Lather

by Nicki Rae

  He nods in agreement. The doctor waves for us to come back in the room.

  “How is he?” Logan asks.

  “Well, you definitely felt his hand moving, that’s a good sign. We are going to observe him closer this evening.”

  “So how soon will he wake up?” Logan asks him.

  “This is a gradual process, so I can’t technically answer that. Just know that we have been seeing test results that have given us hope of him waking soon. Since he is now moving, that could start progressing faster, but you just have to be patient with these situations.”

  I can see a bit of relief in Logan’s face.

  “Thank you, Doctor,” he says to him.

  We walk out to the hallway and Logan hugs me. It’s a lingering hug, like he just needed to hold me after the news the doctor just gave him.

  He takes his head off my shoulder and he looks at me, “This week is starting to look up.”

  Then he kisses me.

  “I am going to call my mom, I will be right back.”

  “Ok,” I say.

  While he is calling his mom, I take the opportunity to call my mom, as well. I find my phone in my purse and call her.

  “Hey mom,” I say when she answers.

  “Hi sweetheart, how is everything?”

  I instantly smile, which is something that I haven’t been doing enough.

  “Great, actually. Charles just moved his fingers a little, so they are thinking he is starting to wake up.”

  “That is wonderful news, sweetheart. Anything else you want to talk about?”

  “Everything is good, mom. Really good! You remember when I said that I may need your help with something?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well when I come to the house tonight, I would like to talk about it.”

  “Yeah, ok. I will be here.”

  “Great, see you then. Love you mom.”

  We hang up and I turn to find Logan. He is still on the phone, so I send Shay a quick text asking if they are coming to the hospital.

  *Logan*

  “Yeah, that’s great man. Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  I say as I turn to see Emily standing there. I hope she didn’t hear all of that; I want it to be a surprise.

  “Hey, Mom wants to come back, so I told Tyler that we would come and help him with her.”

  “Ok.” She says.

  We are walking out to the car and she says, “Can you drop me at my house for a bit before you come back to the hospital.”

  “Yeah, you need to pick something up?” I say.

  She shakes her head, “No, my mom needs help with something and I told her since everything seems to be ok, for right now, that I would come back for a while.”

  I feel like she isn’t telling me something but I don’t push her.

  “Yeah, ok. Just call me when you’re ready to come back.”

  “I can have my mom bring me, Logan. It really is no trouble. You need to be here, just in case.”

  I just nod my head.

  As we start driving, Emily looks over at me, “So, I was in your room yesterday.”

  “And?” I say.

  “And, I found a picture of me; I’m not sure how you got it? Care to elaborate?” I chuckle a little.

  “Well, when I was in your house that morning waiting to know whether or not you would talk to me, I saw it. You looked so carefree and happy, I had to have it.”

  She looks at me like I am crazy. “So, you stole a picture from my mother?”

  “I think Diane knows I took it”

  “I’ll ask her when I get home.”

  *Emily*

  We pull up to my house and before I get out of the car, I turn and kiss Logan. I know he thinks something is wrong.

  I turn his face to look at me.

  “Everything is ok, I promise” and I kiss him, deeply.

  I want him to believe me. I get out of the car. I step up on the porch and turn to look at him; he is still sitting there. He waves and I blow him a kiss. He pulls off and I walk in the house.

  My mom smiles at me when I walk in the kitchen, where she is cooking dinner.

  “What are you making? It smells delicious.”

  I look in the pan as I walk closer to the stove. She is making baked chicken and steamed veggies, my favorite.

  “So, what are we talking about?” she asks.

  “I thought a lot about what you said. I have forgiven Logan for what he has done and I want to do something to try to take his mind off what is going on with his parents. I know you know his parents land really well, since you used to play there as a kid. I was wondering if in the morning you could possibly get things set up for us to have a picnic?”

  My mom has sit down since I began talking and I thought it was because she was just listening to what I was saying but as I look more closely at her, I see that something is wrong. Instantly I am worried. My mom doesn’t usually show when she has something going on, so for her to let me see her emotion, it must be bad. I go over opposite her at the kitchen table.

  “What is wrong mom?”

  She looks down at her hands and I see a tear fall. I sit there waiting for her to tell me, when she doesn’t I get up and move around the table to give her a hug.

  She finally looks up at me and says, “Charles Moore was my first love.”

  I am in complete shock. I thought she was going to tell me she couldn’t pay the mortgage or something.

  “I have been worried sick about him. And I am just so relieved that he is ok.”

  She looks ashamed but continues to talk.

  “You know that your grandfather owned the Moore land previous to them. Well, Charles and I used to run all over that land before we were out of high school. I loved him with all my heart.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “We went off to school and grew apart. But I never stopped loving him. When I found out that he and Dee were getting married, I was heartbroken. That’s when I met your father; he said and did all the right things to help mend my broken heart at the time. I was so down that I didn’t see his bad side until it was too late.”

