Lowcountry Stranger

by Ashley Farley

  Sam jotted her number down on a piece of paper and handed it to the intern. “I’ll need to speak to the doctor before we make our decision.”

  The intern consulted his chart. “With all due respect, ma’am, your son is nineteen. He can make the decision on his own.”

  Hands on hip, Sam stared the boy down. “I don’t care how old he is. No one is carving off a slice of my son’s liver without my blessing.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The intern attached the slip of paper to his file. “I’ll have the doctor call you as soon as possible.”

  Annie spent more than an hour alone with her father, finally emerging from his room with swollen, red-rimmed eyes.

  “Annie, honey.” Sam wrapped her arm around her. “There are organizations that can provide housing if you want to stay in Charleston to be near your dad. I can help you find the right people to talk to.”

  “Daddy doesn’t want me here.” Annie sniffled. “He says I shouldn’t be wasting my time sitting by his bed watching him die.” She cried on Sam’s shoulder. “He’s not going to die, is he, Sam?”

  “The doctors are doing everything they can for him.” Although she intended her words to offer comfort, she suspected there was not much more the doctors could do.

  Annie stirred as they drove down Jackie’s winding tree-lined driveway. “I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I, Miss Sam? By coming back here instead of staying with my dad at the hospital.”

  Sam offered Annie’s arm a soft squeeze. “Yes, honey. Let the doctors and nurses take care of your father. You’re only a phone call away. They know how to contact both of us in an emergency.”

  Sam’s heart went out to the girl. Her future looked bleak. Allen’s recovery could take weeks, months even, above and beyond the operation. That is, if he was well enough to have the transplant and strong enough to survive the surgery. Annie didn’t earn enough money through babysitting for Bitsy and working part-time at the market to support them. And who knew how long it would be before Allen could return to work? Sam couldn’t imagine Allen and Annie living in Jackie’s guest cottage. After all the years she’d spent getting over him, Sam didn’t want to be in such close proximity to her ex, whether he was a dying man or not.

  Annie drew in a deep breath and sat ramrod straight in her seat when Sam pulled up at Jackie’s. “Okay, then. Thank you for driving me to Charleston.”

  “You’re welcome, sweetheart. I know it’s hard to do, but try not to worry. You’re not alone in this. We are all here for you.”

  Sam and Jamie were almost home when, instead of turning left onto Main Street, she made a quick right into the marina parking lot. She switched off the engine and turned to Jamie who was still riding in the backseat. “What say we get some ice cream?”

  When Jamie was little, an ice cream cone from Sandy’s was the answer to all his problems.

  He rubbed his eyes with his balled fists. “Two scoops of salted caramel won’t fix this, Mom, but I’ll take you up on the offer. I’m starving.”

  Sugar cones in hand, mother and son strolled down to the dock, surprised to find it nearly deserted on a Sunday afternoon. They walked to the slip where Mack kept his forty-five-foot Bertram and sat down on his fiberglass dock box.

  “What’s going to happen to his boat?” Jamie asked.

  “We’ll sell it, I assume.” Sam felt it premature to tell Jamie about the terms of Mack’s will.

  “As much as I hate to admit it, you were right, Mom.”

  “What was I right about?” She tried to appear nonchalant, but her stomach was in knots with worry over what had transpired between her son and his father.

  “About Allen. I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet him. Because now I won’t spend the next twenty years wondering what he was like. Just so you know, I’m not buying his lame excuses about needing to prove himself to the world before claiming you as his wife. What kind of man does that? There’s no rocket science here. The idea of having a wife and kid freaked him out and he took off.”

  Sam licked her salted caramel. “If that’s true, why did he marry Annie’s mother when she got pregnant?”

  “That’s like comparing a shiny red apple to a rotten banana. Allen knew he could count on you to raise me right. Based on what Annie told me about her mother, if Allen hadn’t stuck around to support kid number two, she would’ve ended up in a foster home. Not that the support he offered her was worth a damn.”

