A Fine Year for Love (Shores of Indian Lake)

by Catherine Lanigan

  “Crazy, isn’t it? I’ve never been that attached to my grapes, and I sing to them all the time.”

  “Ah, but flowers are different,” he offered with a gentle smile.

  “How’s that?”

  “Especially sunflowers, I think. They have faces, almost like people. The grapes are more like jewels—sparkling but inanimate rocks. You’ve loved these flowers, nurtured them. It makes sense that you’re sad.”

  Gabe’s efforts to dispel her dour mood after giving up her prized flowers to the judges showed not only that he was thoughtful, but that he cared about making her happy. As her thoughts about Gabe grew more affectionate, she began to squeeze his hand back.

  “I’ll grow them for us. In my little greenhouse.”

  “Tell me about your greenhouse,” she said.

  Gabe slowed his gait and placed his arm around Liz’s shoulders. The gesture was so natural that Liz nearly didn’t realize she’d slid her arm around his waist. Suddenly, they were walking the way she’d seen Maddie and Nate walk. Arm in arm, their steps so synchronized, so perfectly matched to the other that they walked as one. They walked as if they’d been walking together like this all their lives.

  “Well, I made it myself. It’s just a wood frame and clear plastic sheeting right now. I’ve got humidifiers and space heaters for the winter. I rigged up some misters for when it really gets dry. Mica helped me with timers, but the whole thing is pretty rudimentary. It’s got a dirt floor, which is fine, since I’m always spilling a ton of compost and potting soil anyway. I made the tables myself. Some of the tables are actually raised boxes for seedlings. I built the trellis and arbors overhead for the grape vines I’ll plant next summer. I’ve already tried my hand at orchids. I do okay with those. But if I could grow sunflowers for you in the winter...”

  Crowds were pouring in from the side streets and the nearby church parking lots. Liz and Gabe found themselves in a sea of people moving from booth to booth, inspecting everything from self-published books to honey in the comb, quilts, hand-carved wind chimes and even albums by a local guitarist.

  “Liz! Liz!”

  She stopped in her tracks. “Someone’s calling me.”

  “On your cell?” Gabe asked.

  Liz took her cell phone out of her skirt pocket. “No, I thought I heard Louisa...”

  “Liz!” Louisa yelled as she raced toward them.

  “She looks—”

  “Panic-stricken,” Gabe interjected.

  Louisa was out of breath by the time she reached them. “I tried to call, but my cell phone battery was too low. I’m sorry. It’s Sam. He’s sick. Vite. Vite!”

  Liz shot away from Gabe and Louisa and charged through the crowd. She felt as if she was living inside one of those slow-motion dreams in which her legs were mired in tar and she couldn’t move them quickly enough or lift her knees high enough to move the way she wanted to. Her grandfather was in trouble. He needed her and she was being impeded by gawking people trying to barter for half of a broiled chicken.

  “Grandpa!” she shouted as she neared the booth. Aurelio’s head popped up from behind the front table then disappeared again.

  As she entered the tent, Liz saw Maddie struggling to perform CPR. Sam wasn’t responding.

  “Liz!” Maddie cried. “He just fell. Crumpled, really. I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Grandpa!” Liz screamed, falling to her knees beside him. Sam’s face was ghostly white and dotted with perspiration. He was motionless.

  Gabe rushed into the tent behind her. “Liz, I’m here,” he said. He picked Liz up by the elbows and turned her to face him. “Call 911. Now! Then call Nate.”

  Liz’s mouth was dry. All she could do was nod, pull out her phone and pound the numbers.

  “I need an ambulance,” she said. “It’s my grandpa. I think he’s had a heart attack.”

  Gabe bent over Sam, felt his pulse and immediately started doing CPR.

  As soon as she was off the phone, Liz stood over Gabe’s shoulder, watching as he fought to save her beloved grandfather from the jaws of death.

  Not since her parents died had Liz felt so tiny, so unimportant, so forgotten. She felt as if she were standing on the edge of the planet staring into infinite space, the unknown. She was filled with terror and desperation.

