by Terri Marie
"The woman who was in here…Chloe Burlington. Is she--" Matthew swallowed hard, unable to say the words.
"She's going to surgery. If you go straight down this hall you'll see a sign for the surgical waiting room. That's where the doctor will go to find you when there's news."
"Is she going to make it?"
"I hope so, but you should prepare yourself for the worst."
Lois walked into the hospital's main entrance and walked to the desk. An older woman looked up and smiled.
"May I help you?"
"Do you have a Miss Chloe Burlington admitted here?"
"Let me check."
Lois watched the woman pluck at keys on the computer. Please say no.
"Are you family?"
"I am. I'm her…aunt."
"Yes, she's in surgery. If you follow the signs to the surgical waiting room, you can get more information there."
Lois did as instructed. Her heart seemed to pound faster with each footstep she took. I should have called her and made her come home. As she stepped through the doorway, she saw Becky's tear-streaked face and the same young man she saw Chloe with in the parking lot in Detroit. He was holding her hand.
"Lois!" Becky got up and ran to the woman.
"Tell me it isn't so. Tell me, please!"
Becky and Lois embraced for a long time. Every time a doctor stepped in the lounge, they gripped each other tighter. When their emotions had settled some, Becky walked Lois over to Matthew. He stood up, not knowing what to say or do.
"You're the young man who loves our Chloe." Lois reached up and patted his cheek.
"Yes, that would be me. I just should have told her…"
Chapter 10
Becky walked out of the surgical intensive care unit with her head hung low, her face reddened from wiping away tears. She wanted to stay at Chloe's bedside, but the nurse escorted her out, saying she could visit again in a couple of hours. She knew Matthew and Lois would be sitting in the lounge on the edge of their seats, waiting for her to give them a report. There wasn't anything she could say that would bring them comfort. Becky stayed out in the hall for a few extra minutes trying to absorb it all. The doctor had stopped by while she was in the room, and what little she recalled from the conversation left her knowing it was as bad as her friend looked. Possible brain damage…might not wake up…hopefully she makes it through the next twenty-four hours…more surgeries to come…internal bleeding…The worst was when the doctor asked if she knew if Chloe wanted to be an organ donor. That's when the reality sunk in. Slowly she rounded the corner and went inside the lounge.
Matthew and Lois stood up and stared at her, neither wanting to ask.
"It's bad," began Becky. "It's really, really bad."
Matthew walked into Chloe's room after begging the nurses. They gave him permission to see her, but only for a couple of minutes. The hospital room was mostly glass so the nurses could keep watch over her, and he hoped they'd do their very best. He could've easily walked right by the small woman in the bed if the nurse hadn't escorted him to the correct room. Chloe was covered in bandages, her face cut up and unrecognizable. There were drains and tubes running from her chest, her abdomen, and her head. Matthew walked to the edge of the bed and wiped his eyes. Every part of her was swollen, cut, and severely bruised. He wanted to hold her, but was afraid to do so much as touch her hand.
"Hi, I'm Ellen, Chloe's nurse. I know this is difficult to see, but all her wounds are fresh. It's okay to hold her left hand, but her right one is broken. Touching will help her to know you're here and so will speaking to her in a soft voice." Ellen smiled and left the room.
Matthew cleared his throat and tried to keep his eyes from focusing on containers that had some blood in them.
"I love you. I need you to know that I love you more than anything. You get better for me. When you get out of here—when you come home, I'll—" What kind of promises could he make to her? What made him think that she'd even want him near her again? "I'm always going to be here for you, Chloe. I'm so sorry."
Matthew walked out of the room when his time was up. When Lois saw his face, she reached for his hand and held it for a while.
"She's a fighter, Matthew, don't you worry."
An officer walked in the room and asked to speak with Becky Lockhart.
"I'm Becky. Is this about Chloe Burlington's accident?"
"Yes, it is. I'm Detective Giles. How's she doing?"
