by Lisa Prysock
“Sure thing, no problem. We’ll be right here.” Jack leaned against the wall. She knew he’d grown tired of sitting, and standing for a while probably felt better. “I’ll text Logan and let him know Amy’s awake and being tested.”
“Thank you, Jack. I know Logan and Jill will appreciate the update.”
Mallory handed her a foam cup as her father snored from the seat next to her. “I thought you might be able to use this. It’s some kind of mocha flavored coffee.”
“Thanks.” Nicole smiled and breathed in the wonderful scent of chocolate and coffee. “Mmm, this is exactly what I needed. And hey, thanks for being here, sis. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”
Her sister returned a weak smile, signs of her weariness from being up all night diminishing for a moment. They both glanced at their father when he released a loud, long snore and burst into soft chuckles. Jack couldn’t help it when a wide grin spread across his face.
“Dad looks wiped out.” Nicole shook her head sympathetically. Her family had rushed to her side and stayed with them through the crisis in spite of complete exhaustion and the years of distance between them. Looking at her dad’s graying hair and the wrinkle lines at the corners of his eyes made her purpose in her heart to do something to correct that in the years ahead. Somehow, she felt as though she’d been given a second chance through this frightening event.
“He sure does,” Mallory agreed. “We’ll probably head back to the hotel soon and get some sleep after the test. Do you want me to call Chip?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind. He’ll want to know what’s going on. I’m sure he and Selena are worried. I was going to suggest you go back to the hotel with Mom and Dad to get some rest. Hopefully we can all get some restful sleep soon.” Nicole found her cell in her purse and turned, heading down the hall to call Brooke.
Brooke answered right away. By the time Nicole brought her up to speed, Brooke’s questions began tumbling out. Which hospital were they at? How long would they be there? What was the official diagnosis? Did Amy have a concussion? How was Amy’s memory? Had she eaten anything for breakfast? Had she had any sleep? Was anyone there with her? Should she fly out to Wyoming to help? Had anyone told Drew yet? Would it be all right if Dan told Drew?
Nicole answered each of Brooke’s questions to the best of her ability and thanked her for her promise to pray. Then she explained she needed to return to end the call to see how things were going with her daughter’s testing.
A little while later, Amy was settled back into the small hospital room, and her family on the way to their hotel. Nicole sat down on the empty bed across from her daughter, hardly able to keep her eyes open as a nurse brought a light lunch tray into the room. Drew texted, but she was too upset to respond. She’d look at it later.
“Mom,” the nurse said, “you look exhausted. It’s all right if you want to sleep on that extra bed. This is going to remain a private room under the circumstances.” Turning to Jack, the nurse continued. “Dad, I can bring a cot in for you if you like. You both look as though you’re ready to drop. I’ll have to wake up your daughter every two hours since the doctor said she has a concussion, but the best thing your little family can do is sleep right now.”
“Uh, I thought people with concussions shouldn’t sleep.” Jack looked confused, but he appeared to be too tired to explain to the nurse he wasn’t Amy’s father.
“No, that’s another myth, but we do have to wake the patient every two hours.” The nurse set the lunch tray down in front of Amy. “Today it’s applesauce, chicken and rice soup, and a slice of pumpkin bread.”
“Thank you so much. We’d really appreciate the extra cot.” Nicole couldn’t help but smile as she and Jack exchanged weary looks. They were both far too tired to explain any details of their relationship to the nurse. Then she sank back into the pillow on the hospital bed and closed her eyes. “If they released us right now, we’d be too tired to even drive back to the ranch.”
“Have no fear, I’ll bring a cot in directly. There’s a chance you’ll be going home tonight if the results of the MRI are favorable. If you go to sleep now, I’ll be sure to wake your daughter every two hours. That way you can get some rest, and maybe the doctor will let you go home this evening. She’s stopped throwing up, and other than the lump on her head, and those dark circles under her eyes, her vitals are great. We haven’t found any internal bleeding. The swelling will go down. Hopefully she’ll only have a little bruise, but you can hardly tell since her hair is covering the lump where she must have hit her head.” The nurse glanced at Amy’s chart and then realized her patient was already drifting asleep. “Poor baby, she’s too tired to even eat. I’ll just leave the food here until she wakes up again.”
