“I think you’re right,” her mother said. “I feel like my bones are creaky after spending the night in this chair.”
Her mother kissed her father and then hugged Jamie. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.
Jamie spent the day with her father. They watched daytime shows that neither had ever seen, and the news. Around noon, her father’s lunch of lean chicken breast, broccoli, and a roll arrived. Her father ate it, but he wasn’t happy with it.
“Jamie,” he said. “I can’t eat this stuff forever.” She assured her father that he would have good meals in his future.
Dr. Little came in right after lunch to talk to her father and to Jamie. He told them that her father could go home the next day and urged her father to follow a cardiac diet and take his medications.
“Anything that’ll get me out of here, doc,” her father said.
Her mother returned to the hospital that afternoon and Jamie went back to the house. “There’s some tuna casserole in the fridge,” her mother said. “It needs to be eaten.”
Jamie headed for the refrigerator as soon as she got back to the house. She found the tuna casserole and put a heaping amount on a plate and microwaved it. It was steaming when she got it out. She sat down at the kitchen table and put the first bite in her mouth. So creamy. It was the taste of her childhood. She was home again. She was loved and protected again.
For the second night in a row, Jamie went upstairs to her childhood bedroom. She changed into her gown and sat on the bed to call Nate. He must be worried about her and she had been out of touch. He answered right away.
“How’s your father?” he asked.
“He’s doing fine,” she said. “It was a mild event. He’s getting out of the hospital tomorrow.”
“That’s a relief,” he said. Jamie was touched that Nate would be so worried about her father, a man he had never met and knew nothing about.
“I’m going to stay here a few days to make sure he’s okay,” she said.
“Of course,” Nate said.
“Have you told them about us?” he asked.
“Not yet. I haven’t had a chance to, everything’s been so busy with the hospital and doctors and stuff. I’m going to tell them when Dad gets back home and things are more normal.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Nate said. “I hope I get to meet them soon.”
“I want you to meet them,” Jamie said. “You need to meet them because I love them so much. They’re so important to me.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said.
“I haven’t been good to them,” Jamie said. She started to cry.
“I don’t believe that,” Nate said.
Jamie was going to have to tell Nate about everything. If she was going to marry him, then he deserved to know the truth of her past. What had happened to Tommy. How it had changed who she was.
“When I get back, I’ll tell you all about it,” Jamie said. “I miss you right now. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Jamie. Whatever it is you have to tell me, I’ll understand.”
Jamie went back to the hospital the next morning around ten. Her father was out of the bed and dressed to go home. Her mother was putting clothes in a plastic bag.
“You ready to go home, Dad?” Jamie said.
“Been ready,” he said.
Jamie could see that her mother was exhausted from spending two nights in the hospital in an uncomfortable chair that supposedly made a bed. She would need to take care of both of her parents when they got back home.
The nurse finally came in with discharge instructions for her father. An attendant rolled in a wheelchair, which her father said he didn’t need, but Jamie convinced him to sit in anyway. She walked to the elevator with her father while her mother got her car. When they got downstairs at the back entrance of the hospital, her mother was waiting. The attendant helped her father into the car.
“I’ll see y’all back at the house,” Jamie said.
When the three of them were standing in the living room for the first time in a dozen years, Jamie insisted her mother get some rest. She went into the master bathroom and ran a bubble bath for her mother.
“I’m going to take care of you two for a while,” Jamie said. “I’ll get lunch and I’ll make supper, too. Something Dad will like.”
Her father was sitting in his recliner watching television when Jamie went back to the living room. Jamie brought him a glass of iced tea, then checked the refrigerator for lunch. She was going to have to get her father on a low carb, low fat diet. He wasn’t going to like it. There wasn’t much to choose from, but Jamie found whole wheat bread and sliced turkey in the fridge. She made her father a sandwich and went light on the mayonnaise. She added lettuce so he would feel like he was crunching down on something. The cabinets had an array of soups, but they all had a lot of sodium, which Jamie was trying to avoid. The sandwich would have to do. She added a dill pickle to the side.
“Thanks, hon,” her father said when she sat the plate on a TV tray and pulled it close to him. He took a bite of the sandwich and didn’t complain. That was a miracle.
Jamie went to check on her mother, and found her fast asleep on the bed. She hadn’t even gotten under the covers. Jamie found a light blanket in an armoire against the far wall and laid it over her mother.
When her mother got up, Jamie decided she would go to the grocery store and buy essentials for a new cardiac patient who had had a wake-up call. She would prepare their food, and when she left, they would have food in the freezer. Jamie wanted to be a good daughter now. She had let them down.
Her mother wandered into the living room while Jamie and her father were watching “Jeopardy.” Her father was getting all the right answers.
“I feel so much better,” her mother said. “Like a new person.”
“I’m going to the store to get some groceries,” Jamie said. “You can relax. I’m going to make supper.”
At the store, Jamie got a whole chicken, boneless chicken breasts, salmon filets, tuna packed in water, lentils, whole wheat noodles, more whole wheat bread, two types of lettuce, and fresh broccoli and cauliflower. She also grabbed two bottles of red wine and one of white, and a six-pack of light beer. Her father would want that.
