On the Verge (Sisters Series Book 3)

by Karen Lenfestey

  Even though she checked the box “married” and put herself down as the emergency contact, she didn’t really feel like Nathan’s wife. She felt like they were in limbo. After all, they’d only been married for three days.

  A tear threatened to drip onto the form she was trying to complete. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, scolding herself: Pull yourself together for the sake of Chip. A glance to her left revealed that Chip’s attention was glued to the tiny TV screen bolted to the ceiling. It was playing a night-time police drama that she’d never let him watch on a normal day.

  He hadn’t a clue how serious things were. Was it possible she was about to be a widow? Her first marriage ended in divorce and now, her second husband might die on her. She shuddered then only stared at the remaining blank lines.

  Her name was called and it wasn’t until the nurse repeated it, that Val recognized it as her own. She stood, took Chip’s hand and walked toward the reception desk. A nurse in blue scrubs furrowed her brow. “Mrs. Sullivan?”

  She certainly wasn’t used to being called that. “Yes?”

  “The doctor wants to talk to you. Go through that door and down the corridor.”

  Val nodded. Everything around her seemed surreal. A woman hobbling on crutches passed by as she and Chip walked the hall. Standing in an open doorway, a man in a white coat approached her.

  The doctor looked about thirty and didn’t smile. “There’s a hemorrhage in your husband’s brain. It’s very serious. If we don’t operate, he could die.”

  OhGod-OhGod-OhGod. Breath lodged in her throat. Her trembling hand took his pen and signed the unread consent forms. It didn’t even look like her writing. “Is he going to be all right?”

  “He hasn’t regained consciousness. Right now we need to take care of the swelling before it’s too late.” Taking the forms from her, he hurried out of the room.

  # # #

  The elastic of Joely’s sweat pants dug into her waist as she stepped onto the treadmill at the health club. Disgusted with herself, she ran her thumb along the red line etched into her gut. “I have a lot of work to do.”

  On the machine next to her, Kate pushed the buttons to select her workout. “I feel out of shape too. Between the office and Brianna, I don’t have time to exercise.”

  That may be true, but her sister still had the same petite frame she’d always had. Due to their height differences, plus Kate’s ivory skin and cobalt blue eyes, they had always been teased that one of them must’ve been the milkman’s baby. Ever since brown-eyed Joely had been diagnosed with lupus, she’d been especially thankful for their contrasting DNA. She prayed every day that Kate stayed healthy forever. “I’m glad you decided to take me up on my offer. Even moms need a night off once in a while.”

  Dressed in matching turquoise shorts and shirt, Kate started walking. “When we finish here, I want to call and check on Brianna. This is the first time I’ve left her overnight since we brought her home from the hospital.”

  “You shouldn’t worry.” Joely’s brother-in-law was one of those guys you could depend on. He probably knew the baby’s eating and napping schedule just as well as Kate did. In fact, he’d been more than accommodating when Joely called and suggested that her sister needed a get-away. “Mitch can handle things.”

  Her sister nodded. “I know. I just hope Brianna doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night crying.”

  “You need to get some rest, too.” Only half-listening as her sister went on a mommy guilt trip, Joely read the questions on the screen. Type of work-out: fat burner. Age: thirty-seven. Weight: ? She’d passed by the scale as they’d entered the fitness center, but had been afraid to look. After all, this body didn’t seem as if it belonged to her. She tried to skip the weight question, but when it wouldn’t let her, she typed in her best guess. Then she started speed walking.

  She took in her surroundings. In front of her, muscular men and skinny women filled elliptical machines and stair climbers. Above them, a row of TVs, each set to different prime time shows with closed captioning activated. Through the stereo speakers in the ceiling came pounding hip-hop music she didn’t recognize. Somehow this place made her feel old and out-of-it. Didn’t anyone pudgy come here to workout?

  Pushing the “up” arrow button, Kate transitioned into a jog, her honey blond hair bouncing against her shoulders. “So you’re thinking of joining this gym?”

