by Mary May
“It’s his parents.”
“What about them? Are they taking this real hard? I could understand that.”
Charlie nodded. “Yes, they are taking it very hard. So hard that they are leaving this afternoon because his mom can’t cope.” The hurt and disappointment along with anger was easily heard in her voice.
“That must be a hard thing for them to do.”
She looked at Mac with wide eyes. “How is leaving the hard thing to do? It’s selfish!”
Mac looked at her with gentle gray eyes. “Ah, Charlie. It’s easy to judge someone when you haven’t walked their path. No one knows someone else’s story unless they have completely read their book.”
Folding her arms across her chest, she shook her head, giving him a hard look. “We are not talking about paths and books here, Mac. We are talking about Nate. Nate needs them! How do you walk away from your child when he needs you the most?”
“I would imagine with a very heavy heart. Have you considered that maybe they are walking for Nate, not because of Nate? Maybe they feel they can’t give him what he needs right now.”
“They haven’t even tried. What am I supposed to tell him when he wakes up and asks for his parents? Honestly, I don’t know how you can defend them.”
“Charlie, I’m not defending them so much as trying to get you to see that everything isn’t always what it seems.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small crumpled paper bag. Turning it upside down, he shook out three small rocks. “Charlie, what am I holding in my hand?” When she reached for a rock, he held his hand away. “No, you can’t touch it or examine it closely. Give me your best answer going only by what you see.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she answered, “It looks like a rock.”
Mac smiled as he looked at the small stones. “Yes, that’s certainly what they look like.” He popped them into his mouth and started chewing.
Charlie gaped for a moment until she heard the crunch of the candy shell. “That’s candy!”
Mac nodded as he swallowed. “That’s right. What you observed as being cold and hard was actually something altogether different, wasn’t it?” He handed her the bag of rock candy and started pushing his cart down the hall.
Standing there holding the bag of deceptive candy in her hand, Charlie understood the principle behind the lesson but doubted the situation with Nate’s parents was anything other than what it looked like…
“Honey, I’m so sorry, but your brothers and your dad are all sick with chickenpox.”
Charlie stood in her room a few hours later staring at her cell phone in disbelief. “Mama, tell me you’re kidding. How in the world did all three of them catch chickenpox? Isn’t Dad a little old to get that? I thought it was a childhood thing.” Sitting down slowly on the side of her bed, she listened while her mama explained that apparently chickenpox could be had at any stage of life and it was actually much worse as an adult. The twins had caught it and because Devon had never had it as a child, he had no immunity against it.
“It’s ok, Mom, of course I understand. No, you have to stay there and take care of them. I’ll be praying every day for them. Nate is hanging in there. He hasn’t woke up yet but he isn’t any worse either.”
She hesitated when her mom asked how his parents were holding up. “They are worried, of course.” She chewed her lip, wondering how to not tell her mom that she was there alone without outright lying. Sabrina had enough on her plate without her adding to it. After a few more minutes her mom had to hang up to go tend to her itchy miserable household. Charlie sat feeling numb, realizing that no one was coming, at least not for a good while. It seemed everyone had something going on preventing him or her from being able to make the trip. She knew if she told her mom she was there alone she would worry and fret.
“Really, God? Chickenpox? Do you hate me?” Falling back on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling as hot tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. “How am I supposed to handle this on my own? How? First his parents bail on me and now mine can’t come because of freaking chickenpox??” A bark of slightly hysterical laughter escaped through her tears.
Gideon watched as Charlie was dealt yet another blow. He was beginning to wonder himself just what God’s deal was. Surely He could see the girl was at her breaking point. She needed someone she could actually see and talk to. He knew Charlie was made of some pretty tough material, but he also knew everyone had their limits.