  I sit there a few minutes trying to take in everything she has just told me. I was completely wrong about how my mom would handle the news of what Logan did to me but now it all makes sense.

  “So all this time I thought you didn’t want me to end up with a guy like Dad, when actually, you didn’t want me to lose a guy like Charles?”

  “Yes. I know that you and Logan have had a rough start. I know that Logan acted like an ass but I know true love when I see it, and the two of you have it. That’s not something that you will get again.”

  My mother is the most amazing woman I know. I can see in her eyes that she clearly still loves Charles. Since Logan and I have been dating, we have had family get togethers on numerous occasions and she never batted an eyelash. She seemed happy and never said a word about being around him. She put my love for Logan before her own concerns.

  “I love you, Mom. I hope I am as strong as you are one day. And I understand what you are saying.”

  And I did. I know that Logan and I are going to be ok.

  “Anyway,” she says. “I think dinner is done.”

  And just like that, our moment is over.

  “What time shall I get your picnic together?”

  “Late afternoon, we will have to help Dee in the morning, I’m sure.”

  I feel a little differently about even saying Dee’s name, now that I know about Mom and Charles.

  My mom closes her eyes and shakes her head, “Please, don’t.”

  “What?” I ask.

  “Please don’t think differently of Dee. There was no cheating or anything like that; we truly grew apart. Dee and I have grown to be good friends.”

  It never fails to amaze me how my mother knows exactly what I am thinking.

  “I will try my best not to have different feelings toward her. Is Dee originally from this area?”


  “No, sweetheart. Charlie met her at Purdue. From what I understand, they had an instant attraction and never looked back. I will never forget the phone call.”

  “Di, how are you?”

  “What’s up Charlie, you haven’t called to chat in a long time?”

  “I can’t just call to say hey?”

  “Ok. Hey, Charlie, how is life treating you?”

  “Well, how nice of you to ask. I actually met someone and I wanted to be the first one to tell you.”

  “Ah. So we come to the reason for the call. How very noble of you to think of me.”

  “Di, it’s not like that. I just thought it would be better that you hear from me.”

  “I’m happy for you, Charlie. But really, you don’t have to inform me every time you start dating someone new.”

  “That’s the thing, though, Di. We aren’t just dating. I actually asked Dee to marry me over the weekend.”

  I walk around the table and hug my mother. She isn’t crying but I can see the sadness in her face.

  “I am so sorry mom. Were you broken up long before that happened?”

  “We broke it off when he left for school. He asked Dee to marry him over his Christmas break. So, you see, Emily. I admire the fact that you stuck with Logan because that is something that I could not do. Our situations almost mirror each other and I am hoping that your ending is a littler happier than mine.”

  I am not sure how to respond to that. I have forgiven Logan and we are going to work through our issues, so I believe that we will do just that. But my heart aches for my mother. It seems to me, no matter how much she denies it, that she is pining away for Charles.

  “I believe that Logan and I both are going to work very hard to make that happen.”

  Chapter 22

  *Emily*

  As we are finishing dinner, my phone rings, I look at the ID; it’s Logan. I look up at my mom and she smiles warmly at me and gets up to take our dishes to the sink.

  “Hello?” I answer.

  “Emily, you have to get to the hospital.” Logan says, with excitement in his voice.

  A few days ago, that call would have alarmed me but the tone of Logan’s voice excites me.

  “What’s going on, Logan?”

  “You’ll see when you get here, please just hurry!”

  “Ok, I will be there shortly.” I say to Logan as the line goes dead.

  I look over at my mom and she is leaning up against the counter waiting on some explanation.

  “Well?” she questions me.

  “Logan just told me that I needed to get to the hospital. He said I would see why when I arrived but he had excitement in his voice, so I can only hope that it is because of Charles.”

  She closes her eyes and a tear falls down her cheek; then, she shakes it away.

  “Well that sounds like great news; we better get you to the hospital.”

  I gather my things and we are out the door in no time. We drive in silence for most of the way when I have a thought.

  “Mom, do you want to come in the hospital?”

  I can see her thinking the scenario through. I know she still feels for Charles after all these years, I guess it may be awkward for her. But, either way, I would think she would still want to make sure he is ok.

  “Didn’t you say that you and Dee have become friends? You should go for support, if for nothing else.”

  As we pull up to the hospital, she still has not answered to me but she pulls into a spot instead of just dropping me off, so I know she has made her decision.

  We walk into the hospital and I direct her to Charles’ room. We turn the corner to where the waiting area is outside his room and I see Shay sitting there. She instantly gets up and hugs both my mother and me. I look around to see where everyone else is and see Logan, Tyler, and Dee all in the room with Charles, along with a Doctor.

  I turn back to Shay and ask what is going on.

  “Charles started moaning earlier. The doctor and nurses went in and he even opened his eyes.”

  I cup my hands over my mouth, “That is amazing news, Shay!”

  “I know I’m glad all three of them were here when that happened.”

  “When did that happen?” I ask her.

