Curtis (Coyote Ridge) (Volume 1)

by Nicole Edwards

  Curtis looked up, realizing his son was speaking to him. “About?”

  “About diaries Momma kept,” Braydon added.

  Curtis smiled. “What about ’em?”

  “Did she really keep a diary since she was fourteen?” Zane asked.

  “She did,” he told the boys, reaching for a chip.

  “I heard Zoey’s readin’ them?”

  Curtis nodded. His daughter-in-law had asked, and after he’d okayed it with Lorrie, he’d given her the go-ahead. He was proud of the life they’d lived and he knew Lorrie was, too.

  “You think that’s a good thing?” Zane’s question was directed at Kaleb. “Your woman readin’ about Pop’s dirty mouth? I heard her talkin’ about it.”

  The group laughed, and Curtis shook his head.

  “I can totally see Momma writin’ that in there,” Sawyer added. “I remember when I was little”—Sawyer glanced at Travis—“I think I was, like, three or four. Trav came into my room one night and told me I wasn’t allowed to get outta bed ’cause Momma and Daddy were makin’ lots of noises and they didn’t wanna be bothered.”

  Oh, Lord.

  Curtis felt a blush creep up his neck. He couldn’t help it.

  Ethan barked a laugh. “So it is true!”

  “What?” Curtis asked, looking from one boy to the next. “Y’all think you were the only wild ones in Coyote Ridge?”

  Kaleb turned to him. “I still can’t believe you renamed the whole freakin’ town for her.”

  “I woulda renamed the whole damn state if that’s what she’d wanted,” he said confidently.

  “Wouldn’t doubt it,” Jared said, taking the empty seat beside Curtis. “Sorry I’m late. My daddy always said Uncle Curtis had it bad for Aunt Lorrie. Said he’d never seen anything like it.”

  Curtis didn’t know about all that. It was love. Plain and simple. A love that had taken a firm grip on his heart long ago and never let go. Not much different than what his boys had found.

  “There’s not a whole lot you can do when love finds you,” Ethan said, smiling at Curtis. “Right, Pop?”

  “Nope. You just gotta give in and enjoy the ride.”

  chapter FIFTY-SEVEN

  Ten days later

  Monday, April 18, 2016

  Curtis was pacing the floor, waiting for the doctor to show up for his morning rounds. Lorrie had had an exceptionally bad night, and he wanted to know that the hell they were doing to get her well. They were going on three weeks in this place, and so far nothing they’d tried was working, and he was growing tired of the runaround. Something had to be done. Someone had to make her better, because he couldn’t sit back and watch her get worse.

  “Mr. Walker.”

  Curtis looked up at the sound of the doctor’s voice. He was walking toward him in his crisp white coat, holding a chart in his hand as he scanned the pages. The only thing that stopped Curtis from railing on the guy was the concerned look on his face when the man finally met Curtis’s gaze.

  The doctor nodded toward Lorrie’s room. “Let’s go in and talk.”

  Swallowing hard, he followed the doctor into the room.

  “Lorrie,” the doctor greeted, his tone a tad more cheerful than before. “How’re you feeling?”

  Lorrie was sitting up in bed for the first time in what felt like days, but she looked weaker than Curtis had ever seen her.

  “Not good,” she rasped, her voice brittle.

  “We got the result of the bloodwork from this morning. Still no improvement.” The man’s face softened. “Truth is, it’s not looking good at all.”

  They had asked him not to sugarcoat things, but Curtis wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way the doctor was relaying his concerns. Especially not directly to Lorrie.

  “I don’t understand,” Curtis barked. “Why the hell can’t you find what’s causing this?”

  Lorrie’s hand landed on his, her way of pulling him back from the ledge. The doctor seemed to understand, because he didn’t take offense to Curtis’s outburst. Instead, he set the chart down on the table beside him and leaned against the wall.

  “I’d like for you to walk me through exactly what happened since”—he briefly glanced at the chart—“Dr. Willow removed the kidney stone.”

