by Anna Schmidt
The faith of her childhood had taught Jeannie to turn to God—even for small things, and this surely wasn’t small. Surely a loving God would understand her cry for help now. She was a mother, and her only child was even now surrounded by strangers—strangers holding scalpels and attaching machines to keep her breathing.
Please.
Chapter 9
Lars
As Lars and Emma had driven Geoff to the hospital, Lars had resisted the urge to squeeze his brother-in-law’s shoulder once he and Emma were in the car. Everything about Geoff’s posture showed that he wanted—needed—to be alone, but Lars couldn’t resist offering some encouragement. “Tessa will be all right,” he said as he kept both hands on the wheel and focused on the road.
To his surprise, Geoff nodded. “There wasn’t a scratch on her—no blood at all,” he murmured. “I think she hit her head. Just dazed maybe.”
“We’ll all pray that you’re right,” Emma said. No one spoke again until they reached the hospital. Lars drove all the way hunched forward, squinting at the road the way he always did, as if operating a motorized vehicle were still foreign to him.
They arrived just behind the second ambulance that carried Dan and Sadie. Geoff leaped from the car and ran into the hospital.
“Where is she?” he demanded of the desk clerk as soon as they were inside the emergency reception area. “My daughter—Tessa Messner—fifteen—just brought in.…”
The gray-haired woman glanced toward the double doors and then back at Geoff. “Your wife is with her. I need to get some information.”
Geoff tossed his wallet to Emma. “Take care of this,” he said and headed through the doors.
Emma looked from Lars to the paramedic wheeling Sadie through the doors. She was holding an ice pack to her lip. Not ten seconds later, Dan Kline was escorted into the small reception area. His parents arrived a moment later, and Dan’s father brushed past Emma, demanding to see the person in charge immediately.
“Dad,” Dan moaned, but his mother took his protest for a cry of pain and began to cry as well.
“You need to wait your turn, sir,” the receptionist said even as she indicated that Emma should take a seat at her window. “And you are?” the exasperated clerk asked Emma.
“Tessa Messner’s aunt and godmother.” Emma rifled through Geoff’s wallet to produce insurance cards and other identification. “My daughter, Sadie, is—”
“One patient at a time,” the woman said. She made copies of Geoff’s cards and passed them back to Emma. She typed in bits of information on her computer and finally turned to Emma. “Now, what happened?” she asked, nodding toward Sadie.
Although Lars understood that the receptionist was looking only for information about Sadie’s condition and not seeking details of the accident, he also understood that this was a question they were all going to face time and again in the days to come. His wife gave the only answer she knew to be absolutely true.
“I don’t know.”
The clerk exchanged a look with the police officer who was right behind Dan, and then said something to someone behind her. A man in scrubs came to the door and called Sadie’s name.
“Can we go back there with her?” Emma asked. “And can we see our niece—Tessa Messner?”
The man in scrubs deferred to the desk clerk who picked up the phone and repeated the question. “Yes, godmother, I think. Amish, right?” She glanced at Emma.
“Mennonite,” Lars corrected automatically, although he could not think how their religious affiliation could possibly matter.
The clerk nodded and then hung up the phone. “Your niece is being taken to surgery. Let’s get your daughter treated and then see where things stand.” Once again she glanced at the officer. “Next,” she called, and Dan’s father stepped past Emma and Lars to lean against the desk, his face only inches from the receptionist’s.
“Do you know who I am?”
“That’s what I’m here to find out,” the clerk replied wearily.
“Excuse me,” Emma said. “My sister—Tessa’s mother…?”
“Will be in the surgical waiting room,” the clerk assured her, and Lars did not miss the way the woman looked at her with an expression of abject pity when just ten minutes earlier she had been annoyed with the entire family.
The man in scrubs stepped forward and grasped the handles of Sadie’s wheelchair. “This way, folks,” he said. The police officer followed close on his heels as he wheeled Sadie into an area with a bed and one straight chair and then pulled a curtain to give her privacy. “The doctor will be right in,” he said and disappeared.
