HisMarriageBargain

by Sidney Bristol

  “Autumn, there you are.”

  Autumn spun around and almost collided with Kellie.

  “Wow, easy there.” Kellie gripped her arm and steadied her.

  “What are you doing here?” Autumn glanced over her shoulder at Mary, Pandora, Brian and Carly. It was past ten, so the shop should be opening for the day.

  “We heard about Sammi and were worried.” Pandora stepped up and wrapped her arms around Autumn, squeezing her tight.

  Autumn sagged into her hold, and was soon enveloped on all sides by the girls coming together. She hiccupped and a few small tears leaked out of her eyes.

  “You should have called us,” Kellie admonished.

  “Sorry, I just— There’s been lots of nothing going on.” Autumn wiped her face.

  “Are you going back there?” Pandora glanced at her phone. “Visiting just started.”

  “Yeah, Sammi’s friends are here and they needed some of us to leave.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Looks like I’m the only one who had to.”

  “We brought you some clothes, toiletries and some food.” Carly had a backpack stuffed full of everything in her lap.

  “Is there a jacket in there? Because I’ve been freezing my ass off.” Autumn rubbed her hands along her arms.

  “There is.”

  Carly unzipped the bag and dug out one of the So Inked hoodies. It was big enough to be a dress, but Autumn didn’t care.

  “Are you hungry? Need anything?” Brian asked.

  “That’s too many questions.”

  “Let’s find a place to sit,” Mary suggested. In a few minutes she’d rounded up enough chairs in the break room for their little group to cluster together.

  Autumn glossed over what she knew. That he was being kept sedated and tests were being run. It was frustrating not to have more information, but their presence comforted her.

  “What about his mom? Has she been up here?” Mary asked.

  “I know the doctor called her, but I haven’t seen her yet. I imagine she’ll be by sometime today.” Autumn sighed and tried to shove that thought back into the box it came from. “Mostly it’s wait and see. And think about how much a cigarette would be awesome right now.”

  Pandora groaned. “Don’t say that. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

  “Hey, we quit.” Kellie wagged a finger at them.

  “I know, but just one cigarette would be so good right about now.” Autumn buried her face in her hands. “I might have had one last night.”

  “No,” was the collective gasp around the table.

  Autumn laughed. She couldn’t help it. It was laugh or cry right now, and she was again out of tears, which felt like the way of things since her life took a trip down crazy lane.

  * * * * *

  Autumn sat in the only chair in the room and watched the doctor making rounds give Sammi the once-over. There hadn’t been any new information since the night before when they pronounced him stable and removed the breathing tube. For some reason, without the respirator he seemed more human. Now if he would just wake up and walk out of here.

  “Here you are, Mrs. Zimmerman.” A female nurse entered, and behind her followed Sammi’s mother wearing a sedate black skirt suit, her nose in the air.

  Autumn sat up a little straighter and picked some crumbs off her shirt. She hadn’t changed since the day before, and she’d only taken a quick shower in the hospital bathroom. In short, she was a mess.

  “Hello. You must be the other Mrs. Zimmerman.” The cheerful doctor turned to offer his hand to her.

  “I am the Mrs. Zimmerman,” Tamara corrected him.

  The doctor glanced at Autumn, who merely shrugged, some of the fight leeching out of her. She only had so much energy, and fighting with Sammi’s mother didn’t rate on her list of things to care about.

  “How is he?” Tamara stood at the bedside and stared down at him without a shred of emotion on her face.

  How had a man with so much warmth and feeling come from a woman so cold?

  “I’m glad you’re both here.” The doctor pivoted to include both Autumn and Tamara. “We took the breathing tube out last night and his respiratory system is working just fine. There’s no more fluid in his lungs and he’s doing fine on his own. We’re taking him off the sedatives, so he will wake up when he’s ready. I wouldn’t imagine it would be for another eight or more hours. It’s up to him. When he’s ready he’ll come around.”

  “Do we know what caused this?” Autumn asked the same refrain she’d spoken for two days.

