“Her power of attorney was changed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are no longer listed.”
“Who is?”
The doctor glared at him and folded his arms. “I can’t answer that.”
Mantis stomped off and then turned around and came back. “Were her parents here?”
“There’s nothing more I can tell you,” the doctor responded, walking away.
Mantis didn’t bother following him. Instead he called Doc. “I’m at Stamford Hospital,” he told him, and Alegria is not. They won’t tell me anything other than she’s no longer a patient. I need to find her.”
“Roger that,” said Doc, without asking any questions.
“Can you help me?”
“Of course. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Any word on Dutch?”
“Negative.”
Mantis called Alegria, but when his call went straight to voicemail, he wasn’t surprised.
He thought about calling her parents, but wasn’t sure he even had either of their numbers. He’d told Doc that he’d call them about Alegria’s condition, but at the time, he hadn’t been thinking about whether he had their contact information.
Over the years, they’d made no secret that they didn’t approve of him and didn’t want their daughter with him.
The year he’d surprised Alegria by taking her to France to celebrate the new year, he’d been anxious to meet them. At the time, he’d wondered why she hadn’t spent Christmas with them since she enrolled at the Air Force Academy. After they arrived in Paris, he understood why not.
“My family isn’t big on holidays,” she explained when he asked why she was hesitant to let them know she was there.
“That’s okay, not everyone is. You still want to see them though, don’t you?”
She shrugged. “Sure I do, but…”
“But, what?”
“It might be better if I went alone. Just the first time. You know, to prepare them.”
“Prepare them for me?” Was she kidding? He’d just surprised her with a trip to France, and she had to prepare her parents to meet him?
There’d never been an instance when the parents of whomever he was dating hadn’t like him. Hell, most of the time, they were ready to have him sign on the dotted line that he’d marry their daughter one day.
“It’s just that…”
“Say it, Manon.”
“They aren’t overly fond of…Americans.”
“And yet they let Americans provide your education. You became a United States citizen, and you are in the military, having vowed to protect your country from all sworn enemies, even France if it came to it.”
“They weren’t in favor of my attending the Air Force Academy.”
“What did you say?”
“They didn’t agree with my decision.”
“And what? They disowned you?”
Mantis never would’ve said it if he thought, even for a minute, that she would nod her head.
“You’re kidding?”
“I’m not.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“What for? You didn’t do anything.”
“I brought you here.”
“I love Paris. I love that you brought me here.”
They’d made the best of it, but they didn’t see her parents while they were there. In fact, it was five more years before he even met them. And then, he wished he hadn’t. They were overbearing and egotistical. They’d barely recognized him as a human being, let alone his presence in the room.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that they’d either moved her from Stamford or instructed the hospital staff to say they had, just to keep him away from her. In fact, the latter was the more likely scenario.
He was about to call Doc and tell him his theory, when a call came in from him instead.
“She’s in Boston,” Doc told him.
What the hell? “Where in Boston?”
“Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. She was flown by medical helicopter this morning, piloted by Pierre Mondreau, and accompanied by his wife, Matille.”
“I forgot he was a pilot. Although I didn’t know he was licensed to fly helicopters.”
“Pierre flew with the Aviation Légère de l’Armée de Terre originally,” Doc told him.
The “land army,” as the French military called it, was made up primarily of infantry; however, helicopters were considered part of that branch, but used mainly for medical evacuation.
He remembered Alegria telling him that Pierre’s service in the French military was one of her father’s primary objections to her choosing to transfer to the United States Air Force Academy and, ultimately, becoming an officer and citizen of the country. Although she’d also told him that her father had been opposed to her serving in the French military too.
Mantis ended the call and pulled up Spaulding Rehab’s details on his phone. It made sense that they’d taken her there; it was second in the nation for spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis.
He tried to call Alegria again, but like before, it went straight to voicemail.
—:—
Alegria looked out the window of her new hospital room and sighed. Her father had been rude to every person they’d interacted with, and her mother wasn’t much better. Did they really think berating the hospital staff would result in her receiving better care? The nurses would probably end up hating her.
“Stop, Maman, s’il vous plait,” she begged, but her mother didn’t act as though she’d heard her. Instead she was looking at her phone.
“Where is my phone?” Alegria asked.
Her mother shrugged.
“You don’t know? Is it with my other belongings?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“Would you please check?”
Her mother stood and walked over to a closet. Alegria couldn’t see what was in it from where she was.
“I don’t see it.”
Had she even looked? “Please check again.”
“I told you I don’t see it,” her mother said, closing the closet with more force than was necessary.
Alegria felt equally angry and powerless. The idea that she may have this same struggle—unable to get up and check for herself—long term, made her want to hit something.