  “Not too long before Logan called you. When he started waking up, they wanted everyone but the staff out of the room so they could do testing on him; Logan must have called you then.”

  “Logan sounded so happy on the phone; I am just so glad that this is happening so quickly. The doctor made it sound as though it could take a long time before he woke up.”

  I turn to look at my mother and notice that she has walked over to the window of the room and is now staring inside. I start to walk over to her but then thought better of it. She needs this time, so I just stand there and watch. You can tell she is in deep though, and I wonder briefly if she is thinking about the times when they were younger. And then I think of Logan and my time together wondering around in the woods. I know that no matter what happens between us, they have been some of the greatest times of my life; I will never forget them.

  At that moment, she turns back to look at me.

  “Thank you for asking me to come but I should probably get going.”

  I just look at her for a moment before saying, “Are you sure? I don’t think Dee would mind you being here.”

  She just nods her head at me.

  “I think it is time for me to head out. I am glad to see that he is doing better but I need to go.”

  “Ok, well, let me walk you back to the car.”

  “No, Emily, Logan needs you in here. I will be perfectly fine to walk myself to the car.”

  I turn to Shay, “Tell Logan I will be right back, I am walking my mom out to the car.”

  She nods and walks over to my mother and hugs her. She is practically a second mother to Shay, so I know that the embrace means just as much for her as it does my mother.

  I link my arm in my mother’s and we walk through the hospital to the parking lot.

  “Emily, you didn’t have to walk out here with me.”

  “It’s fine, Mom, I wanted to ask how you are after seeing Charles and I didn’t know how you would feel about me asking in front of Shayla. Plus, it’s getting dark out here and I didn’t want you walking by yourself.”

  “I am glad to see that he has a family that loves him and I am glad that he is finally coming around.” I smile at her.

  “Looks like you have peace with the situation?”

  “Emily, it has been twenty years and we both have grown children, for heaven’s sake. Of course I am ok with the situation.”

  She kisses me on the cheek and says, “Now, you get back in there with the rest of your family.”

  I stand there and watch as she gets in the car and drives away.

  I turn to walk back in the hospital but hear someone calling my name. I turn to see who it is and before I see anything, I feel a cloth put over my mouth. I try to struggle against whoever has me but I can’t. All too quickly, everything turns black.

  *Logan*

  I look at my watch; I was for sure Emily would be back before now. I look up at the window and see Shayla waving at me to come out there. All of a sudden, I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. I tell my mom that I will be back in just a second.

  I walk to the hallway, “What’s going on? Has Emily gotten here, yet?”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. She went to walk Diane out to the car as she was leaving and she hasn’t come back in. Has she texted you?”

  I pull out my phone, hoping that I just missed the message.

  Nothing.

  I look back to Shay and say, “No, I don’t have any messages. Have you called Diane? How long has it been since she went to outside?”

  “I tried once but she must have still been driving because she didn’t answer. And it has probably been twenty minutes or so.”

  I don’t want to freak Diane out if Emily has just dec
ided that she needed to go to the bathroom or get something to drink.

  “Tell Tyler what is going on, but tell him not to tell my mom, just in case; I’m going to look around the hospital for her. I’m sure she just stopped at the café or gift shop.”

  “Ok,” she says.

  I try not to get myself worked up but after calling and texting her multiple times and her not answering, it is becoming more difficult. I get to the café; I look around but don’t see her. I see an employee cleaning tables and I walk over to her. I pull out my wallet and show her the picture of Emily that I have.

  “Has this girl been in here in the last half an hour or so?” I ask her.

  She examines my picture and shakes her head, “No, I’m sorry. I have not seen her in here.”

  “Is there anyone else in here that I can ask?”

  She looks back behind the counter. “Tim is back there, if you go up to the counter and ring the bell, he should come out.”

  “Thank you.”

  I walk over and ring the bell. I stand there, getting more anxious as more time goes on that Emily isn’t calling or texting me back.

  Tim finally comes to the counter; he flips a greasy towel over his shoulder. “Can I help you?”

  I show him her picture. He, too, scans it and shakes his no.

  I go through the same routine at the gift shop; she hasn’t been in there. I check all the bathrooms on the way back to the room. I gave a few ladies a heart attack as I was running in the ladies room. I run outside. I do a quick survey of the lot; I don’t see her in the immediate area. I run over to my truck, nothing. Ok, I am really starting to flip. I decide that it is finally time to call Diane. I dial her number. It rings a couple times and she picks up.

  “Hello?”

  “Diane, is Emily with you?”

  “No, I left her at the hospital. Is she not there?”

  “I don’t want to alarm you but Shay said that once she went to walk out with you, she never came back in.”

  “Have you checked the hospital, she may have gone to the café?”

  “I have been going crazy looking everywhere. I am surprised that I haven’t been arrested. I have searched this entire hospital, Diane. She isn’t here.”

  I hear the fear in her voice.

  “Logan, you have to find her.”