Guardian of Eden (29 page)

“Somebody help me, please!” My deep voice resonated against the cold sterile walls of the near empty emergency room. A man in blue scrubs rushed toward me, took my sister’s limp body from my arms and stretched her out on a gurney. He flashed a light in her eyes and took her pulse as a woman fired questions at me.

 “Are you her boyfriend?”

 
“Boyfriend?
She’s 12!”

 “How long has she been unconscious?” 

“She passed out in the car. About 10 minutes. She said her stomach hurts.”

 “Is she on drugs?”

 
“Drugs?
She’s only 12! She just turned 12 today,” I tried to explain. Then I remembered it was well after midnight.
“Yesterday.
She just turned 12 yesterday,” I explained as if it really mattered. They were too involved in examining my sister to care about what I’d said. The man and woman wheeled my sister into a room.

 ***

“What did they say? What’s wrong with her?”
Maddie
asked after she’d parked the car and found me in the emergency room. I shrugged and placed my head in my hands.
Maddie
sat next to me and rubbed my back. “Don’t worry, Garrett. She’ll be fine.”

I shook my head as I fought back tears. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I was tired of crying.

“Garrett, she’s strong. Think about all you two have been through, all the struggles you’ve overcome. She’ll overcome this too.”
Maddie
weaved her fingers in mine and lifted my hand to her lips. She tried to comfort me, but her words seemed empty and meaningless. She didn’t understand.

Yes, Eden and I had been through a lot of turmoil and survived. I knew how to shield her from all our previous trials. I knew how to make sure she was well fed and prepared for school. I had succeeded in keeping Joel away from her. After what he did to me, he’d be lucky to get out of jail before she turned 18. And by then, he’d never find her. I’d make sure of that. I had kept my mother from ever laying a hand on her in one of her drunken rages. But how do I protect her from what I don’t know? She was already sick. Obviously, the danger had seeped in and I wasn’t there to prevent it. I didn’t protect her.

 After I filled out some paperwork and changed into a T-shirt
Maddie
found in Roscoe’s car, I played word games in my head trying to distract myself from the present. I wanted to do a few push-ups, but I thought that would look strange.

 I stood up and walked the halls dragging my fingers through my hair. When pacing failed to calm my nerves, I sat back down and stared at the wall. 

Maddie
peered at me helplessly. I felt bad for her as well, for the situation she had unknowingly found herself in. She had to be exhausted. It was at least an eight-hour drive from where the rally was in Pennsylvania. She didn’t sign up to spend the night in the hospital. She had come to see me. She wanted to make things right between us. But I was in no mood or position to work on our relationship. 

“Who is responsible for this girl?” The doctor demanded as he stormed into the waiting room. 

“I am,” I said standing up so quickly I woke
Maddie
who had fallen asleep on my shoulder. 

“And just who are you?” 

“I’m her brother.”The doctor raised his left eyebrow and looked me up and down. I knew exactly what he was thinking. “Look, we have the same mother, but my father is black, her father is white. Now can you tell me what’s wrong with her?”

 
“
Hmph
.
I think it’s time to get the police involved.” The doctor turned his back to me and headed toward the nurse’s station.

 
“Police?
What the…?”I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

I wasn’t trying to hurt him; I just wanted him to explain. But the doctor reacted to the motion as a sign of aggression and yelled, “Security!”

 “Wait, wait, wait,”
Maddie
said taking my hand and stepping between me and the doctor.   “He didn’t mean anything. He just really needs to know what’s going on. My boyfriend is very protective of his little sister.”

 The doctor studied the two of us for a few seconds. He must have instantly trusted
Maddie’s
big blue eyes. Everyone did.
Including me.
She had
an innocence
, an honesty in her sweet round face that melted away anxiety. 

"Let me see some identification from both of you." I took out my wallet and handed him my student I.D. while
Maddie
fumbled around in her purse. She couldn't find her wallet. She dumped the contents of her bag onto the floor and searched on hands and knees.

 "Damn it. I left my wallet," she mumbled as she turned red. Then she whipped off her necklace and stood."This has my medical information," she told the doctor holding the necklace in front of him. "There's my name and my address and my father's name if you want to call him." 