  Sam stopped licking. “I disagree. I think Allen has done a nice job with Annie. She’s hardworking and resourceful and pleasant tempered.”

  “Those are qualities she’s gained from having to cope with all the hardship he placed on her. She’s barely had a roof over her head or enough food on the table for most of her life.”

  “But Annie loves him, and we have to respect her feelings.”

  “I’m aware. She’s ready to take a scalpel to my gut to save his life.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, eating their ice cream and watching the pelicans dive for fish. “I googled the procedure. The liver immediately begins to rejuvenate itself, which is cool, but the surgery requires a sizable incision in my stomach. Not a good thing for my six-pack abs.” He ran his free hand across his belly.

  “I googled it too. You would likely lose your gall bladder. I don’t think that’s a big deal, but it is on my list of questions for the doctor. And you’d have to stay in the hospital for up to a week. Which, to me, is a huge indicator as to the seriousness of the surgery.”

  “After what Allen did to us, I don’t feel like I owe the guy a thing. But I would do it for Annie, if there was any chance it might save his life. If the odds aren’t in his favor, I don’t want to go through major surgery for nothing.”

  “Of course not. You have your baseball scholarship to think about, among other things. It won’t be long before you start training again. You just got back on your feet. I’d hate to put your poor body through unnecessary trauma. Have you talked to Sophia about any of this?”

  “A little. She doesn’t really understand, though. Sophia is an only child like me, but she has both her parents, who are happily married. She says she would do anything to save her father’s life.”

  “You would too, Jamie, if the circumstances were different.”

  Jamie tossed the last of his cone in the water and a flock of seagulls immediately attacked it. “He’s going to die anyway. He told me so himself. He said days, Mom, not weeks or months. Annie will have no money or family to support her except a half brother she’s known for five minutes.”

  “I’m surprised he was so up front with you about dying,” Sam said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

  “He doesn’t want my liver. According to him, the transplant wouldn’t do any good anyway. He doesn’t want Annie to know, though, because he doesn’t want her to lose hope.”

  “He basically told me the same thing.” Standing, Sam placed a hand on her son’s shoulder. “This situation will play itself out, Jamie. We just need to give it some time.”

  Thirty

  Sam

  Faith and Mike invited the extended Sweeney family and a few of Mack’s closest friends to their house for a cookout. Faith texted the group: “Leave the tears at home. Mike and I want this to be a happy occasion to celebrate Mack’s life and our love for him.”

  Sam and Jamie had just arrived when Bill offered Eli a toast. “Congratulations on your new job, Lieutenant. You deserve it not only for what you’ve done for this family but for what you’ve done for the town of Prospect. We will miss you.” Bill held up his tumbler of scotch, and the small crowd cheered, “Here, here.”

  Not one for making speeches, Eli offered his appreciation to Bill and clinked his nonalcoholic beer with those around him. As soon as he could free himself from the well-wishers, he made his way over to Sam and Jamie. Avoiding eye contact with her, Eli said to Jamie, “I’m sorry, buddy. I was hoping to have the chance to tell you myself.”

  Jamie stared at the ground, kicking pe
bbles with his flip-flop clad feet. “I can’t believe you’re moving to New York.”

  “Actually, I’m not. I received an offer late yesterday afternoon. I’ve been offered a job, which includes a promotion, from the police department in Columbia. You and I are going to be neighbors.”

  Jamie’s head jerked up. “Really?”

  Eli beamed. “Yep. Really.”

  Jamie engulfed him in a big hug. “That’s awesome, Eli.”

  Eli pushed back and held him at arm’s length. “You mean a lot to me, Jamie. Even though things didn’t work out between your mom and me, I hope you and I can still be a part of each other’s lives. That is, if you’ll have me?”

  Jamie hugged him again. “Of course I’ll have you.” He slapped Eli on the back. “I’m going to get a beer… uh…I mean a soda.”

