Gone Too Far

by Angela Winters

“You’re in Three-B.” The woman gestured toward the first-class section. “I’ll take your bag and put it in the overhead.”

  Leigh handed her the bag and rushed down the aisle.

  “How nice of you to join us,” Max said as she approached.

  Leigh looked up and realized that he was in 3A. “Did you do this?”

  “Do what?”

  “Never mind.” She sat down quickly, shoving her purse underneath the chair in front of her.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “I know you got the plane to wait.” Leigh fastened her seat belt. “But I’m not thanking you, because it’s your fault I’m late.”

  “Can I get you something to drink?” The stewardess was asking Leigh but was looking and smiling at Max.

  “No, thank you,” Leigh said, annoyed by the woman already.

  “How do you figure I’m at fault?” Max asked.

  She turned to look at him and was immediately struck by how much he looked like a model out of a Lands’ End catalog. He was wearing a dark camel, thin British sport coat over a white T-shirt and jeans. This was the first time she had seen him in his more “rugged” attire, and it definitely suited him.

  “At seven o’clock last night, you tell me we’re leaving tomorrow. I had to do a million things to make this happen.”

  “You’re a Chase,” he said. “Don’t you have people to do that for you?”

  “No, I don’t,” Leigh answered sharply. “I’m not you. I have to plan my own life. I had to make sure I could get a substitute doctor to work at the clinics.”

  “And?”

  “That was not easy,” Leigh said. Now that she was saying it, it seemed like a small thing. “Packing for Africa can be complicated. It’s not like a weekend in the Bahamas.”

  Leigh left out the opposition her father had to her going back to Africa. Neither of her parents wanted her to go there the first time years ago after she finished her first year of residency. Africa was dangerous and far away, but Leigh was passionate about the Peace Corps program and went despite her parents.

  When she told them of her plans to go back there on a noon flight later today, her father attempted to forbid her. Her mother hadn’t wanted her to go but seemed to calm down a bit when she told her she would be with Senator Cody. After agreeing to allow her father to hire his own private security in Kenya, Leigh focused on packing and getting to the airport.

  “Well,” Max said, reaching into the pocket of the chair in front of him. He pulled out a copy of the L.A. Times. “At least you’re in first class. All the way to our layover in London.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked defensively. “I can’t afford first class. I make nothing at the clinic. I’ll have you know that I used miles to pay for this flight.”

  “Whose miles?” Max asked. “You never go anywhere, Leigh. From what I hear, you go to your clinics and back to View Park.”

  “From what you hear?” Leigh rolled her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. My father has hundreds of thousands of miles with this airline from business traveling.”

  Max smiled. “You’re certainly sensitive today.”

  “What about you?” she asked. “Are the taxpayers footing this bill?”

  “Please.” Max flipped open his paper just as the plane started taking off. “Traveling from D.C. to L.A. and all over California, I probably have more miles than your daddy.”

  Leigh bristled at his use of “daddy,” indicating that he considered her spoiled. “How nice for you to have so many miles that only you can fly in first class. What about your security or staff? Shouldn’t Kelly be sitting where I am?”

  Max paused for a moment, his expression suggesting he was analyzing Leigh’s tone and expression as much as her words. “Kelly isn’t coming, Dr. Chase. Can I ask why that matters to you?”

  “It doesn’t,” she responded.

  “You’re lying,” he said matter-of-factly. “But if you’re wondering, there is nothing going on between Kelly and me. She’s my staff. It would be highly inappropriate, and she’s not my type.”

  “She’s very pretty,” Leigh added.

  Max nodded and said, “But my life is focused on the governor’s race next year. I’m not seeing anyone right now.”

  Why did she care? Leigh asked herself. She had already made such a fool of herself in front of this man with her assumption last night.

  “The governor’s race?” she asked, even though she probably should have stopped talking. “Isn’t that a done deal? I hear that an actual election is a formality. Why be so concerned?”

  Max smiled a winning smile as he placed his paper on his lap. “So you can believe what you hear, but I can’t? Interesting.”

  Leigh laughed her way out of awkwardness, but her mouth pulled her back into it. “This country doesn’t often elect unmarried governors.”

  “You offering something?” he asked.

  Leigh’s brows set in a straight line. “Now it’s you who flatters yourself. I’m just trying to make conversation. If we’re going to be sitting here for an endless amount of hours, we might as well be civil.”

  “I thought I was,” he said. “Nevertheless, dating is extremely complicated. The only serious girlfriend I had since my wife passed…Well, politics can be unkind at times.”

  “Your Republican backers weren’t that excited about you dating a white woman,” Leigh said. She could tell she was getting a little too personal for his taste and enjoyed having the upper hand in this conversation for once. “That was what was rumored, of course.”

  “There is some truth to that,” he answered, “but I would have never let that end a relationship if I really loved her.”

  “If that’s what you want,” Leigh said, “you’re better off being with her and hoping people see your courage as a positive thing rather than wanting her but tossing her aside for a more politically safe woman.”

  “Is that what you think I would consider a black woman? Politically safe?”

