Oh, my sweet baby girl and her big heart. Landry didn’t understand, so I explained what it meant to be under the rainbow.
“I don’t think she can ever be under one if nobody ever teached her about them.” Easton stared at Landry with huge eyes.
“Do you even know how sweet you are?” he asked.
She just stared at him. “But Uncle Landry, rainbows and oonicorns are for everyone. Maybe this will help the lady not be so mean.”
“Can I have a hug?” he asked.
“Yup.”
He knelt down and she hugged him.
“Thank you for taking me to ride Sally again. Next time I’ll bring her carrots. And I don’t want a horse no more. They make too much poop.”
“Didn’t think you would. It’s pretty stinky.”
Easton pinched her nose and nodded.
“Thanks, Landry. Next week?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ll text you.”
We got in the car and drove home. The winding road was deserted, as usual, since it was private, but the day was sunny and perfect. I wasn’t a fast driver, but as I drove, I thought of Tristian and Dad and wondered how they were faring,
As I went into the next curve, I hit the brakes, but the car didn’t respond. I hit them again and nothing. My car wasn’t old. Mom and Dad had bought it for me about a year ago and I’d kept up the maintenance. Dad had been adamant I had to have an SUV because of Easton. He was a stickler for vehicle safety and preached it all the time. My speed was around forty, but without brakes, it wasn’t good. I hit the emergency brake and that didn’t slow us down either. I clenched the steering wheel, knuckles turning white, as an overload of panic hit. Terror filled me when I thought of Easton in the back seat. My heartbeat drummed in my ears as an adrenaline surge took hold. I didn’t dare blink for fear I’d completely lose control. Think, English, think, my mind shouted. A miracle came in the form of a memory. I did something I’d read about. I put the car in neutral to separate the engine from the wheels. If I could maintain control, eventually the car would slow down as long as we didn’t come to any hills.
My phone was in the side pocket of my purse so I fumbled for it with a shaky hand and finally pulled it out. I stabbed 911 and explained my location and what was happening. The operator on the other end had to clarify a few times because my voice was trembling so much.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Easton cried out from the back seat. Had I pulled her buckle tight? Oh, God, I couldn’t remember.
“Everything will be fine.” Was I reassuring her or both of us? I wanted to believe it with my whole heart. If anything happened to my precious daughter, I couldn’t go on.
And everything would’ve been fine and this episode would’ve ended without incident, except another car came flying toward me, running me off the road. It happened so fast, I couldn’t think or even react. There was nothing to stop the impact and I went down into a ravine, struck a tree, and flipped. Darkness claimed me as Easton screamed.
Chapter Forty-Four
Tristian
The jungle where we stayed was amazing. It teemed with incredible wildlife, of which I took thousands of photos. I thought of Easton as I snapped pics of the red-shanked douc, an incredible species of monkey with a face resembling a flame. Then there were the lemurs and the pygmy slow loris, which we saw at night. It was adorable and I knew Easton would love it. The birds were especially beautiful and we got the photos we had come here to get, including those of the Japanese paradise flycatcher.
The only drawback was it was hot as fuck, with temperatures soaring into the high nineties and matching humidity making it oppressive. It didn’t matter what I wore, my clothes were glued to my skin when I walked outside of our treehouse. Thank God it had air-conditioning. It wasn’t the kind you typically found in the States, but at least it cooled the place to a decent temperature where we could sleep without soaking the sheets.
It was truly a paradise, minus the heat, and after ten days we completed what we set out to do and headed for our next destination, the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve. It wasn’t too far from here, and we’d make the trip by boat.
The only major drawback was I still hadn’t spoken to English. “Beck, how can you stand it?”
“Stand what?”
“Not speaking to your wife?”
“Yeah, that’s the tough part. I remember shortly after we were married, I took a trip to Tierra del Fuego and was out of contact for a while. It was awful. I wasn’t able to speak to Sheridan or English. I vowed it would be a cold day in Hell before I did that again.”
“I get that. It’s terrible.”
“Four more days and we’ll be back in civilization.”
“I can’t wait.”
“The reserve is supposed to have an internet connection we can use. At least we’ll be able to email them.”
We packed our gear and, with the assistance of our guides, carried it down the long and narrow steps to the jungle floor. They piled it onto a rickety cart and we went to the river where a boat waited. We would ride it up to the reserve and disembark there.
“How did you know about all this?” I asked Beck. It had been quite an undertaking.
“Photography groups. I’m in several of them and we exchange helpful travel tips.”
“I wondered because this is totally off the beaten track.”
“It is, and they also help with English-speaking guides.”
They were necessary here. Vietnamese wasn’t a language you could figure out or translate by yourself.
The boat ride was picturesque. Mountains loomed up on either side of us as we chugged down the winding river toward the coast. Lush greenery made for a rich background as I shot the boat pilot in the forefront. I had no idea how I’d ever process all these photos when I got home. In the evenings, I deleted the ones that didn’t speak to me, but I was left with thousands. That didn’t include the ones Beck took.
