A May-September Wedding (23 page)

Phyl heard her
cell phone buzz. There was a text from Cal.

r u ok?

Lydia grabbed
the phone and replied for her mum.

no. try apologizing tomorrow. bye, Lyd

Cal looked at
the text and wondered what was wrong.

The following
day was a repeat of day one. On his supper break he called again
and Lydia intercepted it again, so he just sat at a table with some
of his old buddies to swap stories.

Every day for
the next three weeks it was the same thing. He'd try to call and
Lydia would ask him if he was ready to apologize. He'd say the same
thing and she'd hang up on him. He'd managed to speak to Phyl once
while the kids were at school but she sounded hurt and sad and
lonely, which convinced him that he'd gotten something terribly
wrong. How could doing the right thing make him feel like such a
loser?

Finally he did
what he should have done from the start, he prayed seriously for
guidance. He'd been so sure he was doing the right thing by Phyl
but he wasn't so sure anymore. He just gotten to sleep when the
phone on the side table rang.

"Mr.
Richardson?" A very scared and tearful Lydia was on the other end
of the phone. "Mum's in the hospital and ..." Cal could hear her
struggle with sobbing. "She's in a coma and we need you here."

Cal felt his
world implode. "Phyl's in a coma? How?"

"The doctors
think it's an anaphylactic reaction to something we ate at the
church pot luck last night. They've got her on life support." Lydia
was struggling to keep it together.

"Who's looking
after you guys?"

"Elaine came
to the hospital to be with me. Brian's at the house now with Emily
and Tim and Felicity. I tried to call your cell but it went right
to the answering machine. Elaine finally remembered what hotel you
were in."

Cal looked at
the clock, 3:36. "Lydia, dear heart. I'm on my way. What hospital
is she in?"

"She's in
intensive care at the General. They might not let you see her."

"I'll worry
about that when I get there. I'll call Brian at your house to let
them know when I'm coming in. Oh, and please make sure Father Gary
knows what's happening so we can get the prayers going for
Phyl."

Cal began to
shove everything into his suitcases as he looked up the number of a
taxi to get him to the airport. After he called he checked out of
the hotel, turned on his cell phone and texted his client to let
them know that the number two man would have to handle the
remaining on site work for the foreseeable future.

The airport
was very sleepy at four thirty in the morning. A bored looking US
Airways ticket agent was desperately trying not to nod off.

"Hi there, I
have a serious problem and I need to get to Ottawa the fastest way
possible."

"Is that
Illinois or Canada?"

"Canada. My
fiancee is in a coma in intensive care and I need to get back. I
don't care about the cost." Cal put his credit card on the
counter.

"Earliest I
can get y'all there is 'round 5:35 tonight their time through
Philadelphia. I can check to see if there's anything faster that
won't need you to charter a plane."

Cal looked up
at the board. The US Airways flight to Philadelphia left in ninety
minutes. That might be cutting the Customs clearances close. The
young man looked up. "Nossir. I don't think there's anything
that'll get y'all there any quicker."

"One seat
please, business class."

"That's
normally $2,817 but if you'll sign this here declaration that y'all
have a medical emergency at home, I can give it to you for the
standby rate."

Cal waited
impatiently as the form printed out. He filled it all in and paused
at the box marked relationship. Swallowing he wrote 'fiancee' in
the box and tears began to fill his eyes.

As the plane
headed eastward to Philadelphia Cal ran through every recipe he had
for crow because he was certainly going to be eating it for a
while. He just made his connection for Ottawa, thankful that he was
sitting in the pointy end so he could deplane faster.

For the last
leg he rehearsed various apologies but they all came down to "I'm
sorry I was such an idiot. Can you forgive me?" This alternated
with a prayer that Phyl would pull through.

Fortunately he
was the first off the plane in Ottawa and had already filled out
his declaration card. Swallowing his impatience he said, as calmly
as he could, "I know you have a job to do, but my fiancee may be
dying in hospital as we speak so could you please focus?"

The startled
Border Services agent ran through the questionnaire quickly and Cal
answered honestly that he didn't have time to buy anything because
of the amount of overtime he'd been working.

