Bryan didn’t seem entirely satisfied with Jay’s answer.
Siren screaming and emergency lights flashing, the ambulance cleared a path down the highway. Jay hung close behind it. He remembered how he had raced Annie to the hospital when she started to bleed rather than wait for an ambulance, and a knot formed in his gut.
They hadn’t been able to save her at the hospital.
He prayed to God that Henry would make it.
The ambulance turned onto a side street, slowing only as it reached the emergency entrance to Bear Lake Medical Clinic. A modern two-story building, it served the needs of residents and tourists in a fifty-mile radius.
Jay peeled into the parking lot and found a spot near the main entrance.
He and Bryan walked in through the automatic doors. Jay headed for the information desk. A middle-aged woman wearing a blue volunteer jacket looked up expectantly.
“The ambulance is bringing Henry Stephenson into the emergency room now. Is there any way we can get in there to see him?”
“Are you a relative?”
Jay hooked his arm around Bryan’s shoulder. “He’s Stephenson’s great-grandson.”
She nodded, glanced at Bryan with sympathetic eyes then clicked a few keys on her computer. “We don’t have him checked into the system yet. It will be better if you wait here in the lobby until they have him settled. It can get pretty chaotic in there. I’ll let you know when it’s all right to go in.”
“Okay.” At least Paige was there with Henry. She’d see to it that Henry got the attention he needed.
Jay looked around. An assortment of chairs were arranged facing a television set that was showing a basketball play-off game with the sound muted. Two couples were staring at the screen. A mother sat rocking a baby in her arms.
“Let’s find ourselves a couple seats, son. This may be a long wait.”
Bryan scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hands. His shoulders slack, he found himself a chair and plopped himself down.
Jay sat next to him, looped his arm around the boy and gave his shoulder a squeeze. After losing his mother so recently, the wait was going to seem longer to Bryan than it was to Jay.
He wondered how Paige was holding up. She didn’t seem the type to get hysterical. Which would be good if Henry got himself all riled up.
Lifting his arm from around Bryan, Jay leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. Lord, if You can see Your way clear to keeping Henry here on Earth for a while longer, I sure would appreciate it. So would a lot of other good people like Bryan and Paige.
* * *
“There’s nothing wrong with me!” Grandpa had continually fussed at Dr. Johansen since he had arrived in the emergency room. Despite the oxygen he was getting through his nose, when he drew a deep breath, it wheezed through his chest. Sweat continued to bead his forehead.
Holding his hand, Paige tried to calm her grandfather and not let him see how scared she was. “Let the doctor listen to your heart, Grandpa. He needs to be sure you’re all right.”
“I got a little dizzy. Happens to everybody sometimes.”
The doctor cranked up the bed so Grandpa was in a more seated position instead of lying flat on his back. “Getting dizzy only happens to me when I stand on my head too long. Is that what you did, Henry?” The doctor had Henry lean forward so he could put his stethoscope on his back.
“Bah. Your pricking and prodding at me isn’t going to help. I’ll be fine once I get home.”
The doctor straightened. “I enjoy your company so much, Henry, I think we’ll just keep you around for a while. First thing, I’m going to get the portable X-ray machine in here so we can figure out what’s going on in your chest.”
“Same thing that’s always been going on in there, youngster. What do you expect?” Grandpa groused.
“Behave yourself, Grandpa.” Paige squeezed his hand.
His scowl deepened the lines across his forehead into crevasses.
“The nurse will be here in a minute to take some blood,” the doctor said. “Then we’ll get that picture of your chest.”
“Waste of your time and my money,” Grandpa complained.
The doctor stepped out of the curtained cubicle. Paige admonished her grandfather to rest quietly until she returned, then went after the doctor. She had to agree that Dr. Johansen seemed quite young, his boyish face and blond hair giving him a youthful appearance. But she had no reason to doubt his experience or skill.
“Doctor, do you have any idea yet what’s wrong with my grandfather?”
He looked up from the notes he was writing on a chart. “I can’t be sure of the seriousness of his problem until we get some test results back, but at this point it looks like pulmonary edema.”
Paige felt the blood drain from her face. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It’s fortunate you got him to the clinic as quickly as you did. If his heart is causing the edema, then it could be very serious.”
Her own heart plummeted to her stomach. “Is he—”
“Assuming I don’t find a heart condition that requires surgery, I think we’ll be able to stabilize him within a day or two. Then medication should prevent a further crisis. He’s a tough ol’ guy.” The doctor smiled, trying to reassure her. “I imagine he’s passed down some pretty strong genes.”
Paige wasn’t so sure about that.
A nurse wearing blue scrubs went into the cubicle.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Paige said. She followed the nurse in an effort to protect her from the worst of Grandpa’s disagreeable disposition.
A few minutes later when the X-ray technician arrived, he asked her to step outside the cubicle. That seemed like a good time for Paige to find Jay and bring him and Bryan up-to-date.
The moment she entered the lobby, Jay was on his feet. His dark brows lowered, reflecting her own concern for Grandpa. She was enormously grateful Jay was there. That she didn’t have to go through this alone. That she had someone to lean on. For most of her life, she hadn’t had anyone to lean on except herself.