  Sam and Eli smiled at his retreating back. So far Jamie had managed to keep his partying in check. He had chosen not to join a fraternity; and when he wasn’t in class or playing baseball or hanging out with Sophia, he spent what little free time he had in the library. Sam knew all too well that certain factors of alcoholism were genetic. But she also knew that not all children of alcoholic parents became alcoholics. As far as she knew, Allen had never had a drinking problem, but she made a mental note to ask the doctor. Especially considering liver was his brand of cancer.

  “How long before you leave?” Sam asked.

  “I start my job two weeks from tomorrow.” Eli smiled at her, a smile that portrayed all the love he felt for her. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to check in with Annie. I haven’t spoken to her in a day or so.”

  Sam turned away from the group so no one would see her tears. She wandered down to the dock, sat down on the end, and hung her legs over the side.

  Jackie joined her a few minutes later. “Are you sure this is what you want, Sam? To send Eli away to Columbia?”

  “I’m not sending Eli anywhere. He made that decision on his own.”

  Jackie held up three fingers. “Three words will stop him from going. I don’t think I need to tell you what those three words are.”

  Sam leaned back against the piling. “I’m not sure about anything anymore after everything that’s happened this week. With Eli being held hostage, Allen showing up with cancer, and Mack suddenly dying.” She ticked the points off on her fingers. “All these things have reminded me how fragile life is. For the past twenty years, I’ve lived with the assumption that the man I loved left me because I wasn’t good enough for him. Even though I now know that’s not true, I’m having a hard time accepting it. I’ve dedicated my life to my child and my business, believing that I didn’t deserve happiness with a man. And then Eli came along. And he was perfect for me. He is perfect for me. I can look you straight in the face and admit that I love him like mad. I know he’s my one big chance to be happy. Yet I’m paralyzed to do anything about it.”

  “The stakes now are not the same as they were with Allen, Sam. Regardless of his reasons for leaving, Allen not only broke your heart—he broke your spirit. He left you to raise your child on your own. Every hardship you experienced—every long night you suffered when your baby had a fever or an earache, every school and sporting event you attended as a single parent, every holiday you and Jamie celebrated without a husband and father—they were all reminders of that heartache. It’s different with Eli. You don’t stand as much to lose. If the two of you got back together, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

  Sam picked at the pressure-treated wood of the dock. “He could have an affair.”

  “Look at me.” Jackie aimed her thumb at her chest. “Although I don’t recommend it, I’m living proof that your relationship will survive if that happens. What else?”

  “He could get killed in a shootout. Or a bank robbery.”

  “The most certain thing about life is death, Sam. Look at Mom. Dad was her life partner, her one great love, yet she allowed herself to be vulnerable again. Ask her. I bet she’ll tell you that every minute she spent with Mack this past year was worth the pain she’s feeling now.”

  Sam grabbed at the opportunity for a change of subject. “Speaking of Mom. She appears to be holding up okay.”

  “On the surface. She’s a boiling pot of emotional stew deep down inside.”

  Sam’s head jerked up. “Uh-oh. What happened?”

  “We had words last night. Why does she always take it out on me?”

  “Because she is counting on you to be strong for her. She sees herself in you, and she knows she can trust you with her feelings, that you won’t back down, that you will match her strength.”

  “Sounds like you’ve given this some thought,” Jackie said.

  Sam raised her shoulders. “She used to count on me like that. Until I cracked. Until I started running straight to the bottle every time my burden became too heavy to bear.” Sam tucked a leg up underneath her. “Mom’s always been that way with you. Because you’re the oldest.”

  Jackie pointed at the group of men gathered around the grill at the side of the house. “Go. Talk to Eli. Tell him how you feel. He won’t move, if you ask him not to. He doesn’t want to leave Prospect. It’s written all over his face. This is his home. Here, with you.”

  “I will. When I’m ready.”

  “Fine. But I’m warning you, don’t wait too long, Sam. Nothing lasts forever.”