Over the next few days Nate’s condition stayed the same, which according to Dr. Reed was a good thing. Charlie was there every chance to see Nate. The nurses were all very nice and polite, but they too kept their distance. She spoke to her mama every night and had spoken to both sets of her grandparents numerous times as well. Everyone was very concerned about Nate and about her being up there alone, but for some reason or another no one could come join her just yet. The only other soul there that really stopped to talk to Charlie and ask how she was doing was the kindly old janitor, Mac. He would show up at least once a day to speak to her for a few minutes. He would briefly ask about Nate; then he would ask how she was doing. That afternoon he had brought Charlie a plate lunch from the cafeteria. She looked at him in surprise.
“That’s very kind of you, Mac, but you don’t have to feed me.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her words. “Really? It seems to me that someone needs to feed you because, judging by your rapidly growing clothes, you’re not doing it.” He cast a glance at Charlie’s jeans, which had fit her fine a few days ago. She noticed they were starting to sag on her small frame.
“Oh.” The one word reply was the only thing she could come up with at the moment.
Mac scoffed then handed her the white Styrofoam container. “Eat.”
They walked over to a small waiting area just outside Nate’s room. Charlie didn’t like going far if she could help it. She opened the lid and when the smell of chicken fried steak covered in white gravy hit her nose, her stomach grumbled loudly. Digging her plastic fork into the meat, she cut off a piece and took a bite. She looked up at Mac in surprise.
“Oh, my gosh! That’s so good!” Then she dug in with gusto. Mac chuckled softly.
“Proof positive of how starved you are when hospital food actually tastes good.”
Charlie smiled around her mouthful of steak and kept on eating.
Mac got up. Walking over to the vending machine, he brought back a bottle of ice-cold apple juice. Charlie guzzled the juice down and a few minutes later she set the empty plate and the empty bottle on the table next to her. Emitting an impressive although unladylike burp, she smiled once more at Mac who at the moment had become her new best friend. He laughed, tossing the trash into the trashcan.
“Charlie, no one can doubt your love and devotion to Nate. But you need to take care of you, too. You need to keep your strength up for when Nate wakes up. He is going to really need it then.”
Charlie looked at Mac with desperate eyes. “Mac, do you believe that he will wake up?” She needed someone to tell her something positive so badly.
The elderly man got to his feet, slowly turning wise eyes to the young girl looking up at him with so much need in her worried blue eyes. “Charlie, I’m a man that believes in few things, but one of those things is the Word of God. There is a verse, Matthew 7:7, that’s says…’Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Keep on asking, and you shall receive what you have been asking for.’ Now I know that God isn’t going to give us everything we ask for because sometimes he has better things in store for us, but I think in this, young Charlie, you will get your wish. So don’t you stop asking, seeking and knocking; do you understand?”
That night Charlie went back to her room and for the first time she felt a measure of peace about Nate. She opened the Bible app she had on her phone and looked up the scripture that Mac had quoted. She knew it, of course; it was one of her mama’s favorites. She found her calm once more as h
er eyes read slowly over the familiar words. Lowering her eyes, she spoke to her heavenly Father.
“Jesus, I’m sorry I doubted you, even a little bit. I know that Nate is your child and you love him even more than I do. I don’t understand any of this or why it was allowed to happen, but I know that when we don’t understand, we must trust. Help me to do that. Help me to be strong in body and in spirit for when Nate does wake up, Lord, for I believe with all my heart that he will. I will keep asking you every day. I also pray for his parents. I surely don’t understand that at all, but I know you do. Help me to see them through your eyes. Amen.”
Then as an afterthought she quickly added, “Oh, and thank you so much for dear sweet Mac. I don’t really know him, but he is my guardian angel here, I think. Amen again.” Pulling back the covers, she slid into bed, sleeping soundly for the first time in many nights.
Gideon smiled as he listened to her snore softly. He was relieved she had eaten a decent meal and was resting. He, too, was appreciative of Mac and his taking care of Charlie, but Charlie was wrong about one thing. There was only one guardian on duty over her and that was him!