“You have no need for it anyway.”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. You have no need for your phone.” Her mother stood and walked out of the room.
What had she been thinking when she called her parents? Had she really believed that they would treat her any differently now than they had the rest of her life?
Rather than being sympathetic to her condition, it was as though they believed it was her fault she was paralyzed. They went as far as suggesting that if she hadn’t been with Mantis and his family, she wouldn’t have sustained further injuries. They didn’t disparage just Mantis; they went after his parents too.
“It was an accident,” she’d told them, to no avail.
They acted disgusted by the whole thing, as well as very put out by having to come to the States and deal with her.
To think that she’d mentioned to Dutch that if she’d been cleared to fly she would’ve gone “home” to France.
She’d actually told him that then she wouldn’t be a burden to him. Maybe not to him, but she certainly would have been a burden to her parents. She always had been.
The nannies with whom they’d left her weren’t much better. They all saw her as a spoiled brat, when nothing could’ve been further from the truth. She was more feral than spoiled.
Years ago, when Mantis surprised her by taking her to Paris, she’d told him they’d disowned her when she left for America and the Air Force Academy. The truth was, they’d never had much more than a passing interest in her to begin with.
; It was evident by where they lived and the life they led, that her family had a great deal of money—how much, she didn’t know. Other than their gift of the apartment in New York City, she had been expected to earn her own way.
While her father had made arrangements for her to be flown to Boston via medical helicopter, it likely had far less to do with her than it did him and her mother. They would’ve been greatly inconvenienced if they’d had to make the four-hour drive with her.
She waited for her mother to come back into the room so she could ask her again about her phone, but after an hour passed, she assumed that her parents had gone to their hotel. It remained to be seen whether they came back tonight. She wasn’t optimistic nor was she surprised that they’d left without saying goodbye.
She closed her eyes and thought about how hurt Mantis looked earlier when she’d all but shunned him. Her treatment of him was no better than her parents’ treatment of her.
Why, knowing how much their behavior hurt her, did she find herself acting much like they did so often? One would think she’d do the exact opposite.
Now she didn’t even have the means to call and apologize to Mantis or let him know where she was. Had someone at the other hospital told him she’d been moved? Did he know where?
Alegria felt trapped, like she was a prisoner in this room and in her own body. If she willed him to come and rescue her, would he? Or would he think she’d left so he wouldn’t know where she was, and would he doubt if she wanted to see him?
When she drifted to sleep, she didn’t dream about Mantis. She dreamed of Dutch.
It was dark, and she could barely see. Why didn’t she have a night vision devise with her? She looked down and saw that instead of clothing, she wore a hospital gown. She couldn’t feel her feet, and when she bent farther to look at them, she saw she didn’t have any. It was as though her legs had simply faded into nothing rather than ending in stumps where her feet used to be.
“Dutch?” she called out into the darkness.
“Over here,” he called back. “But keep your voice down.”
She put her hands out in front of her and made her way in the direction of his voice.
“Don’t come any closer,” he warned. “They’ll kill you.”
“What about you? Won’t they kill you too?”
“I’m already dead, Flygirl.”
She woke with a cry when she felt a band tighten on her arm and tried to wrench it away.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said the nurse. “That’s the blood pressure cuff.” The nurse loosened it, pulled a chair closer to the bed, and took Alegria’s wrist in her hand. “Your pulse is racing,” she said. “Take a few deep breaths and try to calm yourself down. You had a nightmare.”
Was it a nightmare? It had felt so real.
When the nurse stood and brushed against her leg, Alegria gasped.
“What?”
“I felt that!” she exclaimed. “I felt your hand on my leg.”
The nurse reached over Alegria, turned on the overhead light, and moved the sheet and blanket so she could see Alegria’s legs.
“Close your eyes,” she told her. “Can you feel that?”
Alegria nodded. It was faint, but she could feel it.
“Where are my fingers?”
“On my left knee.”
“What about now?”
“My ankle.”
“Which one?”
“Left.”
“How many fingers do you feel?”
Alegria shook her head. “I can’t tell.”
“But you can feel the pressure?”
“That’s right.”
The nurse moved the bed covers back over her legs. “Do you want the light on or off?”
“On, please.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to call the resident on duty.”
Fifteen minutes passed before the nurse returned with the doctor. He examined her legs much the same way she had, only this time, Alegria could feel three fingers on her ankle.
“This is great news,” he told her, making notes on her chart on a laptop. “Dr. Gertman will be making rounds early tomorrow morning. He’ll order whatever tests he determines appropriate then.”
“Wait,” she said when the nurse followed the doctor out of the room. “Is there a phone I can use? I need to make a call.”
