Sweet Serendipity

by Pizzi, Jenna

  He nodded. “She’s in with her family now. There is still no change. The doctor said the next few hours are the critical hours.”

  “Well I guess it’s going to be a long night.” Emily said.

  Tasha was holding Andrew as he was asleep on her shoulder. “Sweetie you have two young babies. Go home. We’ll let you know what happens.

  “I’m not leaving. If something happens to that boy, I want to be here.” She snapped.

  “Well, at least let Ashlee take them home, she can watch out for them.”

  “Mom I don’t want to leave. He’s my family too. Besides Riley is my best friend. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Emily snapped her head back and forth. “See. I guess we all deal.”

  Ethan leaned over the table and found a pen. He ripped the cover off of a magazine and looked up at everyone. “Alrighty then, I am going to go get some food. We all need to eat. So what should we get?”

  No one spoke.

  “We have to eat even if we don’t want to,” he told them.

  Micah spoke, “Why don’t we just go and run and get some pizzas. That’s easy and it can sit out for a while. I’ll go with you.”

  James stood up. “I’ll tag along too. I’ll go and get the blankets and the portable play pen from the car.”

  Once they were all in agreement the guys left. Christine left a message on Ethan’s voicemail letting him know that she and Ryan cleaned up Rebecca’s house after everyone left. They locked up and turned on the outside lights. Ethan was grateful for his friends. He didn’t want Rebecca to have to worry about going home and having to deal with all the food and mess. He sent a text to her and thanked her. She immediately sent one back and asked him to text when Adam woke up.

  Ethan gently knocked on the door and stood in the doorway of Adam’s room. Jack looked up, and Ethan nodded to him.

  “We got some pizza and soda. Why don’t you guys come and get something to eat?”

  “I’m not hungry and I’m not leaving my son.” Rebecca snapped.

  Riley looked at her with a worried expression and then put her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “You should eat, mom. We didn’t have a chance to eat earlier, so we should eat now.”

  “I want to be here when he opens his eyes. I need him to open his eyes.”

  Jack lifted her elbow up. “You won’t be any good to him if you make yourself sick Becky. Ethan is right, we need to eat something.”

  She pulled her arm back, “then you go. I’m not leaving his side. I wasn’t there for Brian, I’ll be damned if I’m not for Adam.”

  Ethan suggested that Jack take Riley to the lounge. “Everyone is antsy, they’d probably like it if you’d go and talk to them.”

  Jack walked past Ethan and gently grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Thanks Ethan, you’re a good man.”

  At that moment the two men came to an understanding that they loved the same woman and they needed to pull together to get through the road ahead.

  Riley walked to Ethan and hugged him. “I’ll bring you and Mom some pizza. You stay with her.”

  Rebecca didn’t move from her seat. She stayed with Adam’s hand gripped tightly in hers. She rested her head on his hand.

  Ethan pulled a chair up beside her.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.”

  “Sometimes it helps to talk about it.” He tried to coax her into talking.

  “Ethan, I don’t want to talk. I want to just sit here and listen to the machines beeping, letting me know that Adam is still alive. I want to see his little chest raise and deflate so I know that air is getting into his lungs and that he can breathe. So unless you can fix him, I don’t want to talk.”

  He sat quietly. Although he’d never lost a child, he knew about loss. He understood sitting in a hospital room waiting. He understood what it was like to hold someone you love as they take their final breath.

  Ethan sat and gently rubbed her back. He let her go through the emotions she was feeling.

  Riley entered the room with Ashlee. They were carrying a box of pizza and two big glasses full of Coke. Ashlee nearly dropped the pizza when she saw all the machines and tubes hooked up to Adam. Riley ushered her over to the small table over by the window and set down the pizza. She walked over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her. “Go and eat something Mom. You need to stay strong.”

  Becca rubbed her daughters hand and nodded her head. “Ok sweetie. Are you going to go home?”

