Past Sins Revisited

by Mary Goldberger

  Tomas wanted to tell Edric what he learned but after a swift look at Sophie, he had a feeling that he wouldn’t get far so he just smiled and told Edric he would see him later.

  He went out to the nurse’s station where he asked, “The young woman you were talking about before do you know what floor she is on?”

  The nurse hesitated glancing behind her before telling him quietly, “On the fourth floor east wing although you probably won’t be able to see her.”

  Tomas nodded his head in understanding giving her a smile before heading for the elevator as it opened.

  He called Mariah as he got on pushing the fourth floor button and told her that he would see her later but she could tell something was wrong by the sound of his voice, and knowing that he was at the hospital decided to go there. She could stop in and see Lida to see how she was doing before catching up with him.

  The elevator opened on the fourth floor as he slipped the cell into his pocket and stepped out seeing the sign for the east wing heading in that direction.

  As he approached the desk, he noticed that Lida was standing at the desk holding onto an IV pole.

  “How is she doing,” she was asking the nurse at the desk.

  “Are you here to see Calida,” Tomas asked sharply catching her off guard as her head swung around to meet his eyes.

  Lida nodded her head as she told him, “Matt told me she was here.”

  Tomas gave her shrewd look before he turned to the desk with a polite smile as he admitted, “I also would like to know how Calida…Lindley is doing.”

  The Supervisor for the floor walked over to them as she eyed them before asking, “Are you any relation to the patient?”

  “I’m her best friend,” Lida said immediately getting a startled look from Tomas before he said, “I know her fiancé and I’m sure he would want me to look in on her.”

  The Supervisor gave them narrowed looks before she gave them the room number to the astonishment of Calida’s nurse who was coming back to the station from another patient’s room.

  “Supervisor,” she muttered putting down the chart she held and the Supervisor gave her a sharp look before turning her attention back to Tomas and Lida.

  “You may visit with her, but she is probably still sleeping,” she told them watching as they nodded their head and headed in the direction she indicated.

  “Thank you,” Tomas said with a brief smile although his eyes were dark with anger and worry.

  She watched them stop at the door knocking softly before they opened it and went inside, and she shook her head before returning to her duties telling Calida’s nurse to do the same.

  Tomas didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t seeing Calida laying on the bed her face pale and her hair spread out on the pillow under her head tangled in need of a washing.

  There were two machines attached to her and yet Tomas’ eyes were focused on the woman in the bed.

  “Matt told me,” Lida repeated softly as she walked over to the bed tears sliding down her cheeks.

  They were quiet as they listened to Calida’s even breathing before Lida said in a soft voice, “Did you know that she paid my hospital bill even though it had wasn’t her fault?”

  Tomas gave her a surprised look as he knew Edric had planned on taking care of it when he came back from out of town.

  “The day after she visited me, she went directly to billing and took responsibility for it,” Lida continued unaware of his startled look.

  She shook her head as she reached out and lightly touched Calida’s hand thinking about how long she had resented Calida merely because of what Jeffrey had said about her. Now as she thought about his words, she could see that they had been coated with envy himself along with a touch of lust that he had despised because Calida was not her mother.

  “I was so jealous of Calida when I first met her almost thirteen years ago,” Lida suddenly said quietly. “I had been dating Jeffrey and I fell for him hard although I knew that he was only toying with me, but I ignored it. Calida, I guess liked me even then, and she tried to warn me but I merely brushed her warning aside especially as Jeffrey was telling me how obsessed his little sister was with him. He would rant and rave at how his father was blind to her innocent looks while she tried to seduce him. I listened to him although now that I think about it, I never saw Calida ever look at him in the way that he described. In fact, Calida kept well away from him as I recall even on those times that no one knew I was there.”

  Lida went silent and Tomas indicated that they should leave as he told her, “I will escort you to your room.”

  Lida nodded her head as they left the room heading to the elevators after giving the nurses at the desk polite smiles.

  They headed to Lida’s room which was two floors down only to run into Mariah as she was about to knock on Lida’s door with a vase of floors in her hand.

  “Mariah,” Tomas said as they approached a smile crossing his face which Lida noted when she turned to face them.

  “We went to see Calida,” Lida told her seeing the paleness of Selena’s face when she saw Tomas holding her arm as she held onto her IV pole. “Or more accurately, we met at the nurse’s desk having the same thought of seeing her.”

  Mariah’s eyes widened at the news her eyes darting over to Tomas who nodded his head as a grim look went over his face.

  “Let’s go inside Lida’s room so she could relax in bed while we tell you what we know, although I believe Lida knows more at this point,” Tomas said quietly putting his other hand on the back of Mariah’s back to lightly push her into the hospital room as Lida opened the door.

  Two hours later, Mariah and Tomas left the hospital Mariah’s face paler than before and a clenching of Tomas’s jaw after what they had learned from Lida.

  “Tomas, honey, I think Ric…” Mariah began as he helped her into his truck.

  Tomas shook his head as his hand clenched around the door frame of the truck before he closed and walked around to get in the driver’s side.