"Bartholomew
McPhee
?" the doctor asked."Senator Bartholomew
McPhee
is your father?"
Maddie
nodded. He looked from
Maddie
to me then back to
Maddie
. He knew he needed to proceed cautiously in dealing with the daughter of a Virginia senator; especially when that senator currently occupied all the news headlines. He cleared his throat then waved off the security guard. “Do you have any contact information for your mother?” he asked me trying not to seem uneasy about
Maddie's
parentage.

 "She's visiting her mother in North Carolina this weekend."

 I reluctantly let go of
Maddie’s
hand and I wrote my mother’s cell phone number on his clipboard.

“Eden's in exam room 3,” the doctor called over his shoulder as he stormed off to the nurse’s station and picked up the phone.

***

Eden started crying and held her arms out to me when I entered her room. 

“What’s wrong with me, Gary? Am I
dying
? It hurts so
bad
.”I crawled into bed next to her and held her just like I did when she was little.

 “
Shhh
. Don’t
cry
. You’re not dying. I would never let that happen. The doctors here are going to fix you up and you’re
gonna
be just fine.” I stroked her dark blonde hair and stared into her brown-green eyes. 

“You promise?”

 “I promise. I would never let anything bad happen to you.”Eden cried harder. She cried herself into exhaustion and fell asleep in my arms.

***

“I brought you some coffee,”
Maddie
whispered as she entered the room. I hadn’t even noticed she left. 

“You don’t have to whisper. She’s sound asleep. Eden could sleep through a tornado.”I slid out of the hospital bed then took the cup of coffee she held out to me.

 “Is she okay?” 

 I nodded as I took a sip. It tasted wretched. I put the lid back on and placed it on the table.

 
Maddie
hugged herself and stared down at my little sister. She was worried about her. Over the past few months, she’d grown quite attached to Eden. Unbeknownst to me, they talked nearly every day on the phone. At first, Eden just wanted to get me and
Maddie
back together, but after awhile I think they started to develop some sort of sisterly bond. I liked that they got along now. After that first big fight at the mall, I didn’t think a cordial relationship would ever be possible between the two of them.

With Eden asleep, I finally had a moment to focus on
Maddie
. I stepped behind her, put my hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her platinum blond head. Then I remembered something.

“You called me your boyfriend. You’ve never called me your boyfriend before.”
Maddie
turned around and stared up at me with her blue-lake eye. She stood up straight and wrapped her arms around my neck.

Maddie
ran her fingers through my long black hair and as tears welled in her eyes she said, “I love you, Garrett.”

 “I know you do,
Maddie
. And I’m sorry for ever doubting it. I’m sorry for pushing you. I’m sorry for selfishly neglecting you at times. I’m sorry for anything I’ve ever done to make you cry. I love you, too,” I said before pressing my lips to hers.

It should’ve been the happiest moment in my life. Madison 
McPhee
loved me and was willing to make me a part of her life. She had told her father everything and had taken a huge risk by coming to see me tonight. But I couldn’t fully enjoy the realization knowing my sister
lay
suffering. 

I lifted her off the ground and pressed her body to mine as my mouth continued to explore hers. “What about your father? What about the election?” I asked after a breathless kiss.

 “I don’t care what he says. I need you, I want you, and I can’t exist without you,” she panted. We both smiled as she repeated the exact same words I’d told her just two weeks ago. Then someone rapped softly on the door ending our bliss-filled moment.

 “May we speak to you in the hall?”The doctor asked me. When I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me, he added, “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly. I’m Dr. Shepherd and this is Rowena Smith from Child Services.”

I shook both their hands and said, “I don’t understand why Child Services is here?”I started to get nervous. I’d seen enough of Child Services for five lifetimes
.“
Does this have something to do with my guardianship?” 

“What guardianship?” Rowena asked.

“I’m fighting for permanent guardianship of Eden. I have to prove that I can take care of her better than my mother can. Is her illness going to hurt my chances of that?”

 “We spoke to your mother,” Dr. Shepherd said ignoring my question. “She faxed over a letter giving you power of attorney over Eden. She trusts you to make all the decisions concerning her welfare.”That letter was worthless in my book. I’d already been doing that for the past 12 years.