  “We’ve been over this already,” Curtis stated, his frustration growing stronger.

  “I understand that,” the doctor confirmed. “But I’m hoping if we go over it again, maybe I’ll pick up something that I missed before.”

  Curtis started to answer, but Lorrie beat him to it.

  “Dr. Willow said it was a normal procedure,” she explained. “They blasted the stone, removed it, sent me home with a Foley catheter and a stent in my bladder. Two weeks later, I went in and they removed that, and they sent me home with a clean bill of health. Curtis took me to dinner, and two days later I’m here.”

  That was the exact same story they’d told repeatedly to everyone who asked.

  “He didn’t say anything else? Nothing he was worried about?”

  Curtis wondered why the doctor didn’t bother to call Dr. Willow and get the scoop for himself. Or maybe he had and that was the problem. There were no more details to the story. “That’s it,” Curtis acknowledged. “But you said it’s not her kidney, right?”

  “It’s not her kidney,” he confirmed, his face once again masked. “What about after that? What did you eat? Did you go anywhere?”

  Curtis looked down to see that Lorrie had once again drifted off. She’d been so out of it lately, both from the drugs and the infection brutalizing her body.

  Curtis sighed. “When she felt better, we went to eat at the same place we’ve been eatin’ for forty years. She wanted to spend a little time with the horses, but we didn’t stay long.” He glanced down at her once again. “Other than that, pretty routine. We stayed at the house, and then the next thing I know, she’s pukin’ her guts up askin’ to go to the hospital.”

  “Join me outside,” the doctor said to Curtis, nodding toward the hallway.

  Curtis didn’t want to join him outside, but he forced his feet to move.

  The doctor closed the sliding glass door and turned to face him. “Mr. Walker, you asked me not to sugarcoat it, so I’m not going to. We’ve tried everything we know to try, and nothing’s working. Her white blood cell count continues to concern me. Because we can’t pinpoint it, we’ve been trying new things every day based on the blood work results. As you can see, nothing is helping.” The doctor glanced into the room briefly, then met Curtis’s gaze again. “And now there are other issues.”

  “What sort of issues?” Curtis felt a little dizzy.

  “Her kidneys aren’t functioning properly. They have significantly reduced function, and basically, her organs are all starting to slow, which indicates that the infection is winning. Sepsis will slowly tackle every organ and reduce how they function until her vitals become unmanageable.”

  “What does that mean?” He reached for the desk, trying to keep himself upright.

  The doctor nodded down the hall. “Is the family still here? I think it might be best if I talk to everyone at once.”

  Curtis nodded, then somehow managed to follow the doctor down the hall and to the waiting room. For the past few days, the boys had been spending most of their time there, sleeping in the waiting room until they were allowed to come back. Everyone was getting more and more worried, not wanting to be far if something happened. Curtis couldn’t blame them, though he had continued to hold out hope.

  The doctor had just sucked all the hope right out of him with those few words.

  When they stepped out into the waiting room, it was full of people. Probably ninety-eight percent of them Curtis’s family. Even Gerald and his wife had come down from El Paso, wanting to be there for Lorrie and helping out with Curtis’s grandkids so his children could be there.

  Travis was the first on his feet, with Gage right beside him, both men moving toward Curtis. “What’s goin’ o
n, Pop?”

  Curtis shook his head, then allowed the doctor to repeat the same thing he’d just told him, going into more detail about the deteriorating organ function. It sounded bad, really bad. As though the doctor himself was beginning to think that Lorrie could very well take a turn for the worse.

  “What’re you sayin’?” Zane asked, his voice harder than Curtis had ever heard it.

  “I’m saying the prognosis isn’t good. At this point, Lorrie’s going to continue to deteriorate, and likely her organs will begin shutting down. From there, we’ll only be able to make her comfortable until…” The doctor took a deep breath. “Basically, we need to prepare ourselves because we are losing this battle.”

  Curtis’s legs went out from under him and the world began to spin.

  “Dad!” Travis yelled at the same time Curtis felt strong arms grab him.