"She's critical and we're very worried."
"You better keep the bastard behind bars," Matthew blurted out.
"It was a seventy-nine-year-old man. They think he had a heart attack before the accident. He was pronounced dead at the scene. I can understand your anger, sir."
"I'm sorry about my comment."
"It's expected in situations such as these. It's not easy to see your loved one suffer due to the hands of another. Becky, did you see anything? The officer at the scene got your name and the victim's identity, but you left before he could ask you any questions."
"I didn't see anything besides the mangled vehicles. It was horrible." Becky couldn't get the images from her mind no matter how hard she tried.
"Here's my card if you need to contact me. On the back is the case number for insurance purposes."
Becky thanked him and took the card. Insurance. Like insurance can fix this.
Matthew went downstairs to get some coffee for everyone. On the way to the elevator he saw John approach him in the lobby. Matthew set the coffee on a chair and shared an embrace with his best friend.
"Thank you so much for coming here. I needed to see my brother's face. And thanks for checking in on pops and handling the work crew. I owe ya big time."
"You have your hands full here, Matt. Don't worry about anything else. How is she?"
"You wouldn't recognize her. I think that tells the full story. She's on life support and they want to get her a little more stable to do some more surgeries. She's got a lot of broken bones and deep cuts. Her spleen was ruptured so they got that out when she came in. The bleeding in her brain has lessened so they might pull the tubes out of her head soon. Her lung was punctured too. Those old cars don't have air bags, so Chloe hit the steering wheel and, as bad as her face is injured, probably the windshield."
"She'll pull out of this, bro. Keep the faith. Are you taking care of yourself?"
"I have Becky and Lois here with me. Lois just left to go home, but we try to take care of each other. It's funny how after this happened, my world stopped. Nothing else seems to matter. Even though we weren't speaking at the apartment, I knew she was there. If I wasn't such an ass, she wouldn't be here. Did you know she was going to the store for stuff to make me and pops dinner when she was hit? She was hoping I'd give her the opportunity to explain why she lied to me. Had I of given her that chance when I first found out who she really was, she wouldn't be fighting for her life."
"You can't think that way, understand? Beating yourself up isn't helping anything. Stay strong, Matt. She'll come back."
"When she first came to our neighborhood, I told her it wasn't safe for her to be out at night. You know how rough it can get, especially for a female. So there she was, out in broad daylight, and nearly lost her life on the way to the grocery store."
John wanted to stay longer with Matthew but he had to hurry back to work. The crew wasn't complaining a bit about their boss being gone. They knew what was happening and were willing to pitch in any way they could.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Four days later, they took Chloe back into surgery to repair a small nick in her liver. The injury was so small they didn't see it at first, but her daily lab work and exhibiting symptoms made the doctors more than aware she was bleeding, and they got her right in. An orthopedic surgeon came in the operating room to help put Chloe's bones back together in her hand and internally align the broken bone in her leg so they could both heal without permanent disabilities. They would go back and repair some of the facial f
ractures when she was out of the woods, but she was a long way from that. Some of her other fractures would heal on their own, but the degree of pain she would suffer if they took her out of the medically induced coma would be too much to bear. The bleeding in her brain resolved itself without them having to open up her skull. Only time would tell of the quality of life Chloe would have, providing she lived long enough to find out.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Sylvia and Earl Burlington sat on their third flight back home to Michigan without saying a word to each other. Earl hadn't spoken to her in days, ever since the phone call from Lois. He'd been aware of his wife's snobby behavior since the day their daughter was born. But she was sweet and delicate when he first met Sylvia Desmond at a luncheon.
The restaurant he owned was a very lucrative business, catering to the wealthy in Chicago. Sylvia stayed after the gathering had ended and chatted with Earl. They continued speaking after Sylvia went back to Michigan, but their talks went from once every week or two, to daily calls. It didn't take long for the two to fall in love. Earl was the 'take charge' kind of guy, and she was a woman with a horrible, sad life. Her father's company, Desmond Enterprises, was very successful, but began to fail after Sylvia was born.