  “I don’t know,” Leigh said. “Your wife was white. The only woman you’ve been serious with since was white. I’m not dogging you, Senator. I—”

  “You couldn’t possibly be,” he said ardently. “Since you’ve swirled yourself. Recently, I believe it was an actor?”

  Leigh didn’t want to talk about Lyndon. She would rather forget that ever happened. “I’m not running for office.”

  “Your assumptions about my…preferences are wrong,” he said. “I married my wife because I fell in love with her, and I dated…Well, I guess I didn’t love my girlfriend as much as I thought. If I had, I wouldn’t have let anything keep us apart.”

  “You guess?” Leigh asked. “You don’t know if you were in love?”

  “It’s hard to tell,” he said. “After my wife…”

  Leigh watched his entire face soften, and his eyes seemed to look somewhere that was far away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten so personal.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’m sure you understand how difficult dating can be when you or the person you’re with is famous.”

  That was the understatement of the year.

  As CFO of Chase Beauty, monthly division finance reports didn’t reach Michael’s desk until they had been scoured over by several levels of finance. Still, he demanded to see the details, because he could always find a mistake. He thought he’d just spotted an error in the expense reports for the marketing division when his assistant buzzed his phone.

  “I told you not to disturb me until I’m done reading the reports.”

  “It’s your wife,” she answered quickly, sounding very upset. “She’s been trying to reach you on your cell. You have to take this.”

  Michael had thought to remind her several times that Kimberly was his ex-wife. “What is it?”

  “It’s an emergency. It’s your son.”

  Michael dropped the pen and grabbed the phone. “What is it? What’s wrong?”r />
  He could barely understand her. She was panicked, screaming and crying at the same time as she tried to tell him what was happening. He felt a sense of terror rise within him that he couldn’t control.

  “Where are you?” he asked, shooting up from his chair.

  “UCLA,” Kimberly cried. “Hurry!”

  Michael threw the phone down and was out the door in two seconds. He rushed past his staff, yelling out for anyone who could hear to call his father.

  “Where is my son?” Michael’s voice boomed down the hallway of the Emergency Medicine Center at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, considered the best hospital in L.A. “Where is he?”

  Everyone was rushing around, and it wasn’t clear who could help him. He was feeling frantic. It had taken him fifteen minutes to get over here, and he kept getting disconnected from Kimberly on the phone.

  “Michael!”

  Michael turned and walked back to the hallway he just passed. Standing there was Kimberly, looking unhinged. The look of dread on her face made him think the worst, and he barely had the strength in his legs to make it to her. She started running for him, and he opened his arms for her. There was no thought in this, no thought of the fractured state of their relationship. They had done this so many times, finding comfort in each other’s arms at times of pain or fear. And although it had been a long time since they’d last done that, right now it was the only thing they could do.

  “Please.” His voice cracked as he held her away. “He’s not…”

  Kimberly’s red eyes were full of panic. “No, but…Michael, he’s in a coma.”

  “What?” Michael looked up. “Where? Where is he?”

  “We can’t go in yet.” She grabbed him by his suit jacket as he started down the hall. “The doctor said that we can’t go in for another half hour or so.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “I don’t know.” Kimberly started crying again. “It was so awful, Michael. He just started shaking all over and…”

  Michael wrapped his arms around her again, squeezing her tight. He was trying to think, trying to figure out what to do, while at the same time he felt like he was losing his mind. This was his son. “Where is Dr. Brown?”

  “He’s in there,” she said, pointing to the area they were holding him. “He said he’ll be out in a few—”

  Before she could finish, Dr. Brown came out of the room.

  “What in the hell has happened?” Michael demanded. “You said he was fine.”

  “Mr. Chase, I need you to calm down.”

  “Calm down? What the fuck?” Michael stood only inches from the doctor. “You said my son was fine, and now he’s in a coma. You better tell me right now what is going on, or I swear I will bring hell down on you.”

  The doctor seemed to be a little afraid. The problem with dealing with the rich was, although there were a lot of perks, if you pissed them off, they could destroy you. Dr. Brown looked as if he was aware of that.

  “Michael.” Kimberly placed her hand on Michael’s shoulder to try and calm him. “Doctor, just tell us.”

  “I believe Evan has—”

  “You believe?” Michael asked. “You still don’t know?”

  “Mr. Chase,” he said sternly. “Let me talk.”

  After a pause, the doctor began again. “I believe that Evan has acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.”

  “That sounds like encephalitis,” Michael said.

  “It isn’t that,” Dr. Brown said. “That is good news. ADEM has some of the same symptoms as encephalitis, but that isn’t what he has. This is very hard to detect and is completely unpredictable. It is a very rare condition.”

  Feeling her knees about to fall out from under her, Kimberly had to sit down as Dr. Brown explained to her that ADEM is a neurological disorder characterized by inflammation of the brain and spinal cord that attacks mostly children after having caught the flu, measles, or other viral infection. Its symptoms were like the flu but could come on even faster. A coma was one of the symptoms of the disorder, but Dr. Brown told them that he believed Evan’s coma was going to help him.

  “How can a coma help?” Kimberly asked, frantic.

  Dr. Brown motioned for a nurse standing nearby to come over.