Bryan turned in his chair and looked up at her. His chin trembled.
Paige leaned down to kiss him on the top of his head.
“Can the doctor fix Grandpa?” he asked.
“Yes, honey, Grandpa is going to be fine.” She glanced up at Jay. “They’re doing a chest X-ray now and there will probably be more tests. The doctor thinks he has pulmonary edema.”
Jay’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he looked away.
Sitting up on his knees, Bryan held on to the back of his chair. “What’s pulmonary whatever you said?”
“I’m not quite sure. I think it has something to do with Grandpa not being able to breathe well.” Several times since she’d arrived in Bear Lake, Paige had noticed him gasping for air. She should have forced him to see a doctor then, not wait until it was an emergency. Regret for her failure to take action weighed on her conscience.
“I should’ve known there was something wrong,” Jay said. “He’s so stubborn.” He jammed his fingertips in his hip pockets. “He kept saying it was just old age. I believed him.”
“You’re not a doctor, Jay. You couldn’t know.” Yet she blamed herself. Ever the good daughter.
The nurse who had drawn Grandpa’s blood came out of the emergency room. She crossed the lobby to Paige.
“They’re going to take your grandfather downstairs for an electrocardiograph and an ultrasound,” the woman told Paige. “After that, they’ll admit him to the hospital and take him to a room upstairs.”
“Will we be able to see him then?” Paige asked.
“Of course.” The nurse glanced at Bryan. “It may take a while.”
“We’ll wait,” Jay said.
&
nbsp; “Maybe you should take Bryan home,” Paige suggested. “It’s already late.”
Bryan lowered his brows. “I wanna stay, too. I’m not a baby.”
“No, you’re not,” Paige agreed, realizing it was important to Bryan to be treated as an adult when he was so worried about Grandpa.
As she was about to leave, the nurse said, “We have a small chapel just opposite the gift shop.” She gestured toward the rear of the lobby. “It’s always quiet there. The pews are quite comfortable. I can tell reception where you’ll be.”
Paige thanked the nurse, who then vanished back into the emergency room.
In unspoken agreement, Paige, Jay and Bryan headed for the chapel, a small, intimate room with three short wooden pews on each side separated by a center aisle. Soft music played in the background as they sat down, the cushioned pews as comfortable as the nurse had promised. Paige studied the mural across the front of the chapel—a tranquil scene featuring a quiet valley cut by a winding, placid river and surrounded by soaring mountains covered with stately trees.
“That’s beautiful,” she said.
Jay rested his arm across the pew behind her. “It’s the river that flows into Bear Lake from the north. It’s not far from Henry’s place.”
“Someday I’d like to see it in person.”
“I’ll take you.”
His offer sent a curl of pleasure through Paige. Sighing, she repressed the feeling and tried to ease the tension in her shoulders.
“Here, let me. Lean forward.” Jay’s hands closed over her shoulders. His thumbs gently worked her knotted muscles, circling them, easing the tightness.
She almost groaned aloud relishing his touch. If she could bottle the sensation, she’d take it back to Seattle with her and pull it out on those days when one too many crises at the hotel plagued her.
Except Jay wouldn’t really be there massaging her stress away, only her memory of this one time.
Slouched on the pew next to Jay, Bryan said, “Are we supposed to pray or something?”
Guilt flushing her cheeks, Paige quickly straightened. “Would you like to?”
“I guess.”
“Okay. Why don’t we all hold hands and you can say a prayer for Grandpa.” She grasped Jay’s hand and reached in front of him to take Bryan’s. She bowed her head. “You go ahead and start whenever you’re ready.”
“Dear God.” He paused and cleared his throat. “I love Grandpa a lot and I don’t want him to die. I know he’s old and maybe You want him up there with You to take care of Your horses or somethin’. But I’d sure like it if You could leave him here with me for a while.” He sniffed. “Please, God. Amen.”
“Amen,” Paige echoed, tears stinging her eyes.
Jay’s “Amen” followed hers, a deep sound that was more a vibration in his chest than a spoken word.
* * *
An hour or so later, Dr. Johansen arrived in the chapel. Paige, Jay and Bryan, who had been dozing, gathered around him.
“I’ve sedated Mr. Stephenson, and he’s resting comfortably in his room now.” The doctor’s white jacket looked wrinkled and his eyes seemed tired.
“What did the tests tell you?” Paige asked.
“Definitely pulmonary edema, but I can’t be definitive yet about the heart’s involvement. We’ll do some more tests in the morning. Meanwhile, I’ve ordered medication for his high blood pressure and a diuretic to reduce the buildup of fluid around his heart.”
Paige imagined Grandpa would hate taking the pills. He’d always refused to admit any weakness.
“When can Grandpa come home?” Bryan asked.
“If all goes well, I’d say a couple days.” The doctor’s smile softened as he answered Bryan. “Guess you’re going to miss him, huh?”
“Yes, sir. He’s a real good grandpa.”
“I’m sure he is,” the doctor said.
“Can we go see him?” Bryan asked.
