Hudson

by Shayne McClendon

  Someone like Gabriella would especially stand out.

  She went out of her way to notice people, to connect to those around her, to insert herself in their minds…and in their memories.

  The shock of the truth he simply knew came before the vision of Gabriella lying crumpled in the middle of the intersection as paramedics worked over her with rapid efficiency.

  He shoved his panic down hard, ignored the automatic reaction to go to her, and took in the conversations around him. He watched and listened to the people who’d witnessed what happened.

  “She had the light…”

  “The car built up speed…”

  “That driver meant to hit her…

  “He kept going…”

  Hudson pulled his phone from his pocket and kept his eyes on the woman he should have warned. The woman he should have protected.

  “Hollow.”

  “I need you to get traffic camera recordings for the last ten minutes. I need every car, every face in the crowd.”

  “Intersection.”

  “Fifth and Seventy-Second,” Hudson rattled off.

  “They’re real time. I’ll have to hack to get a history. Give me one hour. It takes some finesse.” There was a long pause. “What happened, Winters?”

  “Gabriella was hit.”

  “Hit and run?”

  “Yes. I want the license plate. I want the footage. I want all the connections I’m going to need.”

  Another long pause. “Consider it done. On the house.”

  The line disconnected and Hudson made another call. The moment it stopped ringing, he didn’t allow interruptions. “Meet me at Lenox Hill.”

  “Hudson…”

  “Don’t ask me any questions, Natalia. Meet me at Lenox Hill.”

  “I’m coming.”

  He hung up and called his mother. For one minute, he allowed her to sob brokenly. Then he heard one of the paramedics say, “We’re losing her.”

  “Mom. Be calm and listen carefully. I need you to keep it together because Gabriella needs me.”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, Hudson. Shall I meet you at the hospital?”

  “It’s going to be a long wait. She’ll go directly into surgery. It could be hours before I know anything. Let me call you when I get there.”

  The last call was to Leonard. “Pick me up. We need to beat an ambulance to Lenox Hill.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  By the time they loaded Gabriella into the back of the ambulance, his car pulled to a stop on the other side of Fifth. He jogged to it and Leonard pulled into traffic before the door was fully closed.

  He said nothing, made no more calls, and attempted to still the screaming inside his own mind. He hadn’t seen her in three weeks. There was no way he could lie to her face. After a disastrous visit, Natalia told him she couldn’t stand the pretense.

  Lying to Gabriella went against everything they believed about themselves.

  Leonard came to a hard stop at the hospital emergency entrance and Hudson didn’t wait for him. The double doors opened and the nurse at the reception desk sat back startled.

  His demeanor had that effect on many people.

  “My name is Hudson Winters. Do you know who I am?” The woman nodded slowly. “I have a close personal friend who was just involved in a car accident. She will be here shortly. I want people, the best people you have, here in the next ten minutes. I want them ready to save her life. You get on that and point me to administration.”

  Her hand shook as she pointed down the hall.

  Within three minutes of stepping from his car, he was standing across the desk of the hospital administrator. He restated his demands.

  “There will be no delays while you check her insurance. There will be no racial profiling. There will be no bullshit of any kind or I will make it my personal mission to take this hospital apart one person at a time.”

  The man sat down hard in his chair. “We can’t promise to save her.”

  Hudson placed his palms on the top of the man’s desk and leaned close. There was no mistaking the deadly expression on his face. “That is the wrong fucking attitude.”

  “You’re right. Absolutely. Everything medically possible will be done.”

  “Better.” He stood to his full height and left the office. Back at the receptionist counter, the receptionist hung up her phone.

  “Miss Hernandez just came in. They’re prepping her for surgery. If you follow that hall, you’ll find a waiting area just outside the surgical wing.” She handed him a piece of plastic. “Your pass.”

  “When Natalia Roman arrives, send her to me.”

  The woman nodded, willing to do anything to get him out of her space.

  The waiting room was decorated much like every other. A few boring landscape prints, patient rights notices, and utilitarian furniture that was neither attractive nor comfortable.

  It was doubtful he’d be using it anyway.

  He paced, back and forth along the length of the room. That was how Natalia found him when she arrived ten minutes later. For a long moment, they simply stared at one another, several feet of industrial tile floor between them.

  By the time she broke, he had her tightly in his arms.

  “Don’t. Natalia, she’s going to be alright.”

  For several minutes, he held her as she sobbed with her head on his shoulder and he whispered softly against her ear. Every cell in his body felt murderous and he knew if the person who hit Brie stood in front of him, nothing would stop him from taking a life.

  As she calmed, he gently stroked her hair. “I made a mistake. I miscalculated. I’ll fix it. I promise to fix it, Natalia.”

  She took the handkerchief he offered and pulled herself together.

  Hudson told her what he knew, what he suspected in a cold voice. There were no tears. She’d never seen him break in all the years she’d known him.

  The skin around his mouth and eyes was tight and for the hundredth time during the life of their friendship, she wondered at strength that came at such a cost.

