Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (13 page)

Looking up at Jeremy, “
I apologize to bring you out here for my ramblings.”

Shaking his head, Jeremy said, “
No, Mr. Ray, don’t feel bad. I appreciate knowing more about Nora’s family. She hasn’t said much about the dairy to me.”

“
No, I guess she wouldn’t,” John nodded his head, understanding the pain she endured in the last few months that she worked the dairy.

“
On the brighter side,” John smiled, changing the subject, “This rock is what I wanted to show you. I know my inquisitive little Nora will ask you questions about our trip out here. Now, what I want to talk to you about is ‘what are your plans concerning my daughter’?”

“
That was sneaky,” Jeremy grinned. “However, after I went to bed last night I was thinking about this little drive with you, and I thought maybe this was your real intention.”

“
Well, Sir, my plans and my desire are almost polar opposites.” Jeremy rubbed his hands over his face, “My desire is to marry her tomorrow. My plans are to complete law school. My father has his heart set on my going to Harvard. He is funding my school so if I am accepted there, I will be leaving for Harvard and Nora will be going to OU medical school. I think she will have no trouble getting her scholarship.”

“
There is a problem with her being a female doctor. That’s almost unheard of in medical school,” John said worriedly.

“
Talking to Nora, she doesn’t even seem to take that into consideration,” Jeremy rolled his eyes wonderingly. “I haven’t mentioned it to her. If she doesn’t know it’s a problem, why bring it up to her? It’s one less worry for her to think about.”

“
That’s the way I feel about it.” John turned toward Jeremy and looked him right in the eyes, “Now back to you and Nora, are you there for her for the long haul?”

“
Sir, my intention is to marry Nora as soon as I possible am able to support the two of us. I hate it like everything that I have to leave her to go to Harvard. I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.”

Jeremy stood and leaned against a tree, looking down on the meadow. “
I tried to talk my dad into letting me go to OU law school but he wouldn’t even consider it. He wants very much for me to be successful. For one thing, I am his oldest son and he wants me to go to his alma mater. He will not even consider my studying anything but law. He says, ‘Littlefield’s are attorneys’. That is that!” Jeremy said bitterly. “I also think one of his motives is to separate Nora and I, not that he doesn’t like Nora but he wants me to concentrate on my studies.”

John sat thoughtfully looking down upon the valley. Finally he softly said, “
I understand where he is coming from. Every father wants his son to follow in his footsteps. He wants his son to be successful. Should you and Nora get married young and have children quickly it might change both of your plans. Both of you are ambitious and have a lot in common, which seems somewhat strange to say considering such different backgrounds.”

John stood up and leaned on another tree near Jeremy. “
Nora talked to me some about this problem with choosing your major some time ago.”

Jeremy nodded.

“What do you think you should do?”

“
Well, it’s hard. I don’t want to be disrespectful to my father. I will go to Harvard, should I get an admittance letter and I will study law, but I will study business law. This won’t set well with my father but horticulture will be my minor,” Jeremy shrugged his shoulders and looked at John, “Do you think I’m doing wrong?”

“
You know your father better than I do,” John said narrowing his eyes and turning his head, “but my guess is that he won’t be happy when he sees those courses on your schedule. You asked whether I thought you were doing wrong. I’m not giving my approval one way or the other; however, I can’t say that when I was your age I would have done anything different than you’re doing.”

Jeremy nodded, “
I appreciate that.”

“
I hate to burden you, son, with my problems. It appears to me that you have more than your share, but I have something else I want to discuss with you.”

“
It’s nothing,” Jeremy shrugged, “I’ve tried to please my father my whole life.” He laughed, “Nothing new.”

“
I understand. It’s still tough, though.” John continued, “I knew from the moment I saw you and Nora together that the two of you had something special, although Nora was clueless at the time. Jeremy, I won’t be here much longer.”

Jeremy moved toward John shaking his head.

“Just hear me out.” John said holding up his hands. “As I said, I know that you love my baby girl. I asked you here so that we could have a private conversation. Before I go I wanted to know that you will watch out for her and my family. I believe you and Nora will marry when the two of you see fit. I know she has her heart set on being a doctor and I would hate to see her dreams shattered. I hope you respect that.”

“
Yes, Sir,” Jeremy replied. “I don’t want to stand in her way. She has always been so dedicated to helping others that it would change who she is if she couldn’t study medicine.”

“
Thank you, Jeremy. You have taken a load off my shoulders just as I thought you would,” John put his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “I couldn’t ask for a better future son-in-law.”

“
Thank you, Sir. I appreciate your blessing to marry your daughter even though it’s a little premature. I do plan to marry her. I promise I’ll keep a watchful eye on Mrs. Ray and Danny.”

When they got
back in the pickup to return home, Jeremy spoke, “Sir, I hope you live to a very old age. You are really easy to talk to.”

“
Well, Jeremy, I feel like I may not have much time left and I’m trying to get my ducks in a row.”

“
I understand, Sir.”

Chapter Eleven

Nora sat by her Father’s bedside holding his hand with tears streamed down her face. When Nora arrived Laura sat in the chair by the bed with her head lying on the bed asleep. She had begged Laura to go the waiting room to get some rest. She assured her that she would not leave his side.

