“Don’t worry about me. Want Fran and me to stock the fridge?”
“That would be nice. Thanks.”
“And you’ll have a surprise when you get home, dear.”
“Really? Did you get someone to mow the lawn for us? I’ve been worried about it.”
“No, honey. I hired someone to fix all the windows. It’s all tightened up again and we’ll be snug as a bug in a rug tonight.”
I was astounded by my mother’s gesture. She’d always left the practical things to Quinn and me. She’d gone off and done this? All on her own?
“Wow, Mom. I mean, Thelma. You floor me.” Now I felt like I was going to cry. After the past few days and all we’d endured, this sudden, unexpected act of kindness made me feel weak and kitten-like.
“Well, don’t fall over, sweetie. I can do some things, you know. I’m not feeble.”
I chuckled and wiped a renegade tear from my eye. “I know. Anything but feeble. Oops, I’m getting a call from Callie. I’d better take it. She might need us to pull into the rest stop I see coming up. You know Callie. Small bladder and all.”
My mother snorted a laugh. “Oh, I do remember she was always running to the potty as a little girl. Still the same?”
“Yep. Bye, Thelma. Love you so much.”
“Love you. See you soon, honey.”
I clicked on the “end call and answer” button. “Callie? Everything okay?”
My best friend sounded hysterical. “Marcie. Oh, God. Marcie!”
I sat up, ramrod straight and glanced back at her yellow Jeep that followed behind us. “Honey, what is it?”
Her voice was tight, filled with unshed tears. “Can you pull over at the rest stop?” Her hands waved wildly out the window, pointing toward the exit.
“Of course, sweetie. What’s wrong?”
“Copper just got off the phone with the paramedics who are flying Sky to Rochester. They’re almost at the hospital, but Sky’s gone into shock. Oh my God, Marcie? What will I do if we lose him again?”
Blood pounded in my ears. “Hang on, honey. We’re pulling off the exit. Let me just call Roberta quick so she’s got a heads up.”
“Okay. Thanks. Plus, I really have to pee,” she wept.
Big surprise.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
We parked side by side near the rest stop entrance, the conversion van snugged between Callie’s yellow jeep and Roberta’s old green Chevy. When Callie emerged, she fell onto my shoulder, sobbing.
I cradled her in my arms. “Oh, honey. Come here. Let’s get you inside so you can sit down.”
Copper pressed the cell phone to her ear, motioned for me to take Callie inside, and walked toward the green where Quinn and Kitty were already leading Dak to do his business. We left Ruby in the back of the van and headed inside.
After helping Callie to the bathroom so we wouldn’t cause a scene, I helped her dab at her eyes with a wet paper towel and then went back out to the food court. There weren’t too many curious onlookers in the seating area across from McDonald’s, so I helped her over to the corner and slid into the booth beside her, my arm around her shoulder and my heart in my throat.
“What’d you hear about Sky, honey?”
She choked out the words. “They said his vitals were dropping, whatever that means. He was going into shock.” She looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Does that mean he’s going to die?”
I wished to God I’d known more about such things. Shock didn’t sound good, but I didn’t think it meant he was actually dying at the moment. “I wish I knew. But I’ve seen shows where people go into shock but are saved. They do things like pushing fluids and give them meds to get them stable. Don’t they?”
We were hopeless. We needed the information that Copper was probably getting right now.
“I don’t know.”
I could tell she was either about to lose it and start wailing, or clam up. I tried to help her hold it together. “Sky’s going to the best medical facility in the state. Matter of fact, I’ve heard it’s the second best facility in the country. So if anyone can fix him up, they’ll do it at Rochester Memorial.”
“But what if they don’t? What if he dies?” There it was again, that wild-eyed look came back. “Marcie? I don’t think I could survive losing him again.”
I thought back to Sky’s disappearance eighteen years ago. We’d known he was MIA, and thought he was probably dead for all those years. Hoped against all hope that he wasn’t. And had been tortured with the doubt and lack of closure.