  “Yep.” They were using a one-day free trial pass that had come in the mail. “I want to lose weight before the wedding.” She glanced over to see Kate’s reaction. This wasn’t how she planned on dropping the bomb, but no matter when she said it, her sister wouldn’t be happy. The treadmill speed increased and Joely struggled to breathe.

  “What?”

  “Jake asked me--”. Two quick breaths. “--and I said yes.” She grinned at her sister’s shocked face.

  Kate closed her mouth and focused on her jogging for a moment. “I thought you told him to wait at least six months before proposing again.”

  Joely’s knees screamed in protest with every step. Hard to believe she used to find running a pleasant experience. She grabbed onto the side rails to see if that made it any easier. “I did.” She huffed and puffed. “But Anna really wants us together. In fact, she’s the one who arranged this engagement.”

  Kate lowered her eyebrows. “I’m supposed to believe that? Did she buy you the diamond ring, too?” She glanced at Joely’s left hand. She hadn’t missed it. Joely had slipped off the engagement ring before her sister arrived, so she could break the news on her own schedule.

  “No, Jake supplied the ring. He had it in his pocket when Anna informed us that it was time we make a commitment.” Joely smiled at her daughter’s gumption.

  “He just happened to have the ring with him? Are you sure he didn’t put Anna up to it?”

  Joely shook her head and gripped the sides even tighter. She didn’t want to lose her balance or trip. “It was Anna’s idea. She wants her parents together and who can blame her?”

  Kate continued running, barely panting. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Say that you’ll be my matron of honor.”

  Kate pushed the emergency stop button on her machine. She turned and wiped the tiny beads of sweat on her brow. “I worry about you. You need someone who will take care of you when you have a flare. I’m not sure Jake has the right personality to be married to someone with a chronic illness.”

  Joely’s heartbeats pounded on top of one another. She slapped the red stop button in front of her. Bending down, she tried to catch her breath. Exercise and arguing didn’t go together.

  “Are you all right?” Concern wove into Kate’s voice.

  Joely nodded. She didn’t like for anyone to fuss over her. “I know Jake has been selfish in the past, but he’s stuck with me for a long time now.” She straightened her spine. “One weekend he even took Anna when it was my turn because my lupus was acting up.”

  “One time.” Kate rolled her eyes.

  “The fact is, I do have a chronic illness and maybe it would be nice to have a partner in this.” She shook her head and clasped the side rails. “That’s not why I want to marry Jake. I want to marry him because I’ve always loved him. Long before I got sick, I wanted to be with him.” That was the truth.

  “Is he pressuring you to lose weight? Because if he is--”

  “No. This is my decision. I hate my body. It’s enormous.”

  Kate shook her head and placed her hand on top of Joely’s. “Don’t hate your body. You’re beautiful. A few extra pounds can’t change that.”

  Joely despised the way her heart raced as if she’d overtaxed it by jogging. She squeezed her eyes tight. “It’s more than a few extra pounds.” She looked at her sister’s dainty figure. “I want to look pretty on my wedding day.” The dress shopping fiasco played over in her mind. “I’m so fat, they don’t have any gowns in my size.”

  Kate glanced at a thirty-something man
in a tank top who lingered near them, as if he wanted to use the treadmill. She lowered her voice. “Hey, let’s get out of here. I want to call home.”

  The clock read eight thirty. They hadn’t even been there for fifteen minutes. Joely sighed and stepped off the exercise equipment. She limped her way toward the child care room to pick up Anna. “How am I ever going to lose weight if my joints hurt?” She offered a pleading look to Kate.

  Kate placed her hand around her sister’s waist, trying to help her walk. “I don’t know. Maybe do something low impact. Swimming perhaps.”

  Joely grimaced. Kate knew darn good and well that she didn’t know how to swim. Neither of them did. Theirs had not been a childhood filled with swim lessons or ballet or horseback riding.