  Travis and Kaleb lowered him into a chair, but Curtis hardly noticed. He’d gone completely numb. He heard voices continue to speak as the boys fired off questions, voices rising, emotions beginning to be set loose.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  It couldn’t.

  Curtis wouldn’t know what to do without her.

  And with that thought, he started to cry and he couldn’t stop.

  This couldn’t be happening. No way could this actually be happening.

  Zoey couldn’t hold back the tears, but she wasn’t the only one. When Curtis broke down, the room suddenly went silent, other than the horrific sound of his broken sobs. Travis and Gerald took the doctor out into the hall and were talking to him, while everyone else in the room was either in tears or damn close.

  “Come here, baby,” Kaleb said, his voice low and gentle.

  He wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him back, tighter than ever.

  This couldn’t be happening. Lorrie was the foundation of this entire family. It was her love that kept things running smoothly. It was her voice of reason, her kind heart, and yes, even her stern side when things weren’t being managed appropriately that kept this huge, wonderful family together.

  What would they do without her?

  Curtis’s devastating sobs grew louder and Zoey managed to release Kaleb. “Go to your dad. Please. He needs y’all right now.”

  Kaleb nodded, tears in his eyes.

  As she stood back, she watched as all seven of Curtis’s sons as well as Beau, Gage, and Jared rallied around him, trying to keep him together while he fell apart. His desperate pleas to God broke her heart.

  V, Kylie, Jessie, Kennedy, and Cheyenne came over, and the six of them clung to one another while they stood and watched the most horrific scene as the Walker men crumbled.

  This couldn’t be happening. Something had to be done. Someone had to figure out how to fix this, because these men—these proud, strong, stoic men—would never be the same if something happened to Lorrie.

  Hell, none of them would.

  chapter FIFTY-EIGHT

  Three days later

  Thursday, April 21

  “Mrs. Walker, it’s me, Jeannie. How’re you feeling this morning?”

  Lorrie forced her eyes open and looked at the sweet nurse who’d been by her bedside most mornings since she’d arrived however many days ago. She tried to smile, but her body was too weak. As was usual, that didn’t deter Jeannie from continuing on. Lorrie liked the fact that she spent time with her, chatting about her family and the things she did outside of the hospital. It was a nice reprieve from all of the sad faces she’d been seeing lately.

  The last few days had been especially hard. The doctor had given them all the grim news, and Lorrie had watched the devastated faces of her family as they’d streamed in and out of her room for the past few days. Things didn’t look good, and the worst part about it, she couldn’t do anything to heal their hearts. She wasn’t ready to die; she wasn’t ready to leave her boys or Curtis or her grandbabies. She was still fighting with every ounce of strength she had, and she would until her dying breath.

  “I was talking to my mom last night,” Jeannie continued. “I was telling her about you and all your kids. I’ve got three sisters, so my mother couldn’t comprehend how you could’ve raised seven boys.” Jeanie took Lorrie’s wrist, placing her fingers over her pulse. “Then we got to talking about kidney stones. She was telling me that she had one removed a few years ago. It sounded a lot like what happened to you. They had sent her home wearing a Foley, too. She didn’t remember how long she had it, but she remembered how happy she was when the doctor had finally removed it.”

  Something niggled at the back of Lorrie’s mind, something related to this conversation. Perhaps something important.

  “My mom said she still remembers leaving the doctor’s office that day feeling a heck of a lot better.”

  “He nicked my bladder,” Lorrie blurted, looking up at Jeannie.

  Jeannie paused from listening to her lungs with the stethoscope. “What’s that?”

  She took a deep breath and explained. “When I went in to get the stent removed, the doctor nicked my bladder. Said it was only a small tear but it wasn’t anything to worry about.”

  At that moment, Curtis walked into the room carrying a cup of coffee. He smiled back at her as soon as their eyes met. “There’s my beautiful girl,” he said tenderly. Despite the tone of his voice, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

  “Mr. Walker,” Jeannie greeted him. “Lorrie was just telling me that when she had the stent removed after the kidney stone procedure that the doctor caused a small tear in her bladder. I don’t recall seeing anything about that in the chart.”