  He sat there for a few minutes before he reached forward and started the engine telling her, “Right now, Sophie is demanding Ric’s undivided attention and as a longtime friend he can’t abandon her.

  His mouth tightened in anger as he drove away from the hospital and Mariah glanced at him seeing the hardness on his face listened when he told her, “There is nothing seriously wrong with Sophie from what the nurses told me, but I think Sophie is trying to keep Ric’s attention so he doesn’t know about Calida.”

  Mariah shook her head as she remarked, “There is no way for her to keep it quiet much longer unless she talks Ric into leaving town within in the next few days.”

  Tomas frowned as he thought about her words and he said suddenly coming to a stop light, “Mariah, call the airport and see if you can find out if Sophie made any reservations.” At her confused look, Tomas told her, “The nurses told me that although she wouldn’t accept any calls, she made plenty of them.”

  “You think…” Mariah began her eyes narrowing starting to understand where he was going.

  “I think Sophie has a plan ready to make sure that Ric doesn’t find out about Calida,” Tomas revealed although there was a slight catch in his voice that had Mariah looking at him even though she was already calling the airport. “His first thought when we left the airport was to see Calida even though he didn’t say it aloud and I know he called her when we arrived but her cell was turned off. Now I know why it was turned off.”

  Mariah didn’t have time to comment to his statement as someone came on the line at the airport and with an ease of being Ric’s secretary, she was able to get the information from the very reluctant receptionist. Within minutes, Mariah had the information and she hung up with a smug smile as Tomas turned to her with a sly grin.

  “Working for Ric has been educational,” she told him making him laugh before she told him what she learned.

  “I was only able to get that she reserved a flight going to Ha
waii but the woman wouldn’t tell me exactly when except that it was within the next two weeks,” Mariah admitted with a shake of her head.

  “Within the next two weeks,” Tomas repeated softly as Mariah nodded her head in agreement.

  “How are we going to let Ric know about Calida before she puts whatever plan she has in action,” she asked not expecting an answer. “Besides, I doubt Sophie knows that Ric already has a vacation planned for next week.”

  Tomas gave her a sharp look as they pulled up in front of apartment building as he said, “I didn’t know that Ric had planned on going out of town.”

  “Only to the house he has in the mountains,” Mariah told him, and Tomas nodded his head as the house was Ric’s get away whenever he needed some time to himself.

  “Although to be honest, I don’t think he was planning on going by himself this time,” Mariah confided with a smirk on her face.

  Tomas laughed as he climbed out of the truck with a, “I’m sure he won’t and that will give us some time to ourselves before things get chaotic.”

  As Mariah stared at him in confusion, he slipped an arm around her and walking her into the building he told her about their new acquisition to the company.

  Mariah shook her head as she sighed and Tomas gave her a look that made her shiver in delight although she was still worried about Calida and how they were going to let Ric know about her.

  “We just have to wait until Matt has time to talk to us,” Tomas told her as they entered her apartment. “Matt is the only one who can tell Ric the truth, the whole truth since he was there.”

  Back at the hospital, Edric stared at the sleeping Sophie and frowned as he turned his gaze to the windows. He couldn’t use his phone according to Sophie who told him the nurses frowned on that and when he questioned her about it, she came up with the reason there was heart patients on the floor. He sighed running a hand down his face before taking another long glance at the Sophie seeing her even breathing and how a small smile tugged at her lips which he noted suddenly glistened slightly under the light.

  A nurse walked in a few seconds later after a brief tap on the door and she smiled at him as he nodded his head in greeting.

  After she gave a brief check of her vitals without waking her up, she motioned for him to follow her and they slipped out the door as Sophie slept on unaware.

  “Why don’t you go and get something to eat, sir,” she told him as they walked in the direction of the nurses’ desk. “The doctor gave her some medicines to help her sleep as she hadn’t slept the night before due to the shock of what happened.”

  Edric nodded his head as he told her, “I could use something to eat and also I need to make a call, but Sophie advised me not to use my cell on the floor due to the heart patients that were relocated to this floor.”

  The nurse stopped and frowned at him as she said to him slowly a thoughtful look on her face, “We don’t have any heart patients at the moment on the floor.”

  Edric glanced at her sharply and just that moment a cell phone rang in one of the patient rooms before it was answered.

  Edric’s mouth flattened into a hard line and the nurse was quick to assure him with a statement that made him more suspicious of something being wrong. “I’m sure that the young woman didn’t realize it as we were talking about heart patients we had on the floor a few days ago when she asked to use her own cell phone.”

  Edric turned to her and the nurse realizing she had his undivided attention continued talking as he was handsome and she wanted to prolong their conversation. “She probably misunderstood which is understandable after seeing two people shot in front of her especially when one of those individuals took a bullet that was meant for her.”

  Edric felt his body go cold at her words as he asked in a tense tone, “What are you talking about, miss?”

  The nurse’s eyes widened as she gushed, “I mean, Miss Jenkins hasn’t told you that a young woman almost died after taking the shot the man meant for her.”

  Edric had a hard time controlling the anger that was rising inside of him erupting out towards the nurse as he told her calmly although his eyes were dark with temper, “No she hasn’t, but she’s been relieved to see me and hasn’t wanted to talk about what happened.”