  “He’s always been a sickly boy.” Tamara stroked his hair, somehow even that gesture seeming false. Phony. As if she were doing it for show.

  The doctor shook his head and folded his hands in front of him. “No. We should know more once the toxicology tests come back.”

  “When can I take him home?” Tamara asked.

  Autumn stared at the woman who hadn’t even been to see her son in two days. Granted, she probably hadn’t been made aware of things until Sunday, but there’d been plenty of time for her to see about her son. And now she thought Autumn would just let her take him home?

  “It’s going to be some time before Samuel can leave.”

  “I brought him some tea. It’s always made him feel better in the past. Might it help him now?” She produced a goddamned thermos of tea from her purse. Had the woman even brought her own tea when she visited Autumn’s house?

  “Maybe when he’s awake, but for now I think we’ll have to hold off on the tea.” The doctor glanced at Autumn, but she shook her head. “I’ll be by again tonight. You ladies take care.”

  Autumn was too numb to think anymore. She’d scribbled notes furiously all day yesterday after talking with Isaac and Kellie. From the nurses’ names to the drugs they gave him and the tests ran, she had a messy record written on the back of a paper bag. It was all there, just in case.

  She slumped in the chair and closed her eyes.

  “He will come home with me. I can better care for him,” Tamara announced to her audience of one.

  “Yeah, well we can ask Sammi what he wants when he wakes up.” Autumn wasn’t about to fight with her when they didn’t know if he would wake up.

  “What he wants is irrelevant. I am his mother.”

  “And I’m his wife!” Autumn sat up. Maybe she did have some spunk left in her.

  They glared at each other, for a moment neither speaking.

  Autumn shoved to her feet. So what if she was wearing stale clothing, had dry shampoo in her hair and hadn’t eaten anything that wasn’t from a vending machine in twenty-four hours? This woman was not better than her.

  “He chose to be married to me. You don’t have to like it. You don’t even have to like me. But come on. He’s a grown-ass man and you act like he needs his nose cleaned and his ass wiped by someone else.”

  It was the hospital version of an Old West showdown, with poor Sammi in the middle. Neither woman spoke.

  “Excuse me.” A nurse stepped through the door, nervously glancing between both of them. “Can you please keep it down for the other patients?”

  “Yeah, no problem. I need something to eat anyways.” Autumn left the room to keep the peace and went to the break room with its army of vending machines.

  By the time she made her food selection and returned to the room, she was alone again with her husband.

  So much for the poor, pitiful me act.

  Autumn went to stand by the side of the bed and ruffled Sammi’s hair.

  “Come back to me, baby.”

  * * * * *

  Another day, another Pop-Tart.

  Autumn popped the microwave open and accepted a dark cup of coffee from one of the other ICU waiting room regulars.

  “How’s your son doing?” Autumn broke a corner of the pastry off and munched on it.

  “Good. Real good. He’s ready to be out of here. How’s your husband?” He leaned against the counter and sipped his coffee. Something about haunti
ng the ICU, waiting for news about your loved one, created a bond between the waiting room residents. They all asked for updates, supported each other. It made being alone a little bit easier.

  “The same.” She shrugged. “He should wake up any moment.”

  “They’re letting you sleep back there, aren’t they?”

  Autumn nodded. The accommodations were big enough for one person and uncomfortable as lying on concrete.

  “My wife stayed back there last night.” He shook his head. “She went home this morning. Said Richie kept her awake most of the night anyway.”

  “You do hear every sound back there and the nurses coming in every couple of hours. I thought I heard him wake up a few times but it was just my imagination.” The sick feeling of getting up in a rush to go to his bedside only to find him still asleep hurt her heart.

  “Autumn Zimmerman?” A nurse leaned into the break room and all gazes went to Autumn.

  “Here.” Autumn took her coffee and pastry and followed the nurse, who led her to one of the fishbowl rooms without comment and held the door for her. “Dr. Minowitz will be up in a minute to talk to you. If you’ll wait here, please?”

