish that goal. She needed to be stopped. Now!
There was a time, not too long ago, when Tom thought he could handle his ex-wife’s issues and still lead a semi-normal life. It was right about the time he saw Pam’s resumé on Marlene Everett’s desk. Yeah, he grimaced bitterly. In my wildest delusions. I can’t handle her at all, and my life is more of a mess now than before. Why, Lord? Why am I so stupid? What do you want me to do? Am I still paying for my sins? When is it ever going to be enough?
His cell phone rang, momentarily diverting his attention. Oh great. Susan’s telephone number glowed on the caller ID. He considered ignoring her, but then changed his mind. If she pissed him off, he could always hang up.
“Yeah?” he answered briskly.
“A.J.’s gone!” she cried.
“What? What do you mean, gone?” He could hear tears and panic in her voice. His own pulse quickened.
“I… I don’t know,” Susan stammered. “I went to pick him up from soccer practice a little while ago and no one’s seen him. I’ve called all his friends. I’ve been driving up and down the neighborhood… Nothing. Mark said they saw each other right after school.”
Tom checked the time. School ended three hours ago. Where would he go? And why? “Did you call the police?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Meet me at the police station. I’m out at the county line so it will take me about a half hour to get there. Call if you hear anything else.” Tom was about to disconnect the line when he thought of something else. “Where’s Mark?”
“Right here. I’m taking him to the neighbor’s house when we hang up.”
“Okay. Please put him on the phone.”
“Hi, Dad.”
“What’s up, Buddy,” Tom said, trying to remain calm. Inside, he felt like an erupting volcano. “You okay?”
“Yeah, Dad.”
It killed Tom that they had such a formal relationship. Getting this one to talk about anything was like pulling teeth. “How did school go today?”
“Fine.”
“Something happened. Didn’t it?”
Silence. “Come on, Mark. You’ve got to tell me. Why did your brother take off? What was he upset about?”
After a moment, Tom heard a sigh.
“I don’t know exactly,” the boy started. “But I think some kids teased him.”
“About?”
As Tom asked, he realized he already knew the answer. The newspaper articles. “It was about your mom and me. Wasn’t it?” Dear Lord. Please forgive us both. I am so sorry.
He clenched a fist, wanting to smash it into something. Why can’t I just get this right?
Holding back the sobs lodged in his throat, Tom tried to sound reassuring. “It’s going to be okay, Mark. I promise. Now, help your mom. Try to think where A.J. may have gone, and call me or her if you get any ideas.”
Uttering a short, continuous prayer for both his sons, Tom drove even faster. Intent on getting back to Middleton, he almost missed the latest call over the radio.
“Car 390 on the air for the 911.”
“390 is on, go ahead Dispatch.”
“390, handle the Middleton 911 on Marsh Road for struck pedestrian.”
“Roger. En route.”
A few minutes later, Tom heard, “390 is on the scene.”
“Roger, 390.”
Tom spent his entire adult life handling rescue calls. He knew the drill by heart. Though still driving way beyond the speed limit, he envisioned his medics doing their jobs. Soon, they would contact the hospital to let it know they were coming in. He liked to listen to these transmissions, which his staff called ‘patches.’ They enabled him to critique his staff based upon the reports they gave.
Tom dialed the medical center’s frequency on the truck radio. At the same time, he listened to the portable radio transmissions between Dispatch and the medics. He also prayed A.J. showed up before he reached the police department.
“390 to Dispatch. We’ll be transporting one party, priority one, ALS.”
Advanced life support, Tom noted, hearing the sirens in the background over the radio. The ambulance was en route with it patient to the medical center.
“Roger 390,” Dispatch responded. “One party, ALS.”
“Dispatch, is Medic One on the air?”
“Affirmative, 390.”
Tom raised a questioning brow. What would they want with him? It sounded like a routine call.
“Go ahead, 390,” he cut in.
“Medic One, please call Dispatch on a private line.”
Tom’s subconscious understood the message before his brain and body reacted. Something had happened. Something very bad.
“Please God,” he prayed aloud, over and over again. “Please don’t let it be A.J.”