  Curtis had moved closer to the bed, his big hand resting over hers. “I didn’t know anything about that. Baby?”

  She nodded, trying to recall what the doctor had said. Her brain was so foggy. “He said it was an accidental nick and I shouldn’t be worried.”

  Jeannie finished checking her, finally taking Lorrie’s temperature, but then she excused herself. “I’m going to call the doctor really quick. I think this is information he might need to know.”

  Curtis nodded at the nurse, but then his attention returned to her. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

  She smiled weakly. “I actually didn’t think anything of it until just now.” She nodded toward the door. “Jeannie was telling me about her mother having a kidney stone removed, and it just hit me, I guess.”

  Curtis leaned down and kissed her forehead, whispering for her to get some sleep as once again she drifted off.

  As soon as Lorrie was sleeping soundly, Curtis slipped out into the hall to talk to the nurse.

  “Did you call the doctor?” he asked.

  Jeannie smiled, and this didn’t seem like one of those forced ones that he’d seen on far too many faces as of late. “I did. And he’s looking into it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She pivoted to face him. “It means that there’s a possibility that the wound on her bladder is actually the site of the infection. If that’s the case, it’s no longer like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  Curtis was getting the gist of it, but just barely. “So they can fight it?”

  Jeannie nodded. “That’s correct. If that’s what’s causing it, we can pinpoint the site of the infection.” Her smile slid from her face. “But, Mr. Walker, that doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods yet. We have to confirm that this is the issue first. And we don’t have a lot of time, because her kidneys are weak.”

  He nodded. “When will the doctor be in?”

  “He’ll make his usual rounds, but if he finds something before then, I’m sure he’ll send instruction on what we need to do.”

  As soon as she finished her sentence, the phone on her desk rang. She turned to answer it, her smile returning as she turned to look at him, speaking into the phone. “Yes, sir. Right on it.”

  The way she was looking at him gave Curtis hope.

  “That was the doctor. This might be the bre
ak we’ve been hoping for. He’s ordered an ultrasound so we can see if this is, in fact, the site of the infection.”

  “And if it is?”

  “Then he’ll start a treatment plan immediately.”

  The band around his chest loosened a little. Not completely, but enough to let him breathe. This was the best news—even if it wasn’t definitive—that they’d heard in all the time they’d been there.

  “I’m gonna go talk to my boys,” he told her as she started typing something into the computer.

  “We’ll be right here when you get back,” she assured him.

  Not wanting to keep the boys waiting when the last thing they’d heard was the devastating news from the doctor a few days ago, Curtis headed down the hall and out into the waiting area.

  As soon as the door closed behind him, heads lifted, bodies shifted so that they were sitting or standing.

  “Any news?” Sawyer asked, moving toward him.

  Taking a deep breath, Curtis relayed everything that had just happened to the dozens of faces staring back at him. He made sure he told them that they didn’t know for sure if this would work, but for the first time in three weeks, at least they had some sort of hope.

  And for now, that was exactly what they all needed.

  chapter FIFTY-NINE

  One week later, Friday, April 29

  “Whoa, Momma! You’re lookin’ good,” Zane teased when he walked into Lorrie’s room. “You ’bout ready to bust outta this joint?”

  Lorrie smiled at her youngest son. For the first time in a month, she felt human again. The pain was mostly gone. The infection was disintegrating thanks to the fact that the doctors had pinpointed it and knew how to treat it. She wasn’t sleeping twenty-four hours a day, and as of this morning, she was officially a free woman.

  “More than ever,” she told him.

  Yes, she was ready to get out of this place. She was ready to go home, ready to get back to living her life. These past few weeks had been difficult, but more so for her family, the ones who had lived minute by minute wondering if the worst would happen. That morning when the doctor had come in to sign her release, he’d told her that if she hadn’t remembered that little detail, she probably wouldn’t be with them today.