  Thirty-One

  Faith

  Faith had never hosted a party before. Not for family or friends or for any of her daughter’s six birthdays. She set out big displays of food—corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and bowls of potato and mixed green salads—on a folding banquet table covered with a red gingham cloth. When the hamburgers and hot dogs were ready, friends and family loaded their plates with food and found a place to eat, either in one of the beach chairs Mike had arranged on the deck or on one of the blankets Faith had spread on the grass. While they ate, they made toasts to Mack and told stories of his escapades from his fifty-plus years spent on the water. His generosity toward those in need, his remarkable kindness to the townsfolk, and his genuine camaraderie with his friends were all duly noted.

  As the sun began to set, the crowd grew lazy from bellies full of beer and burgers. Moses and Bill left immediately following dinner to attend to patients in need. Mack’s closest friend, Noah, had brought his eight-year-old granddaughter along. Bitsy and Mary Beth chased fireflies and played tag around the group of teenagers hanging out at the water’s edge.

  “It’s hard to believe he’s gone,” Sam said to Faith, who was sitting next to her in an Adirondack chair. “I can’t remember a family gathering that didn’t include Mack.”

  “It’s eerie. I can almost feel him here with us.” Faith inhaled a gulp of salty air. “He’s as much a part of the inlet as the marsh grass.”

  “I know what you mean. I’m gonna miss watching him lumber across the street every afternoon with his catch of the day.”

  Faith gestured at their mother, who was speaking with a group of Mack’s friends over near the grill. “Mom seems okay for now. She’s stuck in the moment of Mack’s passing, surrounded by family and friends. I’m worried about how she will be tomorrow, after the service, when she’s forced to face life without Mack.”

  “At least she knows what to expect, having been through it before with Dad.”

  Bitsy appeared before them, ice cream sandwich in hand. “Mama, I’m sad,” she said, crawling into Faith’s lap. “Mary Beth had to go home.”

  “It’s getting late, honey. Time for little girls to go to bed.” Faith helped Bitsy tear the wrapper off the ice cream sandwich. “Maybe you can play with her another time.”

  Bitsy bit down on her sandwich. “Maybe I’ll get to see her tomorrow.”

  “I bet you will. The two of you can run around together after the service.”

  Sam nudged Faith. “Do you know who that woman is talking to Eli?”

  Faith stiffened at the sight of a stranger standing by the cooler o
f beer. She was laughing at something Eli said as though it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Eli had a lot of admirable qualities, but Faith didn’t think humor was necessarily one of them. Something about the woman seemed vaguely familiar. She wasn’t necessarily pretty but attractive in a muscular, masculine way. “I feel like I know her, but I can’t put my finger on it. I wonder who she is?”

  “That’s Chloe,” Bitsy said, licking the chocolate wafer off her tiny fingers. “She works at the hospital with Mike. She came to our house once, when Annie was babysitting for me.”

  Tidbits of her conversation with Mike from Friday night came back to her, making the little hairs on her arm stand to attention.

  She’s pretty, if you like female wrestlers.

  I knew a girl name Chloe in high school.

  Did she have thunder thighs and huge biceps?

  This is kind of creepy, Mike.

  “What’d she come to our house for?” Holding in her breath, Faith tried to keep a straight face so as not to show her daughter her fear.

  Bitsy used the hem of her dress to wipe the ice cream off her mouth. “She came to pick up something for Mike.”

  Faith and Sam exchanged a concerned look over Bitsy’s head. “Hop up, honey,” Faith said, patting Bitsy’s bottom. She eased herself up from the low-slung chair. “You sit here with Aunt Sam while I go welcome our new guest.”

  As she marched across the yard, Faith surveyed the crowd for Mike but didn’t see him anywhere. He couldn’t have gone far. He’d been handing out ice cream sandwiches on the porch a few minutes earlier.

  “I’m Faith Neilson,” she said, extending her hand to Chloe. “Are you a friend of Mack’s?”

  Chloe looked confused at first. “You mean of Mike’s?”

  “No, I’m mean of Mack’s. Mack Bowman. He is a close family friend who passed away yesterday morning. We are having a private gathering in his honor.”

  Chloe held her shoulders back and thrust her large perky breasts out. “Mike invited me to come,” she said, but the way her eyes darted around told Faith the woman was lying.