  “What is this?” Michael asked as the nurse gave Kimberly a stack of brochures.

  “This is information on the disorder,” Brown said.

  “What now?” Michael asked. “Who are the experts in this? I want them here now. I will send the Chase jet to get them if they are in this area.”

  “Now,” Dr. Brown said, “we will transfer him to the Children’s Critical Unit, and we’ll monitor him to make sure his immune system doesn’t deteriorate. I know the coma is very upsetting, but it can be a good thing. The body is shutting down all its other functions so it can focus on fixing this problem. He is otherwise very healthy, which means—”

  “Do children die from this?” Kimberly asked, feeling a sharp pain through her heart just at the question she had no choice but to ask.

  Dr. Brown seemed hesitant to answer but finally said, “Yes, they can.”

  “Oh, my God.” Kimberly felt her heart leaping out of her chest, and she couldn’t breathe.

  “But you need to know that death is very rare,” the doctor added. “This is an acute condition. It isn’t chronic, so he should recover. It has about a five percent mortality rate.”

  She starting pacing in a circle before Michael grabbed her. “Kimberly, look at me,” Michael told her. “That’s not going to happen.”

  She looked at him through her tear-filled eyes. “You don’t know that.”

  “He’s gonna have the best doctors. He’ll be fine.” Michael turned to the doctor. “Who are the experts?”

  “We’re looking into this now.” The doctor stopped for a moment as a nurse whispered in his ear. “There was a similar case earlier this year in San Francisco. I’m on my way to contact the doctor now.”

  “What happened then?” Michael asked. Based on the expression on the doctor’s face, he knew the answer wasn’t good. “The kid died?”

  Dr. Brown nodded slowly. “But that was a rare case. It’s possible there were underlying factors, and as I’ve said, Evan is healthy. It is more likely that he will recover with minor residual disability and that he’ll make a full recovery.”

  “Oh, my God,” Michael said just above a whisper. “When can we see him?”

  “As soon as the team has set him up and made sure everything is okay, you and Kimberly can go in and see him for a short while, but they have rules and you’ll have to follow them.”

  “Michael!”

  Michael turned to see his parents rushing down the hallway toward him.

  Janet Chase felt every bit of pain her children experienced, and Michael had had more than his fair share in the last year. Much of it was his own fault, but he was her baby, and it didn’t matter. Pain is pain and to a mother, it was unbearable. When Steven called her and told her something was wrong, she headed out immediately.

  “What’s wrong with Evan?” she asked, reaching out to him.

  Michael let Kimberly go and hugged his mother. He looked up at his father and saw something so odd.

  Steven Chase was scared. The sight took Michael aback a bit, and if the situation had been any other, it would have stood out more.

  “What’s going on?” Steven asked. “Where is he?”

  “He’s…” Michael pointed toward the room.

  “Let’s go,” Janet said.

  “No.” Michael held on to his mother. “You can’t yet.”

  “Why not?” Janet asked. All she could think of was Evan, and it made her sick to her stomach.

  “He’s in a coma,” Michael said.

  Both Janet and Steven gasped at the same time.

  “What in the hell happened?” Steven asked. “Where is the doctor?”

  Michael hadn’t noticed that Dr. Brown had left, but he told his parents everything they
knew so far. While they both took it in, Michael turned to look for Kimberly. She had made her way to a bench several feet away. She was sitting, looking so alone and so afraid as she stared at her shaky hands on her lap and rocked back and forth.

  Michael started for her before his mother took hold of him, turning him back.

  “Son,” she said. “He’s going to be okay. We’ll take care of this.”

  “This isn’t a problem money can solve.” Michael didn’t think he’d ever have to say that, especially after he had seen money cover up a murder.

  Janet wrapped her arms around him, unable to think of what to do. This was Steven’s specialty. When disaster hit, he was the calm and collected one. Her job was to comfort her children, and right now she had to focus on getting Michael to see Evan as soon as possible.

  When the plane finally dropped down in Nairobi, Leigh found herself lost in the melee. She was sort of disappointed. After the initial awkward moment, her conversations with Max took a good turn as he told her about his days in medicine and travels throughout Latin America. He had been a part of Doctors Without Borders and had done many things that she admired. After being judged so quickly by so many because of her last name, Leigh thought she should know not to do the same.

  Once the plane landed, she and Max separated. She was taken away by security to meet her bodyguard, a very large man who looked miraculously cool for such a hot climate. Twenty minutes off the plane and Leigh was already sweating. His name was Bem, and he spoke almost perfect English as he explained the details of his coverage to Leigh. She was barely listening, trying to keep her eyes on the group until Bem told her what hotel she’d be staying in.

  “What?” she asked. “No, we’re all staying at the Nairobi Hilton downtown.”

  “Your father has changed that on my advice,” Bem said. “You will be staying at the Serena Hotel. It is—”

  “No,” Leigh interrupted. “I’m with a group. I can’t be separated from them. It’s the Hilton. It’s a nice hotel, not a hostel.”

  “Dr. Chase,” he said mindfully. “We must provide you with the utmost security while in Kenya. The Serena Hotel is where the most powerful people in the world stay. It is more secure.”