Magnolia Sky

by Susan Crandall

  Did this guy really think he would walk out of here not knowing how Cole was? “I’m staying.”

  A nurse appeared with a hospital gown, handing it to Olivia. “You must be chilly. This is as close to a robe as I could find.”

  Olivia looked grateful as she slipped it around her shoulders.

  They settled in on the ugly chrome and vinyl furniture, among the forgotten paper cups of coffee and tattered months-old magazines. Analise and Olivia sat leaning close to one another, clasping hands. Dave took the seat opposite them. Luke paced the speckled-tile floor.

  On each revolution of the room, he looked at Analise. The fluorescent lighting amplified her pale and drawn features, the bruised-looking circles under her eyes. Olivia didn’t look any better. An ache throbbed deep within him, an ache borne of helplessness, of knowing there was nothing he could do to relieve their suffering. How much more could this family take before the whirling force of heartbreak tore them apart?

  An hour later, the doctor emerged from the treatment area. He approached Olivia with an unreadable expression on his face. Luke stopped dead in his tracks, offering up one last prayer that was much too late to be of any help.

  Analise and Olivia stood as one. It was clear they were braced for the worst.

  “We’re waiting on a mobile CT scan to arrive. But by X-ray and my initial examination, I’d say you have one lucky young man in there.”

  A bit of the rigidity drained from both women’s postures. Luke held his own relief in check until he heard the rest.

  The doctor continued, “No broken bones. A slight concussion. Pretty bruised and scraped up, though.”

  Olivia’s eyes still held a mother’s worry when she asked, “Can we see him?”

  “Of course. Keep in mind, his face is bruised and he’s got about fifteen stitches in his head. It looks worse than it is.”

  Olivia nodded gravely, took Analise’s hand and followed the doctor toward the double doors. Dave looked like he wanted to follow. After a few seconds he ran a hand over his close-cropped hair and sat back down.

  Luke crossed his arms over his chest and started moving restlessly about the waiting area once again.

  Analise had thought she was prepared. But her first glance at Cole’s battered face caused the blood to drain from her head. Dizziness made her steps falter. Olivia’s hand squeezed hers.

  This is terrible, I should be supporting her.

  She drew a deep breath, forcing away the grayness that threatened to draw her into a full faint. When did she become such a wimp?

  Olivia went to one side of the bed, Analise the other. For a long moment, Analise kept her eyes on Olivia’s face, avoiding looking at Cole’s injuries.

  How did Olivia do it? She stepped up to Cole’s bedside with dry eyes and a calm expression on her face, the worry of the past hours completely masked with quiet confidence. Had her frequent dealings with tragedy somehow built up an inner strength that Analise still lacked?

  Analise mentally gave herself a kick in the ass. She had to be strong for Cole and Olivia—her family. Her thoughts flashed ever so briefly back to her recent confessions to Luke. It had felt so good, so right, to depend on him, to allow him to see her inner pain. If only he were here with her and Olivia now. . . .

  He could be. All she had to do was ask. She knew it as surely as she knew the sun was now rising outside these hospital walls. But indulging in her dependence on Luke would be a betrayal to Olivia. Calvin had only been gone five months—

  She realized both Olivia and Cole were looking at her. “I’m sorry, what?”

  Olivia said, “Cole said you should sit down. You do look pale.”

  Analise shook her head. “I’m fine.” Here was Cole, obviously in pain, and his mother worried sick, and they were concerned over her well-being. She was so ashamed. She drew in a deep breath and tried to find a calm place inside her.

  When Cole spoke again, it was with a broken voice, that of a child needing his mother. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  Analise’s chin trembled and a lump restricted her throat.

  Olivia put a hand on Cole’s brow, between the blue-black bruise and the recently stitched gash.

  He said, “How’s Travis?”

  “Oh, Cole.” Olivia sighed. “It was bad. He was trapped in the car. They haven’t brought him in yet.”

  At that Cole looked really frightened. “How long have I been here?”

  “Over an hour.”

  He turned his head away with a strangled sob.

