Along Came Love (17 page)

Emma nodded, "We'll go home after we hear
something."

Abby nodded.

"What about Rusty?" Clint asked.

Emma shrugged, "I'm sure he'll be here as
soon as possible, but I don't see Hannah coming, unless she brings
the kids with her."

"That's why you need to go on home, honey…"
Deke insisted. "Looks like we're going to have the entire brood for
a while, and you'll need to prepare."

"I'll be there to help, too," Abby assured
them.

"And I will as soon as we hear something, but
I'm not about to leave until I know something. I couldn't bear not
knowing." Emma replied as she leaned her head on her husband's
shoulder.

"You are a stubborn woman," Deke snorted and
kissed her cheek.

"That's why you love me so much," Emma smiled
and kissed his cheek.

Abby sat down beside Clint and laid her head
on his shoulder. No one totally relaxed.

It proved a long wait. Half way through the
night, Deke sent Clint and Abby out to get some food for everyone.
And Rusty and Hannah both showed up, they seemed weary from the
drive and concern laced their expressions. Hannah grabbed Samantha
and hugged her to her.

"How is he?" Rusty seemed over the top with
nerves.

"We don't know…much of anything," Deke said
and explained it all to him. Rusty shook his head his fist coming
down against his leg in some expression of anger and fear.

"Man, why did this have to happen now?" Rusty
fretted, as though anger was what kept him sane during this kind of
stress.

Deke grabbed him for a minute and pulled him
close for a hug, but Rusty flung himself away, as he pushed the
fear away with anger.

Hannah pulled him by the hand to a chair and
they sat, side by side, waiting.

Coffee went around a time or two, but
Samantha couldn't eat or drink, not till she knew he was going to
be all right. Not till she heard it from the doctor.

Deke went to the nurses station several times
through the night, but got little or no information.

"I loathe coming here. Doctors are not my
favorite people."

Selma started several conversations and kept
everyones nerves from failing them. Clint and Abby returned with a
huge bucket of chicken and veggies.

Abby called home several times to check on
the kids.

But everyone was half asleep when the doctors
finally came through the waiting room.

He introduced himself and noted the worried
expressions.

"We did a couple of tests, some scans, and he
has a serious concussion. There doesn't seem to be any brain damage
as far as we have seen, no internal bleeding, but he is in a state
of comotose for now. We don't know how long it will last. If he
comes out of it soon, then the chance of damage is minimal. If he
doesn't snap out of it within a couple of weeks, then we'll have to
do further studies and go from there. We reset his leg, and
bandaged his ribs. Normally he would be in a lot of pain, but
because he is out of it, he isn't in pain at all. His vitals look
good. But these cases can look good one minute and change in
another. We will have to monitor him for a while. We did a
oropharyngeal airway so he wouldn't asphyxiate, so he's going to
look pretty tied to our equipment for a while, don't want to shock
any of you. But it's all for his benefit. Right now he is
stabilized but only time will tell if he's going to snap out of it.
We are very hopeful at this point though. I want you all to
understand that since he is in a coma, he will be plugged into
respirators, feeding tubes and ivs all over the place. This is for
his benefit, but it can be alarming to others. We are doing
everything for him, and his chances of coming out of it are good,
unless some unforeseen happening of course."

Samantha should have felt better, but not
until she saw him could she relax.

"Can we see him…for a minute?" she blurted as
the doctor was about to turn away.

"Yes, of course, but only each of you for a
few minutes. Right now we are monitoring him pretty heavily,
because we can't be 100% certain of internal injuries and him going
into shock would not be good. So, for a short time and then after
we are sure his vitals are stabilizing."

The doctor motioned for them to follow him
and led them down the hallway.

But Samantha and the others were all shocked
when they saw him. He was plugged into every machine it seemed and
tubes hanging from his arms and mouth.

Deke looked at Samantha and tried to smile,
"We'll visit a minute, and then let Samantha have some time
alone…"

Samantha was grateful for his
understanding.