The chirp of her cell phone three mornings later had Charlie grabbing it quickly. It was Dr. Reed’s ring tone that she had programed in her phone so she would instantly recognize it was him calling. She was terrified of missing a call from him.
“Hello? Dr. Reed? Is something wrong?” Two words had Charlie jumping out of bed throwing on some clothes, snatching her purse off the table and then running out the door in less than five minutes…
“He’s awake.”
Chapter 5
Charlie trotted down the hall, gasping for breath. She had run nearly the entire six flights of stairs, bypassing the elevator when she saw the crowd waiting to use it. Dr. Reed was studying Nate’s chart. She tried to gauge from his expression Nate’s condition, but as usual it was a blank slate. He looked up as she finally made it to him, bending over with her hands braced on her knees, panting as she tried to catch her breath. “Nate?” She hoped he knew what she was asking with her one word question. It was all she could say as she struggled to breathe.
“The hospital has elevators, Charlie. I know you know this because I’ve seen you use them.”
Shaking her head, she managed two words. “Too crowded.”
Nodding his head in understanding, he filled her in. “Nate is conscious but he is still very medicated. He was able to nod his head when I asked him a couple of questions. It appears his thought processes are still intact, at least to a certain extent. We won’t know his full capabilities or injuries until we start to wean him off some of the stronger pain meds.”
Finally able to speak in full sentences, Charlie asked him what he had asked Nate. “I asked if his name is Nathaniel Tyler Jackson and is his girlfriend named Charlie Blakely. I also asked if he remembered what happened. He remembers the crash or least that he was in an accident.”
“Dr. Reed, I thought you said on the day we arrived that Nate didn’t sustain any spinal or head injuries. Are you saying now that he might have?”
“No, what I said was that none of the x-rays and scans indicated any injuries in those areas; however, we won’t know for sure until he wakes up and is coherent enough to answer questions for us. Some injuries such as nerve damage may not show up on a scan.”
“May I see him?”
“Yes, but keep it short and don’t overtire him and, Charlie, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t want to see you.”
Nodding her head she walked into Nate’s room more terrified than she had ever been in her life.
Nate was still lying on his back, but now his eyes were opened slightly, staring up at the ceiling. Charlie approached his bed, stopping a few feet from it, unsure of what to do or say. This was Nate and she had never been uncertain how to approach him, but right now she was. She wished she had thought to ask Dr. Reed if he had told Nate anything about his injuries.
Finally she just said his name. “Nate?” Her voice was so soft that she wondered if he heard her, especially after a few long seconds passed before he turned to her.
“Charlie…” His voice was raspy and barely audible but it was the most beautiful sound Charlie had ever heard. Smiling, she quickly walked up to his less injured left side, gently squeezing his hand. Nate’s fingers tightened on hers weakly.
“Hey, babe, I sure am glad to see you awake. Are you in any pain? I can get the nurse if you are.” He shook his head as his eyes roamed over her face with a look that Charlie couldn’t quite define. “Babe, what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Nate spoke but Charlie couldn’t make out his words.
“One more time, sweetie.” This time she leaned closer, nearly placing her ear directly over his mouth. This time she heard the two words he repeated.
“I’m sorry.”
Pulling back just a fraction, she looked at him in surprise. “Nate, you have nothing to be sorry for! I’m just so grateful that you woke up! I’ve been praying and praying!” She stopped as tears blurred her vision and a large knot rose up in her throat. Swallowing hard, she tried again. “I’ve never been so scared in my life… I can’t live…I don’t think I can even breathe without you, Nate…Please…Please get better!”