  Analise couldn’t stand it. “I’m sure he’s going to be fine.”

  Cole said, in a whimper, “He’s dead.”

  “No!” Analise said quickly.

  Olivia gave her a stern look. “We don’t know yet.” She continued calmly, “Was he alone in the car?”

  Cole nodded and winced in pain.

  Analise saw Olivia’s eyes close briefly as she raised her face to heaven. “Thank goodness,” she whispered.

  A nurse came through the curtain. “I need to take him for another round of X-rays. I’ll let you know when he’s back.”

  “All right.” Olivia kissed Cole’s forehead. “We’ll be waiting.”

  Cole didn’t say anything, but swallowed hard. Analise knew he was afraid to open his mouth for fear of crying. She left the cubicle with Olivia, wishing that they’d not only taken Cole’s keys away from him, but had taken the wheels off the Jeep, too.

  They paused at the doors to the waiting area and watched the nurse wheel Cole’s bed in the other direction.

  A siren sounded, coming closer. Both women froze as it wound down just outside the emergency door. In a flurry of frenzied activity, a gurney crashed through the doors. Monitors beeped and blipped. Orders were shouted.

  Olivia clutched Analise’s forearm. “Travis.”

  Someone called out over the ruckus, “Lifeline is still sixteen minutes out.”

  “Shit.” That came from the emergency physician—a doctor who didn’t look much older than Cole. “Get that crash cart cycled up.”

  Analise stood in shocked horror. She couldn’t see the boy—just the blood. There was so much blood. How could someone survive losing that much blood? She watched as a bright red drop fell in slow motion from the soaked gurney and splattered on the white tile. The imagined splash of impact crashed and echoed in her mind.

  An alarm sounded.

  The activity exploded with new urgency.

  The nurse from the emergency desk came up behind Olivia and Analise. “Let me help you ladies out to the waiting area.”

  She gently turned them around and pushed open the swinging door.

  The last thing Analise heard as the door closed behind her was the doctor, who sounded more panicked than competent. “Where’s that damned chopper?”

  The sight that greeted her in the waiting room only disconcerted her further. Reverend Hammond had joined Luke and Dave. He quickly descended on Olivia and swept her off to a private corner.

  Analise stood there, just outside the emergency room doors, shaken and alone. Without Olivia, she had no place to anchor herself.

  It was hard to breathe. She should sit down, but she couldn’t make her feet move. Each time she blinked she saw a sea of blood.

  Then suddenly Luke was there, his arm around her and a calming voice in her ear. “It’s all right. Let’s step outside for a minute.”

  Her numb legs were of no use to her. She leaned heavily on Luke. He as much as carried her down the hall and out into the cool early morning air.

  “Just breathe.” He moved her away from the building, across the asphalt and into a grassy area. “That’s it. I’ve got you. I won’t let you go.” He sat them down on a concrete bench beneath a huge old magnolia. His hand went to the back of her head and pushed her forward. “Put your head down for a minute.” After a second he said, “Close your eyes. Smell it? There isn’t anything that smells like this time of day. The sun’s just coming up. Soon the heat of it will change ev
erything.”

  She breathed in the scent of moist earth, early morning mist and the fragrance of blooms about to burst. She didn’t know if the calming came from the earthy scents or from Luke’s soothing voice, but inch by inch, it crept over her. She wanted him to keep talking and never stop.

  He did stop, but he didn’t let her go. Pulling herself back to a sitting position, she rested her head on his shoulder. It felt so right, so natural, to lean on him—just as her confidences flowed easily from her lips when they were alone.

  “Better?” he finally asked.

  She was tempted not to admit it, for he might suggest they go back inside and she just wasn’t ready yet. “Some.”

  “Here it comes.” He pointed to the eastern horizon.

  Low over the trees, just above the sinking mists, the sky erupted into a blaze of unbelievable orange-pink that quickly faded into lavender, then slate as her eye traveled skyward. The last stars of morning were eclipsed by the new day. It was a breathtaking sight that happened every day and she couldn’t remember when she’d last taken the time to watch the transformation of night to day. “Wow.”

