“Ms. James is a fortunate lady. For her to have withstood such a forceful impact, her injuries could be more severe.”
Paige blurted out, “Are they severe?”
Dr. Reid swallowed and continued to ignore Paige. “Ms. James has suffered a concussion from the impact of the fall. The right side of her face and both palms have burns and abrasions from when she was dragged down the street. The scans have also indicated possible spinal damage. However, we won’t know the severity until the swelling goes down, and we do more tests.” Dr. Reid took a breath to watch Paige for any possible outbursts.
Paige remained quiet and allowed him to continue.
“We will keep Ms. James here for the next couple days to continue monitoring her brain functions and her spinal progress.” Dr. Reid then looked to the nurse.
“I am Nurse Kay. I will be here until 7 a.m. to take care of Ms. James’ healthcare needs, and it would be best if a loved one is near as well. It often helps the patient recover faster.”
“Oh, no problem,” Paige replied, “I will stay. Is she awake?”
Ben held his breath because that was the question he needed to be answered too.
Nurse Kay stated, “Not at this time. Although we expect her to wake soon.”
“Thank you, Nurse Kay and Dr. Reed.” They said in unison, and the medical professionals exited through the double doors.
Paige’s knees buckled causing Ben and Kevin to reach for her. She sat on the waiting room floor with her head resting on Kevin’s chest. She wept and spoke with short breaths.
“Camille has to be alright. She is the only best friend I have. My . . . sister. She has too much going for herself. Her business! Oh, goodness, she has a big client she needs to meet in the morning. I have to call Karen, her assistant. Oh God! This can’t be happening.”
“Paige!” Kevin spoke firmly to Paige with direct eye contact. “You have to calm down. What is Karen’s number? I can call her.”
“No, Kevin,” Ben interjected. “I can call Karen. I’ve spoken to her every morning for the last week. You two can stay here. I can go to her office tomorrow and maybe help. Camille has told me about the new account she is trying to bring. It is the least I can do. I mean she was coming to meet me.”
Kevin turned to Benjamin, gave him daps, and said, “Thanks, man, that would be great.” Then Kevin raised an eyebrow and gave Benjamin an incredulous look.
“You know this is not your fault. We all wanted Camille to come and hang out. She is always working and reading, and we just wanted her to have a night off.” Ben remained silent but nodded his head in agreement.
Paige gave Ben a piece of paper that contained Karen’s contact information and thanked him. Ben hugged them both and left, content knowing this was a way he could assist. As he walked to his car, Ben could not shake the eerie feeling of the walk he was making. He had made a similar one not too long ago. Just like that time, he felt a connection as if a part of him was in that hospital with her while her life was on the line. Only that time, Lauren, his girlfriend of seven years, died. Ben was praying Camille did not meet the same fate.
****
“Hey there!” Paige said excitedly to Camille. “I am so happy to see you up. How are you feeling?”
Camille tried to speak, and then scrunched up her face and closed her eyes tight. Paige saw her discomfort and began to panic.
“Camille, don’t try to talk. I have to call the nurse. She told me to do so as soon as you woke up.”
Paige ran out the door in a frenzy. Camille wondered why she was getting the nurse instead of buzzing the nurse’s station. Camille looked herself over. Both hands were bandaged. IV’s were in her arm, and she wondered what in the world had happened to her. She would wait to question the nurse, but her eyes felt so heavy, and she did not have the strength to keep them open. Oh, here they come. Great! Camille wanted to tell the nurse about the pain from the top of her head to her back.
When the nurse and Paige entered the room, Camille made the motions to speak, but she felt vibrations. It felt like an earthquake occurring within in her body. She could hear Paige scream, “What’s happening to her?” Could Paige not feel the earthquake? It must be the New Madrid fault line that she had always heard would occur in Memphis. Why were Paige and this nurse not feeling it? Then suddenly Camille was plunged into blackness.