“I like the sound of that, Mom and Dad. It sounds so nice,” Amy whispered drowsily before falling into a deeper sleep as the nurse disappeared to find a cot for Jack.
Nicole, laying on the neighboring hospital bed after a shower and changing into the fresh clothing from Mallory, thought maybe they were all in a dream as she dozed off to the sound of Jack’s snoring shortly after the nurse returned with a cot.
Chapter 19
Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these...
I Timothy 6: 6-8, Berean Study Bible
LOGAN CLOSED HIS EYES and lay back in the recliner in his upstairs private living room on the second floor of the main barn house. It had been another long day at The Sweetwater. He’d gone over the accounting records, looked over the food purchasing order, and reviewed the plans for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Christmas trees had arrived and guests were purchasing the beautiful evergreens left and right.
After dinner, he’d helped Zach practice his guitar lesson, and assisted Micah with figuring a multiplication problem on the extra math worksheets the teacher had sent as homework for over the fall break. He’d glanced over his sermon notes for the coming Sunday service a few times. He was fairly certain he’d be asleep in minutes, but he and Jill were trying to settle into a movie and the kids were finally tucked in bed.
He silently thanked God for answered prayers. Jack had texted to let him know the doctor had released Amy Beaumont from the hospital with a diagnosis of a concussion about an hour ago. By now, he thought maybe the Beaumonts would be settling into their cabin. Colten would drag himself to his RV and sleep like a rock after two days at the hospital.
He was almost completely asleep in his favorite chair when Jill shook his arm. “Honey, are you hungry? I’m craving salami, green maraschino cherries, and chocolate pudding pie.”
Logan opened his eyes and cracked a smile. “Did I hear someone say salami and chocolate pudding pie?”
Jill started laughing and he pulled her into his arms. After covering her face with happy kisses, he attempted to help her out of the chair so he could find the keys to his truck, but they were unable to budge.
“I think we’re stuck.” Jill giggled and patted her tummy. “The recliner has pulled us in and I can’t seem to move at almost nine months. Am I giving birth to a giant whale or turning into one?”
“I don’t mind being stuck with you, Mrs. Haven. You look beautiful. Your tummy is really cute. It’s like a little basketball.” Logan leaned forward and kissed her tummy, causing Jill to smile, a certain radiance causing her to glow. Then he gave her another kiss on the bridge of her nose for good measure. “All right, on the count of three, we’ll both give it our all.”
“Okay. Only a few more weeks now, and then we’ll finally be welcoming our baby. Are you sorry we didn’t find out if it’d be a boy or a girl?” She looked concerned and wistful.
“No, I like the idea of being surprised. Boy, girl, whale, whatever it is, it’s ours. That’s all that matters.” Logan took a deep breath. “All right, ready?”
She nodded, bracing one hand on Logan’s
broad chest and one on an arm of the recliner. When Logan said three, he pushed the footrest down and helped her up at the same time. With Jill on her feet, he managed to stand up, both of them laughing. He found the keys, happy that this craving wasn’t in the middle of the night. “Salami, chocolate pudding pie, and green maraschino cherries coming right up. I’ll get an extra pie so we can bring one to our Thanksgiving table tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Logan. Your mom and mine got together with Mrs. Wright and Corky today. As I understand it, they’ve got all kinds of plans on the menu and I’m under orders to stay out of the kitchen and rest. The guests who made a reservation for the dinner on our ranch are in for a wonderful meal. I think it’s sweet of them to organize this. Katie and McGuire are home from their honeymoon and bringing his girls, Jamie and Tracy. Bronson is bringing Tory. Zachary is happy because Grandma Joan and Grandpa James Michaels are coming. Buck is bringing Ella. Oh, and did you talk to Jack? He’s probably exhausted from all that time at the hospital with Nicole and Amy. Can you get one more thing at the store?” Jill chatted on about the plans for Thanksgiving, and then sounded a little sheepish about asking him for something else.
