The Prediction, page 19
“I hope so.”
“Your father worries me. He’s not handling my illness very well, and he doesn’t talk to me. His life revolves around control. With that illusion gone, he’s scared.”
“I suppose.” Thea didn’t know what else to say. She was scared.
“I want you to help me look after your father.”
“Me? You know we don’t get along. I don’t think...” What could she say? Of all the things her mom could have asked her to do, why did it have to be this? She should reassure her, tell her she would.
“I love him, Thea.”
“Okay. I’ll try.” Her voice came out petulant, but it was the best she could do.
#
Anna left Thea and drove to Monroe’s house. Not giving her daughter a chance to dissuade her from seeing Monroe, she’d been careful not to mention the visit to Thea. Ted wasn’t the only one who missed being in control.
Monroe opened the front door before she could ring the bell or knock.
“Hi, Anna.” He held the door open for her, and she slowly moved through the opening, cursing that she couldn’t outrun a newborn baby. She tired so easily, and most of her strength had been used at Thea’s trying to convince her that Anna was okay and asking Thea to take care of Ted.
Monroe’s feet were bare, and he smelled like shampoo.
“You didn’t have to clean up for me,” she said.
He closed the door behind her and led her into the living room. “Of course I did. Had to get all gussied up for a pretty lady.” He watched her settle onto the couch. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thanks. I came from seeing Thea, and she flooded me with beverages.” The light in Monroe’s eyes at the mention of Thea pleased Anna. “You love her, don’t you?”
“Is that why you’ve come to see me?” he asked, settling into the chair across from her, unfazed by Anna’s direct approach.
“One of the reasons.”
He laughed, and she smiled in enjoyment. He didn’t back away from a disagreement, and she realized she missed the challenge. Both Ted and Thea skittered away at the first sign of conflict, but Monroe wouldn’t. For the first time since she became sick, she felt alive and awake, which scared her. She’d become a little depressed from the cancer diagnosis so soon after Ted’s heart attack and hadn’t realized it until now.
“Are you okay?” Monroe asked, his face calm and concerned.
“No. I’m tired of pain, tired of being tired, tired of propping everyone else up, tired of being brave for them. Tired.” Tears welled up, and Anna blinked and tried to laugh. The sound came out as a sputter, and Monroe laughed. Not unkindly, but sweetly.
He moved to sit beside her and put his arm around her. She relaxed against the warmth, and he patted her back, giving her his strength.
“I’m glad you’re going to marry Thea,” she said. He didn’t get tense; he kept patting her back.
“You’re quite something, Dr. Whitaker, you know that?” he said, and although she couldn’t see his face, she thought he might be smiling. She moved away.
He got up and sat in the other chair again. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“Yes. You’re quite a healer.” She’d come to see him and find out what kind of man her daughter loved. Now she knew. “You have my blessing.”
“Thank you. Your blessing means a lot to me.” His bright green eyes were open and honest.
She could tell he meant what he said. “I made a lot of mistakes with Thea.”
“Most parents feel less than perfect when it comes to their children. I’m sure I’ll feel the same way when I have them.”
“You want kids? Thea with children.” The idea was new. The image of Thea’s children was sweet. She smiled. “Kids with healing, green glittering eyes and Thea’s long black hair. I can see the scamps now. Do you have family? Siblings?”
He settled back against the chair. “Two brothers and a sister. Two parents. We grew up on a farm. One of my brothers owns it now. My parents have moved here to the city but spend winters in Arizona.”
She thought a shadow of sadness flickered in his eyes, but she didn’t ask. “A big family. The farm must have been a success for them to be able to spend winters in the South.”
“We had the bare essentials on the farm. Some of us kids chip in to get my parents to a warm climate for a few months a year. And your family, Anna? Did you have siblings?”
“No. Myself and my parents. They died when I was twenty-two and never met Ted or saw Thea.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was long ago and past history. I’m sorry to leave so soon, but I need to get some rest.” She struggled up from the couch and was grateful when Monroe didn’t move to help her.