The Home of Benjamin George Adams
It was after midnight when Ben made it back home and settled in to call Camille’s assistant. He pulled out the slip of paper that Paige had given him and dialed the number for Karen Locke.
“Hello.” A sleepy voice answered.
“May I speak to Ms. Karen Locke?” Ben tried to maintain a calm voice, but it felt like a knot had formed in his throat.
“This is Karen, who’s speaking?”
Ben cleared his throat. “This is Benjamin Adams, I was out this evening with Camille, Paige Richards, and Kevin Michelson, and I regret to inform you Ms. James was hit by an automobile tonight.”
Ben heard Karen gasp.
“Karen, I am praying Camille will be okay. Paige is spending the night with her. They’re at the Downtown Trauma Center. Mr. James, Camille’s father, lives overseas correct?”
“Yes, he lives overseas and must be notified immediately. He is the only biological family she has.”
“I’m sorry, Karen. Paige only gave me your information.”
“That’s fine. Umm . . . Benjamin, thanks for calling me. I will notify Mr. James. He would be upset if he heard the news from a stranger.” Karen paused. “I need someone to tell me Camille is going to be ok!”
Ben did not want to repeat what the doctor and nurse said over the phone, but he had to answer Karen. He tried doing so as calmly and encouragingly as possible. “Camille needs our prayers, Ms. Locke. She took a nasty fall and suffered a concussion. The medical staff won’t know more until she wakes up.”
Karen let out another gasp, and his heart broke for her. He had known Camille for only a week and felt such a strong connection. But why on earth did he think he should deliver this news to her assistant who, by Camille’s own admittance, was a close friend?
“Karen, are you going to be okay?”
Karen struggled to speak but finally said, “Yes. Yes, I will be. Camille is strong and stubborn. She will make it through this.”
Ben hoped Karen was right. “That is the right spirit to have, and I agree with you on Camille making a complete recovery. Karen, Paige also wanted me to remind you that Camille had an early morning meeting tomorrow, or later today, considering the time. Will you or another employee be able to handle the client?”
“Yes, she does, but I can handle that.”
“Okay, that is great. Paige is staying with Camille tonight. Camille’s room number is 318. Hopefully, I will be speaking to you soon with better news.”
“Thank you so much for calling me, Benjamin. It sounds like Camille had a date with a nice gentleman.”
“I try to be, Karen. Get some rest, and we will stay in touch.”
Benjamin disconnected the call and exhaled. He thought about calling Paige, but if she was asleep, he did not want to disturb her. Just as that thought left his mind, his phone buzzed with Kevin’s image.
“What’s the word, man?”
“You will not believe this, Ben. Paige just called me and said Camille woke up but was having problems speaking. Paige went to get the nurse, and when they returned to the room, Camille had a seizure and lost consciousness.” Kevin paused trying to gather his emotions and continued. “They say she is in a coma now and has been taken for some scans and may need surgery. I’m headed back to the hospital to be with Paige.”
Ben’s heart beat rapidly against his chest as he saw flashbacks of another love. One who was being worked on by emergency respondents trying to shock life back into a beautiful, dying woman. Not again. “Kevin, I’m on my way!”
Several Hours Later at In Transit Systems
Karen exhaled as she gathered
the signed contracts of ITS’s newest client. Camille would be proud that she closed the deal with Specific Designs. Camille had worked on the deal for weeks to bring the up-and-coming retailer for household décor on with ITS. Karen had no doubt that Camille was going to pull through surgery, and her company was going to be just as she left it, if not better. Karen vowed to herself to not let one person or department slack in Camille’s absence. Karen and the employees of ITS could not have asked for a better boss or friend. Camille was the catalyst behind Karen finishing her Business Degree as a twenty-five-year-old single mother. In addition to the tuition assistance from ITS, Camille made balancing Karen’s budget less challenging by personally helping Karen financially. To add to her generosity, Camille would babysit Nikki, who was now three years old but still in the terrible two-year-old stage. Camille’s babysitting allowed her to complete projects and attend night classes when the babysitter was not available. Tears swelled in Karen’s eyes thinking about what life would be like without Camille. The thought was simply too much to bear.