Samuel Desmond loved his daughter Sylvia when she was an infant, but couldn't handle his wife's mood swings and the constant crying from the baby. He began to drink, and the business, started by Samuel's father, began to crash. Jackie, Samuel's devoted wife, was overly used to the finer things in life. It didn't take her long to blame everything that was upside down in her world, her marriage and failing financial situation, on Sylvia. To help prevent Samuel from leaving her, she sent Sylvia to a strict, harsh boarding school, where she worked and lived until she turned eighteen.
She hadn't spoken to her parents since she was dropped off in Sister Gilbert's office. On her seventeenth birthday, the old nun coldly informed Sylvia of the news that her mother had passed away in her sleep. Samuel kept the business above water, but barely, and only sent the minimal amount to pay for Sylvia's stay. She had no memories of her father when she left the boarding school, and never grieved over the death of her mother. Both of her parents existed on paper only.
Then came Earl. He listened to her past and tried to comfort her the best way he could. She was eighteen, he was twenty. One evening after her twenty-first birthday, she gave Earl the news of her pregnancy. Being raised in a Catholic environment, termination wasn't an option. The last thing Sylvia wanted was a baby. She had absolutely no idea how to raise one, and had no experience with children in general. They got married in front of a judge, and she moved her meek belongings into Earl's modest apartment.
When Sylvia was six months pregnant, she was contacted by an attorney representing her father's estate. She had no idea she was an heir to the struggling Desmond Enterprises. She was given three hundred and fifty-thousand dollars, a beautiful home in Berkshire Estates, and two matching Mercedes, a month after her father's death. According to the death certificate, Samuel Desmond had died from a heart attack. Sylvia didn't know what to do with the company, but Earl flew with her back to Michigan and met with the officers and attorneys for the company. Being experienced in a successful business, Earl did what was best after seeing the potential of his wife's newly inherited company. He sold his restaurant and took over running the failing Desmond Enterprises. He spent his days and nights going through the papers and accounting records. There was so much corruption his head began to spin. One by one, the board was replaced, the accounting firm was fired, and Burlington Enterprises was born.
Sylvia was delighted with her new found friends in high places and her wealth. Before she realized it, she was even speaking differently. Sylvia thrived in all the attention, and loved how people treated her while she was pregnant. Earl hired staff for the house and a nice young woman to cook. Sylvia slept, shopped, complained, ordered people around, and always looked like a million bucks.
At three in the morning, baby Chloe woke Sylvia up with such horrible back labor that she insisted on having her tubes cut so she'd never go through that again. Besides, the baby girl wasn't even that cute. Her head was kind of pointed and her face a tad smashed. Sylvia had no intentions of walking around with a baby glued to her breast, and changing diapers wasn't exactly her thing. When the little bundle would cry or need changed, Sylvia was excellent at convincing her husband that her head was killing her. She did, however, feel well enough to call a photographer for a family picture, dress herself and the baby in designer clothes, and smile wide while she held her daughter in her arms.
Earl couldn't stay at home all the time. He'd already missed a few days in a row of work, and his wife wasn't quite cut out for motherhood. But he knew when the baby got a little older and could walk, talk, and not be so dependent, Sylvia would be all over her. But for now, he'd have to hire a nanny.
Lois Shepherd, the cook, had no children of her own but seemed to be the most personable and would even offer to hold the newborn when she wasn't in the kitchen. She was never officially hired as the nanny though. As a matter of fact, Lois hated the nannies who were employed. She tolerated the ones on night shift because she left between five and seven every night, and someone would have to be with the baby. But during the day, it was a job she took upon herself. No matter how much she tried to teach Sylvia, or encouraged her to hold her baby, the young mother wanted nothing to do with being a mom.