  “Please, God. Let him save my grandpa.”

  * * *

  GABE COUNTED OUT his compressions and then repeated them again. He had to keep Sam’s heart pumping. Bring it back to life. And pray.

  Maddie had done the best she could, but even a few minutes of performing CPR took a great deal of strength and endurance.

  Gabe didn’t care if it took all night. He would save Sam. He had to. Sam had been Liz’s world since she was a child. He knew her well enough to know that without Sam, she would be lost. And if Sam didn’t live, there was the chance that Liz might blame Gabe for not doing all he could have done to save him. If Sam died, Gabe could lose Liz forever.

  Sam counted another one hundred compressions. “One thousand one. One thousand two. C’mon, Sam. You can do this.”

  Gabe tried to keep track of his count but thoughts of his mother invaded his mind. This was the man his mother had loved for more than half her life. This man was the answer to his mother’s happiness. In these terrifying moments, Gabe understood more about his own life and his mother’s than he ever had.

  She had sacrificed her happiness because of her loyalty to Angelo. Even when she hadn’t yet married Angelo, she’d already felt bound to her duty. Gabe’s own sense of responsibility had started when he could barely talk. His brothers had been born, one after the other, and Gina had needed his help. The little jobs had become obligations. Then they had become duties, done out of loyalty to the family. He’d abandoned his dreams of moving to California because Nate had run away and his father had needed him. The farm had needed him.

  But the only real loyalty he didn’t despise or regret having was his loyalty to his mother. She had shared her heart, her secrets and her dreams with him alone.

  Gina loved Sam. If he died, Gabe feared his mother would wither and perhaps die, as well.

  Gabe was taking responsibility for Sam’s life, but at that moment, he was up to the challenge. He would face down death itself to save Sam and spare the two women who loved him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THEY GATHERED OUTSIDE the doors to the ICU, huddled with their arms around each other. Despite the panic and dread settling into their bones, each tried to be supportive of the others. Gabe alternately held Liz and then his mother. Maddie hugged Liz when Gabe wasn’t holding her, and Louisa held Mrs. Beabots’s hand. The older woman had walked the seven blocks to the hospital after Maddie’s phone call, carrying a cooler with her ginger, lemon and mint iced tea, plastic cups and a still-warm batch of cookies she’d been making for Timmy and Annie. Sarah had called Liz and said that she and Luke would come to the hospital as soon as Olivia arrived at her house to watch the kids.

  Liz knew Sam was in good hands with Dr. Caldwell and Nate, but still, the minutes droned by like slowly moving summer flies. The only time she felt the world was even slightly intact was when Gabe had his arms around her, whispering words that her mind didn’t register, but which soothed her heart. Gabe’s loving intentions were suddenly apparent to all her friends. What astounded her was that none of them seemed surprised and none offered censure.

  When Liz glanced at Mrs. Beabots, she saw only compassion and a gentle smile. Liz got the distinct impression the only person in her sphere who held doubts about Gabe’s presence in her life was Liz herself.

  “What’s taking them so long?” Liz asked Gabe as she pulled out of his embrace. “I don’t like it.”

  “I’m sure it won’t be much longer. Nate knows we’re all out here.” He glanced at the close
d door to the ICU warily, as if he wasn’t all that confident about what he was saying.

  Liz looked over at Gina, whose eyes were still glued to the door. She nervously picked off her nail polish. “Your mother looks more worried than I feel. And that seems impossible,” Liz whispered. “If this takes any longer, maybe you should take her to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee or something.”

  “There’s no way she’ll move an inch from that spot until she knows about Sam,” Gabe said firmly.

  “I just thought...”

  At that moment the door whooshed open. Nate and Dr. Caldwell entered the corridor.

  Nate took in each of their worried expressions. “Liz, Dr. Caldwell and I would like to speak to you privately.” Nate gestured to an open area down the hallway.

  “Sure,” she said and followed the two men.