Travel took most of the day, but we arrived at our next destination before dusk. The check-in office was closed, but they’d left a key with instructions on where we were staying. It was a fairly nice structure, similar to a cabin, but upgraded. We unpacked and our guides went in search of food, but came back empty-handed. Everything was closed. Luckily, we had energy bars so we ate those for dinner.
In the morning, we walked to the main office, or what you would call it. It was rather primitive, but had what was needed.
We were greeted by the friendly staff, and our translator accompanied us. Several messages awaited us, some for Beck and some for me.
When I read the first one, I shouted Beck’s name.
“What?”
“It’s English and Easton. They were in a car accident.”
He rifled through his messages until he found the same one I’d received. “Shit. We have to leave.”
“How soon can we get out of here?” I asked.
He asked the translator and they went to work on getting us out of there, with the aid of the staff. The fastest we could get back to Hanoi would be two days.
“Two days?” I asked.
“I’m sorry. That’s the best we can do. You are in a remote part of the reserve and boats with motors don’t often come here.”
“What about a charter? Can’t we call someone? Or what about a water plane? This is an emergency.” Beck’s urgency must’ve gotten through to them.
The translator spoke with the staff again. We didn’t know what they said. Then one of them got on a landline and after some shouting and who knew what, we were told a family would take us to the next town back downriver. From there, we’d get a train to Hanoi and catch a flight back to the States.
My feet stirred up the dust outside our quarters as I paced and a thousand wasps stung my gut.
“Okay, you have to calm down,” Beck said.
“I knew it. I had this horrible feeling when I left. It bothered me all the way here.”
“You can’t control everything, Tristian.”
“How can you be so calm?”
“It’s a fucking façade, but we can’t do a thing until we get home.”
“I don’t know how you do it.”
“Age helps, I suppose.”
Time inched by until that family showed up. They brought two canoe-type boats we crammed our bags into and pushed off. Two men paddled us down the river. Unfortunately, we had to leave our translators behind because there wasn’t room for them.
The boat ride was quiet as we couldn’t converse with them and we were each in a different boat. I couldn’t stop checking my watch and prayed Easton and English were okay.
We made it to the next village. I doubted a train would even stop here. It was so small, it didn’t seem train-worthy. However, after the men located carts that they piled our bags onto, we followed them to a train station. It wasn’t exactly what we were used to, but as long as a train going to Hanoi stopped there, we were good with it.
When the train arrived, we were surprised how nice it was. I’d assumed it would be like the local European ones, but it was nice. The men helped us load our bags, and we paid them well for their help. It took all my self-control to remain seated. The urge to run up and down the aisle was overwhelming.
Beck grabbed my bouncing knee. “You have to stop.”
“Sorry. Sitting is killing me.”
“Your fidgeting is killing me.”
The train station in Hanoi was insane. People rushed everywhere and it took us a while to locate the information stand. We were informed on where to go for a taxi. By the time we got to the airport, we’d missed all outgoing flights to the States for the night, but we got seats on the first one out the next day.
We checked into a hotel by the airport, but I didn’t sleep all night. The good thing was we were able to call Sheridan.
Beck did that duty and put his phone on speaker. When she answered, she said, “Thank God! I wondered when we’d hear from you.”
I let Beck do the talking.
“We just got in from the hinterlands and are flying out in the morning. How are they?”
Sheridan cleared her throat. “Easton is fine. She has a broken arm, but is doing well.”
“What about English?” Beck asked. All I heard was her breathing. “Sheridan? What’s going on?”
“They put her in an induced coma. She has a head injury and they won’t know the extent of it until she becomes conscious.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Tristian
Every cell in my body froze. I couldn’t swallow, and then an awful ache hit the back of my throat. I fell to the chair and rocked back and forth, hugging myself like a child. Get a hold of yourself, my brain screamed. Only Sheridan’s words kept circling in my head.
How could English be in a coma? She was so young and full of life. This wasn’t real. I pinched the flesh under my arm until a bruise would show up tomorrow. It wasn’t a nightmare. I was fully awake because that pinch had hurt like hell. Then I wondered why my jaws ached only to realize my teeth were clenched together.
Beck came over and said, “Now is the time for your faith to kick in. She’s young and strong, Tristian. You have to believe in that.”
I nodded, but my thoughts pinged elsewhere. “We can take her anywhere. Get her the best doctors she needs.”
His hand landed on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Let’s take it one day at a time.” He walked to the room’s minibar and poured us each a drink. I wasn’t sure my stomach could handle anything at the time. Waves of nausea rolled through it.
I prayed and bargained with God. “Please, I’ll do anything if you heal her.” Then I thought of every sin I’d committed in my life. Was this punishment for all my wrongdoings? But why take it out on her? English was innocent. She had suffered enough dealing with those hateful McLures. Why was this added to her pot of misery?
“You’re overthinking.” I jerked at the sound of Beck’s voice. “There was nothing you could’ve done to prevent it.”
“If I hadn’t been so selfish about coming here, I would’ve been there and maybe I could’ve stopped it.”
“Tristian, don’t be crazy. You don’t have the ability to see into the future. Beside, this was a work trip. It wasn’t selfish of you to come with me.”
