Someone Always Loved You

by Brooke Williams

  A single tear coursed down Jay’s face as he imagined the pain Cory and Jordan must have felt, losing a child so young and innocent.

  Cory glanced over at Jay as they strolled down the hall, catching the distress on his face. “Now, don’t feel sorry for us,” he said. “Losing EJ was one of the most painful periods in our life, but we both agreed that we were better people for having known her as long as we did. We try to look on the bright side. We had the best little girl in the whole world for four years. Of course, we would have liked longer, but at least we had that time, and now we have a thousand memories of her.”

  Jay was amazed by this perspective. He could only imagine the anger and injustice he would feel in such a situation. They received the foam cups of coffee in silence and turned to retrace their steps to Jordan’s room when Cory continued. “The pain never completely leaves, but after it faded we tried for more children. EJ taught us that loving is only multiplied when there are more people to share that love. Jordan’s surgery during Ellison’s birth had caused some damage, and she was never able to conceive again. EJ was the only little girl for us, and after a while, we came to terms with that.”

  Jay shook his head in wonder. Who were these people? They were so much stronger than he could ever imagine being. As Cory silenced, the wheels in Jay’s head continued to turn as he pieced together all that Cory had told him.

  “What about the other child?” Jay finally asked, remembering that Cory said they had two children.

  Cory looked down at his feet as they entered Jordan’s room once again, dazed from his memories of better times.

  “Didn’t you say there were two?” Jay asked, wondering if he had heard wrong.

  Cory held up his hand to silence Jay as he moved his head slightly to the left then to the right. He couldn’t get into that right now. Cory moved to his wife’s side, laid his head on the pillow next to Jordan’s face, and wrapped his arm across her waist.

  Jay understood that Cory was done revealing his life’s history to a stranger for that day. Jay moved around the bed opposite Cory. He placed his fingers lightly on Jordan’s free arm, moving them from her wrist to elbow and back again. Turning to Cory, he did the same to him, then slipped out of the room.

  CHAPTER 17

  Slipping into the hallway, Jay quietly closed the door behind him. Cory and Jordan deserved time alone. As he strode slowly down the hall, he replayed Cory’s story in his mind. He couldn’t believe everything that couple had experienced. The loss of their precious child only seemed to make Cory feel closer to Jordan and did nothing to diminish his love for her. Jay was in awe of the man. He knew he would have killed anyone who hurt Madison as he had Jordan. Yet Cory overflowed with grace and forgiveness. Jay just couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to know a person of Cory’s caliber.

  Rounding the corner near the elevator, Jay decided to take the stairs. He needed a little exercise, and he couldn’t wait to get outside for some fresh air. He had become accustomed to the stuffy smells within the hospital walls, but he felt almost suffocated at that moment. He burst out the double doors into the cool afternoon air. The clouds covered the sun, and the air was heavy, but at least it didn’t smell like a hospital. Jay circled the building and spotted the pillar where Cory had attacked him. He deserved so much more grief than he had been given. Jay leaned against the cool brick once again, picturing what could have happened had Cory not been so gracious. Jay could be inside the double doors of the emergency room right now. And he should be.

  Jay watched the flurry of activity surrounding the ambulances sitting nearby. He spotted a new driver, a rookie he presumed, and shook his head. That was what he had been just weeks ago as he triumphantly delivered his first patient in record time, only to create another patient upon his arrival.

  When Jay returned from rehab not only had his attitude altered, but his whole outlook on life had changed. He had been doing well in the accounting department at his office, poised to raise himself to the top of the business. After his stint at rehab, however, Jay no longer cared about climbing the corporate ladder. He was no longer interested in making piles of cash and having only the best material items. Jay hadn’t been welcomed back into his old job when he returned from rehab, and as he searched for something new, he realized what he was meant to do.

  When Madison returned from a hard day of working with a sleuth of noisy students, the evidence of her day was literally painted all over her hands and shirt. Jay excitedly announced his new plan without noticing the odd colors of paint that clung to a few strands of her hair. “I want to help people, you know, the way I was helped,” he told her with the glow of a little boy at Christmas.

  “Slow down, Jay,” she said, trying to catch her breath from bounding up the stairs to their apartment as she always did. “What are you talking about?”

  “The night….that I almost died….if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have made it,” he began, calming himself for her sake. “If you hadn’t found me and called for help, I wouldn’t be here. And if that help hadn’t arrived so quickly and acted so efficiently, I don’t even want to think about what would have become of me.”

  Trying to understand his gibberish, Madison removed her coat, threw it over the back of the couch, and turned to face him. She tried to read the point in his expression since she didn’t understand his words. “What are you saying?” she asked, placing a hand on each of his shoulders and allowing her eyes to roam his face, searching for answers.

  “I’m saying,” Jay said, the excitement building in his bones all over again, “I know what I want to do with my life. I want to save lives like mine was saved. I want to be an EMT.”