  “No mom. We are all sleeping in the lounge. Uncle James had a bunch of blankets in the car. We’re good. We are all here. Maybe you should come out and get some rest.”

  “I want to stay here.”

  “Ok. I’ll be in the lounge. I love you mom.”

  She looked up at her daughter and smiled at her. “I love you too baby.”

  She picked the sausage off of the pizza and nibbled on it. She just couldn’t get herself to eat. She drank a tall glass of soda and the mix of the sugar and caffeine were soothing her to her tired body. Ethan sat silently picking at his own pizza.

  “Who is Lena?” Rebecca asked him.

  Ethan hadn’t really been expecting to have this talk now. “We can talk about this some other time Becca. You should just eat.”

  “I’m trying to put my mind on something else and that was the last thing that I heard before all of this happened. So I’d like to know who she is. Why haven’t’ you talked about her before?”

  He placed his dish in the trash. Eating was a moot point now. Lena and I were high school sweethearts. We went off to college together in California. I brought her to a fancy French restaurant that was way out of my pay range, but I had it all planned out. I was going to ask her to marry me. We ate our fancy dinner that we had no idea what it was. I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.”

  Rebecca’s heart fell to her stomach. She obviously knew he had a life before she came along, but they never seemed to discuss it.

  He continued. “She said yes! We celebrated with a bottle of expensive French champagne and we were both happier than we’d ever been. I remembered her skipping and spinning down the street telling everyone who passed by that we were getting married.”

  His tone began to change.

  “We were driving in the car on our way home. She was admiring her ring, and I remember smiling at her. I was too busy looking at her that I didn’t notice the car that ran a red light and crashed into us on the passenger side. It happened so fast that we didn’t have time to respond. She never screamed. I was banged up. I broke my leg, but I got out of the car and hurried to her side. I had blood dripping down my face from where I hit my head. All I could think about was getting Lena out of the car. The car was so mangled that she was stuck inside. They had to use the Jaws of Life to get her out.

  We were rushed to the hospital. She was put on a respirator. She was declared legally brain dead. Her body was so mangled that it was beyond repair. They said she’d never wake up. Her family decided to pull the plug. I held her in my arms as the machines took her final breath. I learned after the fact that she had been about eight weeks pregnant, so in one night I lost Lena and our baby. My heart died that day. I gave up painting, I gave up everything. I had to get away from everything.” A tear fell from his eye.

  Rebecca couldn’t breathe.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? You lost the love of your life.”

  He held his hand out and took hold of hers. His thumb ran over the palm of her hand. “I don’t view it like that. Maybe at first I did, but I looked at it more like I was blessed to have the time with her that I had. It may not have been a lifetime, but it was something.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I was lucky enough to be given a second chance at love. I found you. I didn’t think I ever would again, but then there you were.”

  She ran her hand along the side of his face. His face was scrubby with unshaved growth. She lost herself in the pools of his eyes. “Why does life hav
e to be so filled with such grief?”

  “It’s not Becca. They are lessons. They teach us what we need to learn. They help us to overcome the greatest odds and move on.” Ethan told her.

  “I don’t feel like that. I am beginning to feel like it is one heartache after another. What kind of God would allow all of this? Why would a ten year old try to kill himself? Why did a car have to run a red light and ruin your life?”

  Ethan fell from his chair and got down on his knees in front of her. He grabbed her hands and held them tight. “No Becca. You can’t look at it like that. I blamed myself for a long time. If I had been paying attention to the road and not Lena, then I would have seen the car. I was distracted and I paid the price. Adam is dealing with his own grief. It’s not in any way your fault. Neither is Brian dying. It was an accident.”

  “I almost lost another child today. I can’t go through it again.”

  “You won’t. He’s going to pull through, but he’s going to need you.”

  She dropped her head on his shoulder and cried.