The dam that she had been fighting valiantly to hold back burst open as Nate gently pulled her closer. Scared of hurting him, she simply held his hand to her face as she cried. His thumb brushed the tears away as they fell in rapid succession. After no more than a couple of minutes, she felt his hand go limp as he was pulled back under…
Charlie continued to sit there holding his hand and giving thanks to God for answering her prayers. Soon she heard the door open and the enzyme shower come on. Within a couple of minutes Dr. Reed, along with Sheila, one of the nurses that had been caring for Nate, stepped up to his bed. Sheila smiled and gave her a thumbs up as she checked his vitals and adjusted his pain pump. Charlie’s returning smile was bright enough to light the world she was so happy. Nate had recognized her and he seemed to understand her fear. She fully expected Dr. Reed to tell her she had to leave but he didn’t. He went about his work checking Nate’s vitals right behind the nurse then looking to the deeper wounds on his chest. After a few minutes he actually started explaining what he was doing and why. Charlie watched carefully, asking questions here and there as he cleaned the wounds and reapplied the salve and the mesh covering.
“He most likely won’t wake up again tonight, Charlie. You should go home or wherever it is you’re staying. I’ll call you if he wakes up.” She opened her mouth to protest when he arched a brow at her. “Really wasn’t asking, Miss Blakely.” Nodding her head, she walked to the door, casting long looks over her shoulder as she went. When she was at the door, Dr. Reed spoke again.
“Charlie?”
She stopped, looking back at him.
“This is a good thing…very good. More than I expected actually. Get some rest; he will see you tomorrow.”
“Promise?” she asked softly.
He gave her a nod then a most unexpected slight smile before turning back to Nate.
“Nate woke up! He spoke to me; it was only a couple of words but he knew me!” Her words flew out in a rush as she told Sabrina her awesome news.
“Oh, sweetheart! Praise God! That is so wonderful! I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling right now and Nate’s parents? I’m sure they are over the moon!” Suddenly Charlie’s happy bubble burst into a million pieces. Nate’s parents…should she call them or would Dr. Reed? Honestly, until her mother mentioned them, they hadn’t even crossed her mind. Sighing, she rubbed her temples, which had started to throb.
“Honey? Are you ok? You got real quiet all of a sudden.” Charlie knew she needed to tell Sabrina that Nate’s parents
had left and figured that now was that time.
“Mama, I don’t know if his parents know that Nate has woke up. They left several days ago…I haven’t heard from them.” She waite
d while her mama absorbed the news. Finally Sabrina spoke again.
“I’m sorry -- did you say they left? Left the hospital or left California? Why did they leave Charlie?”
“I honestly don’t know if they went home or not; I assumed they did. They just told me they were leaving because his mother couldn’t handle it. I tried to talk to Mr. Jackson, but it didn’t do any good.
The worry in her mother’s voice was unmistakable when she asked Charlie the question she had been dreading. Charlie…have you been up there alone for all this time?” Charlie fidgeted on the bed like she used to do when she was young and in trouble.
“Well… not exactly alone, Mama. The doctor is here and so are a lot of nurses…” She trailed off when she heard Sabrina huff at her.
“That’s not what I meant, Charlie. Why didn’t you tell me? You shouldn’t be up there by yourself! I could have flown out or…or…” Sabrina herself trailed off when she realized she had her plate full tending to the guys.
“Exactly, Mama…what could you have done except worry yourself sick? You had to stay there to take care of Dad and the boys; they needed you more than I did really. I made it just fine up here…you know I wasn’t really alone.” Saying the words out loud made her realize that she did make it just fine. Sitting just a little taller, she gave the ceiling of her room a smile.
“Of course, I know that the Lord was with you, honey, but one of us could have made it up there. I’m just so sorry that you were dealing with everything without his parents.” Charlie didn’t bother to tell her that even if the Jacksons had stayed that she basically still would have been on her own.
“I know, Mama, but God worked it all out. You were where you needed to be and I was where I needed to be; didn’t you yourself say that my faith would be tested during this? I would say that if nothing else I’m already learning that I can do things I never thought I was capable of. So how are the guys? Are they still scratching like they have fleas?” Hearing her mama chuckle made Charlie long to be home with them. She knew that it would most likely be several months before she would return. It would take Nate a long time to heal and gain his strength back, not to mention the possible rehab and physical therapy learning to use a prosthesis.