  “You want to do what?” she said in surprise. Madison had thought it was only a matter of time before Jay found another corporate job and settled back in to office life.

  “I want to be an EMT…you know, an emergency medical technician.”

  “I know what it stands for,” Madison replied, gently chucking Jay on the chin.

  “I need to be in a position to repay whatever fate it was that saved me that night. I want to bring people back from the brink of death, to give them a second chance just like the one I got.”

  “You sound like you’ve got it all figured out,” Madison quipped as she moved around him into the kitchen to see if the fridge could produce anything edible for dinner. “How are you going to go about doing this?”

  “Actually, it’s quite simple,” Jay answered. He had figured it all out before she returned home so he could explain his new dream. “I’ll need to be certified in first aid. I’ll have to learn CPR and go through the emergency medical training. There will probably be some emergency vehicle training involved as well.”

  “That doesn’t sound simple,” Madison said, sniffing the insides of a plastic Tupperware container before wrinkling her nose and tossing its contents into the trash bin.

  “I made a few calls, and there’s an orientation tomorrow on the classes that can get me fully certified the fastest. I can check it out and decide how to proceed from there.”

  He was really serious, Madison realized, as she set the dirty Tupperware in the sink and turned to face him again. “You really want this, don’t you?”

  “More than anything. Since you, that is,” he smiled, knowing he had her in the palm of his hand.

  As she placed her arms around his neck, Jay drew her to him, remembering how he held her in his arms on their first date. She still fit perfectly.

  Jay flew through orientation, only strengthening his resolve to move forward with this plan. He spent the afternoon in search of a job that would allow him to attend training as well as earn enough money to cover its cost. They could live on Madison’s salary until he finished his classes and settled in to his new career. After a long day of reading the want ads and making calls, Jay accepted a position as a telemarketer. It was the last thing he wanted, but it paid well and required shorter hours in the evening.

  The traini
ng passed the hours of the day like minutes as Jay soaked in every detail. He was the student who always had his hand raised with the answer. He was the first to volunteer to demonstrate procedures. He was the last to leave the room when the day had passed. He was the best at everything they were shown. Jay caught on to first aid and CPR as if he had been doing it his whole life. He had never heard anyone say they were born to be an EMT, but that’s exactly how he felt as he administered bandages to a wounded dummy with precision.

  On the afternoon he got his first ride-along in an ambulance, Jay was more excited than he had been since the day he married Madison. He was told to sit on the bench in the back, be invisible, and observe. That was plenty for him. He was fascinated by the high speed and the driver’s quick turns as they received the first assignment of the day. Jay didn’t get to see anything spectacular, just a broken arm, a woman in labor, and a false alarm, but it was enough to reaffirm Jay’s belief that this was his true calling. He knew this was in his blood, and he wished that he had realized it sooner.

  As Jay was drawn farther into the process, he rode along in ambulances frequently, shifting his work from assisting the lead EMT to being the lead EMT. He was also given a few opportunities to drive the ambulance, and it was in that seat that Jay felt the most at home. Several EMTs commented on Jay’s driving which had been so smooth that they had been able to administer first aid with no worrisome bumps, and it had been so fast that they hadn’t finished their procedures by the time they arrived at the hospital. Jay then veered his focus from the first aid aspect, which he already knew like the back of his hand, to the city streets.

  Jay couldn’t have been more proud when he received his certifications. He was thrilled to receive a job offer from the hospital in which he had received his training, just down the street from where they lived. When he received his first shift assignment, he was elated and hung around the hospital until he could meet the men he would work with the following day. They were impressed with Jay as they teasingly quizzed him on the city streets, asking him to recite quickest routes and easiest interstate accesses. Jay rattled answers seriously until he realized his fellow EMTs were rolling with laughter. I’ll show them, he thought. I’ll prove I am the best they have ever ridden with in no time flat.

  Boy, I sure proved myself, Jay mused, shaking his head and watching the ambulance workers organize their supplies. He’d gotten his riders to the hospital in record time, that was for sure. And he was pretty sure it was the first time the EMTs in the back of his ambulance had ever been involved in creating an emergency. Of course, they hadn’t been at fault in the incident. Jay pictured Jordan, laying in her hospital bed with Cory bent over her. When would she pull out of this, he wondered. Would she pull out of this? His thoughts roamed to concern for Jordan as he saw the EMTs scurry around the ambulance with purpose. He wondered if he would ever feel like that again--important, self-certain, confident. Since the accident, Jay hadn’t even been able to drive his own car, much less take lives of others into his own hands again by driving an ambulance.

  The radio in the ambulance squawked, and the driver motioned to the others, shouting for them to load up. They must have gotten a call, Jay thought, curiously squinting in their direction.

  “Pregnant female!” the driver exclaimed as he spewed off an address that immediately registered in Jay’s heart. Madison!

