South River Incident

by Ann Mullen

  “How did you feel when he got shot and you thought he was going to die? Did those feelings come back?” he asked with his back to me.

  “When I thought he had died, I was sad, but I was able to let go.”

  He turned around, walked back over to the sofa, and sat down.

  “I think I can live with the knowledge that you might have some physical attraction to him as long as I know you love me. I think I knew all along that you were still attracted to him, but you never gave me a reason to believe it went past that. It would be crazy of me to think that you would never be attracted to another man.”

  “I will always be faithful to you, Billy. You can count on it.”

  He swept me up in his arms and headed for the bedroom. He tenderly made love to me. “I love you,” he said. He crawled out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

  A few minutes later, I jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom, passing Billy in the process. While I was using the bathroom, I heard the phone ring. “Ah, the start of a new day!” I said to myself. I walked out of the bathroom as Billy was walking back into the bedroom.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “That was Claire on the phone,” Billy replied as he put on his shirt. “They are releasing Cole from the hospital. It seems he might recover nicely from this after all. She says he has feeling back on his right side. Well, not completely, but with this turn of events, the doctor believes he will make a full recovery. They’re sending him home.”

  “That’s wonderful!” I rejoiced. “I’m glad. I was worried about what this might do to him, but now he’s going to be all right. Our prayers were answered. I bet Claire’s happy. She really likes him; I can tell. I need to get dressed. He’ll probably need our help to get home.” I scurried around looking for something to wear while Billy stood in silence, watching me. “What’s the matter? Why are you standing there staring at me like that?”

  “You seem awful excited for someone that doesn’t care about the man.”

  I walked up to him and kissed his lips lightly. “I am thrilled that Cole’s going to be okay, and you should be, too. He’s our friend and he’s going to be a part of our life so get over it. There’s nothing for you to be jealous about. I care about his well-being, but I’m not in love with him. We are finished. I love you. You need to get with the program.”

  Billy smiled his beautiful smile. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “Love me,” I said.

  After letting Athena and Thor out to do their business and then back in, we locked up the house and headed to the hospital.

  “Do you want me to drive? You look tired.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Billy said. “I’m still a bit sore. Pain can wear you out.”

  “I know what you mean. Thank God nothing happen to my baby because of that car accident. I was lucky.”

  “Your baby?”

  “I mean... our baby.” I scooted over as close to Billy as the seatbelt would allow. “I hate these things, but if it hadn’t been for that seatbelt, I would probably be dead just like that girl... what was her name?”

  “Her name was Tammy Farmer. She was sixteen years old.”

  “That was such a waste. How sad.”

  “Yeah, she was young and had her whole life ahead of her.”

  “I’ll have to warn my daughter about men like Hudgins.”

  “I’ll have to warn my son of the pitfalls of being a man like Hudgins.”

  We looked over at each other at the same time and laughed out loud.

  “I can see that you’re going to be a handful,” Billy said.

  “Did you expect me to be different now that I’m going to be a mother? Hey, that does sound pretty good. I’m so excited.”

  “I can tell. Your face lights up every time you mention anything about the baby. I guess you could say that you have that glow. Isn’t that what they say about pregnant women?”

  “That’s a bunch of bologna. Where’s that glow when we have our heads in the toilet?”

  “Oh, I forgot about that.”

  Billy and I continued our bull session until we reached the hospital. By then he was completely convinced that I was going to be a holy terror for the next nine months. As much as he loved me, he was not looking forward to my mood swings. He was probably right.

  “Where do we go?” I asked.

  “Claire said to wait in the lobby. The paperwork should be done and he would be ready by the time we arrive.”

  Billy parked the truck and we got out. My feet slipped on the snow and before I had a chance to hit the ground, he grabbed me by the arm.

  “Whoa, there, Missy,” I heard Mom say. “You shouldn’t be out in this snow. It’s too dangerous in your condition.”

  “I’m pregnant, Mom; not an invalid. When did you arrive?”

  “I just pulled up. I saw you at the stoplight. Didn’t you see me?”

  “No, I didn’t. Hey, where are the kids?”

  “Elsie’s watching them.”

  “Cole’s mother is babysitting?”

  “She’s at my house with them. As soon as we get back, she’s going over to Cole’s. He’ll need some help for a few days.”

  “I thought you and Claire were going to take care of him.”

  “Since he’s almost recovered, Elsie thinks it would be best if she took care of him. She’s his mother.”

  “That sounds like Elsie,” Billy said.

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked.

  Mom and Billy looked at each other.

  “I don’t know her real well, but she sounds like a whiner to me,” Mom replied. “I’m already tired of hearing about what she does for Cole, and what a great relationship they have.”

  “It’s strange to hear you talk about someone. You used to be so tight-lipped. You never spoke that way about a soul.”

  “I used to be young, too,” she mumbled. “That was then and this is now. What’s your point?”

  “Nothing; I’m just running off at the mouth.” I turned to Billy and made a motion as if to zip up my lips. He shook his head in agreement.