“Yeah, I think Jack plans to spend the day with the Beaumonts. He mentioned something about taking them to his folk’s home for a quiet Thanksgiving meal early in the day. Sure, I can get something else for you. Anything you want, sweetheart.” He wondered what on earth she might be craving. Ice cream, maybe? He was hoping Jill would enjoy this first month of her maternity leave. It’d be a nice break for her from being at the office handling the ranch marketing and organizing activities.
Jill smiled with a look of pure joy on her face when he’d called her sweetheart. “Olives.”
“What kind?” Olives weren’t ice cream, but at least he didn’t have to prepare them. Finding a chocolate pudding pie could be tricky. Maybe he’d get one of those French silk ones in the freezer section for now and ask Mrs. Wright to make a real chocolate pudding pie tomorrow. He’d buy the fixings for both.
“Oh, surprise me,” Jill said sweetly. She sat down on the sofa with her laptop and propped her feet up on the coffee table, something she never allowed anyone to do. It was the best way to keep the swelling down though. “I’ll work on some writing until you get back. I’m almost done with this chapter. Then we’ll start the movie.”
“Olives coming up.” As he lifted her feet and slid a pillow under them, he made a mental note to get one of every kind the store carried. Sicilian olives, Spanish green olives, California black olives, medium olives, pitted olives, large olives...anything he could find. They’d have olives for weeks, or better yet, Mrs. Wright could add them to her relish tray for tomorrow. Maybe he’d get extra pickles, too. Olives always made him want pickles, and maybe he could stay a step ahead of this whole craving thing. Or maybe he was having ‘dad-to-be’ cravings. Was that even a thing?
“I’M SORRY, MISTER, whatever you said your name was...”
“Fairchild. Drew Fairchild, of Fairchild Studios,” he repeated to the uniformed nurse behind the large right-angle shaped desk forming the nurse’s station. He was starting to lose his patience and the roses in his arms were getting heavy. He reached inside his suit jacket and presented his business card. She’d already looked at his driver’s license.
The nurse examined the card. “Well, I guess you are who you say you are. We tried to keep Ms. Beaumont protected and away from the press. You must be her agent or something,” the nurse whispered as she leaned closer over the countertop edge of the desk. “It was really exciting having Nicole Maribella Beaumont here at our hospital, but under such terrifying circumstances. We all breathed a sigh of relief when her little girl woke up out of the coma. The thing is, as I’m sure you realize, I’m not allowed to give out information, but since you sound legit—and your ID looks squeaky clean—little Miss Beaumont was released last night. Her parents were exhausted, of course, after being here for two days. We did our best to make them comfortable. Anyhow, have a nice Thanksgiving, Mr. Fairchild. That poor little girl has been through a lot, but she’s stable now and resting at the ranch.”
Drew nodded and then covered his eyes with a hand in frustration. He’d missed them by one day. He’d slept well in his private jet, but he was in no mood for a wild goose chase after driving through the holiday traffic from the Hunt Field Lander airport to the hospital on Thanksgiving morning in the snow. He couldn’t stand driving in snow. It always left his nerves rattled. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to live in the north. Snow only looked nice when skiing in Switzerland, on the big screen in Christmas scenes, and on post cards—in his opinion. Besides, he was freezing cold and had forgotten to bring winter clothing other than a lightweight coat.
He handed the nurse a twenty and mumbled a thank you, then turned, heading back to his rented BMW. He probably should’ve told Nicole he was flying in for the weekend, but he’d wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, he was concerned about Amy. Although they weren’t close and he had no clue about being a parent, he intended to be a good stepfather. If he hurried, he could make it to The Sweetwater in time to catch them before they made other plans. Hopefully, with Amy still in recovery, they didn’t have too much on the agenda for the day.