  Rebecca fell asleep in one of the chairs in Adam’s room. Ethan had put a blanket over her and headed over to the lounge to check on everyone else. Everyone was asleep except for Layla who was making cooing sounds from the portable playpen. He knelt down and put his hand in the playpen. “Hey there beautiful.” He said to the baby. He looked into her big blue eyes and smiled. Emily stirred and got out of her chair. “You can pick her up if you want.” She told him.

  He shook his head, “really?”

  She smiled at him. “Go ahead. You should probably get used to her anyway. You’ll be seeing a lot of her.”

  Ethan gently reached over and picked up Layla and rocked her in his arms.

  You are a natural with her.” Emily said.

  “Well with fourteen nieces and nephews, I guess I’m used to them.”

  “You’d make a great father.”

  He looked at her and then back down at Layla. “Well I don’t think it’s in the cards, but I’m fine with it.”

  “You never know.”

  He didn’t respond to her. Now wasn’t the time or the place to bring it up. If he had to be honest with himself, yeah he wanted a child of his own.

  Alarms started going off and Rebecca woke up startled. She jumped to her feet and watched as a team of people charged into her son’s room. “Code Blue” someone yelled out. “Ma’am we are going to have to ask you to leave the room.”

  “No, this is my son.”

  “I’m sorry ma’am but it’s not negotiable.” The man forced her out of the room and shut the door behind her. Rebecca stood wrapped in a blanket as Ethan and Jack came running down the hallway. Jack approached her.

  “I heard the alarm code for his room. What happened?”

  She looked at both of them and tears just poured down her face. “I don’t know. I was asleep and the alarms started to go off. They made me leave the room.”

  They watched a Doctor enter the room and then shut the door behind him. The alarms went out and then there was nothing. Tasha, Emily, Riley and Ashlee arrived in the hallway. No one said a word. Riley wrapped her arms around her mother and cried.

  The door opened and the team of people exited. Rebecca rushed back in the room as she watched the doctor inject a liquid into Adam’s I.V. He turned to the crowd in the doorway.

  “He’ll be alright. He was going into cardiac arrest, but we were expecting it. We were able to get his heart under control and he’ll be resting comfortably now. He’ll be fine.”

  Rebecca held Riley and squeezed her. Tasha and Emily wrapped their arms around Rebecca and Riley. Jack turned towards Ethan, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for us today. You’ve been a great help.”

  “Thanks Jack. I’m just glad I could help.” They shook hands.

  Adam stirred in his bed. The Doctor looked at him in surprise. “Well, well. I expected him to be out like a light.”

  Rebecca ran to her son’s side. He struggled to open his eyes, but slowly they opened. He looked up at his mother and she saw a small tear drop form in his eyes. He opened his mouth to talk.

  “No, baby. Don’t try to talk. Save your strength. I’m here, baby.”

  “I…sorry, I…I…love you, Mommy.”

  Rebecca nearly burst out crying.

  “I love you, too, baby. You just get some rest so you can come home. I’ll be right here.”

  Jack walked up behind her, “Hi son. I love you!”

  Adam tried to talk again but he didn’t have enough strength. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. The doctor checked his vital signs. “He’s doing fine. His vitals are all strong. He’s just sleeping now. There is nothing left to do but wait for him to sleep. It’s been a very trying night for him. You should all go home and come back in a few hours.”

  Everyone hugged Rebecca and gathered their things. James pulled the car to the door and loaded the kids inside. Rebecca waved goodbye. Tasha, Micah and Ashlee said their goodbyes. Tasha looked at Riley, “Do you want to come home with us kiddo. We can bring you back in a little while.”

  Riley hugged her aunt. “Thanks but I want to stay here.”

  “Alrighty then, we are outta here. I have an appointment in a few hours so I will call you when I am done.” She kissed Rebecca and Rebecca hugged her tight.

  “You better call me with good news, woman,” Rebecca told her friend. Tasha smiled.

  “You know I will.”

  Rebecca laid her head on Ethan’s shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and she closed her eyes. “I’m so tired.”