  Lifting her hand, she placed it along his cheek. “I love you, Hudson. Gabriella loves you. Camille loves you.” She stroked her fingers through his silken hair. “You spend your life protecting those weaker than you. Making lives better.”

  A kiss on the corner of his mouth made his hands tighten on her hips.

  “You are not God. You are the only one who holds yourself to such standards.” The words were said softly in his ear and he pressed closer. “Once she knows everything, Brie will understand. She will not blame you because you are not at fault. She will survive this, she will heal.”

  Leaning back, she peered into black eyes that hid so much. “Those who love you love you always, Hudson. It is love that forms deep roots and it is unshakable.”

  The word he said was spoken so softly she almost missed it. “Broken.”

  Natalia started to shake her head.

  “She was…broken on the street. I wanted…I wanted to go to her but I didn’t. I gathered information. I made calls. I didn’t touch her. I didn’t tell her it would be alright.” A frown formed between his eyes. “I didn’t know if it would. I couldn’t lie to her again, Natalia.”

  She pushed back her shock at the sight of tears slipping from the corners of his eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He held her painfully hard and buried his face in her hair.

  Never, in the thirty years she’d known this man, had she seen him cry. That he could not hold back now told her more than words that this woman made an impact on him. Part of her ached for him while another part of her was thrilled.

  Hudson had never needed anything.

  “You’ll tell Brie everything you wanted to say when she wakes up. You will help her get better, keep her safe, and she is going to change your entire life, Hudson. All in good ways.”

  He nodded against her and took several deep breaths. When he lifted his head to look at her, she smiled. Only he had ever really s
een her true smile.

  “I love you, Natalia.”

  “I’ve known that most of my life, Hudson.”

  Natalia led him to the ugly sofa along one wall and they sat close, her hands wrapped around one of his. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were going to be important to me. You were ten, I was nine, and I knew you were different than anyone I’d ever met before.”

  She settled comfortably against him and leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. Eventually, the silence and stress-induced exhaustion lured her to sleep.

  Hudson thought back to the day he met Natalia.

  Sister Dana watched the three-year-old twins and kept an eye on Camille while he went house to house, looking for yard work. The elderly woman had been a godsend in their lives. They wouldn’t have survived without her.

  Natalia was riding her bike when he knocked on her parents’ door. Mrs. Roman was a kind and quiet woman who smiled easily.

  “My husband has been laid up with a horrible cold. It would be lovely to have the yard mowed so he doesn’t have to worry.”

  Half an hour later, when he knocked again to tell her he was done, she handed him a crisp twenty-dollar bill and a glass of lemonade.

  “It was only ten, ma’am. I don’t have any change.”

  Natalia’s mother shook her head. She had lovely blonde hair arranged in an elegant up-do. He remembered she was wearing low heels and a pretty dress.

  At the time, he wondered why. His own mother spent her days in a nightgown. When Sister Dana could coax her out to eat, she slipped a robe on and stepped into soft slippers.

  “You did a wonderful job; it was worth more than ten. What’s your name?”

  “Hudson, ma’am. Hudson Winters.”

  Natalia came to stand beside her mother, leaning against the door with her arms crossed. “How old are you?” she asked him.

  “Ten. How old are you?”

  “Nine. Do you have a bike?” He shook his head. “You’re tall. I bet you could ride my older brother’s bike. He left for college a few weeks ago.”

  “Thanks. I…I can’t play right now. I need to get a couple more lawns.”

  Mrs. Roman smiled warmly. “I’ve already taken care of that. I saw you were doing such a good job that I called two of my neighbors. Mrs. Dorsey,” she pointed past him and across the street, “has a husband who travels for work. She’s been looking for someone to help her around the yard.”

  The yard looked like it hadn’t been mowed in weeks. He nodded.

  “Then just past her is Mrs. Connelly. Her husband passed last year and her son tries to make it up from the city to help but doesn’t get here as often as she needs. She was hoping you might be willing to cut her grass and run a few errands for her.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’d be happy to.”

  “She’ll need you to go to the grocery. We thought you could have Tom’s bike to get around. It has a carrier on the back.”

  Hudson looked at her carefully. Her eyes were kind, her expression gentle. As he met her gaze, he knew she knew who he was and what his circumstances were. It wasn’t a big town. Word of his mother and her situation would have gotten around.

  Instead of offering him charity, she was giving him the opportunity to take money he’d earned. Even at ten, he knew the difference and appreciated that she did as well.

  He put his shoulders back and extended his hand. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  Her smile reached her eyes as she shook. “You’re welcome, Hudson. My Dale will be up and around in the next couple of days. I know he has a few projects to do before the weather changes. You’ll stop by?”

  He nodded and handed her back the glass.

  “Wonderful. You go see the neighbors and when you’re all done, Natalia will have the bike ready.”

  For the next few hours, he cut lawns, scrubbed outside garbage cans, and swept cobwebs off porches. The list of tasks they needed done would keep Hudson in regular work for weeks.

