by Anna Schmidt
After everyone left, Emma finished washing the breakfast dishes and then poured herself a second cup of coffee. Lars was right. Sadie was very good at sizing up people. And Lars had made an excellent point. He’d just turned fifteen when his family moved in across the street from Emma’s. She had been eleven. She certainly did not need to be reminded of a time when she’d developed a crush on a handsome popular older boy—a time when she would have done just about anything he asked of her if he would just walk her home from church.
“Have faith,” she murmured as she sat down at the kitchen table and reached for the phone.
Chapter 6
Jeannie
The first day of a new school year was always chaotic around the Messner house. Who was she kidding? Most days were chaotic around their house. But on this day, Geoff was especially anxious. He would never admit it, but Jeannie was well aware that he had hardly slept the night before, and the tension she thought they’d finally laid to rest was back, stretched like a wire between them.
He was running late and that made him even edgier and more impatient. And as was so often the case, it was her fault. It wasn’t the first time in their sixteen-year marriage that Jeannie had put something that Geoff or Tessa needed in a place where she was sure to find it and then had promptly forgotten where that was. Only Tessa remained calm in the face of her parents’ panicked conversation.
“Look in the bathroom,” Jeannie shouted as she searched through the kitchen drawer designated as the catch-all for the bits and pieces of life that had no real home.
“Why on earth would you put the keys to the gym storage shed in the bathroom?” Geoff shouted back.
“Just look, okay?” Jeannie continued rummaging and muttering to herself. “I’d never put anything so important in here, so where are they? Think!”
Why hide the keys at all?” Tessa asked as she completed her assignment of going through Jeannie’s purse.
“Because the shed is new this year, and your father didn’t want to add the key to his key ring until he’d had a chance to make copies for the staff. I had the copies made yesterday and then put the original and the copies”—suddenly her face lit in a relieved smile—“in our storage shed. Got ‘em,” she shouted to Geoff as she grabbed the keys for the small shed behind their house where they kept the gardening tools and other outdoor equipment.
“I’ll get them,” Tessa said, taking the keys from her and shaking her head at this latest example of her mother’s skewed logic. “You make Dad his bagel.” She slid her arms into her father’s rain slicker, pulled up the hood, and wrapped the sides around her as she dashed across the yard.
By the time the sliced bagel popped up from the toaster and Jeannie was spreading on peanut butter, Tessa was back. She placed the keys on the table next to her father’s travel mug and hung the key to their shed back on its hook. Geoff rushed into the kitchen and pocketed the keys as he pulled out a kitchen chair and threw his tie over one shoulder to prevent spilling anything on it. He took a long swallow of his coffee. “You look nice, sweetie,” he told Tessa. “Ready for your first day of big-kid school?”
Tessa shrugged. “It’s the same as any other first day, Dad—just another step on the ladder.”
But Jeannie did not miss the way Tessa nervously smoothed her shoulder-length straight hair, tucking it behind her ears and then immediately flipping it forward again. She placed the bagel in front of Geoff and then brushed Tessa’s bangs back from her forehead. “Dad’s right,” she said. “You look great—no one will guess it’s your first day. They’ll probably think you’re a new kid moved here from some exotic location.”
“Sadie’s coming with Dan to pick me up,” Tessa told Geoff as she slipped the straps of her backpack over her shoulders. “Is that okay?”
“Sure, sweetie.” Geoff liked Dan a lot. The boy was Dan’s star quarterback, and Geoff had a lot of respect for his talent on and off the playing field. But he couldn’t keep a hint of disappointment out of his voice. Jeannie knew that when he’d seen that it was raining, he’d been hoping Tessa would change her mind and ride with him. Tessa wrapped her arms around Geoff’s shoulders and kissed his temple. “Ah Dad, if it rains again tomorrow, then I promise to ride with you and all the rainy days after that—it’s just that on the very first day…”
“Got it,” Geoff said with a grin. “Can’t start out arriving with the vice principal.”