Except for that one short phone call to Callie, right in the beginning of his disappearance, where he said he’d have to go underground for a while and not to expect contact, we’d had nothing but official reports from the military saying that they didn’t know much, but suspected he’d been killed in a skirmish.
The years had been hell on Callie. Her self-enforced life as a hermit had taken on a deeper, darker level as the years progressed and we hadn’t heard anything from him. Until last summer.
I dabbed at her swollen eyes with a moist paper towel I’d brought out from the restroom, taking her hands in mine. “Honey, listen.”
She turned to me with a haunted expression. “Okay.”
“Let’s imagine the worst. If we lose him, it will be horrible.” My voice cracked and I almost cried, but I controlled it and went on. “But we have had the most amazing year with him, haven’t we? We got to know him all over again. As a man. As the wonderful human being he turned into after all those years of hardship. We were blessed. So blessed. Weren’t we?”
Her eyes widened, still upset over my if we lose him comment. “Uh huh.”
“And if God sees fit to take him now, we will have to focus on the joy he brought us. The amazing pioneering work he did with the essential oil research. The hard work you both put into Project Hope. Look what you guys started up there. It is phenomenal.”
She seemed to relax slightly. “I guess.”
I squeezed her hands again. “But I don’t believe he’s going to die, honey. He’s a fighter. A real fighter. Look what he went through overseas. He was a POW, for goodness sakes. He survived that. He made it through. And he’ll fight to live. You know that.”
I spotted Quinn, Kitty, and Copper coming through the doorway. Roberta and Harrison had stayed off to the side, giving me time with Callie.
Callie took a deep breath. “Let’s see what Copper has to say. Maybe she knows more.”
We met them halfway to the doors.
The six foot tall black woman reached an arm around Callie’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “You okay, baby?”
Callie sniffled. “Not really.”
I exchanged a worried glance with Copper, taking Kitty’s hand, and sliding my arm around Quinn’s waist. His quiet presence comforted me and I leaned into him, inhaling his musky smell.
I turned to Copper and asked the question we all wanted answered. “Did you learn any more?”
Copper shot us a tight smile. “Yeah. They made it to Rochester. They landed at the hospital and he’s going into surgery. He’s been stabilized, and they’re pretty sure he’ll make it. No guarantees, but it’s looking better than it did a few minutes ago.”
Callie sagged to the floor, and would have fallen if Copper hadn’t caught her in her strong arms. “Whoa, there. Come on, now. That was good news.”
Harrison strode to our side with Roberta close behind. “What’s going on here? You folks okay?”
We gave them the latest news, and before anyone could say another word, Harrison scooped up Callie in his arms and headed for the parking lot.
Roberta smiled. Pride and something that almost seemed like desire flashed over her countenance. I guess seeing her man pick up Callie as if she were a foundling colt, so effortless, and so cowboy-ish, must’ve rung her chimes. Or something like that. I kind of felt a little tingle of excitement, too, when I saw him carry her off with such ease. Just like in the movies.
Quinn hooked his arm in mine. “Damn. I should’ve done that.”
Copper walked close beside us. “No, I should’ve.”
Roberta looked at the two of them and chuckled. “Well, darn it. My Harrison beat you to it. So let’s get the hell out of Dodge and get back on the road.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I nodded in the chair beside Sky’s bed, where he had lain quiet and unresponsive since the last of his three surgeries. I’d consistently rubbed oils on the bottoms of his feet and wherever I could get a patch of free skin, and had been diffusing the Purification and Thieves blends since the second day of our vigil. I figured no nasty germs could live in an environment where these antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral essences filled the room. To my relief, Sky’s doctor approved of the oils and had encouraged us to use them freely.
Callie, Quinn, and I had taken turns at his side for the past week. The surgeons removed the bullets lodged in his spine, then had gone in for successive patches and repairs to try to rebuild the bone and muscle. The procedures had required the steadiest hands in New York, and fortunately we’d been blessed with the most renowned surgeon in Rochester who personally plucked the metal from his shattered vertebrae and worked on trying to repair the wreckage that remained.