She could barely contain herself long enough
for them all to kiss his forehead and reassure him everything would
be all right. She knew it was selfish to want to be with him alone
but she did.

The door finally closed and she was staring
at his limp, almost lifeless body. A huge bruise was all over his
forehead, and his right leg was in a cast, she noted. His mouth was
full of a huge tube. His arms were being pumped with life saving
antibodies and a heart monitor echoed through the room. A baloon
like feature was keeping his circulation going in his legs. His
ribs were wrapped, he looked like a huge ball of pain, but his face
was serene. Oh how she loved that face. How she wished he'd open
his eyes and see her.

She looked at all the gadgets, and then at
him.

"Oh my God, Jake, I was so scared of losing
you. I still am." She sniffed and then blew her nose.

She came to the bedside and took his lifeless
hand in hers. It was warm at least. He was alive. But could he hear
her. Could he feel her touching him?

Nothing moved, and only the heart monitor's
constant beating assured her he was still alive. Now, she could
cry. She took his hand and laid her head against it, her lips
touching him there over and over. "Please Jake…don't leave me…not
now…not after we finally found each other…"

She cried for what seemed like hours.

Then her mother walked in, "They need us to
leave, dear…"

Samantha nodded, wiped her tears, kissed his
lips and walked away, every step seeming to take so much courage to
walk away from the one she loved so much.

Samantha walked out into the hallway. She
briefly noted that Emma, had gone home. Hannah came up to her and
wrapped her arms around her. "He's going to come out of this,
Samantha…"

It brought the tears back and she cried on
Hannah's shoulder.

Then Cal showed up, he looked so concerned,
and older all of a sudden. The blood seemed to be drained from his
face. He came up to Deke.

"How is he?"

Deke told him all he knew and Cal turned to
look at Samantha, he took one look and cradled her in his arms. "We
won't let anything happen to him…"

"I know…" she whispered, but deep inside she
didn't know. Deep inside the fear of losing him was still too
great.

When Selma came to hold her daughter, Cal
went inside Jake's room.

***

A nurse glanced up from a machine that
monitored something and Cal stared into her face. She was a pretty
young African American with a kind face, and sympathetic smile. She
glanced from her patient to the older man standing just a few feet
away, and nodded.

"He's my son…do you mind if I say hello…"

The nurse nodded, and left.

Cal stared into his son's face, barely
recognizing the face that look battered and blue. He glanced at all
the machines, and out the window and back at Jake. Jake who didn't
speak, Jake who didn't see, Jake who couldn't hear. He looked at
the leg in a cast, at the bandages ribs and he took in a deep
breath.

"I'm sorry son…I wish I'd been here. But I
guess, I couldn't have done much anyway. What's gonna be is gonna
be, isn't it? You know that. As you would tell me, it's in God's
hands. But I need…" His voice broke a little as he tried not to
look at his son too

closely. "I need to tell you." He paused,
came closer, and stared into his son's face. "Well, I need to tell
ya how special you are to me. There's always something you wish you
had of said to your kids. But well…when you told me about your
plans to become a preacher, I saw my life and your mothers coming
together and I saw a happiness I couldn't voice. I don't like to
cry in front of people, but the happiness inside me was like a …a
flower blooming. Not that I'm not proud of everyone of my sons, but
you…well, when Deke would say you were meant for something better.
I felt the same, but I never could put my finger on what it was. I
just felt it, deep inside me. Anyways….I just wanted you to know it
son."

He was silent for a long while then he looked
at Jake again, "You know, Samantha is a lovely girl, and she's out
there right now, scared and waiting for you to recover. Try your
best not to disappoint her. And…oh yeah…in case I don't say it
enough…I love you son…"

He couldn't talk for a few minutes as he
picked his son's hand up and covered it with his own. He tried to
smile. "I remember a time when your hand was so small…." His words
weakened as his voice seemed to fade away.

He cleared his throat.