“You’re also the coach, and other kids might think that’s pretty cool,” Tessa teased back. “Maybe when you wear your coaching clothes instead of the button-down shirt and tie…”
“Okay, okay, you win. Go ahead and make your entrance with your cool cousin and the quarterback today, but I’m going to hold you to that rainy day promise.”
Tessa laughed, and as always the sound of it filled Jeannie with utter joy. This beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly kind girl was their daughter—their only child—and as much as she enjoyed Emma’s children and was flattered by how much Sadie shadowed her, Tessa was a gift beyond anything that she and Geoff could have imagined. They didn’t even regret the fact that they had not been able to have more children. The house was so often filled with cousins and Geoff’s students and Tessa’s girlfriends, who loved gathering in Jeannie’s large open kitchen while she made them pizzas and homemade cookies and other snacks, that on the rare occasions when it was just the three of them, it felt like such a blessing.
In fact, Jeannie often felt a little sorry for Emma. Whenever Sadie brought friends home, they always went off to Sadie’s room. “Young people feel so comfortable in your house—with you,” Emma had said more than once.
“I’m sure that it’s just the difference in the girls’ ages—at their age, one year can make a huge difference,” Jeannie had assured her. “Sadie and her friends are just going through that parents-are-not-to-be-trusted phase.” But based on the number of times she had heard Sadie bemoan her parents’ conservative lifestyle and the number of sentences that began with “I just wish…,” Jeannie wasn’t at all sure that this was just some teenage phase Sadie was working her way through. And the truth was that she couldn’t begin to imagine that Tessa would ever deliberately close herself off from her parents.
“The three Messners,” Tessa had announced one night, flourishing her arm like a sword. “One for all and all for one.” And laughing, Geoff and Jeannie had raised their arms to meet hers.
“Have a wonderful first day,” she said now as she hugged Tessa close. She released her, but her hands rested on Tessa’s shoulders. “Our baby is growing up, Geoff.”
“Mom, I’m not going off to Africa or anything,” Tessa protested, but Jeannie noticed how her daughter hung on to her for just a moment longer than she normally did. “Love you both,” she called as she hurried out the door.
The cordless phone that Tessa had left on the counter rang. Jeannie glanced at the caller ID information and picked it up on the second ring, even as she straightened Geoff’s tie and accepted his kiss good-bye. In all their married lives, the sisters had not missed their morning call to start their day. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was later than she realized.
“Chaos central,” she announced, shooing Geoff toward the door and mouthing, “Go. You’ll be late.”
She handed him an umbrella. “Give this to Tessa. I don’t want her catching cold standing out there in the rain.” She blew him another kiss then closed the back door after him as he wrestled the umbrella open. “Sorry about that,” she said as she settled back in for the daily exchange of schedules with Emma. But before she could say anything more, she heard the squeal of car tires moving too fast and too close followed by Geoff’s shout. There was an ominous thud and then silence. With Emma still talking in her ear, Jeannie walked to the open back door and stepped outside.
For an instant she was paralyzed. Surely this was a dream—this surreal scene with an unfamiliar car sideways in front of their closed garage door, the black umbrella Geoff had taken for
Tessa open and rolling slowly across the driveway, and Geoff on the pavement cradling Tessa in his arms. She was vaguely aware of Dan Kline standing next to the car holding his side while Sadie sat on the wet ground on the driver’s side as if she had simply slid from the car. She was crying hysterically, deep gulping sobs. The only other sound was the annoying beep signaling that the key was still in the ignition.
Jeannie could not seem to make her feet move. So many choices—Tessa, Sadie…
“Call 911,” Geoff shouted.
Without a word to Emma, Jeannie hung up and dialed 911, all the while standing outside the back door, oblivious to the rain as she stared at her precious child. Tessa’s backpack was still attached to her limp shoulders, and her hair fell in wet clumps over her pale face.
“What is your emergency?” the operator asked.
“My daughter,” Jeannie began, but words as well as her voice failed her as she fell to her knees next to her husband and child.
A neighbor she hadn’t been aware of had run across the yard and now took the phone. Briskly he handled the emergency operator’s questions, glancing at Geoff for confirmation when the question was whether or not Tessa was conscious.
“No.” He paused. “Breathing?”