“Ma’am,” the officer said, indicating that Emma should take the lone chair.
“Danke.”
Sadie was staring blankly at the floor. Lars stood next to her, his hand on her shoulder. Sadie showed no reaction, no expression at all.
“Sadie?” Emma said.
Nothing.
Lars exchanged a look with Emma and then glanced at the officer. The man was standing outside the cubicle, his back to them, his hands clasped behind his back.
“She’s so still,” Emma mouthed.
“Der Arzt…,” Lars began, and at that moment a nurse came in, slid the sliding door closed, and softly asked Sadie for her name and birth date, checking to be sure the information matched what was typed on the paper bracelet the receptionist had given Emma to wrap around Sadie’s thin wrist. The questions were simple enough. Name. Date of birth. But Sadie remained mute and staring at the floor. Lars answered for her until the nurse came to the tough question, “Can you tell me what happened?”
Sadie looked up for the first time.” We hit Tessa,” she whispered, and then she started to shake, her entire body convulsing.
“Are you cold?” Emma asked, edging closer to where the nurse was bent over Sadie.
Sadie said nothing.
The nurse wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, and finally the shaking subsided. “Sadie,” she said, her voice now gentle and kind, “we need to check you over for any injuries you may have sustained beyond the cut on your lip. Are you in pain? Can you tell me where it hurts?”
Sadie sat stone still for a second and then pointed to her chest.
“Did you hit your chest on something?”
Sadie shook her head vigorously. “I hurt in my heart. We hit Tessa,” she repeated, staring at the nurse as if the woman wasn’t very bright. Then she turned to Emma. “We hit Tessa,” she repeated and then seemed to fold in on herself as she clutched her arms tightly around her body and once again started to rock back and forth.
“Okay, okay,” Lars said, patting Sadie’s hand. “That’s enough. We need the doctor in here.”
The nurse looked over her shoulder at him. “I really need to—”
“Der Arzt,” Lars demanded. “Doctor now.”
The nurse looked from Lars to Emma.
“Bitte?” Emma pleaded.
With a nod, the nurse put away the blood pressure cuff she had started to attach to Sadie’s thin arm and left the room.
Sadie continued her rocking.
“Sadie, let’s keep the ice on your lip,” Emma said, kneeling next to her and pressing the ice pack against her face. From the corridor outside the exam room, Lars could hear the booming voice of Dan’s father. He also heard a calmer male voice say something about running some tests as he assured Mr. Kline that as soon as they knew what they were dealing with, Dan would receive the treatment he needed.
The calmer voice came closer, ticking off instructions to some unseen person as he moved. There was a brief exchange with the police officer, and then a tall young man in his midthirties entered the cubicle. He focused all of his attention on Sadie. Lars liked him immediately.
“Hello, Sadie. I’m Dr. Booker. I need to take a look at you and ask you some questions. Would that be all right?”
Sadie kept rocking.
“Help me get her onto the bed,” he said softly, addressing Lars for the
first time.
Without a word, Lars scooped Sadie into his arms and set her gently on the narrow hospital bed. She instantly rolled to one side, facing away from them, and curled herself into the fetal position. Dr. Booker was undeterred. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves as he walked to the other side of the bed and bent to examine her lip. “That’s going to need some stitches. I could use my special pink thread if you like. My niece likes pink.” He continued to probe and examine. “How about you, Sadie? What’s your favorite color? I’m partial to blue myself—or green. My mom said that’s because I’m the outdoors type. I like nature—water, trees.…”
Gradually Lars saw Sadie’s arms and legs start to relax.
The nurse had come back to assist Dr. Booker, and the two of them worked in a reassuring rhythm, checking Sadie for any signs of further injury. Apparently satisfied that her split lip was the worst of it, he quietly explained each step of the process for closing the wound. “Okay, Sadie, this is some stuff to freeze the surface so you won’t feel anything. I’m thinking no more than half a dozen will do the job, but if you like, I can make tinier stitches and give you more.”