  The three of us sat in the waiting room for twenty minutes, until finally, the elevator door opened and Claire and Cole exited. Claire was pushing the wheelchair as Cole sat in it and argued with the nurse walking beside him. He seemed to be a little unnerved.

  “I feel fine,” he said. “Why can’t I walk out of here, now that I can?”

  “It’s hospital policy,” the nurse told him. “And when you leave here, you will need to use this thing until you are one hundred percent.”

  “I’m already one hundred percent. I can walk by myself.”

  “You need to take it easy for a few days. Isn’t that what the doctor said?” Claire asked him.

  The three of us stood and walked over to Cole.

  Mom bent down and gave Cole a hug.

  “We were so worried about you,” she said. “The Lord was watching over you. I hope you realize that.”

  “I sure do,” he replied. “I’ve been given a second chance at life, and I’m going to live it to the fullest.”

  His remark gave me pause. It made me think that he might live the rest of his life with unrestrained freedom. He came very close to dying so now he was going to go wild. Well, good for him. He had his spunk back.

  “It’s good to have you back, Cole,” Billy said. He reached over and patted Cole on the shoulder. “You gave us a bit of a scare.”

  “It’s good to be back, buddy. My life’s going to change because of this accident. Things will be different.”

  We waited with Cole until Claire brought the car up to the entrance.

  Billy pushed Cole through the door and up to the car. He reached down and was going to help him out of the chair, but Cole stood up and said, “I can make it by myself, thanks, buddy. Why don’t you come up to the house?” Cole got into the car. “We need to have a talk.”

  We stood there as Claire’s car disappeared.

&nb
sp; “That was strange, wasn’t it?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know what to make of it,” Billy replied.

  “Oh, I do,” I said. “He has his life back; everyone else can jump in the lake. He’s got a big chip on his shoulder because he almost died. That does something to a person.”

  “That’s true,” Billy agreed. “I’ve been there.”

  We continued our conversation until we reached Mom’s car.

  “You didn’t have to walk me to my car. I would have been okay.”

  “We wanted to do it, Mom,” I said. “Let me have my way, will you? I’m going to make you a grandma.”

  “You’re trying to blackmail me already. I sure hope it’s a boy. I don’t think I could handle another one just like you. You were always getting into something. You wore me out.”

  “I know I did.” I started to cry. “I’m sorry that I was so bad.”

  “Oh, honey, you were adorable. I was only kidding. Billy, make her stop crying. Bless your heart, you are going to be a handful.”

  I cried harder.

  “I told her the same thing earlier,” Billy whispered. He put his arms around me and patted me on the back. “She’s a little...”

  “I understand,” Mom said as she winked at Billy. “Are you going to Cole’s house when you leave here?”

  “Yeah, he might need our help getting up those steps.”

  Billy handed me a handkerchief. “Dry your tears, sweetheart. Would you rather we go home?”

  “N-n-no, I’m fine,” I said in between sobs. “Let’s go help Cole.”

  “After you leave Cole’s house, stop by and visit me.”

  “Sure,” Billy said. He helped Mom into her car. “We’ll come over for a little while, but I can’t promise a long visit.” He looked over at me. “Jesse’s a little unpredictable. She could get sick any minute.”

  He led me to the truck and said, “You’re so emotional. Are you going to be like this for the duration of your pregnancy?”

  My tears returned. I was happy. I was sad.

  “This is going to be a long nine months. Are you going to be able to deal with the stress of a wedding? Should we just go and get married by the Justice of the Peace?”

  “Are you crazy?” I asked, drying my tears. “I want a real wedding!”

  “Then you shall have a real wedding with all the trimmings. Nothing’s too good for my girl!”

  By the time we got close to Mom’s house, I was sick to my stomach.

  “Lets stop at Mom’s house first, Billy. I feel sick.”

  “Are you going to throw up?”

  “I might.”

  He pressed the gas pedal harder and said, “Hold on, we’re almost there.”

  Ten minutes later, I was in Mom’s bathroom throwing up. I walked out of the bathroom with a wet washcloth on my forehead. My head ached and my stomach felt terrible. “That sure was pleasant,” I murmured. “How long is this going to last?”

  “Nine months,” Mom and Billy said in unison.

  “I’m ready to go to Cole’s, if you are. I don’t think I’m going to die this time. I’m not so sure about the next.”

  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Cole’s house in time to help him inside. He was already resting in his recliner by the time we arrived.

  “I’m sorry we’re late getting here,” I said to Cole. “We had to stop at Mom’s house. I got sick. But I see that you made it without our help.”

  “Yeah,” Claire said. “Cole walked in all by himself. He’s doing very well. He probably won’t need me after all.”

  “Oh, that’s not true,” Cole said, getting out of his chair. He walked over to the center of the room where we were and then put his arm around Claire. “I’ll need someone to take care of me and keep me warm at night. That is, if you want the job.”

  “Sure,” she whispered. “I’ll take care of you.”

  The two of them locked lips right there in front of everyone.

  Elsie almost fainted.

  I felt sick again.