  “Sure.”

  Autumn sank into one of the plush armchairs and tried to puzzle out exactly what Sammi’s primary care doctor was doing there. To her knowledge he hadn’t been to the hospital to see Sammi since he’d been admitted.

  She didn’t have to wait long for more information.

  Dr. Minowitz entered from the opposite door, his face deeply lined with worry. He was followed by a police officer who immediately began scrutinizing her. Autumn shifted in her seat and repeated the mantra I have done nothing wrong.

  “What’s wrong?” Autumn gripped the armrest and her cup of coffee. She’d seen Sammi an hour ago. What could have happened in such a short amount of time? And why was a cop involved?

  Dr. Minowitz and the officer settled into the seats across from her, the desk between them, neither one acknowledging that she’d spoken. The doctor laid his papers out in front of him and removed his glasses. The officer glanced at the doctor, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “What’s going on? You’re starting to freak me out.” Autumn set the cup of coffee down before she crushed it.

  “I’m Officer Ryan.” The policeman extended his hand toward her and she shook it.

  “Why are you here? My husband is sick.”

  Dr. Minowitz sighed and placed his glasses back on. He spread out several sheets of paper that read like a foreign language. “The toxicology results came back.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “These here,” he circled a list as long as her hand on the paper, “are not supposed to be in the human body, but there are sizeable traces in Samuel.”

  “I don’t understand.” Autumn felt like a broken record. Wouldn’t they just tell her what was going on already?

  “We’re trying to figure that out too. There’s no reason for Samuel to have the majority of these in his system. The conclusion we have come to is that someone did this to him.” He tapped the list.

  Autumn glanced from the list to the doctor and the officer. “Someone’s been pumping him full of shit while we’ve been in the hospital?”

  “No, no, no.” The doctor shook his hand.

  “What Dr. Minowitz is trying to say in as gentle a way as possible is that someone has been poisoning your husband. Intentionally. Many of these substances are found in household products.”

  The officer’s mouth kept moving, but all Autumn heard was the phrase someone has been poisoning your husband on repeat in her head. She clapped her hand over her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes. Who would do such a thing? Why? Fear and anger battled within her.

  “Ma’am?” The officer held a box of tissues out for her.

  Autumn snatched a few and held them to her face.

  “Who did this?” she demanded.

  “We don’t know. We were hoping to talk to you, get some more information.” Officer Ryan seemed to soften and show more compassion.

  Autumn nodded. “Whatever you need.”

  “I am required to also tell you that you are entitled to a lawyer.” His brows lifted.

  Was he testing her? It wasn’t his words so much as his expression that made her pause.

  “Sammi’s best friend is a lawyer. I don’t think he’s a criminal lawyer, contracts and stuff. He’d be someone to ask about all this too. Should I call him?” Autumn didn’t know the answer. She didn’t know what to do.

  “If you’d like.”

  Autumn nodded. Even just having Isaac next to her would make her feel better. “Let me call him real quick.”

  “I’ll be at the nurses’ station.” Dr. Minowitz made a hasty retreat, leaving Autumn alone with the officer.

  Autumn dug her phone out of her bag and dialed despite her shaking fingers.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Septum Piercing—A hoop or horseshoe piercing that goes through the cartilage between the nostrils.

  Autumn flopped on the couch and accepted the burger Kellie passed her. “Thanks for coming, guys”

  “And thanks for bringing me food too.” Isaac shoved almost half the burger in his mouth. He’d discarded the suit jacket and rolled his sleeves up halfway through their interview with Officer Ryan, which had been uneventful if emotionally disturbing.

  “No problem.” Kellie glanced at Isaac but her attention was on Autumn. “You’re seriously thinking someone is trying to poison Sammi?”

  Pandora and Mary handed out the drinks while Carly engaged the brake and grabbed her bag of food.

  Autumn picked dispassionately at her burger. “It would seem so.”

  Isaac shook his head. “It’s hard to wrap my head around that.”