Nothing.
Dr. Booker glanced at Emma and Lars, seeming to notice their plain dress for the first time. “I’ll bet your mom is pretty good with a needle and thread—maybe I should let her make these stitches.”
Sadie stared wide-eyed and unblinking at the ceiling.
As the doctor went about his work, his tone changed slightly and Lars understood that he was addressing them. “I’m going to suggest that Sadie be admitted at least overnight. Right now she’s showing all the classic signs of shock, but I’d like to make certain there’s nothing else going on.”
“The officer…,” Lars began, lowering his voice and glancing toward the corridor where the officer had positioned himself just outside Dan’s cubicle.
Dr. Booker clipped the thread with a small pair of scissors and then pulled off his gloves. “I doubt it will happen, but don’t be surprised if they decide to assign someone to her while she’s here.” He gave a nod toward the hallway where the policeman was talking quietly to one of the nurses.
“I can stay,” Emma volunteered.
“He means the police,” Lars explained, and Dr. Booker nodded.
“I’d like to get some X-rays—not that I suspect anything. But since she’s not really responding to touch or perhaps pain, we want to be sure. And we should consider a psych consultation.”
Lars nodded. “We will wait here,” he said.
“Actually, we’ll probably take her right to a regular room once we get those pictures taken.”
The nurse stepped forward. “It could be some time before we can get her to and from the X-ray department and have a bed for her. I understand that it was your niece who was also in the accident?”
“She’s in surgery,” Emma said. “My sister’s child…” Her voice trailed off.
Dr. Booker and the nurse exchanged a look. “Why don’t I have someone show you to the surgical waiting room? You can wait there, and we’ll come get you as soon as Sadie is settled.”
“I can’t go with Sadie?”
“You could, but I thought you might want to use this time to check on your niece?”
Lars had never seen Emma look so torn.
“Jeannie will be needing you.” He spoke to her in their Dutch-German dialect. “Sadie is in good hands for now.”
“Ja,” Emma replied, but her eyes were on Sadie.
“All right,” Lars said, reverting to English to include Dr. Booker and the nurse in the agreement. “We will wait.”
Obviously relieved, the medical duo left the cubicle, the nurse assuring them that someone would be along soon to transport Sadie to radiology.
As soon as they were gone, Emma got up and went to Sadie’s bedside, covering her tenderly with the white hospital blanket and leaning in to kiss her forehead and examine her stitches.
“Are they even?” Lars asked. And for the first time since they had left their house, he saw a shadow of a smile play across Emma’s beautiful face.
“Perfect,” she replied.
As his wife gently fingered Sadie’s hair away from her face and the swollen blue area around her mouth that the doctor had repaired, Lars couldn’t help but pray that everything that had been ripped open in those few seconds earlier that morning would be so easily restored.
Chapter 10
Emma
This way,” an aide said, motioning for Lars and Emma to join her at the elevator after Sadie had been taken for X-rays. They pressed into the elevator that was already crowded with people in medical garb. Everyone stood facing forward toward the doors, and no one spoke as the elevator stopped at each floor.
A local, Jeannie would have called it with a sigh of impatience. Both Jeannie and Sadie had little time for dawdling. Their days were filled to the minute, and they were always anxious to be on to the next item on their agenda. Tessa, on the other hand, took time to savor life, appreciating the simple details of her daily routine.
Lars stood next to Emma. He kept a strong hold on her, and yet she felt a wave of fear grip her to the point that she thought her knees might actually buckle. She placed her hand in the crook of Lars’s elbow and held on.
The elevator doors slid open, and the aide led the way around the corner and into the waiting room. Emma was surprised to see that they were the only ones there. Jeannie and Geoff had not yet arrived, and there were no other families keeping vigil for a loved one in surgery. Lars surveyed the room and chose a cluster of chairs close to the windows. “Over here,” he said, and Emma followed him and began dragging additional chairs to the area.