  “You said you wanted to talk to me,” Billy announced.

  “Yes, I did,” Cole said, releasing his hold on Claire. “Let’s go to the other room.”

  Billy and Cole went upstairs to talk. A few minutes later, we heard shouting.

  Billy came down the stairs, grabbed me by the hand, and led me out the door. He was furious.

  “What was that all about?” I asked as we climbed into the truck.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Epilogue

  As I expected, Billy was quiet on the drive back to Mom’s house. When he got angry, he would clam up. And he must have been real mad, because he had very little to say the whole time we were at her house.

  I was glad when we decided to leave. I like visiting my mom, but it was different this time. This time I was ready to go home the minute we walked through the front door. We cut the visit short with the explanation that I didn’t feel well.

  “I hope you feel better, honey,” Mom said. She walked us to the door. “Take care of her, Billy.” She gave him a wink.

  “Oh, you know I will. She’s my girl!”

  We gave Mom a hug and a kiss, and were on our way. It was a silent ride until we pulled into our driveway.

  “I can’t stand it any longer,” I said. “What happened at Cole’s house? It’s obvious from the shouting we heard that the two of you were having an argument. Y’all were pretty loud.”

  “We’ll discuss it when we get inside.” Billy was adamant. The look on his face was hard.

  I let it pass and didn’t say another word. Once we were inside, Billy went straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door and said, “I’m going to fix a couple of sandwiches. We need to eat something.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said. “I want to talk about what happened at Cole’s.”

  “We’ll talk after we eat. You need to take care of yourself.”

  I walked to the kitchen, put one hand on Billy’s shoulder, and closed the refrigerator door with the other. “We’ll talk now. It’s very upsetting to me to see you like this. I can’t help, if I don’t know what the problem is. Tell me, please.”

  “Cole’s self-destructing. He has no heart,” Billy said. He turned and started to walk away.

  “Please stop! Don’t walk away. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. What do you mean, he’s...”

  Billy stopped in his tracks and turned to me with such intense anger on his face, I thought he was going to explode.

  “He said that I could marry you, but I would never be a father to his child. He also said that the two of you slept together that day. He said you told him you were still in love with him, but didn’t know how to tell me you wanted out of the relationship. He said you didn’t love me.”

  “I’ll kill him! That lying, son of a...” My blood pressure must have shot up twenty points, because my face felt flushed and my heartbeat pounded in my ears. I felt sick. I ran to the bathroom.

  Billy was hot on my heels.

  I lowered the toilet seat and sat down. I leaned over and took a few deep breaths. After a few seconds, I looked up at Billy. My eyes were full of tears. My anxiety was out of control.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I don’t understand why he would say that. None of it is true... not one word. He’s trying to cause trouble. He wants us to break up.”

  “Let me get you a wet washcloth. You look flushed.” Billy walked over to the sink, retrieved a washcloth, and ran water over it. He squeezed out the excess water, walked back over to me and then bent down on his knees. He wiped my face with the washcloth. “Do you feel better?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “You looked rough for a minute. I was afraid you were going to pass out. See, that’s why I didn’t want to talk about it.”

  “Were you just going to keep it to yourself?”

  “I would have said something. I would not let this pass. I figured it would be better to wa
it for a while... until you were feeling better.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. I stood up and poked my finger in his chest. “Let me tell you something, Billy Blackhawk. I am not a weak woman. I can handle anything, except a lie.”

  “Cole really made me angry. I wanted to hurt him for what he said. It was best that I walked out when I did. I don’t know what I might have done if I had stayed any longer. I needed to calm down before I said anything to you. I was going to tell you.”

  “I don’t know what happened to Cole,” I said. “He might have brain damage from his bullet wound. Everything he said to you was a lie.”

  “Everything?”

  “There wasn’t a word of truth to any of it. You’re going to have to trust me on this one. I guess this will be the ultimate test of our love. You’re going to have to trust that I’m telling you the truth and I’m going to have to trust that you believe me.”

  “I believe you. You do not lie or I would see it on your face. Cole’s not to be trusted anymore. He’s not my friend.”

  “I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t write him off just yet. He could be sick in the head. He needs help.”

  “You are very wise,” Billy said. “A lesser woman would have tried to end our friendship over this.”

  “It may come to that.”

  “We will see.”

  Billy and I spent the rest of the day sitting by the fire, eating lots of food, and discussing our future. Each of us had definite ideas of where our life was headed. We had decided that I would take some time off from work. It was too stressful under the circumstances. Once I got over the so-called morning sickness that occurred several times during the day, I might be able to handle going back to work. Billy would take care of the cases that came up and I would be his stay-at-home secretary for a while. I would do what I could, but I would not go out in the field.

  “I need to have a talk with Claire,” I said as I crawled into bed. “There are a few things about Cole that she might want to know.”

  “You should let her find out on her own,” Billy whispered. He snuggled close to me. “I don’t think she would believe you after what just went down. You know he has probably told her everything he said to me. If he did, and she cares about him, she’s going to be angry with you.”