  Dr. Caldwell spoke calmly as he explained to Liz that Sam had suffered a heart attack due to three severely blocked arteries. Sam was also experiencing congestive heart failure. A lack of oxygen being distributed to his circulatory system was causing his forgetfulness and early signs of dementia.

  “Liz, your grandfather is going to need a triple bypass,” Nate told her.

  “Open-heart surgery? That’s so drastic. You’d have to cut his sternum in half. Right?” Liz was shocked. Sam had always appeared to be so healthy. He could practically lift the ATV by himself. True, he’d been forgetting a few things, but all this sounded so dire. “And if he doesn’t have the surgery?”

  Dr. Caldwell rocked back on his heels and blew out a puff of air, inflating his cheeks. “I wouldn’t recommend that at all.”

  Nate took Liz’s hand. “Sam is strong constitutionally and there’s no reason he shouldn’t survive the operation, but he’ll only deteriorate without it. I don’t want to see him have a stroke or another heart attack. Or worse. Both Dr. Caldwell and I believe that if Gabe hadn’t stepped in at the moment he did, Sam might not have made it.”

  “Gabe saved Sam’s life,” Liz said flatly. She’d known it from the instant Gabe took over and ordered her to call 911 as he’d laid his strong hands on Sam’s chest. She had a great deal to thank Gabe for. He’d saved the most precious human being in her life. The thought that Sam could have died sent waves of terror through Liz so powerful, she feared losing her sanity in the undertow. She’d lost both her parents in a single day. She’d built the rest of her life around Sam, the vineyard and their mutual dream of carrying out her father’s wishes.

  Her heart swelled with an expanding warmth she’d never felt before. She wasn’t sure if this was gratitude or something more, but she did know that for the rest of her life, she would be in Gabriel Barzonni’s debt.

  “Is he conscious?” she asked Nate.

  “Yes. And we have spoken to him about his need for the operation, but he wants to talk to you. We’re hoping you’ll convince him the bypass is the right choice.”

  “And how soon do you think he should have it?” she asked.

  “First thing in the morning. We’ve checked the schedule and can fit him in,” Nate said. Dr. Caldwell nodded his assent.

  Liz swallowed hard. The situation was more critical than she’d thought. She had naively guessed she would have a few nights to think about this, weigh their options and do some research, but Sam was obviously more ill than she’d imagined. He’d already suffered damage from the heart attack. She’d heard stories of people having multiple attacks, one right after the other in the hospital, until it was too late. She looked into Nate’s somber and resolute eyes.

  “Okay. I’ll talk to him.” She turned and Nate reached for her hand.

  “I have to tell you, Liz. He’s a stubborn old guy. He wouldn’t listen to us at all. That’s why we need your help. Without the surgery, well...no promises.”

  “You’re right, Nate. But I will not let his intractable attitude be the cause of his death. I’ll shoot him myself first!” She marched off.

  * * *

  AS LIZ CAME toward him, Gabe was surprised to see her earlier anxiety replaced with fierce determination. He had a fairly good idea of what Nate and Dr. Caldwell had been talking to Liz about. Gabe had pounded on Sam’s chest for ten minutes until the paramedics had arrived. Not since he’d helped Rafe with a difficult birth of one of his foals had Gabe been a witness to that very fine line between life and death. Gabe had noticed the heavy clouds in Liz’s eyes when she’d seen Sam lying on the ground and watched Maddie’s valiant but ineffective CPR. Gabe had seen that same look on Liz’s face when she was only six, standing over her parents’ graves. Loss. Defeat. Emptiness. Hopelessness. If it took the rest of his life and all of his energy, talent and strength of will, he would move heaven and earth to make sure Liz never had to go through tormented times without him by her side.

  “I’m here to help,” Gabe told her.

  She peered longingly into his face, her cornflower-blue eyes filled with gratitude and...something else. Was it love?

  “You already have, Gabe. They said you saved his life. If it weren’t for you, Sam would have died. You were wonderful. How can I thank you?”

  He put his hands on her shoulders and let them slide down her arms. Never before had his urge to kiss her been this strong. But the corridor was filled with all their friends and his mother, staring at them, waiting for the verdict. Now wasn’t the time. “I’ll think of something later. What do you need? What’s going on?”