He stood and followed her to the door. She turned to face him. “Be good to her, Monroe.” She reached up and gave him a fierce hug.
He returned it with one of his own. “I will. I love her.”
CHAPTER 38
Anna dragged herself into the house, not stopping until she entered her bedroom. Not bothering to pull down the covers, she collapsed onto her back on top of the cornflower blue bedspread. She pushed each sneaker off with the toes of the opposite foot and heard the shoes clunk onto the floor, one after the other.
Her eyes closed, her mind blank, too tired to think of anything. The warmth of Monroe’s hug stayed with her, and she fell asleep.
She wasn’t sure what woke her. Ted lay beside her, napping. She hadn’t heard him come into the room or felt the bed move when he settled next to her. She heard Tasha squawking in the backyard and reached for the cordless phone. Ted shifted in his sleep and then snuffled and jerked awake.
“What’s going on?” He sat up, instantly alert.
“Tasha’s going crazy. I’m calling the police.” She dialed and waited for an answer. “This is Anna Whitaker at 323 Lilac Drive. I think we might have a prowler. We had one a few weeks ago, and they set off a bomb...Okay...We’ll wait.”
“What did they say?” Ted asked, getting up from the bed.
“They want us to wait here until they send someone,” Anna said with the phone up to her ear. “I’m supposed to stay on the line until they get here.”
Ted started walking across the room.
“Where are you going?”
“Looking out the window to see what’s going on.” He was halfway across the room.
“No.” Anna scooted off the bed and hurried after him. “Stay away from the window!” She moved in front of him to push him away from the window as he pulled the drapes open.
Anna didn’t know which came first, the loud crack or feeling herself slide to the floor, or why it even mattered. From far away, she heard Ted scream her name. She felt the pain in her head, and then she blacked out.
#
Ted saw the blood, and Thea’s prediction moved through his mind. Then all he could think about was Anna. He knelt down beside her, holding his hand over the wound on her head, trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t working. He yanked the sheet from the bed, pain in his chest slowing him for a moment before he knelt beside Anna again. He held part of the sheet against her head and had the presence of mind to pick up the cordless phone, which she’d dropped when she fell. An operator from 911 remained on the line.
“My wife’s been shot.”
“Where?”
“In the head. Please send someone.” He dropped the phone without hearing the operator’s response. His eyes never left Anna’s face as he continued applying pressure against her head with the bloody sheet. Ted didn’t feel as if it was doing any good. He gathered her close and cradled her against his chest, tears flowing down his face, as he kept pressing against the gunshot wound.
He heard someone pounding on the front door but refused to leave Anna. Then he heard breaking glass, and he looked around for something to protect Anna and himself, until he heard someone calling his name.
“Dr. Whitaker? It’s Sam, Monroe’s friend. Are you okay?”
He tried to call out, but the words remained thick in his throat. He heard running on the stairs and then Sam stood in the doorway. He knelt by Ted. “Let me look.” He moved the sheet away from Anna’s head and replaced it quickly. “I called for the police and ambulance. They should be here soon.”
“I talked to them, too.” He nodded toward the phone.
Sam picked it up and spoke into the phone. “This is Sam Miller. Mrs. Whitaker’s been shot.” He listened. “Not good.” He said to Ted. “I’ll be downstairs to let them in.”
Ted heard the sirens then, as Sam left with the phone. His focus went back to Anna. Her face was bleached white, her pulse unsteady. Being a doctor wasn’t any help right now. He was helpless. “God, please save her. Save Anna. Please, please...Please let her be okay. Please...”
Then the ambulance crew entered the room, and he was pushed aside while they stuck an IV in Anna’s hand and checked her head injury.
“She’s just had a mastectomy,” he told them.
“Any allergies to medications?” One of them asked.