As Burlington Enterprises grew into a prosperous business, Earl decided it was time to expand further internationally. Because the company mined and sold precious metals, Earl spent a lot of the year flying to different parts of the world. It didn't take him long to discover how many countries needed schools, medical facilities, and clean water. Burlington became a household name rather quickly when his projects became public. When a large steel mill went defunct, Earl quickly bought it. Sylvia was livid over how much he spent. But he knew he had to spend money to make money, and his brain was flying with ideas. The cost of steel was hindering his ability to help those in need.
A year later, Earl met with his technology department. Laying his plans out for everyone to see, it was clear he'd found a less expensive and faster way to melt steel. His idea would save millions. The amazing machine was built the following year and sold all across the nation. Earl was on his way to take charge and make the world a better place.
Sylvia wasn't having any part of it. She couldn't make her husband stay home no matter how hard she tried. She knew Earl loved his daughter and wanted to build a wonderful empire for the future Burlington generations. Even though she desperately wanted him to stop traveling and working so much, she was unwilling to cut back on her luxurious lifestyle. Sylvia continued to spend, and Earl continued to travel. One day, she packed her bags and hopped on the plane right beside her husband.
At first it was just for a week or two here and there. But soon enough, Sylvia wasn't going home after traveling abroad to see Earl. It was okay though. She promised to spend the summers back in Michigan, all holidays, and one weekend per month. That happened until Chloe turned two, then slowly over the next couple years, the visits disappeared…But that was okay, too. She promised to call every day and talk with Chloe and would promptly fly home if she was needed. That rarely happened.
Sylvia hated being a mother. It was her biggest fear in life. She loved the idea of having a child and could even say she loved the little girl. But Sylvia had no idea how to bond. When Chloe began to treat Lois like the mother figure, she knew the best thing to do was keep away. Wasn't it better this way? As Chloe aged and realized that her mother wasn't coming home, she began to ask questions. Lois explained the best she could.
As Burlington Enterprises grew, so did the attention of the press. Photographers and reporters frequently hung around the estate. After Earl was contacted by his secretary regarding staff complaints at the house, he quickly installed a security system, gates, guards, and twenty-four hour surveillance at his home. The
first kidnapping threat came when Chloe turned four. When Lois called Earl after phoning the police, Sylvia answered the phone. Lois demanded she come home to her child and protect her, and be a decent mother. Sylvia told her in no uncertain terms to ever call directly again. The office knew how to reach them after all.
Earl was informed of the threats, due to a police leak that ended up in the newspaper. He was furious, and also unaware that his wife had any knowledge of the crime. That was the beginning of Chloe's secluded life.
Sylvia and Earl had many arguments over their daughter's welfare. She made all kinds of promises but never kept them. When Chloe turned eighteen, Sylvia was more than sure a mother wasn't necessary. She turned out just fine after all. That didn't fly with her husband. A husband. Yes, that was the answer to all her problems. She needed to find her daughter a husband and get her out of that house.
The search began. She had Earl's secretary fax her a list of who was who in the social circle of wealthy families. She went through every name until she found a family with a rich son her daughter's age. It took her a couple of minutes to discover the Lauer's had attended one of their benefits. The first phone call was made, asking for a donation for a medical facility in Africa. Sylvia called a few weeks later to thank Mrs. Lauer for their one hundred thousand dollar check. After a long chat about family, fashion, and Chloe being single and of age, the ball was set in motion.
Twenty-one-year-old Edmund Lauer, with the skinny body and pinched face like his father's, showed up at the Burlington house to visit Chloe. After Earl investigated the young man and was assured that his daughter was safe, she was allowed to go on her first date to a very expensive restaurant, transported by a limo with two guards.
Earl and Sylvia flew home, and the engagement was arranged. Yes, Edmund was the one. Sylvia had a photographer come in to take a picture for that event too. Their flight left at four in the morning, and when Chloe got up to make breakfast for her parents, they were flying high above the Atlantic Ocean.