  After picking up Anna, the three of them walked through the dark parking lot to Joely’s car. When Joely opened the door, her cell phone beeped. She checked her voicemail and heard her friend’s voice. “Nathan’s in the hospital. . .I-I don’t know what to do. . . Call me.”

  ###

  Outside, rain drizzled from the morning sky, forming puddles in the hospital parking lot. Funny how the weather sometimes matched one’s mood.

  Val looked at Nathan lying in the bed. He’d made it through the surgery and now had a white wire, called an ICP monitor, attached to his skull to check for more swelling. A ventilator helped him breathe. His eyes remained closed and she had no idea how long that would last.

  Alone in the room, she took a deep breath, the scent of disinfectant permeating her nostrils. The odor made her gag and she felt a little dizzy. After all, the last time she’d seen her grandmother alive was in a hospital that smelled like this. And she knew the longer a patient stayed, the more likely they’d never leave.

  Nathan’s mom, looking frail and older than her fifty-some years, burst into the room with her arms outstretched. Last night Joely had helped Val track down her mother-in-law’s number to tell her the horrific news. Now Val walked toward her and they embraced. They barely knew each other, but because of this tragedy, the hug felt natural.

  Her mother-in-law eventually released her grasp and looked into Val’s eyes. “I know you told me this on the phone. . .” Her voice quivered with each word. “But tell me again how he fell.”

  “Nathan was going to do laundry and he somehow lost his footing on the stairs. Maybe he couldn’t grab the rail because he was holding a basket.” Maybe he tripped on one of Chip’s toys, but she would never admit that. “Next thing I knew, he was unconscious.” She winced, remembering the crimson blood gushing, remembering how he’d hurt himself while doing her a favor.

  “It doesn’t seem possible. How can my son be in a coma? That’s something in soap operas, not in real life.”

  Val nodded. “I know.”

  Nathan’s mom--they’d never discussed if she should call her Lydia, Mrs. Sullivan or what—wrung her hands. “What can we do?”

  Val shook her head. “Right now Nathan’s in a drug-induced coma and the doctor said it’s best to let him rest.”

  “I can’t sit here and do nothing.”

  The doing nothing part was already driving Val crazy. Except for meeting Joely in the lobby and asking her to take Chip, Val hadn’t left Nathan’s room all night. Fear and loneliness ached in her bones, so on some level, she appreciated the company. She’d called her own parents and when they’d asked if she wanted them to fly in, she’d found herself saying it wasn’t necessary. They’d had a terrible trip home from the wedding, with delays and missing a connecting flight. Deep down, she’d hoped they would somehow know that she really did need them. But they didn’t.

  Lydia remained standing, rubbing her hands. “I’ll go see if I can find some newspapers. Nathan always starts his morning by reading current events.”

  Val waited in the room, watching her sweetheart’s face. When Lydia came back, she read out loud from the Lansing State Journal, but her voice kept breaking.

  A nurse stepped into the room. “You shouldn’t read to the patient. His body and mind need quiet.” She dimmed the lights as if to emphasize her point.

  Lydia didn’t say a word. Once the nurse left, Lydia found a tissue in her purse and wiped her eyes. She stared at Nathan for a long time. Eventually she opened a quilted Vera Bradley bag to retrieve a knitting project. It looked like yellow baby booties.

  Val didn’t think Nathan’s brother’s wife was pregnant. “Who are those for?”

  Looking mischievous, she shrugged. “You never know.”

  Then Val understood. She and Nathan had discussed having kids right away. Her soul actually hurt. The future father of her children lay motionless, practically lifeless--her dreams of a happy family destroyed.

  For an hour, the only sounds in the room were the rain and the clicking of knitting needles. Eventually the clicking stopped and the widow looked up. “I’m going to get myself a cup of decaf. Would you like something?” She rose and turned, placing her project on her chair. “I’d prefer the real stuff, but I have enough trouble sleeping these days as it is.”

  Val hadn’t slept, either. “You wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette, would you?”