“What are you doing?” Lars asked.
“We need more chairs. Jeannie and Geoff will need a place to wait, and Hester will surely be here, and once the news spreads…”
Lars placed his hand on her arm. “We can add more chairs as needed,” he told her. “Sich hinsetzen and gather yourself. Jeannie is going to need all your strength.”
There was a rustle of movement outside the waiting room entrance, and Emma saw Hester and her husband, John, enter the room. The sight of her good friend was such a relief that Emma went to her and for the first time since arriving at Jeannie’s house, squeezed out a few of the tears that she had carefully repressed. Lars was right. Her daughter and sister would look to her for strength and reassurance.
Hester hugged her tight for a long moment. “I’m right here,” she murmured. “Hang in there, and we’ll all get through this together, okay?”
Emma nodded and gave herself over to that moment of comfort in her friend’s embrace—a moment she somehow knew she would need to come back to many times in the days to come. For if they had taken Tessa to surgery, then that had to mean that it was going to take time for her to heal. “Thanks for everything you did for Sadie and for being here,” she murmured, and Hester released her. It occurred to Emma that Hester had not once asked her what had happened. She loved her friend all the more for that.
While John talked to Lars, Emma told Hester about Sadie. “There’s a policeman waiting to question her as soon as they finish taking X-rays and get her settled into a room,” she whispered.
“It’s protocol,” Hester said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “There’s a coffee machine,” she added, nodding toward the refreshment area on the other side of the room. “There’s bound to be hot water. I could make you a cup of tea.”
Tea—green tea, Emma thought, remembering that just a few weeks earlier Sadie had announced that she was on a strict diet to eat healthier. “Green tea,” she had told Emma. “It contains antioxidants that are very good for the immune system.”
“Iced or hot?” Emma had asked her, and Sadie had been stumped.
“I’m not sure it matters,” she had said uncertainly, but then she’d grinned. “But from now on, it’s milk or green tea or water. No soda. No coffee. And no juice drinks. Those are so incredibly loaded with s
ugar.” She’d made a face as if disgusted that the beverages that had been her choice for most of her sixteen years had suddenly left a terrible taste in her mouth.
Emma gave Hester a weary smile then shook her head. “Perhaps later,” she said. “Thank you.” She fixed her gaze on the doorway. “What am I going to say to Jeannie?” she asked.
Hester hesitated and then sat in the chair next to Emma and took her hand. “Jeannie and Geoff will need a little time, Emma. Right now all they can think about is Tessa.”
Emma heard the rustle of someone approaching and glanced back toward the door. Geoff was standing in the doorway, looking as if he might shatter into a thousand pieces at any second.
She started toward him, feeling as if the distance between them was far greater than just the width of a small waiting room. And just when she was within two steps of her brother-in-law, Geoff walked past her as if she were an apparition. He went to the far end of the room, where he turned a chair to face the window and literally collapsed into it.
The aide who had accompanied him stood in the doorway, as if unsure of what her next move should be.
“My sister? Mrs. Messner?” Emma asked.
The young woman pointed to a closed door marked with the skirted silhouette used to indicate female. “Shall I check on her?”
“No thank you. The family is here now. We’ll be all right.” She looked back and saw Hester and John standing next to the chair where Geoff sat slumped forward, his large hands dangling helplessly between his knees.
“We were just fooling around. “
That was what Sadie had said, and suddenly Emma understood that they all had to accept the reality that whatever had happened to Tessa, Sadie had played a major part in it.
Out in the hallway, Emma tapped lightly on the restroom door. From inside she could hear sounds that were heartbreaking and terrifying at the same time. Those sounds were so foreign to her, and yet there was no question that they were coming from her sister—the carefree woman who could bring a smile to anyone’s lips.