  Mrs. Dorsey was a wonderful, plump woman who sent him home with another twenty dollars and a bag of fresh-baked cookies. Until he graduated high school, he was the only person who mowed her lawn, raked her leaves, or shoveled her driveway clear of snow. When her sister and her family moved in across the street, she became another client.

  Mrs. Connelly sat on her porch as he worked and sipped hot tea. When he finished, she asked if he’d sit and talk for a few minutes. She gave him several fives from her wallet and asked him what he planned to do with all the money he was working so hard to earn.

  Her eyes had once been very blue, easy to see despite the cataracts that clouded them now. One hand trembled when she lifted the fragile cup.

  “Food for my family. I’ll also pay a little on the gas so when it starts to get cold, we don’t have to worry. The rest will be set aside for rent next month.”

  She stared at him without speaking for a long time, rocking softly in her chair.

  “When I was newly married, we were in the middle of the Great Depression. Have you learned about that in school?” Hudson nodded. “I had two little ones and another on the way. Times were hard and everyone worked. Everyone pitched in to keep families afloat.”

  He didn’t interrupt or fidget. Over the years, many people would remark on his ability to remain perfectly still.

  “My husband worked almost twenty hours some days. I took in laundry and sold eggs from our chickens, canning from our garden, and made every penny stretch as far as I could.” Mrs. Connelly sipped her tea. “After the war, things were suddenly prosperous again. Work was easier to come by, building started up again, and food was once again plentiful.”

  Her rocker stopped. “No matter how well my darling Walter took care of us, I always kept a little back, saved what I could, and made the most of every penny. Hardship teaches a lesson you never forget. You keep coming here to help me, Hudson. You do your part to keep your family afloat and when you’re grown, you’re going to be more successful than you ever dreamed.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Adversity makes you hungry. I think you may be hungrier than most.”

  Every week for many years, she paid him to do odd jobs around her home in addition to lawn work. He did her grocery shopping and often bought seeds with his own money so he could plant flowers around her porch in the spring.

  They always spent a little time talking before he had to go home. It never failed to move him when she asked about his mother and his brother and sister. She knew Sister Dana from the soup kitchen where they both volunteered.

  Mrs. Connelly was a good woman from the first day he knew her until the last.

  When he returned to the Romans’ home, Natalia was waiting for him in the driveway. Beside her was a bike that looked brand new. His eyes widened.

  “Before you say anything, my brother had this bike for years. He just took good care of it is all. Mom says you’re to take it and she’ll see you next weekend.”

  Hudson took in the lanky girl. They were almost the same height but she was very narrow. Usually, girls didn’t talk to him. He thought he maybe even scared them. That was why he was shocked when she said, “We should be friends.”

  “I’m not…I mean, I don’t have friends.”

  “Is it because of your family?” He bristled and she rushed on. “No, I don’t mean it that way. I don’t have friends either.” She shrugged and Hudson relaxed. “I don’t like most other girls and I make boys nervous.” She tapped her temple. “I’m super smart. Boys don’t like that much.”

  “I don’t mind that you’re smart.”

  Her grin was huge and he noticed her front teeth were crooked. She planned to push the bike while he pushed his lawn equipment. Part of him worried about her seeing where he lived. Part of him figured if she withdrew her friendship now it might be for the best.

  The neighborhood he lived in was less than a mile away but it might as well have been in another town. The differences were stark. Houses were in need
of repair, yards were choked with weeds, and the few cars were rundown, if they worked at all.

  Natalia chatted non-stop while they walked. He didn’t think he’d ever talked so much at one time.

  “I like your name. Is it special for something?”

  “My…my dad’s last race in college was on the Hudson. He was the captain of his rowing team and they won by a huge margin. My mom drove behind the school’s team bus the whole way to New York. After they won, she said he picked her up and swung her around, that they couldn’t stop laughing.” Hudson cleared his throat. “He asked her to marry him and she said yes.”

  They walked a little way in silence. “Back at school, his friends were so impressed that they’d won – they were estimated to place third or lower – that they started calling him Hudson. He graduated and moved to New York to work. He planned to come back to get her when she was done with school but then he died.”

  Natalia said quietly, “I’m sorry.”

  “My mom found out after his funeral that she was pregnant with me. Her family won’t talk to her. His family blames her for his death.”

  “But…why?”

  “He was killed in a plane crash going to see her.” He walked up the broken sidewalk and turned at his house. They did the best they could to keep things up but he knew it needed paint. “My mom is probably sleeping but I need to check my little brother and sister. Sister Dana probably made a snack if you want to come in.”

  “I’d love to, thanks.”

  Sister Dana welcomed the young woman into their lives and Natalia fell instantly in love with Scott and Sylvia who toddled around looking adorable. After they ate oatmeal cookies and he put all his stuff away, he insisted on walking her back home.

  “You don’t have to, Hudson. It isn’t far.”

  With a firm shake of his head, he insisted. “It’s too far for you to walk alone.” He gave her a rare smile. “You’re my only friend and you’re a girl. Bad things happen to girls more than boys. I’ll walk you home.”

  Only when she was safely inside did he climb on his new bike and return to his house.