While she was checking out with a full basket, someone behind her said, “Jamie?”
She turned. The woman’s face that looked at her was older than the last time she had seen it more than twelve years earlier. It was a face that had known sorrow, and it was forever etched on her features.
“Mrs. Grisham!” Jamie said. Tommy’s mother. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” she said, hollowly. “How are you doing? I didn’t think you’d ever be back here again.”
Jamie cringed with remorse again. She had left her family and Tommy’s, too. They probably needed her too, somehow, but Jamie had been too wrapped up in her own grief to recognize that.
“I live in the mountains now,” Jamie said. “I’m a doctor.”
“I heard that,” Tommy’s mother said.
“How is the family?” she asked.
“Bill and Susan are both in college, Bill in Nashville and Susan in Knoxville. I have an empty nest now.”
Why did she say “I” and not “we”? Jamie was afraid to ask.
“How is Mr. Grisham?” she asked.
“He died last year,” Mrs. Grisham said. “Heart attack. And so young, too. I’m alone in the world now.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jamie said touching Mrs. Grisham’s arm.
“I’ve learned that life is about loss,” she said. That made Jamie so sad.
“My father died the year after Tommy,” she continued. “Mama moved into the house with us, but she didn’t last very long. She missed Daddy.”
“I’m sorry,” Jamie said again. She had loved Tommy’s grandparents, and they had loved her, too.
The checker finished with Jamie’s purchases, which were bagged up and waitin
g in a shopping cart. Mrs. Grisham had already placed her groceries on the belt. It wasn’t much—frozen dinners and cans of soup, as far as Jamie could tell. Tommy’s mother only had herself to feed.
“Come see me,” she said as Jamie moved away.
“Okay,” Jamie said. “It was so good to see you.” She waved before she turned to her basket and walked out of the grocery store to her car. She thought she might have to go see Mrs. Grisham, as painful as that visit would be. The woman had lost all of the spark in her life. She had lost her reason for living. Jamie could identify with that.
When she got back home, Jamie broiled the salmon and made steamed broccoli and brown rice. She set the dining room table with the good china and called her parents to supper.
“Is that salmon?” her father said sitting down in his chair. “I haven’t had that in a long time.”
“Yes, it’s salmon,” Jamie said. “I think you’ll like it. Here’s some lemon you can squeeze over it.”
Everyone got a lemon wedge from the china plate and squeezed it over their salmon. They ate without talking for a few minutes. Jamie felt a little awkward. She hadn’t sat at that dining table for so long. It had been the place of many happy memories and meals. Holiday meals and special occasions. Like the night she and Tommy announced their engagement. It had been at that table. They had eaten lasagna that night, on the same dishes. Jamie wondered if the plate she was eating from was the one Tommy had that night.
“Honey,” her father said. “This is delicious. Maybe this diet won’t be so bad after all.”
“I think you’ll manage,” Jamie said. “And it’s not like you can never have anything good again. Just in moderation.”
“I can do that,” her father said.
After supper, Jamie loaded the dishwasher and scrubbed the pans. She was so tired. She had plans for the next day.
“You go on to bed, honey,” her mother said. “You look exhausted.”
“Okay,” she said. “I am tired.”
Her mother brushed her hair back from her face. “I sort of miss your long hair, but I like it shoulder-length, too. It’s so dark and shiny.”
Jamie hugged her mother. “I got it from you,” she said before she went to her bedroom. She called Nate as soon as she shut the door and sat on her bed.
“My dad’s home from the hospital,” she told him. “He’s doing very well. I’m trying to introduce a new way of eating to him.”
“He’s probably not liking that too much,” Nate said. “I’ve seen it a lot of times. They miss the fried foods the most.”
“He’s not complaining too much,” she said. “I made salmon tonight and he liked it. I’m going to cook some things tomorrow for them to have after I’m gone.”
“When are you coming back?” Nate asked.
“I think I’ll stay until Sunday,” she said. That would be three days from then.
“I don’t know if I can stand it!” Nate said. But he laughed. “I know you want to do this—you need to do this—for your parents. I understand. But I do miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” she said. “More than I can say.”
Jamie fell asleep as soon as she ended her call with Nate. She went into the kitchen early the next morning, before her parents were even up, and put the whole chicken in a big pot to boil. She chopped onions, carrots, and celery and put them aside in a bowl. When the chicken was done, she pulled it out of the hot water and put it on a tray to cool. That’s when her mother walked in.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mom,” Jamie said. “I’ve been so busy, I didn’t make coffee. Let me get that going.”
“I can do it,” her mother said, taking the carafe and filling it with water. Her mother measured the coffee into the filter and poured the water in. The rich smell of coffee filled the house in a few minutes.
“Is that coffee I smell?” her father said in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Yes,” Jamie said, laughing. “You go watch the news. I’ll bring you some breakfast.”