A wave of perspiration drenched his forehead and rolled down his back. He punched in the station’s number on his cell phone.
“Middletown Dispatch. Officer Woodworth speaking.”
“It’s Tom, Sarah. What’s wrong?”
There was a slight hesitancy before she spoke. Tom used the time to fit in another desperate prayer about A.J.
“It’s Susan Murphy. She’s the struck pedestrian.”
“What?” He heard her words but needed to make sure. He’d been so convinced it was A.J.
“It’s Susan. And it’s bad.”
Tom felt so grateful and relieved that he uttered another prayer and drove the truck into the breakdown lane. Then the news sunk in on a different level.
Susan? She was hurt? They may have their differences, but he didn’t mean her that type of ill will. His sons’ faces came to mind. How would they react? Then he remembered A.J. was still missing. He aimed the truck back toward the road and switched on the lights and sirens.
“I’m on my way, Sarah.”
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Forty-Six
The ride seemed endless. Tom listened to 390 patch into the medical center and knew Susan suffered critical injuries. Sh
e’d been hit by a delivery truck and remained unconscious. The ambulance arrived about five minutes before he did. He raced through the automatic door, practically right into a nurse he knew. “Where is she?”
“Room 3.”
Tom ran past, then slowed to a somewhat normal pace to stop himself from charging into the trauma room. It overflowed with medical staff members. He noted Susan’s reflection in the mirrored lamp overhead. She lay still on the gurney. Splotches of dark crimson blood contrasted with her pale body.
Tom could only stand there. Instinct told him to demand answers. Experience told him to stay out of the way and let the team do their job.
“We couldn’t get the tube in,” he heard a paramedic report.
Unable to move, Tom watched Pam and another ED doctor try the same procedure. It didn’t work. Frustrated, Pam threw the intubation tube to the ground. “You’re right. There’s too much damage.”
Trying to remain calm, Tom studied the monitors. Susan was breathing. Just barely. At the same time, he prayed for her and A.J. Please help her and keep him safe, Lord. Please bring him home now.
“Get the respiratory tech up here. Stat!” Pam commanded.
“The place is hopping this afternoon,” a nurse reported. “They’re running slow.”
As if reading his mind, Tom caught Pam glancing at him. For an instant, their eyes met and held. He could read her like a book. I’m worried, she told him silently. This isn’t good. Aloud, she warned, “We can’t wait!”
They both thought the same thing: Susan was fighting for her life. She couldn’t breathe. Only an emergency tracheotomy could help her now.
A nurse approached him with a clipboard. “You’re Susan’s medical decision proxy. If you consent to treatment, including surgery, please sign here.” She pointed to the last line on the page.
Tears blurring his vision, Tom grabbed the pen and scribbled his name. “Do it!”
Pam acknowledged him with a single nod.
“Betty, get me a scalpel. I’m going to trach her,” the other doctor directed. Pam quickly prepped Susan’s neck with Betadine. Tom knew the procedure. He also understood why Pam deferred it to the other doctor. Though he had no doubt she could put aside her personal opinions about Susan and give her the past care possible, this was the smarter approach.
Tom watched the doctor make a small incision in Susan’s throat and insert a tube. It would bypass the traumatized portion of her windpipe, letting her breathe.
Without warning, Tom felt a wave of nausea threaten to overwhelm him. Years of training and experience prepared him for almost any kind of emergency. But nothing prepared him for this. The team members gathered in a tight circle around the patient. He could hardly see what was happening.
“Here we go!” he heard the doctor say. “Give me the tube.”
Within seconds, everyone sighed with relief. They backed away from the table. Tom took the opportunity to move forward and watch Susan’s pale, ashen face return close to its normal color.
Pam looked at Tom.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
She nodded once then said, “She needs the OR.”
After a few minutes, with tubes and wires secured, he watched Susan being rushed to the elevator.
“Dad?”
Tom turned to find both his sons, their faces stricken with fear, running into his arms.
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Forty-Seven
Satisfied that Susan was in the best of hands, Pam brushed away a tear and fled to her office. Thankfully, it was empty.