The taxi got
him to the General just after six. Elaine, Lydia, Felicity and Tim
were all in the family waiting room. Cal held up a hand before
anyone could hug him and said, "I'm sorry I was such a colossal
idiot. I hope you'll be able to forgive me."

Felicity ran
for the first hug followed by Lydia. Tim hung back but when the
girls let him go he walked over to give Tim a hug. He turned to
Lydia. "How's Phyl doing, really?"

"She's still
in danger, but she hasn't gotten worse since we called you. The
doctor says that every hour she hangs on her chances improve."

He looked at
Lydia. "Can I see her?"

"I'll ask."
Lydia led him to the nursing station and introduced him as her
mother's fiancee. Cal raised an eyebrow but said quietly "You could
have said I was her father."

Lydia looked
up in shock but recognized that Cal was trying to make another
apology.

She breathed a
sigh of relief and said "But then I'd owe Mum two bucks for
lying."

"But I'm not
really her fiancee."

"Close enough
that it's not really a lie." Lydia said, "I need another hug."

Cal obliged
but Lydia could feel his impatience. The nurse showed Cal where the
masks, gowns and gloves were then led him into the room. Lydia
stayed behind with the rest.

Cal approached
the bed and stared in shock at his lovely Phyllida. Her skin had
gone an awful purplish red colour and there were intravenous tubes
and oxygen feeds and catheters and other indignities attached to
her body helping to keep her alive.

He asked the
attending nurse if it would be okay to hold her hand. The nurse
smiled and said that it would probably help.

He took one
hand in his and with his other he gently moved some sweat damp hair
off her forehead.

"Phyl, I was
so stupid to run away from us. I hope you'll forgive me eventually.
Seeing you here like this...Well, you were absolutely right. I
shouldn't care what other people think of us and from now on I
won't. I was so miserable in San Diego because you weren't there
and Lydia wouldn't let me speak to you...I'll have to thank her for
that because she was right. I guess I did do a lot of thinking
about it in my very small amount of spare time...I don't know if
you can hear me dearest Phyllida, but I love you madly and I don't
want to spend any more time apart." On impulse he took a coffee
receipt and a pen out of his pocket and measured her ring finger.
Then he sat back and began to talk about what life together would
be like for them.

After the
allowed hour, he was shooed out by the nurse. The doctor came out
shortly after that and briefed the family on Phyl's condition which
was now upgraded to serious but stable. The prognosis was that she
had a better than ninety percent chance of a full recovery and
every hour that she didn't worsen increased those odds. The coma
was unusual but not unheard of. He couldn't say for certain when
she would wake up but for now she was holding on.

Everyone gave
a sigh of relief. Elaine cornered her father as they were leaving
to go home to shower and change. "Dad, I didn't realize how much
she means to you. I mean I suspected, but I didn't know."

"If it's any
consolation, I didn't really admit it to myself until a few hours
ago. Elaine, I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"You have my
blessing, Dad. She's a terrific woman. I'm praying that she pulls
through."

Cal looked
through the wall to where he thought Phyl's room was. "Me, too,
Elli, me too."

Phyl opened
her eyes to see a sight she didn't expect - Cal's face full of
concern for her.

"What
happened?" She looked at the IV tubes and heard the beeping noises.
"I sort of remember the church pot luck..."

"Lydia can
tell you more, but the Cole's Notes version is that you ate
something you're terribly allergic to and went into a coma from
anaphylactic shock. They got you here just in time. It was a good
thing Dr. Norris was at the pot luck and there were several people
trained in CPR."

Phyl slumped
into her pillow. "But you..."

"I was a
colossal idiot, my love. I hope you'll forgive me but when Lydia
called to let me know you were in the hospital I thought my world
was ending. That's when I realized that I loved you too much to
ever let you go again or to worry what people were going to say
about us." He gave her a tentative smile. "I hope you can forgive
me someday."