We’d been red-eyed and walking like zombies all week, barely getting a few hours of sleep each night. Copper had gone back to the Adirondacks, tied up in Speculator dealing with the paperwork and regulations we’d all broken, and had worked hard to keep all of us from being charged, especially for the bodies in the cave near the old moonshiner’s cabin. I wasn’t sure how she spared us, and didn’t really want to know the details. But I loved her for her hard work and dedication to us.
A tech came in, smiled at me, and checked Sky’s blood pressure and temperature. She ran a gizmo across his forehead and recorded the figures on the computer on the rolling stand nearby. They’d sure come a far cry from mercury and glass.
Roberta and Harrison had also returned after staying for a few days, but promised to come back down and keep us company while we sat vigil beside our friend, and we expected them in the next few days after Roberta arranged for someone to watch the shop again and Harrison got his ranch in order. His farm hands would care for the horses and long-scheduled guests, but he needed to prepare all the details before he could get away for another visit with us.
I glanced with affection at Kitty, who snoozed in the spare bed. She rolled over, pulling her blanket loose. I hopped up to cover her again, then slumped back in my chair, rubbing some Rutavala on my wrists from my roll-on bottle. It calmed me and made me feel centered. I needed that now more than ever.
I’d kept Kitty close to me since the horror of the shootings.
So much bloodshed. So much death. It had been traumatic for all of us, but I felt ragged empathy for her tender soul and what she’d witnessed in her young life.
It was so wrong. So against nature. This innocent would never know the joy of a happy childhood, nor the pleasure of a carefree adulthood. She’d be saddled forever with the atrocious memories of rape and killing. It broke my heart.
She hadn’t spoken but a few words since Fred had been charged for multiple crimes, including murder and racketeering. There’d been talk of kickbacks and payoffs at high levels in the government, and according to Copper, it was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Illana, one of the nurses we’d come to know well, stopped in with a bag of IV solution. “Time for lunch, Marcella. Why don’t you go down to get a bite to eat, honey? He’ll be fine for a few minutes.”
I shook my head. “No. I promised Callie I wouldn’t leave him alone.” I leaned over and straightened his sheets. “Besides, I brought some fruit bars and oranges with me. I’ll be fine.”
She frowned and hung a fresh bag of antibiotics beside the fluids. “Okay. But you look awfully beat. Maybe you could go home tonight and get some real sleep, huh?”
I smiled and nodded. “Maybe. Thanks.”
She recorded the IV exchange on the PC, then ducked back into the hallway.
I settled back against the chair, wishing I’d remembered to bring my pillow and blanket.
We’d called Poloma when the police had finally left us alone at Tall Pines. After sobbing with relief that Kitty was okay, she’d had to deal with the authorities who even now still detained her, asking hundreds of questions about Big Fred’s schemes. If all went as we hoped, she was supposed to be released soon without being charged. She hoped to visit and pick up Kitty on the weekend. And she told us she never wanted to see Big Fred again.
I wasn’t so sure I wanted Kitty to be thrust back in the same environment that had turned her mute and kept her illiterate. Roberta and I had talked of sending her to a special school, and I hoped to convince Poloma that it would be good for her daughter.
Sky moaned and shifted in his bed.
I bolted straight up. He hadn’t moved a finger since his three successive operations, and had been in what they called a medically-induced coma to keep him still for days. Yesterday, however, they backed off on the drugs and had him trussed with a body cast from hips to neck. He couldn’t move much, even if he wanted to.
He moaned again and his eyes opened and closed slowly, as if so heavy he couldn’t keep them open. “Marcella.”
I leaned forward, my heart beating madly in my chest. “Sky?”
“You’re here.” His words were slurred. “Water.”
I rang the bell for the nurse and patted his one free arm. “Okay, just hold on. Let’s make sure you can have some.”
Illana poked her head in the door. “What’s up?”
I smiled at Sky. “Your patient wants a drink. Can we get him some water?”