“It was,” I argued. “I’d always wanted to come and it was a trip of a lifetime to come with you. You know how being associated with you will raise the level of my name in the photography world.”
“I can’t argue that. However, let me point out that I hired you to travel and do photoshoots like this, so what you’re saying is ridiculous. If you honestly believe that, then you’ll never travel again.”
That thought had occurred to me already, only I hadn’t mentioned it. Leaving English wasn’t something I cared to do again. The idea of it hadn’t sat well earlier, and now, after what happened, I wouldn’t even consider it.
“You can’t be serious.” Beck stared at me as though I’d lost my mind. “You can’t be English’s keeper. I understand you want to be protective of her, but if she could hear you right now, she’d kick your ass.”
“Maybe, maybe not. We’ll have to see. That is if she’s able to ever speak again.”
“How can you even say that? You haven’t seen her and you don’t know the outcome. They won’t even know until they bring her out of the coma. They’re allowing her brain to heal.” When I didn’t answer, he shook his head. “Of all the reactions, I never expected this from you.”
I stared him down. “She’s your daughter and you’re acting as though you don’t care.”
His blue-green eyes turned frosty, reminding me of English’s. “That was a hit below the belt. I love my daughter more than words. But I am trying to be positive. You’re acting like there is no hope for her whatsoever, and that is a terrible way to look at things. I never took you for such a doom-and-gloom kind of man.”
His words gave me the punch in the face I needed. A loud sigh wheezed out of me. “Hey, man, I’m sorry. You’re right. I am being overly negative. The thing is, when I left her, a sense of dread hit me that was impossible to shake. Maybe it was foreboding. I don’t know. Anyway, I need to get a better attitude about this.”
“Yeah, you do.”
We didn’t say much more that night. He was worried, only he did better at hiding it than me. In the morning, we rode to the airport and boarded the plane.
On the way over here, I hadn’t been happy about the long hours spent aboard the plane, but going home was different. I ticked off each hour as it took me closer and closer to my girl. No, not my girl, my wife. I spent the hours loading the photos on my laptop and deleting the duplicates.
I fell asleep a time or two, but woke with a start as I knew I’d be home soon. Beck and I didn’t sit together, since it was a last-minute reservation. We hadn’t gotten first-class seats either, and I didn’t care. All I wanted and needed was to get home.
At last, we landed in San Francisco. Only one final stretch to go. We called Sheridan and there were no new updates. Going through customs took a while, making our connection time short.
The final leg of the journey was spent doing the same thing I’d done before. The photos were spectacular, though I deleted about half of them as they were duplicates. I was excited for English to see them and was sure she would, even if it wasn’t right away.
When we touched down, I nearly clapped. Beck looked over at me and said, “We made it.”
“Finally.”
We raced to baggage claim, only to stand and wait. When our bags dropped, we got someone to help as we went to hail a cab. Then we were off.
“Your place or mine?” Beck asked.
“How about mine and I’ll drop you at yours? I plan on staying at the hospital for a while so we’ll both need our cars.”
“Fine with me.”
We were dropped off at English’s house and, after dumping my bags, we loaded Beck’s into my car and I dropped him off at his place. Then
I drove straight for the hospital. When I got to the ICU floor, I saw Sheridan and Stacey in the waiting room. They both stood when they saw me.
“Hey, can you give me an update?”
“She’s the same. You’ll be able to go in soon. They have those weird visiting hours up here. You can only stay for thirty minutes at a time,” Sheridan said as she hugged me.
I asked, “How did this happen?”
“Her brakes went out and then someone ran her off the road. She’d already called 911 before the accident because she knew she was in trouble. Or that’s what we were told from dispatch.”
“Jesus.”
“Tristian, there’s something else you should know. It happened on the way home from Easton’s riding lesson on the same road your father’s accident occurred.”
My heart fell. This was no accident. Someone had tampered with her car.
Chapter Forty-Six
English
A fog surrounded me, making coherent thought impossible. I heard lots of different sounds, but couldn’t see or speak. It was the strangest dream and it was endless, on a loop, cycling constantly.
Until one day the loop began to form a straight line. My mom was there. Her soothing voice told me I was safe. Then I heard her call someone doctor. Was I in a hospital somewhere? Why couldn’t I remember? I’d dreamed about a crash, tires screeching, metal scraping, and someone screaming. Had that been me?
But that was no dream. Memories flooded me. I’d been in an accident. A car crash. I remembered the car rolling, but then nothing. Was I okay?
I opened my eyes. Tristian was there, sitting, holding my hand. “English? English, it’s me, Tristian. Nod if you understand.”
I nodded my head up and down. Why couldn’t I speak?
He ran out of the room and returned with a nurse. Machines were everywhere and that scared me.
“Mrs. Baines, I’m Katie, your nurse. Don’t be frightened. You’ve been in an induced coma from an accident you were in but we brought you out of it. You can’t talk because you’re on a ventilator helping you breathe. We’ll get you off of that soon. Nod if you understand.”
For The Love of Easton : A Single Parent Romance and Sequel to For The Love of English Page 23