Nikki was the product of a one-night stand with an older man. Karen loved Nikki with her entire heart but regretted her reckless action that night, with a man she did not know. She could not file for child support because she did not know his last name. He had left her in a motel room, with a note and cab fare, after their drinking. That had been her one, and only, time experimenting with cocaine. Karen loathed herself for trying to drown out her pain with alcohol, sex, and drugs. Grateful that her phone ringing took her out of those haunting memories, Karen was relieved to see it was an international call. She could now tell Mr. J. D. James about his only daughter.
****
Benjamin and Paige sat in the waiting room for the second hour of Camille’s surgery. The seizure had been caused by a blood clot on the brain. The operation was the only course of treatment to prevent permanent bleeding of the brain, additional clots, and brain damage. Benjamin and Paige had been to the chapel and prayed, now they waited. Ben’s mind went back to a similar scene eighteen months earlier, just a couple of floors below in the emergency room.
Eighteen Months Earlier
Downtown Trauma Center
Benjamin stood with his mom, Ellen, and Lauren’s mom, Carol, as they heard the somber news regarding his girlfriend of seven years. The doctor was explaining how the blood clot had developed in Lauren’s lung and traveled to her heart causing Lauren to have a heart attack. Before medical personnel could assess Lauren, she was gone. Ben could only hear his mom and Carol’s wails of grief and sorrow as his very own blood ran cold. Benjamin could only think of the time he had wasted. He loved Lauren, but his focus was on his career. Ben thought they had plenty of time to marry and start a family, and he would not be rushed. Now, Lauren was gone, and suddenly life had new meaning. Immediately, he realized what he let slip away. He now understood time was precious but not promised.
Benjamin spent the next several months helping Lauren’s parents with her final affairs and settling a lawsuit against the birth control pill manufacturer that did not disclose blood clots as a possible side effect. The income helped Lauren’s family, but no amount of money could fill the void in their lives.
Lauren was on birth control pills because Ben did not want to practice abstinence, so he demanded she take them. He held tremendous guilt over forcing her not to wait for marriage, but not the ultimate act designed for a couple joined in matrimony. To further the insult, he wanted to wait on children when Lauren would have had them willingly, without marriage, but Ben selfishly denied her that as well. For over a year, guilt consumed his every waking moment. He did not consider dating. He stayed close to his mother and Mrs. Carol as they grieved together. After a year of living in the shadows of the past, Benjamin enrolled in grief counseling at Liberty church and began the process of healing. He had grown tired of going through the motions, and a few months after the one-year anniversary of Lauren’s death, he decided it was time to move on from grieving to living life again. However, that was easier said than done. While dating, Benjamin found himself with one gold digger after another. What shocked him the most was that successful women were looking for men to retire them after a few dates. He did not realize that, at a certain age, some women wanted to stop working and be pampered. He did not mind doing that for the “Mrs. Right Adams.” She had to, at least, offer to give him one child, and these women didn’t want to ruin their perfect bodies. That was Ben’s desire and prayer now, to be given a second chance at love, family, and marriage. This time, he would do it the right way—God’s way.
*****
Bringing his thoughts closer to the present, Benjamin recalled how it was one night just last week that he committed to putting the hurt and pain behind him. He had been sulking at home alone while nursing the one drink he had that evening. Ben declared within himself that he deserved love, and this time he wanted it all. John Legend’s song came to his mind as he set in his home office. Ben sang the lyrics to himself—This time I want it all . . . Last time I didn't know . . . I messed up and let you go . . . this time I want it all . . . this time I want it all.