He shook his head. "You never know, do you? I
mean, you think things are going to go fine, and then suddenly
something like this happens and it turns everything upside down for
a while. But…"

He choked up, as his tears touched Jake's
hand. He saw his tears and wondered if Jake could feel them. Could
he hear what he was saying? "You can't let this spoil it all.
You're going to be a preacher…remember. Make your mother proud of
you. And you can't stay like this…I mean…Samantha…she's out
there….scared to death…and you certainly know how to put the years
on me…You gotta buck up and get tough son. You have too much of a
future to just let it all fade away. 'Course I realize that it's
really not in your hands anymore, and I'm not used to asking favors
from God. But this is an exception," He looked up and out the
window as though he might actually see God. "because this man, this
boy, this person is so very special to me…to his entire family.
Though he's never had a child of his own, he's loved all his family
as though they were his. He's helped every time we needed him, he's
been there. He's aspired to do so many things, and done them. I
can't see you God letting him pass on without using the great
talent inside him. I mean, somehow I just know that he has more to
give to this world. So if you can see your way clear…God I'd
appreciate you letting him come out of this okay…okay?"

And then he bent his head to his son's hand,
kissed it and cried like a baby. Finally Bertha came in and put her
arms around him.

"Cal, honey, we need to leave. The nurse
needs to check something. Come on, we'll come back soon…"

Cal looked up at Bertha who was crying too
and stood up to hug her. "Your right…we'll be back son…but listen
to what I told ya…ya here? You're very important to this
family."

"That's for sure…" Bertha added, glancing
over at Jake with tears in her eyes.

And he walked slowly out the door, arm in arm
with Bertha.

***

Everyone went back to the waiting room, not
knowing exactly what to do.

The doctor came in and told them there was no
use staying the night, that he would be in intensive care for the
first twenty four hours and they would call if there was the
slightest change.

Cal nodded, "He's right. We need to get out
of the way and Doctor, be sure to have this young ladies name and
phone number because they are engaged, and she needs to know as
much as we. She's family too."

The doctor smiled and nodded. "Just leave the
information at the desk then."

"Don't you think someone should stay here?"
Clint asked.

"Not unless you'd feel better, but you might
need your rest. Because comatose patients need lots of support and
you don't want to wear yourself out…." The doctor explained.

Everyone seemed to hate to leave, but Cal
told them it was best. Samantha gave them her information, and then
she visibly trembled. She wasn't sure she could walk out the door
and leave him like this. She felt the need to be in his room,
holding his hand, telling him how much she loved him and needed
him.

But strangely it was Clint who decided to
stay and keep everyone informed of the situation.

Deke started to protest, but Clint stayed him
with a hand in the air, "Bro, when I was in the hospital, the one
thing I wanted around me was family, not doctors, not strangers,
but family. I couldn't have that, because I was so stubborn about
not telling anyone what happened. But at least I know how it feels.
And I'll admit right now, it was the loneliest feeling in the
world, not having you guys with me. I never told ya'll that, but
that's the truth. I missed you guys. And I knew if I would have
made the call you would all have been there with me. So bear with
me now…I'm not leaving him alone…we can all do this in shifts. That
way no one will get worn out. Samantha your included." Clint winked
at her.

"Don't forget me…" Selma raised her hand.

Deke grabbed her and hugged her, "Never,
sweet lady."

Abby squeezed Clint's hand, her glance
softening on him.

Cal nodded to Clint, "I wish we'd have known,
Clint…"

"At the time I did to, but now that I think
on it, I wouldn't want to put you through the worry of it, Dad."
Clint patted his father on the arm.

Abby kissed Clint and told him she'd take
care of the kids and help Emma out. Clint kissed her again, "You're
a wonderful woman, I'm so glad you are in my life."

"Me too…try to get a little rest, will
ya?"

"I will…just gonna sit with big bro…" he
grinned.

About to leave, Selma stepped in front of
everyone. "Okay, now it's my turn. I want to see Jake and talk to
him. I don't know if he can hear me or not, but I just feel like I
can do him some good. Like Clint I've been through some pretty
rough times and I know what it takes. Is that all right with
everyone."