He walked briskly back to the elevator and pressed the down button, sighing. Both of his first wives had no children, so he was at a loss. His parents had always been busy entertaining the Hollywood set, managing the studio, handling the family fortune, and traveling between four homes. Growing up in boarding schools hadn’t done him any favors in regards to parenting. In time, he’d figure it out. He plucked one of the roses out of the bouquet for Amy. It was a start.
He knew she liked swimming, riding her bike, and she’d enjoyed the Ferris wheel. He’d had Nicole and Amy come over to the mansion to swim in the pool and hang out in the cabana on a number of occasions. They did a lot of eating out and fine dining. That was about all he knew after five years of dating Nicole. He’d have to find a way to remedy that, but truth be told, he didn’t really connect well with kids and had done his best to maintain a safe distance.
When he stepped inside the elevator, his mind raced through his perfectly ordered life, wondering how he and Nicole would mesh together. In his mind, kids were a lot of work; messy, demanding, and always touching things. He was meticulous and didn’t like anything out of place.
The few times Amy had been inside the mansion, he’d asked Nicole to make it clear Amy couldn’t touch anything except in the family room or the private movie theater on the lower level. He hadn’t been trying to be difficult, but in truth, he lived in a sort of museum and felt like it had to be preserved. The home where he spent most of his weekends was filled with Hollywood memorabilia his parents and grandparents had collected from their earliest days in the movie industry.
There were pictures signed by all kinds of actresses and actors; dancing shoes from Fred Astaire; and evening gowns displayed on mannequins, once worn by actresses like Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, and Grace Kelly. One of the Duke’s cowboy hats and an Elvis Presley guitar were on display in another sitting room. Much of the furniture had been brought in from various memorable sets and scenes to create sitting rooms and bedrooms throughout the mansion with history and legacy stories behind each of the items.
After all, the house still technically belonged to his parents, even though they rarely visited the Santa Monica mansion facing the beautiful Pacific. His parents, Mitchell and Carol Fairchild, were too busy jet setting through Europe or enjoying one of their other homes. They spent most of their time at the penthouse in New York or the ranch in Dallas, leaving the Hollywood luxury condo and the Santa Monica beach house for his personal use since he managed the studios now and they were mostly retired.
He’d have to work hard at getting over his need for perfection and order in his life, but if he failed to overcome his penchant for having everything in its place, at least the idea of one child didn’t seem too frust
rating. Amy was a great kid and he’d feel positively awful—forever—if anything happened to her. Maybe he should have the mansion cleaned out and put all of the ridiculous Hollywood memorabilia in storage somewhere or make some kind of display at the studio. He was thinking Nicole might want to order all new furnishings and make it more of a kid-friendly home, anyhow.
As he stepped out of the hospital and into the parking lot to navigate the icy patches and a few patches of snow on the way back to the BMW, he couldn’t help but wonder what the nurse had meant by ‘her parents.’ Maybe someone had stayed with Nicole and Amy, but he had no idea who. Likely, it was a case of mistaken identity. He wasn’t checking up on them, but it was probably a good idea to find out who might be trying to get close to his future wife, assuming she would agree to their engagement. Maybe she’d had to contact Lane, her ex, but he doubted Lane Richards would have the decency to drop what he was doing on a Thanksgiving holiday to be there for his daughter.
Chapter 20
“I am grateful to have my life back and for the friends and family who never gave up on me, for a God who was there when I was ready to find him. I am grateful for so much, that every day, one day at a time, is Thanksgiving.”
—Andrew Zimmern, culinary expert, radio/television personality, producer, entrepreneur, teacher, author...
“Come on in and bring that precious child out of the cold. We’ve made up a sofa bed she can rest on before and after our meal. It’ll be ready in about an hour.” Jack’s mother welcomed Nicole, her family, and Amy into their Cape Cod cottage with open arms.
“Very nice to have you with us.” Reverend Colten held the door open as Jack carried Amy through the entry way and into the living room where he placed her on the sofa. Jack then turned and introduced her parents and sister to his parents. Mallory settled onto the far end of the sofa beside Amy while her father began a conversation about the beauty of Wyoming with Jack’s dad.