The ringing of his home phone stopped Ben’s singing. It was Kevin inviting him to see a stage play at the theater. Kevin said he had the perfect young woman to rescue him from his gold-digging dating downward spiral. Ben chuckled at how accurate that assessment was. After Kevin had told him a little about Camille, Ben agreed immediately and disconnected from the call. He anxiously dressed to go on the blind date, hoping it would be the start of something meaningful. He had been honest when he told Camille he went to bed with a broken heart that night.
Kevin often spoke highly of Camille. She appeared to have been a true friend to Paige. And, their conversations over the last week had been the best of his dating life. Camille seemed to be every woman, and he was ecstatic about seeing her in person. While standing in front of the theater with Kevin and Paige, Ben looked to his right as Kevin nudged his side and pointed to the parking lot across the street from where they stood. Ben focused his gaze on a wine-colored SUV then saw an angel step out of it. Camille was beautiful. She looked Native American. From a distance, she had an innocent, elegant style, which was one to behold. She wore a simple black dress. Her light caramel legs were firm and toned. Her shoes were high-heeled. He took a deep breath and walked to meet her as she crossed the street, only a Ford Expedition beat him to it.
****
Benjamin let go of a deep exhale. Paige adjusted in her seat to face him and took his hands in hers. “Ben, Camille is going to come through this.” Benjamin squeezed her hands and nodded in agreement.
Across Town
Frankie Jones threw the pillow off his head and tossed the covers off his body. Rubbing his hand down his face, Frankie looked at the clock on his nightstand that read one-fifteen. He had slept the entire morning. He let out a deep groan, got out of bed, and headed to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, as he brushed his teeth, Frankie sighed as he recalled how he lost control last night. He had gone out for an early dinner with friends and had too much to drink. It had been months since he hung out with the guys and three years since he fell off the wagon. In disappointment, he dropped his head as he could not remember anything after his fifth shot of whiskey. He only accepted the invitation because Brian Andrews, a friend from undergrad, was getting married in three weeks. Frankie knew better than to tempt fate by attending a bachelor party. Frankie thought he would be fine. He knew he had today off from his postal carrier route to sleep in and recover if the night ended late. What was the harm in attending? He sighed. What’s done is done. He began to recite the serenity prayer.
“God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, And the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time. Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it,
“So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen.”
Frankie turned on the shower and got in, knowing an AA meeting was first on his agenda this afternoon.
Downtown Trauma Center
Camille’s eyes widened, and then she suddenly closed them when it felt like the top of her skull was being pulled from her neck. She took her right bandaged hand and went to massage her head. She bolted upright in the bed. “WHERE IS MY HAIR?” Camille screamed as loudly as possible, but it only came out as a whisper.
The machine monitoring her heart rate and blood pressure was beeping loud enough to make Camille start banging on the buttons causing pain to shoot up her arm. A nurse came in and explained she was in recovery after brain surgery and must calm down. The nurse turned off the monitor alarms and helped Camille inhale and exhale to slow her heart rate down.
Camille, with tears streaming down her face, motioned to the part of her head that was missing hair. The nurse calmly explained that the right side had to be shaved in order for the doctor to remove the life-threating blood clots. Camille could not believe her ears. She searched her mind to recall what in the world had happened to cause her to need brain surgery.
After long minutes of thinking, she felt like she was running through a maze of memories that were not her own. Camille remembered heading downtown to the play, parking, seeing Paige, Kevin, and Benjamin walking toward her. The SUV . . . The hospital . . . What she thought was an earthquake, and now, opening her eyes with breath in her body. Camille inwardly gave thanks to God for keeping her and protecting her. Camille repented for caring about missing hair when the Lord had spared her life. Camille, with endless tears and a grateful heart, asked the Lord for forgiveness for her sins. She acknowledged Jesus was the Son of God, who died and now was the Risen Savior. Camille welcomed the Lord into her heart and thanked him for saving her soul.
It Won't Prosper: Parable On Infidelity In Marriage Page 8