  “He has to have bypass surgery. Nate wants me to talk to him about it.”

  Gabe glanced worriedly at his mother.

  “What is it?” Liz asked.

  “Nate can convince the devil to reform. He only calls in the troops when the battle isn’t going well.”

  “Oh, I gathered that. Sam can be so stubborn, but I’m not willing to let him risk having a stroke or another heart attack just so he can get his way.”

  “Want me to come with you?”

  She tilted her head. “Sam claimed he hated the Barzonnis. One is about to be his surgeon and one”—she glanced at Gina—“apparently still loves him. Except I don’t think Sam knows that.”

  “Let’s do it, then,” he said and pushed open the door for Liz.

  “Hi, Grandpa,” Liz said as cheerily as she could.

  Sam’s bed was surrounded with monitors. Various screens beeped and blipped with different colored lights, informing the medical staff of his second-to-second cardiac condition.

  “Hi,” Sam groaned as Liz and Gabe entered the brightly lit room. Sam lifted his hand to adjust the oxygen cannula in his nose. “Seems I can’t get away from the Barzonnis no matter what I do,” he said, looking at Gabe. “Your brother wants to whack me open.”

  Liz pursed her lips. “Yes. He does. He’s going to save your life, Grandpa. You need this operation.”

  Sam closed his eyes slowly and rolled his head from side to side, crinkling the plastic covering on his pillow.

  Oh, how she hated hospitals. The very air smelled like death. In their halls, she felt claustrophobic. If she had her way, she would wrench Sam out of this place and take him back to their life-giving hills and let him lie among the vines. Nature could heal him, couldn’t it? Was he so far gone that only this barbaric surgery could keep him on the earth? She needed him to stay on this earth—she couldn’t be alone without someone to love her. Without someone she could love back.

  “They can fix you, Grandpa,” she said. “Nate is a very good surgeon.”

  “He’s a pup.”

  Gabe moved to Sam’s right side, placed his hand on the headboard and leaned down so Sam could see his face clearly. “Do you remember falling in the booth today, Sam?”

  “No. But the back of my head hurts. Actually, I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”

  “I’ll bet,” Gabe said. “Well, you did fall, and Louisa ran
to find us right after. When we got there, I performed CPR on you—”

  “He saved your life, Grandpa!” Liz clasped Sam’s hand between both of hers.

  “My brother is one of the best heart surgeons in the Midwest and I would trust him with my life,” Gabe said. “With anybody’s life. If you don’t have this surgery, you could very well have another heart attack or stroke. You could die.”

  “I don’t care,” Sam said very quietly as a tear slid out of the corner of his eye.

  Liz gasped. “How can you say that? You have so much to live for. This year is going to be our finest one yet! You said so yourself. And the cabs you bottled two years ago are just about ready.”

  “Everything looks different to me now, ma petite,” Sam said. “I see the world—my life—differently than I did just this morning.”

  “I don’t understand,” Liz replied, taking his hand and kissing it.

  The door opened and Gina slowly moved into the room to drop off a sunflower. She never took her eyes off Sam. She didn’t smile or say a single word.

  Sam’s gaze never left Gina. A flicker of a smile illuminated his face as he remained still and silent.

  The tension in the room was palpable. Liz felt that Sam’s and Gina’s eyes were conversing in a soul language the two of them had developed over decades of being forced to remain apart—and alone. Gina’s eyes welled with tears, making their sparkling, dark depths resemble a night sky. She didn’t smile or give a single word of encouragement or advice.

  She turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

  Liz peered down at Sam. Before Gina had walked into the room, his skin had been ashen gray and there had been deep hollows in his cheeks. Now a pink flush was spreading from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. A slow smile was filling out his face and banishing the death mask he’d been wearing. Sam was transformed in front of Liz’s eyes and if she hadn’t seen it for herself, she wouldn’t have believed it.

  Sam lifted his eyes to Gabe. “Go tell your brother I’ll let him practice his medicine on me.”