Hurrying inside now, she briskly checked Sky over. “Okay. Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Lissoneau. Let me get your doctor in here and then we’ll see about something to drink.”
Kitty still slept in the bed beside Sky. He glanced over at her with sleepy eyes that flooded with relief. “She’s okay.”
I stroked his forearm. “Yes. She is. Thanks to you and Quinn. You guys were real heroes.”
He closed his eyes again, whispering softly. “Nah. Not heroes. We just did what had to be done.”
I squeezed his hand while he fell back asleep, then fumbled for my cell phone to call Callie and Quinn.
I’d been glad he didn’t ask me about his injuries. As much as I loved him, I didn’t think I could be the one to tell him he’d never walk again.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I lay in Quinn’s arms for the first time in two weeks. A fresh breeze blew off the lake and into our room, rippling the curtains and changing the patterns of moonlight that played across the sheets. Tonight Roberta and Callie had stayed with Sky, and my husband and I had come home and made love for the first time since we’d had our run-in with Big Fred and his goons. It had been luscious and powerful, lasting for hours. Our passion had built up over the past weeks, and our joy at being alive and together rushed to crescendos rivaling our most passionate times between the sheets.
Harrison was settled into one guest room, and Kitty slept in the other. I heard Thelma’s snoring down the hall, glad none of them had been awakened by our romantic interlude.
Soon Poloma would come to reclaim her daughter, and I wasn’t so sure I was ready to give her up.
I pushed the thought away, but another worry popped to the surface. Stroking my fingers along the sandpapery bristles on Quinn’s chin, I trailed them down along his neck and chest. “Honey?”
He was almost asleep. I could hear it in his mumbled syllables. “Mmm?”
“Wake up. I need to ask you something.”
He grunted and his lower lip slackened.
“Quinn, can’t you stay awake a few minutes longer? It’s only nine-thirty!”
I repositioned myself against his chest when he forced himself awake and sat up against the headboard.
“Okay. What is it?”
I snuggled tighter against him. “I’m just wondering. How are we going to tell him?”
He knew what I meant without much explanation. How the hell could we tell Sky he would never walk again?
He gently stroked my hair. “We won’t. When he’s stronger, the doctors will break it to him. Right now he needs to get better. So he can take the shock.”
I raised my eyes to his. They gleamed deep turquoise in the moonlight. “But he’s always been so vital. So physical. I just don’t know how he’ll take it.” As I said the words, I ran my fingers down my husband’s waist and hips.
Quinn shifted to his side and rested his head on his hand. “Listen. There’s no way to avoid it. It’s gonna be hell for him. I was talking to the nurse yesterday. She said patients usually go through all the grieving stages when they lose their ability to walk. Disbelief. Anger. Depression.”
“It’s gonna kill him.”
“I know.” He covered a yawn. “But it’s his reality now. Awful as it is. We just have to be there for him, Marcella. It’s all we can do.”
I slid out of his arms and sat up. “Wait a minute. Didn’t Dr. Gary Young go through something similar when he was young? Isn’t that why he invented the Panaway blend for Young Living?”
Quinn nodded. “Uh huh. He was only twenty-four when that tree fell on him while he was logging.”
I brightened. “What if I called him? I could ask him what he recommends for Sky.”
My husband raised one eyebrow. “He’s a really busy guy, sweetie. I’m not sure he takes calls from just anyone.”
I shoved him with both hands. “What do you mean, ‘just anyone?’ Remember he called me last year to thank me for helping save the vial of curly pond weed oil and all the records that went with the leukemia study?”
“Sure I do.”
“Well, he told me if I ever needed anything to let him know. And he’s worked closely with Sky in the past. He’d want to help. He probably doesn’t even know what happened to him yet.”
Quinn smiled and kissed my forehead. “I forgot about that. I guess you’re right. There’s no harm in trying. And Sky’s gonna need some serious cheering up.” He lay back down on his pillows. “Yeah. Dr. Young might be just the ticket.”
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 66