Recognizing the boy’s distress, Paige rested her hand on his shoulder. “He’s sleeping now. We can come back to see him tomorrow.”
The faint sound of a siren penetrated the quiet of the chapel. Dr. Johansen checked his pager. “I think it would be fine if you went up to your grandpa’s room for just a minute. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Of course, Doctor,” Paige said. The poor man was having a busy night in the emergency room.
Jay got Grandpa’s room number from the receptionist, and they walked up the stairs to the second floor. As the doctor had indicated, Grandpa was asleep. He was still getting extra oxygen and he’d been hooked up to a heart monitor. The green line tracked across the screen, the rhythmic heartbeat reassuring.
“I can see his chest going up and down,” Bryan whispered. “That means he’s breathing, right?”
Jay pointed to the monitor. “That bouncing line says his heart’s beating, too. Your grandpa is doing fine, son.”
Paige wished she could be as confident as Jay about Grandpa’s health. At the age of eighty-five, any heart condition could put him in a perilous situation.
Who would take care of Grandpa if he became incapacitated?
An ache in her chest bloomed. If Krissy hadn’t been so reckless, she would have been here to help their grandfather.
Now only Paige was left. How would she ever manage to care for both Bryan and Grandpa?
Like a crystal glass shattering, she envisioned her dreams and career splintering into a thousand pieces.
Thy will be done, Lord. Thy will, not mine.
Her prayer lanced her heart like a shard of glass.
* * *
Midmorning the next day Jay drove Paige and Bryan back to the hospital. He’d spent a restless night worrying about Henry. From the smudges beneath Paige’s eyes, he guessed she hadn’t slept well, either.
They found Henry sitting up in bed, feeling better and complaining loudly. “Do you know what they brought me for breakfast? Hog slop, that’s what. For what I’m going to have to pay, I ought to get a whole raft of bacon and eggs.”
“That wouldn’t be good for your heart, Grandpa.”
Paige leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. She was trying to calm the ol’ guy down, but it wasn’t working. He went on a tear about the needles they had stuck in him and the way his hospital gown didn’t give him a “lick of privacy.”
Jay couldn’t blame him for complaining. He didn’t like being in a hospital any more than Henry did. Fortunately his only hospital stay had been due to a broken leg he’d suffered in a bronc riding contest. He hoped to keep it that way for a long time to come.
When Henry was wheeled out of his room for yet another test, Jay and the others took their leave.
Once home, Jay was relieved to be back with his horses and the quiet of the mountains.
It wasn’t long before Bryan sought him out in the stable.
“Can I talk to you?” His brows were drawn so low they almost hid his light brown eyes.
Jay scooped a serving of oats into Thunder Boy’s feed bag. “Sure, kid. What did you want to talk about?” From the boy’s expression, it was something serious.
“It’s about Aunt Paige and her being my guardian ’n’ stuff.”
“Okay.” Jay leaned one arm on the stall partition. “I thought you’d been getting along pretty good with Paige lately.”
“She’s okay, I guess.” He rubbed Thunder Boy’s nose. “For a girl, anyway.”
“Yeah, I think so, too.” Probably more than he should.
Bryan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t want to go live with her in Seattle.”
“I understand, but—”
“No, you don’t! Grandpa’s sick and he’s gonna need me to take care of him. If I don’t watch out for him, he could die. I gotta be here in case he has a
heart attack or collapses again.”
Jay dropped the feed scoop back into the sack of oats. He framed Bryan’s face between his hands so the boy would look him in the eye. “The doctor’s going to give him some medicine so that won’t happen. By the time we bring him home from the hospital, he’ll be feeling like his old self. You’ll see.” Jay prayed his words weren’t a lie. At eighty-five there were no guarantees.
“You can’t be sure of that.” His chin puckered. “You gotta stop Aunt Paige. Make her see that it would be better if I stayed here with Grandpa and you. Grandpa will need me. I know he will.”
Pulling the youngster into his arms, Jay racked his brain for an alternative. Henry would likely need help sooner rather than later. He could hire a caregiver, but that would fry Henry’s beans to have some stranger fussing over him all day and night.
Jay would be more than willing to do what he could for Henry. But someone had to run the outfitting business, handle the trail rides and overnight excursions. Nathan wasn’t ready to take on that job on his own.
“Please, Jay. Talk to the judge.” The boy sobbed, his voice muffled against Jay’s chest. “Tell him I can stay with you. That you’ll be my guardian.”
“I don’t know how—”
Bryan pushed away from Jay. His eyes were full of fire and fury. Determination and despair.
“If the judge says I have to go with Aunt Paige, I won’t go! I’ll run away!”
With that, Bryan whirled and raced out the wide-open stable doors into the sunlight. He turned on the road and was quickly out of sight.
Removing his hat, Jay ran his fingers through his hair. Fear twisted in his gut. Fear that Bryan would do something stupid. Fear that Jay wouldn’t be able to stop or protect the boy. He had to find a way to convince Paige that Bryan would be better off staying in Bear Lake. Or he had to propose a plan she could accept.
And even if he did come up with a compromise, there was no guarantee Bryan would go along with the deal.
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