The nurse pointed next to her bed. Only then did Alegria realize that without her cell, she wouldn’t have access to anyone’s number. It wasn’t like she routinely memorized them when they changed as often as they rotated burner phones.
“Do you have a cell phone? Maybe it’s in here.” The nurse looked in the same closet her mother had earlier. “I don’t see one.”
Alegria rested her head against the pillow. She didn’t want to admit to the nurse that her mother had probably taken it with her when she’d left earlier.
—:—
Mantis left five messages for Alegria before admitting what he’d known before he left the first one. She was refusing to talk to him, just like she’d refused when he came back from Afghanistan.
That they’d inched closer only to be so far away from each other again, hurt like hell. She’d needed him, and then suddenly she didn’t anymore. It was as though she’d flipped the switch on and then back off again.
“Can I make you something to eat?” his mother asked, joining him in the kitchen.
It was only a little before dawn, and he wasn’t hungry. He might not be hungry at all today. His mother pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down.
“Where did you say Alegria is?” she asked.
“At a rehab hospital in Boston.”
“You had no idea she was being moved?”
Mantis shook his head. “None whatsoever.”
“Call her and ask.”
“I have. It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Go see her.”
“What if she doesn’t want to see me?”
The way his mother smiled made him feel like he was five years old again. “Why wouldn’t she?”
Mantis shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” he muttered.
His mother stood and started taking things out of the cupboard and refrigerator, amassing a pile on the kitchen counter.
“What are you doing?”
“Making cookies. Maybe brownies too.”
“Why?”
His mother squeezed his shoulder when she walked past him to turn the oven on. “Your nieces and nephews will be ascending on our house one day soon.”
Her smile at the thought warmed Mantis all over. He still hadn’t seen Jonas, Theresa, or their kids, and he was anxious to.
“When will they be here?”
“Let’s see…I’m fuzzy on what day, but Jonas said nine, so Theresa is probably thinking more like ten. With four littles to wrangle—not that the baby takes much wrangling—my best guess is between eleven and noon. I feel better being prepared, whichever day it is.”
Mantis smiled. “You have it all figured out, don’t you?”
“There was a time I had three littles of my own.”
His mother was great about celebrating the happy memories of having three boys, but at times like these, early in the morning when the day was still raw, he saw the pain that sat so close to her surface.
“Ian was so much older than you and your brother, though. It wasn’t as hard for me to do things as it is for Theresa, who has four under ten.”
“Really? God, I’ve never thought of it in those terms.”
“She manages fine, as does Jonas.”
Mantis shook his head and took another sip of coffee. He closed his eyes, wishing Alegria was here with them, talking to his mother, helping her make cookies, and bestowing one of her smiles of understanding on him.
“Ethan is the same age Ian was when you were born. He’s a big help to his mama, just like Ian was to me.”
His older brother would’ve turned forty this year,
and that made Mantis feel his own age. Thirty—and without much of a sense of purpose anymore.
What might life have been like if Ian hadn’t run into the second tower on that fateful morning eighteen years ago? Would he still be a firefighter? Would he be married, have kids like Jonas did, or be a bachelor like he was?
“Go see her, Gehring.”
“I don’t know, Mom. There has to come a time when I respect the fact that Alegria doesn’t want me in her life.”
“But she does.”
“No offense, but how do you know what she wants?”
His mother sat back down at the table and put her hand on his. “Tell me what you know about her. Five things. The five most important things.”
“Wow. Um…”
“Take your time.” She stood and went back to making cookies.
This was tough. He knew countless things about her, but naming only five, and what he considered the top five, was difficult.
She was as smart or smarter than any professor at the Air Force Academy, more beautiful than a super model, stubborn, prideful, independent, feisty, funny, and sexy as hell. She was warm and caring but could be as aloof and cold as the Arctic. She was demanding of others, but equally of herself.
And then there was the side of her that was insecure, doubtful of her worth in life, needy, clingy, and petulant.
“I don’t know if I can narrow what I know about Alegria to five things.”
“Think about her as Manon, then.”
He smiled at his mother’s insight. They all hid behind their call signs from time to time.
“That isn’t much easier.”
“It should be.”
He decided to test the water. “Smart, stubborn, independent…”
“Keep going. Two more.”
“Sexy as hell.”
His mother looked around and smiled.
“You didn’t tell me to edit.”
“And I don’t want you to. One more.”
He thought for several minutes about what final word he would use to describe her, weighing all the things he’d thought of. “Insecure,” he finally settled on.
“One would wonder what kind of wars wage inside of a woman like that.”
Mantis (K19 Security Solutions Book 4) Page 10