Penicillin. That’s all.” Please don’t let her die. Please, God.
“Which hospital do you want her to go to?”
“St. Gertrude’s Medical Center. She’s a doctor there.”
The nodded and loaded her onto a gurney and rushed her to the ambulance. He rode along with them to the hospital but sat away from her as the EMT crew continued to work on her. When they got to the hospital, the emergency room doctor relegated him to the waiting room as they took Anna to a room to determine whether they could operate. While waiting for the doctor to come talk to him, he sat there, dazed at the sudden loss of activity. Thea joined him in the waiting room. “Monroe called me at work. Sam called him about Mom. How is she doing?”
He tried to process what she said and come out of his stupor. “Right now, they’re trying to decide if they can do surgery to remove the bullet.” He noticed her hands shaking where she clasped them in her lap. He wanted to reach out and comfort her, but years of holding in his emotions prevented him.
“Monroe said she was shot...in the...head.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “What do you think they’ll do?”
“I don’t know.” As a doctor, he should have some idea, but he’d never dealt with bullet wounds, only mind wounds.
“Don’t you have some idea?” Anger punctuated every word.
Of course, she was angry. And the one time his medical degree should come in handy, he wasn’t able to do anything. “I don’t know, Thea. It doesn’t look good. Head wounds are tricky.”
She started crying, and he moved to put his arm around her, and she let him hold her. He let her cry, his own tears had stopped, and he let the numbness envelop him. His chest hurt, and he was ashamed of the way it superceded any thought of Anna. He knew he’d made it that way. He looked at Thea. He didn’t know what to do there, either. His carefully controlled life had spun out of control.
The doctor came in to see them. Dr. Timothy Salard. Ted remained sitting. He couldn’t get up because of his shaking legs, and he held them still with effort. Thea’s face was a blotchy red, and she’d stopped crying to hear what the doctor would say.
Timothy remained standing as he shook Ted’s hand. “Ted.” He shook Thea’s hand next. “I’m sorry. We’ve done a CT scan. The operation is going to be delicate. We need to do it now before any more swelling. The bullet’s lodged close to Anna’s brain stem. We’ll perform the surgery and then move her to ICU. You can see her for a minute and then go up to the ICU waiting room whenever you’re ready.”
“Is she...?” He couldn’t finish and fought his instinct to run down the hallway to find Anna.
“She’s unconscious.” Timothy’s face was sympathetic.
Ted had seen that look on many doctors’ faces when they told loved ones that there was a very slim chance. “I see.” He looked at Thea. She understood too.
“Thank you, Dr. Salard,” she said, a look of determination settled over her face. “We’ll go see her and then go to the waiting room. Come on, Dad.” She took his hand.
Ted was proud of her, and he knew he didn’t have anything to do with her poise. He shook Timothy’s hand again.
“If there’s anything you need, be sure to tell the staff,” he said.
Ted nodded. “Thanks.” He turned to Thea. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
They took the elevator to the third floor ICU in silence. Ted didn’t know what Thea was thinking, but he was afraid. He feared he would disgrace himself by screaming, crying, or falling apart in some other way. Anna would have a bandage over her head, an IV in her arm. They stopped in her room, both kissed her cheek, and walked to the waiting room.
“Are you okay, Dad?” Thea asked, breaking the silence at last.
He was relieved. At least she was talking to him, even concerned for him. “I’m okay. How about you?”
“I can’t believe it.” Her dark eyes looked bruised. “Who did this?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Did Monroe give you any idea?”
“Not yet. I’m sure we’ll hear soon.” The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out. “He was going to check with Sam and find what he knows.”
He stopped walking. He knew he shouldn’t say something he couldn’t back up, but he did anyway. “Thea...She’s going to be okay.”
Thea reached out and touched his arm. “Thanks, Dad.”
He took a chance. “We need to talk when things settle down.”
She nodded and started walking toward the nurses’ station. “Later. When Mom’s okay again.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her Anna wasn’t going to recover without a miracle. He started praying again.