  The nurse nodded her head as she told him, “She wouldn’t speak to anyone else once she got here although she made quite a number of calls since last night.”

  Edric nodded his head and the nurse flushed with her accomplishment of keeping his attention continued talking not noticing that the more she said, the harder the green eyes became in the man in front of her.

  Finally she was called away as her supervisor snapped at her coming out of a patient’s room and with an apologetic smile including an invitation that lingered in her eyes, the nurse scurried away.

  Edric headed for the elevator his green eyes narrowed to slits in a hard face as he pushed the button to go down pulling out his cell from his pocket at the same time.

  “Matt,” he said when the man answered sounding tired. “We need to talk.”

  Matt on the other end of the phone ran a tired hand over his face weariness reflected in his eyes as he said, “I know, Ric. Are you home, or the office?”

  “The hospital,” Edric told him shortly waiting to see what Matt said.

  “Oh,” Matt said slowly before understanding settled in his mind. “I guess it is because of Sophie.”

  “Who else should I be seeing, Matt,” Edric asked his voice dangerously soft.

  Matt flinched as he told Edric, “I will be at the hospital in ten minutes. Maybe you should call Tomas and ask him to meet us so I can explain everything about what happened that night.”

  Edric hit the end button a few seconds later a scowl on his face before he forced himself to dial Tomas grimacing slightly as Tomas answered.

  “Tomas, I just talked with Matt and he will be meeting me in the hospital cafeteria in about ten minutes,” Edric told him in a grim voice.

  “So will I,” Tomas told him getting up from the bed where Mariah was jostled by the same movement.

  Edric hung up the phone as he exited the elevator and heading in the direction of the cafeteria, he dialed another number listening to the voice mail come on again without even ringing and as he ended the call a worried look came to his face while he spun the phone around in the palm of his hand.

  “Where is she,” he muttered slipping the phone in his pocket as he headed for the coffee machine.

  He was seated and drinking his coffee when Matt arrived before he went straight for some food and coffee as Edric watched him.

  He had barely sat down to start eating when they were joined by Tomas and Selena which earned them a questioning look from Edric at her attendance.

  “I want to know what happened too,” she remarked defensively giving Edric a frown.

  “So do I,” another voice interjected and all eyes went to Lida pushing her IV pole while a nurse coming off her shift and getting breakfast frowned at her.

  “I didn’t mean for you to get out of bed,” Matt muttered as he got up to help her into a chair at the table before retaking his seat. “I called her on my way over.”

  Tomas and Mariah shared a small smile as Edric scowled heavily and said sarcastically, “Now that everyone’s here and they all seem to know more than I do at the moment…”

  He stared at Matt with a narrowed look who sighed and picked up his coffee as he said, “If you care as much as I believe you do, Ric, you are not going to like what I’m about to tell you.”

  “Matt,” Edric growled his hands clenching tightly around his coffee cup.

  “Edric,” Tomas said sharply using his whole name that Edric closed his eyes and settled back in the chair. “I’m going to get Mariah, Lida, and I a cup of coffee before Matt begins so be patient. He will let you know everything tonight.”

  Edric didn’t open his eyes but he nodded his head and after giving him a brief glance, Tomas walked over and got the
coffee as Lida and Mariah watched Edric run a hand over the back of his neck while Matt muttered, “I didn’t know that it would go down the way it did, Ric, you have to believe me. I didn’t think…”

  He stopped what he was going to say and Edric opened his eyes just as Tomas returned with the coffees which he handed out before taking his seats.

  “You didn’t think what, Matt,” Edric asked in a controlled voice not liking the fact that his close friends were keeping something from him.

  Matt sighed as he said, “That Calida would take the bullet for Sophie” before he went into full detail of what happened that night starting with the phone call he received from Jeffrey’s housekeeper.

  “How did you find them,” Tomas asked sensing that Edric was barely able to keep himself under control as they sat there.

  “By pure luck,” Matt admitted in a disgruntled voice. “The warehouse happens to be in another’s name, but Jeffrey held the deed for the land which seem odd to me and my partner.”

  “Jeffrey,” Edric asked his voice so cold that the four people at the table flinched in their seats.

  Matt shook his head as he pushed away his half-eaten plate of food. “In the end, I think he lost his mind because he was ranting and raving before SWAT entered the warehouse, and yet he still pulled his gun on them without hesitation.”

  Matt hesitated before he admitted meeting Edric’s eyes, “That was after he shot Calida.”

  Edric’s hand tightened again around the Styrofoam cup crushing it although it was empty as he had absently been holding while listening to Matt.

  “How is Calida doing? Is she here?” He asked searching the faces of the people in front of him.

  “She is fine, Ric,” Tomas told him quietly getting a narrowed look from Edric. “I went to see her after I left you this afternoon although I wasn’t sure if it was Calida until I talked with Matt briefly on the phone after he called me back.”

  Edric didn’t comment on the fact his closest friend hadn’t told him that the woman he loved was in the hospital while he comforted another in the same hospital.