  Luke chuckled deep in his chest and squeezed her tight. “Very eloquent.”

  Smiling weakly, she turned her face to his.

  Dave’s voice cut sharply through the early morning quiet. “Olivia needs you inside!”

  All of her calm vanished in the blink of an eye. Her heart in her throat, she ran toward the building. As she hurried through the door with Luke right behind her, she heard the distant thumping of an approaching helicopter.

  “The sheriff’s here to talk to him,” Olivia said. She turned to Luke. “Cole wants you to be with him.”

  “Me?”

  Olivia cut him off. “It’s what he asked for. It’s a simple questioning to find out what happened. Will you do it?”

  Luke nodded. “All right.”

  He glanced at Analise. Although her eyes said she was hurt Cole had chosen him, her head nodded once in agreement.

  “Thank you,” Olivia said as solemnly as if Luke had agreed to champion the family in a duel.

  “Do we know anything more about Travis?” Analise asked.

  “Lifeline’s taking him up to Memphis.”

  “You’re sure Cole shouldn’t have an attorney instead?” Luke forced himself to bring up the possibility of legal charges. He looked pointedly at Dave.

  Olivia’s gaze followed Luke’s. Dave said, “No need. I’ve got it under control.”

  Olivia looked back to Luke. “Good enough for me.”

  The desk nurse called across the room to them, “The sheriff is ready.”

  Luke gave Olivia one last look, an opportunity to change her mind.

  She didn’t.

  The sheriff wasn’t the beefy southerner that Luke had expected. He was a wiry little whiplash of a man with thin, graying hair and a pencil-line mustache. He made Luke think of the old black-and-white movies he and Lily used to stay up late watching. He had kind brown eyes with laugh lines around them.

  “I’m Sheriff Smolek.” He extended his hand and Luke shook it. “Folks call me Smug. So that’ll be fine for this informal meeting.”

  “Luke Boudreau.”

  “I understand you served with Calvin.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Son, we’re country folk here. Smug will do fine.”

  Luke nodded.

  Smug turned his attention to Cole, whose head had been slightly raised by adjusting the bed. “All right, Cole, can you tell me what happened out there?”

  The boy’s worried eyes sought Luke’s. Luke could tell Cole had been given something for pain by the sluggish way he reacted.

  Luke gave a nod of encouragement and said, “Just take it slow.”

  “I-I drove by Darcy’s.” Cole’s speech matched his slow eye movement. “Travis’s car was there.” He licked his dry, swollen lips. “Could I have some water?”

  A nearby nurse said she’d check the orders. In a few seconds she returned holding a clear plastic glass filled with ice chips and a spoon. “Just take a few of these at a time,” she said as she handed the glass to Cole.

  “Thank you.” He took some ice, then licked his lips again. “I drove around for a little while. Then I circled back by Darcy’s and Travis was getting in his car.”

  The sheriff asked, “That’s Darcy Thayler, Bob’s daughter? Lives over on Jackson Street?”

  Cole nodded. “I stopped. I just wanted to talk to him. But he got in his car and peeled out.” He paused and took another ice chip; his hand holding the glass trembled. “I went after him.” He halted, looking at Luke, not the sheriff.

  Luke prompted, “Go on.”

  Cole stared at the wall for a second. “He pulled into the Dixie parking lot and got out. I did, too. I can’t remember exactly what we said, but it got ugly, there was some shoving. Then Travis punched me in the eye. I hit him in the gut. Doubled him over.” He paused. “And then I left. I was so mad. I knew if I stayed, I’d kick the living sh—daylights out of him.

  “I was on the other side of town, headed home, when I saw headlights come up behind me—really fast. And . . .” His voice faltered and his chin quivered.

  “And . . . ?” Luke said.

  “I sped up. I can’t really remember much after that. It all happened so fast. I think there was another car, coming at us. Then everything went nuts.”

  Luke prayed Cole was telling the truth—not that it looked like Travis would be contradicting his story anytime soon. The sheriff’s expression was unreadable.