Geoff nodded as tears rolled down his cheeks. “Tell them to hurry,” he whispered.
“On their way,” the neighbor assured him. “Yes operator, I’m still here… neighbor… looks like a car accident… I don’t know. Two kids. One of them is a relative of the victim.”
Victim. The word echoed so loudly in Jeannie’s head that she was unaware that the neighbor had continued to talk, moving closer to the car as he did. She was vaguely aware that she was no longer hearing Sadie’s hysterical rantings. She glanced over and saw her niece huddled against the side of the car. She was soaked to the skin, her arms locked around her knees, her eyes riveted on Tessa as she rocked back and forth, mumbling to herself.
Jeannie’s mind raced with all the things she should be doing—calling Emma back and telling her to come, asking someone to check on Sadie and stay with her until Emma could arrive. But none of that came close to the urgency she felt to save her beloved child.
“There’s no blood,” she said softly. Geoff, taking it for a question, shook his head.
It was true. There were no outward signs of injury. No blood. No awkwardly twisted limbs. Tessa was just lying there, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow but steady, her face serene.
Jeannie scooted closer to him, and together they held Tessa between them until they heard the shriek of the siren coming down their street. Someone had picked up the umbrella and was shielding them with it.
“Hang on, sweetie,” Geoff murmured. “Just hang on,” he begged, his voice choked with sobs.
In what seemed like minutes and at the same time hours, the emergency team arrived and took charge, prying Tessa away from Geoff and Jeannie, turning them over to the waiting arms of concerned neighbors who now filled their driveway and front yard. Three EMTs surrounded Tessa, examining her and reporting their findings even as they started an IV and placed her carefully on a gurney. Through it all, the one thing that struck Jeannie was how very still and calm Tessa seemed.
So like her, she thought, for always in the midst of turmoil, Tessa was the serene one. And to Jeannie, her daughter’s stillness seemed a good sign. She took hope from it. She was clutching Geoff’s hand when he followed the gurney. She saw Emma running up the street, getting no farther than the front of the ambulance when Dan Kline intercepted her, waving his hands wildly.
Looking past the hysterical Dan, Jeannie could see Emma trying to make eye contact with her. Her expression was full of questions—questions to which Jeannie had no answers. All she knew was that her baby was lying on a gurney that three EMTs were shoving into the back of an ambulance, and Geoff was urging her to ride with Tessa.
“I’ll be there,” Geoff assured her and backed away so the doors could be shut. Just before they closed, she saw that a police car had also arrived and an officer was talking to one of the EMTs.
He nodded, glancing toward Dan’s car and then back to the ambulance just as the doors slammed shut.
“Sadie,” she shouted. “Check on Sadie.”
“There’s another unit on the scene, ma’am,” the young man riding with her said.
She nodded and stared blankly around the cramped interior of the ambulance. It was odd how the wail of the siren seemed to come from somewhere far away now that they were inside the vehicle. Jeannie clung to Tessa’s fingers, knowing she should be asking questions. The problem was that she didn’t know what questions to ask. Besides, the EMT was busy working on Tessa and reporting his findings to the driver up front. She had to assume that he was talking to someone at the hospital, preparing them to care for Tessa the minute they arrived. The EMT in back didn’t look old enough to be out of high school, but his actions were performed with a quickness and precision that gave Jeannie confidence in him.
“She’ll be all right,” she said softly, and when this brought no assurances from the young man, she repeated it as a question. “My daughter is going to be all right?”
“She’s hanging on,” he replied, and Jeannie wondered why she had added “for now.”
Chapter 7
Emma
At first Emma was merely irritated when Jeannie suddenly cut off their morning conversation in midsentence. Her sister was easily distracted and assumed everyone she left waiting would understand. There were times when Emma wanted to remind her that she couldn’t just…
But the muted sounds that followed Jeannie’s abrupt departure triggered an innate warning system, telling Emma that something was seriously wrong. She heard crying and shouting as Jeannie obviously carried the mobile phone closer to the crisis. Then she distinctly heard Geoff say, “Call 911,” and the phone went dead.