  Jay forgot his fears. He forgot everything that had happened behind the wheel the last time he drove. He even pushed thoughts of Jordan from his mind as he rushed for the ambulance. Pushing the rookie driver aside, he situated himself behind the wheel and took off, siren screaming, before the EMTs in the back had been fully seated. The rookie threw his arms in the air and shouted after the ambulance as Jay began driving racecar speeds in seconds. The other technicians on board looked at each other. They knew who Jay was and had heard numerous rumors about him. Neither of them had gotten the chance to work with him, but they both knew all about him. Jay was a rookie himself; he’d only had one job. He’d done that job well, but the conclusion had been disastrous. The EMTs riding in the back remained stunned and silent. They had heard Jay had gone off his rocker since the accident. It was too late for them to do anything about it now. They only hoped Jay would take them to the lady in need and not for a joy ride.

  Since the destination was only blocks away and because Jay was driving at break neck speeds, they arrived in no time. Jay popped out of the front seat, leaving the door open behind him. He was already climbing the first flight when the riders swung the back of the ambulance open and gathered supplies to take to the scene.

  Jay burst through the door of his apartment and heard the phone beeping. It was lying off the hook on the kitchen floor. Rushing to the noise, Jay rounded the counter and collapsed beside Madison who was sprawled on the faded vinyl floor. She was an eerie yellow color, and he quickly spotted blood on her cotton night shirt. Looking around frantically, Jay noticed the step stool tilted over on its side in the corner as he gently slapped Madison’s cheek, trying to bring her back to consciousness. Having no luck, Jay didn’t waste any more time. He scooped her into his arms and passed the other EMTs as they were charging up the stairs. They scrambled after him and helped him place the woman on the stretcher.

  “Drive, Jay!” One of them exclaimed. They were so close to the hospital it would be best to get the woman there to start treatment and assess any damage that may have been done to the baby growing inside her. Jay hesitated for a split second before recognizing the best thing he could do for Madison was to get her to the hospital as fast as possible. He would help her most by taking his seat behind the wheel again. Spinning the tires, Jay had the ambulance under the emergency room awning even faster than they had arrived at the apartment complex.

  Swinging out of the driver’s seat, Jay rushed to the back of the ambulance as they opened the doors and stabilized the feet under the stretcher. “Great job, man,” one of the EMTs said, pounding Jay on the back as they wheeled Madison into the emergency room. “We can take her from here. You better start on the paperwork.”

  Jay shoved him aside as he had the rookie driver several minutes before. “Get outta my way. That’s my wife, man!” he shouted as the EMT took a bewildered step backward. Jay and the other EMT rushed the stretcher into the emergency room, and the doctors swarmed around them. The professionals in white coats began their jumbled commands as Jay ran along beside them, trying to catch every phrase and implication. Eventually, a nurse realized who he was and ushered him outside the room to wait in agony for his wife’s prognosis.

  Seemingly hours later, Dr. Rodriguez entered the waiting room and watched Jay pace back and forth in front of the vending machine. He hadn’t been in the ER when Madison was brought in, but the news spread across the hospital like wildfire, and he wanted to speak to Jay. He’d felt an instant connection with the younger man the first time they met during Jay’s EMT training. The doctor also felt as if he knew Jay better than the other residents, given all of the time Jay spent visiting his various patients. Striding over to the man who looked about to pull every strand of hair from his head, he placed a hand on his shoulder, jerking Jay back to reality.

  Jay immediately realized who was standing before him and began spouting questions about his wife. Dr. Rodriguez held up a hand to silence him so that he could speak. “She’s going to be okay,” he stated confidently.

  Jay let out a sigh of relief and then looked back to the doctor for more details. “She probably fell, and the impact caused a slight tear which caused the appearance of blood. The doctors are pretty sure she lost consciousness shortly after she made the call for help. She was probably so frightened at the sight of the blood that she panicked and wasn’t breathing correctly. But overall, she’s very lucky. She’s going to be just fine, and the baby is still giving us a strong heartbeat.”

  Jay tugged on his ears in relieved elation. His heart was about to jump out of his chest. “They do want to keep Madison for a couple o
f days to make sure there aren’t any residual complications,” Dr. Rodriguez continued as Jay nodded emphatically, “and I’m pretty sure they’ll recommend she be placed on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. This incident has weakened her and could push her into early labor.”

  The doctor placed his hand on Jay’s trembling arm, “She’s okay, son,” he said, even though Jay couldn’t be any more than ten years younger than him.

  “When can I see her?” Jay asked, trying to let all of the information soak in, but mostly feeling relief at the positive aspects of the news.

  “Soon. They’ll move her to her own room in a few minutes. We’ll let you know.”

  Dr. Rodriguez turned and briskly left the area to return to his duties. After all Jay had been through, he felt a special pull to the man, probably because he had seen Jay in the hall so often, visiting Jordan and her husband.

  Jay sank into the squeaky padded plastic chair and placed his head in his hands. He remained in that position until a nurse called, “Mr. Bartlett? Mr. Bartlett? You can see your wife now.”