  The four of them made their way into Adam’s room they each took a chair and slowly they closed their eyes.

  Rebecca woke up first. Ethan stirred awake when he heard Rebecca moving around. Adam was awake. Rebecca jumped up and ran to her son’s side. He seemed clear and alert now.

  “Oh Adam I’m so sorry you had to go through all of this.”

  “I’m sorry mom. I just felt soo sad.”

  “You never should have to feel like that Adam. You should have told me. I could have helped you.”

  The social worker entered the room. Jack and Riley sat up. “Hello everyone I am Carol Woods. I am the case worker assigned to your son’s case.”

  “What’s going on mom?” Adam asked.

  “It’s nothing sweetie. It’s just something that the hospital has to do when a child has been hurt.”

  She held Adam’s hand.

  “I have a few tests lined up for Adam this morning and then we’ll have a better assessment of what is happening here.”

  “I don’t like the way it sounds Mom. I don’t want to do any tests.” Adam pleaded.

  Rebecca kissed her son and looked at Carol. “Is all of this necessary? He has been through a lot. Can we do this some other time?”

  “I know this is hard, but given the circumstances we are putting a seventy two hour psychiatric hold on him once the Doctor clears him with a clean bill of health.”

  “What does that mean mom? I want to go home.”

  Jack walked up to Carol. “Can we speak out in the hall so we don’t upset my son?”

  “Alright” Carol agreed.

  They followed her into the hall. Riley sat beside Adam and Ethan turned on the television to drown out the talking.

  “I know this is upsetting folks. I am trying to make this as smooth as possible for Adam’s case.”

  “What exactly are you trying to do?” Jack asked.

  “We need to do a psychological evaluation on Adam. He has been cutting himself for some time now judging by his scars. He tried to kill himself.”

  “We understand, but can’t we take him to our own doctors? This is going to scare him.”

  “As of now, your son is in the custody of the state of Massachusetts until we decide what is in the best interest of the child.” She pulled out a court order and handed it to them.

  “I know this is never easy, but if your son comes first. This is not an in
vestigation into his home life. We just need to understand why your child is trying to harm himself. You can say goodbye to him now, but you won’t be able to see or talk to him for the next seventy two hours. I will give you the next half hour to spend with your son.”

  Rebecca was dumbfounded. She didn’t know how to respond to any of it. She turned to Jack.

  “Should we call a lawyer? I wish Tasha was still here. They can’t do this, can they Jack?”

  He looked over the paperwork and shook his head.

  “Unfortunately, Becky, it looks like they already have. I’ll put a call in to my lawyer and see if they can look over the paperwork.”

  He pulled out his phone and walked down the hall to make his call.

  Carol walked over to the nurse’s station to give them copies of the paperwork which in turn made her Adam’s guardian.

  Rebecca walked back inside and didn’t know how to say goodbye to Adam. Riley looked at her mother and knew something was wrong. Ethan stood off to the back of the room so he stayed out of the way.

  Jack walked in and looked pale. He walked over to Rebecca and squeezed her arm. “Hey buddy, the hospital is going to move you to another room. They need to keep an eye on you for a couple days to make sure that you are alright. They will run a few tests and you’ll get a chance to rest your body. From what I understand there is all kinds of games to play including video games.”

  Adam looked from his father to his mother.

  “Are you sending me away because of what I did?”

  Rebecca grabbed her son and hugged him tight.

  “Never. You just gave everyone a scare, sweetie. Before they can release you, they need to know that everything still works. We won’t be able to see you for a couple days, but I promise you, we will be waiting when they let us in.”

  “I want to go home. I don’t want to take any stupid tests. I just want to go home.” His eyes filled up as his lip began to quiver. Rebecca felt as though someone was squeezing her heart.

  “Hi folks. I hate to say this, but we are moving him now.” The nurse came in and began to remove his I.V. She turned toward Rebecca and Jack.

  “There is some paper work that needs your signatures on it, and then we can begin.”