“Lars!” she shouted out the open back door, thankful that at that exact moment her husband had pulled their car into the short driveway. “Lars, don’t get out. Somebody’s hurt at Jeannie’s. Just wait while I call Hester to meet us there.”
Hester Steiner was a registered nurse and—aside from Jeannie—Emma’s best friend. The two of them had known each other since elementary school, and Hester was also close to Jeannie and her family. Emma dialed Hester’s number, her fingers suddenly clumsy on the phone’s keypad.
“Well, good morning,” Hester said brightly.
“Hester, can you come to Jeannie’s right away? Someone’s been hurt or fallen ill.”
“What happened?” In a heartbeat, Hester’s voice went from chatty to professional.
“I don’t know. Jeannie and I were talking, and all of a sudden she stopped talking and there was a lot of shouting and crying in the background, and then I heard Geoff tell her to call 911.”
“On my way. Shall I swing by?”
“No, Lars and I are leaving now. We’ll meet you there.”
She hung up the phone and ran out to the car without bothering to stop for either an umbrella or her rain jacket. On the short drive to Jeannie’s large home less than a mile away, Emma repeated the content of the phone call to Lars.
“Maybe it’s a neighbor,” Lars said as he patted her knee to still it from shaking. “We don’t know that it’s one of them.”
“Sadie had just left with Dan Kline to pick up Tessa,” Emma murmured, “and Matt…”
“Is already at his school. I just took him there myself, remember?”
“Right,” Emma said. “I imagine that Geoff was on his way when…” She could not complete that sentence. What had her brother-in-law seen? Who was in need of emergency medical help? How bad was it? “Maybe it’s a fire and everyone got out safely,” she said, suddenly preferring that scenario to imagining one that involved people being hurt. “Geoff would tell Jeannie to call 911 for a fire.”
“A couple more blocks,” Lars assured her as he turned onto Jeannie’s street.
Emma leaned forwar
d, willing the car to cover the distance, straining to see—what? Smoke? Flames shooting from a rooftop? Would the pouring rain have already doused a fire? But the fact was that everything looked deceptively ordinary except that there were people gathered in Jeannie’s front yard. Emma recognized neighbors that she and Lars had met before. Dan’s car was pulled into the driveway, although the driver’s side door was standing open. Someone was on the ground next to the car, but because the car was sitting diagonally across the driveway with its front tires resting on the lawn, she couldn’t see if it was Tessa or Sadie or someone else. An ambulance blocked the entrance to the driveway.
She broadened her view to encompass the entire yard and entrance to the house. Sadie’s bike was leaning against a cluster of palm trees. Sadie had left it there the day before—the day of the picnic—the day she had ridden it over there so that she and Jeannie could go get her learner’s permit.
Dan was standing at the foot of the driveway looking lost and scared. He was holding his side, and he had a cut on his cheek. The side door that led from the kitchen out to the driveway was open. Up near the garage door someone was holding a large black umbrella over a group of people kneeling next to someone else on the ground. Suddenly she was certain that one of the two people she couldn’t see had to be Sadie. Lars pulled to the curb, and Emma was out of the car before he could come to a full stop.
Sadie? Not Sadie. Please, dear God, not my daughter.
“Where’s Sadie?” She shouted to no one and everyone. She was fighting her way through what suddenly seemed like throngs of people but was really only one man on his cell phone pacing back and forth as he talked and a woman peering anxiously down the street toward an oncoming car, waving to the driver as he made the turn onto their street. Emma registered that this was a police car, lights flashing, siren wailing. The car stopped behind the ambulance.
Instinctively, Emma made a wide berth past the back of Dan’s car, noticing again that the driver’s side door was open and that the quiet chirping of the warning to remove the keys was muffled by the unfurled airbag. And then she saw her daughter, soaked to the skin but alive. Sadie was huddled on the ground, pressed against the side of the car, her arms clasped tight around her knees and her head bowed low as she rocked back and forth. Just when Emma started toward her, the EMTs shouted for people to clear the way as they raised the gurney from ground level onto its rollers so they could get the lifeless form on it to the waiting ambulance. Emma glanced at the gurney and froze.