CHAPTER 39
Monroe walked down the hall to Luke’s office at the clinic. His thoughts centered on Thea and Anna, and he itched to be at the hospital with them. His brief conversation with Thea had been too short. She’d told him Anna’s condition was listed as critical, and the bullet lodged in her brain required a delicate operation. The surgeons hoped some of the swelling would go down after the operation, but they weren’t hopeful. Thea and Ted waited together at the hospital, and Monroe wanted to be there with Thea. First, he wanted to talk with Luke alone. He found Luke at his desk.
“Let’s talk,” he said.
“I’m kind of busy,” Luke said, keying something into the computer.
Monroe grabbed his hands and yanked them off the keyboard.
Luke jerked away. “What’s with you?”
“Chance.”
At the sound of that name, Luke swiveled his chair around to face Monroe. “What’s going on?”
Monroe didn’t sit down. “Did you know it was Chance before he shot Anna?”
“I just tackled him to try and stop him, and he ran away. He had on a ski mask, but I managed to pull it off. You know I can’t run since the accident. That guard you had took off after him.”
“Anna’s in critical condition.”
“I know about Anna’s condition. I checked with Thea. Why are you here?” Luke asked
“Chance had a little bit more to say. About you.”
Luke’s hands bunched into fists. “What’s with you? What are you talking about?”
“The car accident. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me the truth. Did you think you could hide it from your best friend? You killed two people, Luke. Doesn’t that bother you at night? Doesn’t that keep you awake?”
“No. It was an accident, and they were druggies anyway.”
“That’s how you justify their deaths? They didn’t deserve to live? What gives you the right to decide?” When Luke opened his mouth to answer, Monroe held up his hand to stop him. He wasn’t finished yet. “You set up the accident. You and Chance. At first, I thought you set it up so that Thea would be right about her prediction, but you used that reason as an excuse.”
Luke shrugged. “I didn’t know anyone was going to be with Chance.”
Monroe wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t even surprised at the total lack of remorse on his friend’s expressionless face, only sad. “You told Chance it was a game of chicken, and you’d turn away at the last minute. He wanted to impress his friends and agreed. But neither of you did. And then he confessed to Dr. Whitaker in his interview about the game. You got scared, because although you may be depressed enough to want to kill yourself, you didn’t want to end up in jail. Maybe the best thing would have been if you’d contacted a lawyer and found out what kind of trouble you were really in.”
“You had no intention of turning away, did you? You wanted to die, and you didn’t care about Chance,” Monroe continued.
“I suppose you had a dream that told you this,” Luke taunted. “You don’t understand. You never did. Lucky Monroe. Always getting what you want, including Thea. If you hadn’t gone after her, she would have married me. I know it. I thought Chance would swerve. I never intended to kill anyone except myself. I figured if I died, it wouldn’t matter. I wanted Thea, and I thought she wanted me, until you came along. I didn’t plan for the other two people to get killed. I did the wrong thing, and I’ll pay for it in prison. I’ve also tried to make it right by watching the Whitakers’ house. I’m not totally lost, you know. You’ve always been judgmental of me.”
Monroe was accustomed to Luke’s bitter tone, but not directed at himself. He found Luke’s conviction scary. “I think you did try to stop Chance from shooting anyone that day, so I do believe that you didn’t know it was Chance who was trying to kill Dr. Whitaker in the beginning. I’m sure they’ll find the gun that belongs to Chance.”
“Chance didn’t tell me until right before the shooting that he was going over to the Whitakers’ house. He was afraid that he’d go to prison because of what he told Dr. Whitaker during that morning session after the car accident where his two friends were killed. Chance said that he had told Dr. Whitaker that we deliberately set up the game of chicken. He didn’t tell the doctor that I didn’t know about his friends drinking in the back seat of his car. I wasn’t paying any attention to anyone except Chance.