Nora
had received the call from the hospital in Tulsa from her mother that he had been transported by ambulance. She was sitting in her Anatomy class when there was a knock on the classroom door. The messenger called her from the room and explained that an emergency call came that her Father had been admitted.

After calling the number she had been given, she learned from Laura that he apparently had a heart attack. The doctors were still deciding what the next step should be because he was so weak.

Thankful that she had been able to buy a second hand car with the money her father had given her, she drove the two hours to his bedside as quickly as she could. 

Nora had never seen her father so vulnerable, in spite of his lengthy heart condition. Tubes, IV
’s, and monitors seemed attached everywhere. She admired him so much and now, he was down to this. She could remember him as a child when he hefted the heavy milk pails as if they were next to nothing. Then she remembered her anger at him as he gradually left more and more of the work to her mother and her.
If I had only known
she thought.
I would never have felt that teenage rebellion and anger that I did.

Again she wept about what was and could have been. Now the land was gone which he had inherited from hi
s father and generations before him.
If I had been a boy, maybe I could have saved the farm.

She felt his hand move. She wiped h
er tears so she could see him, but he seemed to be asleep. She watched the monitors, her work as a nurse’s aide at the Pryor hospital gave her considerable insight into what they meant. Everything seemed to be stable at the moment.

He whispered with his eyes still closed, “
Hi, little girl, how are you?”

Blinking back tears, “
Hi, Daddy, I’m fine. How are you?”

“
Tired. So very tired,” he spoke barely above a whisper.

She kissed his cheek, “
I love you, Daddy. I’ll be right here if you want to rest.”

“
I wanted to see you become a doctor,” he mumbled.

She strained to understand what he said.

“You still can,” she assured him.

She could ba
rely perceive the shake of his head. “You rest now,” she told him rubbing his hand. “We’ll talk later.”

She laid her head on the bed beside his hand much like her mother had and prayed that the doctors could save him.

That’s the way her mother Laura found them a short time later. Laura went to the other side of the bed and began humming favorite old hymns that she knew John liked.

Later Nora roused and noticed Laura there. “
Did you get some sleep?” she said trying to twist and rub out some of the kinks in her neck and back.

“
I did. I was surprised. I didn’t expect I could sleep at all.”

“
Good. You’ve been through a lot.”

“
He started complaining two days ago with indigestion. He didn’t think it was important, but this morning he was unable to get out of bed so I called the ambulance to take him to the hospital. Then the doctor in the emergency room sent him here. I’ll be interested in what these doctors decide.”

“
How is Danny taking this? Who’s taking care of him?” Nora inquired.

“
Do you remember that little boy, Aaron that Danny plays with so much? He lives just up the street. We have gotten well acquainted with him and his parents, Harold and Mary Roberts, since you left for college. I thought it would be better for Danny to be with his friend than stuck here at the hospital with me. Mary said she would see to him for now, and not to worry.”

Laura rubbed her forehead and leaned forward, “
As for Danny, he was really shook up this morning before school. I called Mary over and she took Danny with her. I promised to call them every time there was news.”

“
Poor thing, he must be really worried,” Nora commented. “I’ll go call him to let him know I’m here.”

Laura tried to get Nora to go rest somewhere as night descended upon them. Nora
refused, “I wouldn’t get one wink of sleep away from this room. I’ll be fine right here.”

They sat there all night, dozing and talking, waiting for John to wake up. They hoped that when he opened his eyes he would be just fine.

At six the next morning, two doctors walked in the room and checked his statistics on his monitors. One of them wrote on his chart, afterwards he asked them to step out the door into the hall.

“
John is very weak. If he were stronger he might be a candidate for open heart surgery. At this point, I don’t think he could survive the surgery.”

Laura put her hands over her face and turned away trying to hold back the sobs. Nora put her arms around her to comfort her holding back her own tears.

The doctor continued, “We’ll keep him under observation a few days and see how he does. It might be possible for him to get stronger and have the surgery then. I don’t want to give you false hope, but there is a window of opportunity that he could rally and get better.”

“
Thank you, Doctor, I appreciate your being candid with us.”

The doctor nodded and went on his way.

Laura went back to the room. Nora went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast to bring back considering they hadn’t eaten since yesterday sometime.

After they had eaten, John stirred. They
both stood up on each side of him. He tried to smile and weakly said, “Both of my girls.”

They quickly glanced at each other acknowledging one of his sayings.

“What have the doctors said,” he asked.

“
They said that soon you will have enough strength to have surgery,” Nora told him thinking her little fib would give him hope.

He shook his head, “
No surgery.”

“
But Daddy, if it could make you well…”

He held up his hand to interrupt her, “
No surgery. I don’t want to be cut open. I’m too tired.”

“
Of course, John, we understand,” Laura soothed him. “You rest.”

Nora stepped out the door. She needed a little time. She went to the waiting room to get herself back together. She knew that if he refused surgery,
there was no hope. It would be only a matter of time, and she feared that would be soon.

At two twenty-seven in the wee hours of the morning, John breathed his last breath.

They had so much to do, go to the funeral home, plan the funeral. Thankfully there was already a space in the family plot, so they set it up for Laura to be buried beside him.

Saturday morning, Jeremy rushed to Nora
’s house. “I came as soon as my mom called that the funeral was this afternoon,” he told her holding her in his arms.