  They’d worked out a list of people. Or really, Isaac had suggested people who might have been in a position to do the poisoning, but they both agreed that there was no motive.

  The only person with a clear motive would be Autumn, but she hadn’t done it, nor did she know what half the poisons were.

  She glanced at the clock and tried not to grumble. Because of the questioning, she’d missed the ten-o’clock visitation timeframe. There were still twenty minutes until the noon slot, and it already felt as if time were dragging by.

  Autumn couldn’t wait to go into the room and see Sammi. Maybe he’d wake up this time. Or maybe he was awake now.

  The thought was enough to have her nerves ratcheting up again.

  “Oh fuck me,” Autumn muttered and rolled her eyes.

  Tamara strolled into the waiting room. Her gaze flicked dismissively over Autumn. She walked to the double doors and tugged on them, frowning when they didn’t open.

  No shit, Sherlock.

  Autumn watched with perverse pleasure as Tamara spoke with the nurse, who shook her head and pointed to the visitation sign several times.

  “What is it?” Kellie asked, following Autumn’s gaze. “Who is that?”

  “Tamara, Sammi’s mother. I should go tell the bitch hi.”

  Isaac glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “You’re an angel. May your children be born without webbed toes.” Autumn mustered a smile at Isaac’s befuddled expression.

  “I don’t even want to know.” Isaac shook his head and crossed to Tamara.

  “I would never have guessed that’s Sammi’s mother,” Pandora said, keeping her voice quiet.

  “Really?” Autumn could see the similarity in the shape of the mouth, chin and cheekbones, but he resembled his father more than anything else.

  “Yeah, she looks—bitter or something,” Pandora replied, nibbling on a fry.

  Autumn let the chatter wash over her, happy to have her friends with her and not be expected to carry conversation. She was glad they’d made up. Hell, it felt as if she’d had her sit-down with Mary a month ago, not just a few days.

  In the end, Autumn was really lucky.

&nbs
p; “What’s with the look?” Carly muttered for her ears alone.

  Autumn leaned toward her. “I’m being a big ol’ sap.”

  “Five minutes, Autumn.” Kellie nodded at the clock.

  “Oh.” Autumn began gathering her things, while all around them people were starting to congregate around the ICU doors. “Are you guys coming back at all?”

  “Nah, we need to get back to open the shop.” Kellie stood and pulled her into a strong, rib-cracking hug. “Call and let us know if you need anything, okay?”

  “Will do.” Autumn hugged her back.

  “Take your food with you. You might actually get hungry.” Pandora shoved her bag of takeout at her.

  Autumn didn’t think she’d get hungry. It was hard to exist in any state of being except worried right now.

  Isaac strolled toward the doors with Tamara on his arm. He glanced at Autumn and lifted his brows.

  Autumn could see how this was going down already. Tamara would insist on Isaac going back with her, for whatever reason, and try to push Autumn out.

  Well tough titty. She needed to see her husband. Hold his hand. Fuck the old biddy if she thought Autumn was going to be pushed around.

  The loudspeaker announced the commencement of visiting hours and a nurse from inside the ICU opened the doors. While the crowd moved forward in an orderly fashion, there was always a sense of a barely contained stampede in these first few seconds as people rushed to their loved ones’ bedsides.

  Autumn strode ahead, directly to Sammi’s room. She dropped her things on the counter to the left of the door and went to the bedside. He didn’t appear any different. His eyes were still closed, his hair stuck up and he didn’t move.

  “Hey, Sammi, it’s me.” She took his nearest hand in hers and stroked his arm. “I missed you. Sorry I didn’t come in earlier. I’m sure you missed me, didn’t you?”

  The muscles on his brow contracted and a grimace passed over his lips.

  Autumn’s heart leapt into her throat.

  It was the most response she’d seen from him yet.

  “Oh. You’re here.” Tamara’s disdainful tone slid off Autumn’s back.

  “How is he?” Isaac came to stand next to Autumn.