Phyl's face
showed her astonishment. "Of course I forgive you, silly old man, I
love you, too. I'll even try not to bring it up when we have our
next big argument." Then she tried an impish smile, "But no
guarantees for the one after that."

A doctor's
face peered around the curtain. "Mrs. Schuyler? The nurse told me
you'd woken."

He came in and
examined Phyl's much improved skin colour and eyes then took a look
at the blood oxygen history and a couple of other readings from the
medical devices. "I'm afraid that we'll have to keep you in here
for another three days at least. I'm not happy about some of the
latest blood work. We want to make sure your liver is working
properly before you go home."

"If you don't
mind me asking, what day is it?"

Cal smiled.
"It's Tim's birthday. October third."

Phyl did a
quick calculation. "I've been in a coma for five days?"

The doctor
gave a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid so."

Cal asked,
"Will we have to hold off on the birthday cake?"

The doctor
gave a warm smile. "No parties for a while, but if Tim was to bring
in a small piece, and I do mean small," he indicated about an inch
square with his fingers, "then it would be okay. You haven't had
any solid food for almost a week, so it might not be comfortable
even having that."

The doctor
went off to discuss Phyl's care with the nursing station and in a
matter of minutes Cal was shooed out the door so that various tubes
could be removed and Phyl could get something resembling a proper
bath.

The kids were
models of restraint when Cal brought them to the hospital after
school. The nurse had cranked the bed into a half-sitting posture
so they were able to give and get some gentle hugs. Tim wasn't
about to give his mum a hug with so many witnesses, but he did let
it slip that having her awake was a pretty good twelfth birthday
present.

They had cake
and a decently long visit, then Cal sat on the edge of the bed and
asked, "Is there anything I can get for you?"

Phyl looked
her man in the eye and said, "Yes." Then she grabbed his ears and
dragged his head forward. She whispered so the kids couldn't hear.
"You are going to kiss me like you mean it. In front of
everyone."

Cal leaned
forward and their lips met. Cal tried to put all of his apologies
and all of his hopes into the very gentle possessive kiss. The
girls started to giggle as the heart rate monitor began to climb.
Cal and Phyl joined the giggle. Phyl said, "See? There's the proof
of what you do to me. In case you had any doubts."

Looking at her
intently, he correctly interpreted that she needed another kiss. "I
have to get everyone home. They have homework and I'm behind on the
housework."

Phyl smirked
and said, "What else is new?"

Squeezing her
good hand he stood up. "Call if you need something."

"I will."

Felicity and
Lydia were talking excitedly on Lydia's bed that evening. "I guess
you're feeling a lot better, Lydia."

Lydia flopped
onto her back. "I am so relieved. Mum's going to be okay. How about
you?"

"Well, Dad's
gone from being a complete jerk to Mister Wonderful. So I guess I'm
fine now, too."

"Do you think
they're going to get married?"

Felicity
bounced happily. "Dad doesn't know I saw it, so don't say anything.
He was in a hurry to get going this morning but like usual he
forgot his wallet and keys in his bedroom and asked me to fetch
them." Felicity leaned forward and dropped her voice. "There was a
little Birks bag on the corner of the dresser and I was
curious..."

Lydia sat up
so she could hear better. "And..."

"Oh, it's
really gorgeous, Lydia. I can't believe he finally did it."

"What?"

"An engagement
ring. Dad bought Mum a ring. It's got a big sapphire and a bunch of
smaller diamonds, kind of like Duchess Kate's ring but smaller. I
think it's set in platinum 'cause it's not gold or silver, I know
what those look like."

Lydia was
bouncing, too. "Oh my God. He's going to really do it this
time."

The girls
hugged each other and turned their attention to school gossip.

"I don't
believe it, Elaine. He finally came to his senses and now he's
what?"

"He's going to
ask Phyl to marry him. And I don't want you to get all pissy about
it, not after he bailed you out over Erica. Much as I hate to admit
it, David, I think he's happier with Phyl than he was with Mom."
Before David could rant some more, she continued, "Don't get me
wrong, David. Dad was really content with Mom and they were really
good together, but he seems happier when he's with Phyl. Give it a
chance, David."