  Facing Val, her mother-in-law cocked her head. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

  “Used to. I quit when I got pregnant with Chip.” God, she could use a smoke right now. Lydia had knitting to soothe her nerves, but Val needed something stronger. “Funny how I haven’t craved one in years. . . . They say nicotine is just as addictive as heroin.”

  Covering her mouth with her bony hand, Nathan’s mom looked horrified at the mention of illegal drugs.

  “No thanks. Just get yourself some coffee.” Once she was alone with Nathan, she reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Wake up so we can go home.” His hand remained limp. Her throat started to close. She swallowed. The fact that she’d been awake for twenty-four hours caught up with her—intensifying her dread. Her mouth opened and sobs came out.

  The emotion surprised her. She’d done her best to keep the tears bottled up, out of Chip’s and then Lydia’s view. Val wasn’t one to cry normally, but now she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.

  Nathan was comatose. He could die.

  Eventually, her body didn’t have the energy to cry any more. Somehow she felt even worse. Completely drained.

  Tasting her salty tears, she leaned forward and kissed Nathan’s scratchy cheek. “I need you. Chip and I need you.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  When the doctor weaned Nathan off the meds that kept him in a coma, Val held Lydia’s frail hand. Through their vigil, they’d hugged and held each other’s hands more than they had in the previous eight months.

  This was it. The moment they’d been anticipating. Sweat pooled between their palms. They expected something to happen. . .but Nathan didn’t wake up. The two of them stood over his bed for a long time, waiting.

  Who knew how long they’d hovered there? Val swallowed, finally realizing that nothing was going to happen. “At least there’s a chance that he could wake up now, right?” She needed someone to reassure her everything would work out. But her mother-in-law wouldn’t fill that role. Neither would Dr. Chesney.

  She started pacing the narrow room.

  Lydia’s face crumpled as if she were fighting back tears. They were both always on the brink.

  Val kept walking back and forth, too wound up to sit. She had to do something different. When would this ever end?

  A few hours later, Joely stuck her head in the hospital room. “Hello. How’s he doing?”

  Lydia stopped knitting and looked at her. “His temperature is up by one-tenth degree, but the nurse said it’s nothing.” She shook her head in frustration.

  Val looked at the clock hanging above the door. “Is it noon already?”

  Joely, who had been stopping by every day during her lunch break, nodded. She held a brown bag in her hand.

  Lydia coughed as though she had phlegm stuck in her throat. She made her way to her feet. “I’ll
go see if I can find the doctor. Maybe he cares that Nathan’s temperature is going up.”

  As Lydia left the room, Joely gave Val a hug. “How are you doing?” She pulled Lydia’s chair next to Val’s abandoned one.

  What could she say? Val shrugged and sat for the first time all day. Her leg muscles ached, but she ignored them.

  Opening the bag, Joely handed her a fountain drink and a sandwich wrapped in waxy Subway paper. “I brought these for you. I got a turkey on wheat for Nathan’s mom, too.”

  Unable to see a reason to eat, Val set her sandwich on the window sill. She took a long sip from the straw. It tasted familiar. Her favorite. “You’re a good friend.”

  “I printed something for you off the internet.” Joely handed her a few papers. “Someone at my lupus support group told me about this thing called tapping therapy. It’s supposed to help people with all kinds of medical issues from migraines to comas.”

  Val took the papers and started to read them. They said that trauma created blockages in a person’s “meridians” or energies. Based on the Chinese principles of acupuncture, tapping helped to balance the meridians running throughout the body.

  She’d heard that western medicine was finally beginning to acknowledge the healing powers of acupuncture. So, maybe this had some credibility.

  While Val studied the printouts, Joely pulled a diet shake can out of her bag. “I read that a coma patient kept having seizures and the doctors didn’t know what to do. A friend of the family asked if he could try tapping. The next time the patient started seizing, his friend went through the tapping sequence, and it calmed the patient down. The seizure stopped. At another facility a nurse tapped a bunch of patients and they woke up from their comas. It sounds amazing.”