Jamie cooked some turkey sausage in a skillet while her mother made scrambled eggs with the olive oil margarine Jamie had bought at the store. When the whole-wheat toast popped out of the toaster oven, Jamie spread it with the margarine and sugar free jam. She made all of them plates of sausage, eggs, and toast and set them on the TV trays. Her mother poured cups of coffee for everyone, and they watched an early-morning talk show while they ate.
“I’ve got to get back to my cooking,” Jamie said when they were finished. She cut up the cooled chicken and started a pot of chicken noodle soup, using half of the broth she had made. She added half of the onions, celery, and carrots to the pot. When they were cooked, she added whole-wheat noodles. Her father would never know the difference.
Then she started a pot of lentil soup, using the broth and vegetables, and adding a can of cut up tomatoes. She seasoned it with some oregano and dried basil.
“I’m going to let these soups cool down before I put them in containers,” Jamie said. “You can eat any of it, of course, before then. I think I’ll take a walk while it cools down.”
“Honey,” her father said. “If it took me having a heart attack for you to come back home, then it was worth it.”
Jamie felt tears sting her eyes. It had taken a heart attack to get her home again. She was going to make it up to her parents.
“Before I go outside,” Jamie said, “I want to tell you something. I’m engaged.”
“Engaged?” her mother said. “To who?”
“To Dr. Abbott at the clinic. Well, Nate. I don’t call him Dr. Abbott.” She blushed feeling a little foolish.
Her mother got off the couch and her father stood up from his recliner. They both walked over to her and gave her a hug.
“We’re happy for you, little girl. We just want you to be happy,” her father said.
Jamie cried softly as her parents encircled her with their arms.
“Thanks,” she said. “He’s the first person I’ve met since Tommy that I want to marry.” She held out her left hand to show them the sapphire ring.
“That’s gorgeous!” her mother said. “I can’t believe I haven’t noticed it.”
“You’ve had other things on your mind,” Jamie said.
After a moment, Jamie said, “I guess I’ll take that walk now.” Jamie could see that her mother and father were both teary-eyed. Her father towered over her—he was well over six feet—and her mother was shorter than her. Her father turned his face so she wouldn’t see his emotion. She vowed that she would be the best daughter anyone could hope for. She was strong now, and it was because of Nate. She felt she could face anything now, even the walk she was about to take.
Chapter Seven
The screen door shut behind her as she walked out onto the back porch. She glanced to the right and saw that her mother had planted a garden. Not the huge garden she had grown when Jamie was growing up, but a garden with tomatoes and squash, eggplant and cucumber and green beans. All good vegetables for her father to eat on his new diet.
She walked through the yard, then the pasture, and headed for the opening in the woods. It was the beginning of the path that led straight to Tommy’s house. She stepped through the opening and started walking. It was very overgrown now and Jamie had to move overhanging bushes and branches to proceed. But the path itself was clear and unchanged. It had been there for a long time. Tommy had said the Indians made the path. Soon, she saw the lake to her left, the lake that was jointly owned by her family and Tommy’s family.
After about three minutes of walking, Jamie stopped. She had arrived at the center point of the lake. The afternoon sun shone down on the lake. The willow tree draped its branches in the water. She walked down to the lake, then moved the willow branches and bent over to crawl into the overhang. She sat down on the dirt floor of the cave, because it was like a cave. The large flat rock that Tommy had put the blanket under was still there.
Jamie crawled over and moved the rock. The plastic
bag was still there. Inside was the brown blanket that Tommy had put there so many years ago. The blanket they had made love on so many times.
It was hot and humid in the May afternoon, but Jamie pulled the blanket out and put it around her shoulders. She smelled the blanket, expecting it to be musty, but it wasn’t. She sat and looked at the willow branches covering the entrance to the overhang. It was a cozy, private place. She felt all of her old feelings about Tommy that she had tried to push away over the years. But she needed to feel those feelings. She needed to make peace with everything before she married Nate.
“Tommy, why did you have to die?” she said out loud. “Why did you leave me?”
Jamie dropped the blanket from her shoulders and laid it flat behind her. She lay down on it. Her eyes were heavy. She kept trying to keep them open, but she couldn’t. She was drowsy in the May afternoon, and finally her eyes shut and didn’t open again.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Jamie sat straight up from the blanket, gasping. The afternoon was turning into twilight and she needed to get back home. Her hair brushed her arms, but she didn’t notice that right away. She would very soon.
She carefully folded the blanket and put it back in the plastic bag. She lifted the rock and placed the bag under it. The willow branches covered most of the entrance to the overhang, but she could see the late afternoon sun glinting on the lake. She pushed the braches aside and stepped out.
As she walked away, she felt a sting of pain in her scalp. When she turned around, she could see her long dark hair caught in the willow branches. Her heart began to pound and she thought it would explode in her chest. She didn’t have long hair anymore, but there it was, caught in the branches.
She looked down and saw she was wearing jeans and a gauzy blue shirt that looked familiar. What the hell is going on? she asked herself. She must be in a dream, a very real dream. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened them, she was still wearing her old high school clothes and her hair was still tangled in the willow tree. She pulled her hair around in front of her and carefully removed it from the branch.
Come Down In Time (A Time Travel Romance) Page 6