Seeing Tom just now really rocked her. They’d spoken two nights before, but to no avail. To meet now, under these awful circumstances, made their situation seem even worse. She ached to run to him. To comfort him. At the same time, she needed to touch him. To feel his arms around her.
Last night, and today, without him, she’d kept it together. But just barely. She missed him terribly. Numbing her mind and her heart, she went about her business, forcing her thoughts away from everything except her job. And she succeeded. But only to a certain extent. Sure, she was efficient, but only in a detached sort of way. Not like before, when her work was her salvation; her means to escape the pain of her past and to ward off the loneliness.
Now, seeing Tom’s reaction to Susan’s condition crushed any hopes she may have had about getting back together with him. His stricken expression, those hooded eyes rimmed red with tears, and his tight, drawn mouth and clenched fists clearly portrayed his devotion for the woman. It also convinced Pam that she had been right to end their relationship.
And he should feel that way about Susan, she reasoned. They had been married at one time. They had children together. And they were still so tied together emotionally, even if it was mostly negative. But maybe that was to cover up the hurt they both felt. Maybe this tragedy could turn out to be a good thing for them. Though it killed Pam to acknowledge this, maybe it could help them put things in perspective. Susan would recover. Pam felt certain of that. And then maybe she and Tom could put aside their petty differences to give their marriage another try.
This possibility, though Pam knew it might be what God wanted, crushed her heart. She prayed that He would take away the jealousy she suddenly felt and help her to feel happy for them. But at the same time, she realized that she could barely control the imaginary wall of water threatening to break through the dam and knock her off her feet. Forcing herself to get a grip, she called the ED nurses’ station.
“Hi,” she said abruptly. “This is Dr. Harrington. Is everything under control? Good. I’m going to take a half-hour break.” She’d been on her feet for more than eight hours. They would understand.
Next, Pam went into her private bathroom and turned on the shower. After stripping off her stained scrubs, she stepped into the steamy spray of hot water. Dear God, she practically screamed inside. Please wash away this pain. And help them to be a family again.
****
“Pam?”
Startled, Pam poked her head out of the shower. Had someone called her name? Couldn’t she even take a shower in peace?
“Pam?” The voice repeated on the other side of the door. “It’s me.”
“Tom?” She held the curtain to her nude body. What did he want?
“Yes. I have to talk to you.”
“Now? Is Susan okay?” That was a dumb question. The woman was in the middle of major surgery. “I mean, has something happened?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, no. Just a sec.” Quickly, praying for God to help the surgeons and their patient, Pam rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, turned off the water and briskly dried off. Reaching for a robe she kept hooked on the back of the bathroom door, she called out, “Tell me what happened.”
“Can’t I see you? Are you still upset with me?”
Standing there, her hair dripping wet, wearing only a short robe around her body, she rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the situation.
“It’s not that. I don’t have any clean clothes in here. Please hand me a set of scrubs. They’re in the cabinet, against the wall.”
“Oh.”
Pam imagined him looking around for them.
“Well then, maybe what I have to say is better this way.”
“Huh?” Then she understood. Her stomach knotted so tight, she nearly keeled over from the pain. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the wall, braced for his words.
Dear Lord, please help me to handle this, she prayed. Tom is going to confirm that he gave some deep thought to his relationship to Susan, and to their children. It caused him to decide that they should give their marriage another chance.
Pam squeezed her eyes closed.
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”
Here it comes…
“You were so right. I’ve been handling this thing with Susan all wrong and it’s killing my sons.”
Devastated, Pam sunk to her knees. I
t’s happening. They’re getting back together.
She bit her lip to choke back the sobs of jealousy and humiliation.
“The boys are here at the hospital, scared to death for their mother. Though I can’t stand the woman, she is their mom and they love her. It’s tearing them apart to know that she’s in the operating room right now fighting for her life. Just like when she and I fight. I knew it couldn’t be good for them, but seeing their little faces just now, their eyes pleading for me to tell them she’ll be okay, forced me to see just how bad they’ve been hurting.”
Truths Unveiled Page 22