  The sheriff said, “All right, son. You get some rest and we’ll talk later.”

  Cole looked at the sheriff directly for the first time since Luke had entered the room. “Was there another car?”

  Smug nodded.

  “W-was anyone else hurt?” The words were a sluggish whisper.

  “Thank the good Lord, no.” The sheriff nodded to Luke and left the cubicle.

  Luke said, “I’ll go get your mom.”

  Cole said, “Stay. Just for a while. Mom . . . Mom . . . I just can’t look at her anymore right now. If Travis . . .”

  “Shhh. We just have to wait. Close your eyes and let those drugs do their job.” Luke sat on the only chair in the cubicle and rubbed his knee, wishing he had a shot of something himself.

  Analise fell into a chair after Luke went back to sit with Cole.

  “Here, the caffeine will at least keep a headache away.” Dave handed her a cup of hot coffee, then he sat down in the chair that was at a ninety-degree angle to hers. With his long lanky legs, his left knee rubbed against her right.

  She doubted her stomach would tolerate it, but she sipped the coffee dutifully.

  Olivia perched on the edge of the chair on Analise’s left. “I’m going with the pastor to the chapel for a few minutes. Do you want to come?”

  Analise looked into her coffee, too ashamed to tell Olivia that she’d given up on praying because sometimes reckless prayers were answered. “I’ll wait here—just in case there’s a change.” She watched the two of them leave the area, the reverend’s hand on Olivia’s elbow. A bitter little thought bubbled to the surface of her mind: If it weren’t for the reverend, she doubted Olivia would be spending her time in the chapel. She’d be right here, in case Cole needed her.

  After a couple of minutes, Dave cleared his throat.

  When Analise looked at him, it was obvious something was on his mind. “What?”

  He looked uncomfortable and pressed his lips together. Then he shook his head. “It’s really not for me to say.”

  Her heart rate spiked. Had he learned something from the sheriff’s department that had to do with Cole? Had they found alcohol in the car? Or something worse? She sat up straighter and leaned slightly toward Dave. “Please, tell me,” she said quietly.

  He shifted in his seat and folded his bony hands between his knees. For a long moment, he just stared at his twisting fingers. Then he said, with obvi
ous hesitance, “I’m just worried about Miss Olivia. She’s had so much . . .”

  Relief inched its way into Analise’s muscles. Not more trouble for Cole. “We’re all worried about Liv.”

  Dave looked down the hall, then back at Analise. “That’s not what I mean. I—I just think maybe it’s a not a good idea for you to be carrying on with that army fella right under Olivia’s own roof. Calvin’s only been gone a few months.”

  She jerked herself up straight. “Carrying on! What are you talking about?”

  “I suppose it’s not really adultery—but Miss Olivia—”

  “Hold on a minute! Where did you get the idea that Luke and I . . . that we’re—”

  “Come on, now, Ana, I got eyes!” He glanced around, lowered his voice and pointed toward the outside exit. “There you two were, cuddled up on that bench outside for everyone in town to see.”

  She shot to her feet. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  He grabbed her hand and looked up at her. “Am I, Ana? This is a little town. Things will get back to Olivia. I just don’t think she can take any more disappointment and upset right now. Do you really want to hurt her that way?”

  Analise sat back down. She’d been vehement in her denial, but what had gone on in the garden last night had undoubtedly made her consider possibilities she shouldn’t have entertained for even the briefest second. She said, “Nothing’s going on. You don’t have to worry.” It was probably a good thing Dave had said something to bring her back to her senses before something did go on.

  “I believe you.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “We all just need to keep Miss Olivia forefront in our minds right now.”

  She nodded, knowing he was right and yet feeling as if something had been taken from her.

  It was nearly noon when they decided to admit Cole to a room in the hospital. Luke had spent the bulk of the morning with him. Analise wondered at the rela- tionship that was forming between them. She nipped the little sprout of jealousy as soon as it peeked out from the soil. It was natural for a boy Cole’s age to want a male role model with him at a time like this. And it didn’t seem to hurt Olivia’s feelings that Cole had chosen Luke over them.