One Mountain Away (28 page)

Maddie grabbed the telephone with her left hand, which was still in a sling, and Taylor’s handiwork with her right. “Daddy!”

Taylor watched her daughter squirm into the skirt while she cradled the receiver in the crook of her shoulder. She had been cranky and fearful all morning, waking early and eating nothing more than a few bites of toast. Now, despite the gymnastics, she was finally smiling.

“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” Maddie said into the telephone. “Sam’s going to take me. Mom has a class in a little while.”

Sam and Taylor had carefully planned Maddie’s return to school. In reality Taylor had plenty of time to drive her, but she and Sam had decided that arriving with Edna would help soothe Maddie’s anxiety. She was embarrassed to face the children who had witnessed her seizure at the park, and even the get-well card she’d received from her class hadn’t done much to make her feel better. Popular, diplomatic Edna would help her through her return.

“I can’t wait to see you!” Maddie said. “I love you, Daddy!” She was smiling by the time Taylor hung up the phone for her. “He says Willow has a friend with horses, and I can ride when I’m there.”

Taylor had to remind her heart to beat. “Did he?”

“I can’t wait to go to Nashville.” Maddie paused, as if she realized how that sounded. “Of course, I’ll miss you.”

Taylor welded a smile on her face and nodded. “Of course.”

A honk sounded, and Taylor knew Sam was there. “Run along, or rather walk,” she said as casually as she could. She knew better than to act like heading to school was anything other than completely normal. “I’ll be here when you get home. Papa’s bringing dinner tonight. We’ll have a party.”

Maddie did a fist bump, grabbed her book bag with her good arm and headed outside. Taylor stood in the doorway and waved, and the moment Sam’s VW had disappeared, she picked up the receiver and hit speed dial.

Jeremy answered on the first ring. “Maddie?”

“Maddie’s mother,” she said formally. “She’s on her way to school.”

“She sounded excited.”

“No, she’s been a nervous wreck all morning.” She didn’t add,
But what would you know?
although she heard the sentiment in her voice.

“Look, we have to talk,” she went on. “I guess I understand why you couldn’t visit your daughter in the hospital.”

“I talked to Maddie twice a day, Taylor. You know Black Balsam’s on tour. We have one more gig, then we’re done for a couple of months. Maddie knows we’re going to be together soon.”

“You’re
not,
” Taylor said, although she had planned to work up to that more subtly.

“I’m sorry?”

“Listen, she’s just gone through a trauma, and she needs to stay here, where her doctor and her medical records are. She’s on new meds, and we don’t know what the outcome will be. Her shoulder’s healing, but she’s in a sling—”

“And from what I’m told, she’ll be out of it by the end of school, right?”

“But she’s still healing! Did you honestly believe she’d be up to riding horseback?”

“Is that what this is about? Give me a break, Taylor. I’m going to lead her around the ring on an old nag who couldn’t trot if the hounds of hell were after him. Maddie deserves as normal a life as we can give her.”

“Like I don’t know that? I’m the one who deals with this every single minute.”

“And yet you’re the one who’s trying to keep me from helping, aren’t you?”

She swallowed her anger and reminded herself this was about Maddie. “Look, this isn’t about the horse, and it’s not something I just thought of. I know you want her there. Maybe next summer—”

“Next summer will be perfect, too. But she’s coming this summer, just the way we planned, just the way you and I have previously discussed, accident or no. She’s looking forward to it, and I’m not going to disappoint her. I want her to get to know Willow, and she needs time with me.”

He was silent for a moment, and when he continued his voice was calmer, but only as if by a huge effort. “I know this is hard for you. But epilepsy is unpredictable, Taylor. We both know it. If I wait until I have a written guarantee she’s going to be seizure-free, I’ll have to wait forever. I’m prepared. And believe it or not, we have doctors and hospitals in Tennessee, just in case.”

“No.” She couldn’t think of a better way to end the conversation. “I’m sorry, but no, Jeremy. I don’t feel good about letting her leave town after what she’s been through. I—”

He didn’t let her finish. “What’s really worse for Maddie? Visiting her father in a perfectly safe environment where she’ll be loved and cared for? Or staying in Asheville while her parents battle her future in court? Because this time I’m not going to sit back and let you run everything. Maddie’s coming to Nashville, or I’m going to find a lawyer.”

“This time?”

“Let’s not go there.”

“You’re the one who said it.”

“Okay, this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to keep me at arm’s length. But it’s the last. I get that you love her. I get that you need her in your life. But I also get that she needs
me.
So she’s coming. And please don’t let her see how much you don’t want her to. Give her the gift of a happy farewell, okay?”

She hung up without slamming the receiver into the cradle. It was the very best she was capable of.

* * *

Harmony loved watching Velvet with her puppies. She hadn’t realized how different each would be, even at this early age. They were only two days old and their eyes weren’t even open, but already they were individuals.

Not surprisingly, the largest, a male, was the most aggressive. The other puppies let him squirm into place to feed without protest, as if they knew they had no choice, and in response Harmony named him Villain. Villain was a pale gold, and the other male, Valentino, was nearly as large but darker, making it easy enough to tell them apart. Valentino was less aggressive than his brother, but Harmony thought he was savvier. He didn’t use brute force to get what he wanted. He waited for the right moment and found the perfect route to his goal. One of the females, Velveteen, was just as large, but she was the darkest puppy in the litter, almost exactly the color of her mother, hence the name. Violin, was good-size, too, and a medium gold with fur that rippled noticeably, as if she owed more to her poodle father than to Velvet. She was also the loudest of the litter, screeching when thwarted, like a violin in the hands of a preschooler.

Then there was the runt. The smallest female had been the last born, almost an afterthought. She was the palest, and Harmony had named her Vanilla. Vanilla did her best to find a place at the smorgasbord, but she was often shoved away. Harmony thought she was too docile and let Villain, in particular, push her around. Harmony had taken to moving Villain away from his mother and inserting Vanilla in his place. She wondered, though, if she was setting the puppy up for failure.

It was, after all, a dog-eat-dog world.

Through all the fuss, Velvet was the perfect mother. She fed the puppies; she cleaned them; she only took breaks for food, water or trips outside. Watching her exhausted Harmony, and sometimes she questioned her own fitness to do the same.

How would she do everything she needed to without a decent income or child care? The puppies would be gone in a matter of months, but a human child was a lifetime commitment.

“Velvet just seems to know exactly what to do,” she told Charlotte on the way to her first prenatal examination. After much research she had discovered that she qualified for health care at Mountain Medical, a clinic funded through the public health department. Charlotte had asked to come with her, for which Harmony was grateful.

“It’s not quite as cut and dried for people,” Charlotte said, as she nabbed a parking space large enough for a tank.

Harmony waited until Charlotte had pulled up and back several times, ending up at least eighteen inches from the curb but luckily out of the flow of traffic.

“Did your instincts kick in?” Harmony asked. “What if mine don’t? What if I have no idea in the world what to do when my baby cries?”

“You try this, you try that, and eventually they get so exhausted they fall asleep despite you. But I don’t want to kid you. It’s hard work.”

Today Charlotte looked as if she’d been working hard herself. There were new circles under her eyes, and her skin was almost chalky. She’d been gone all morning and hadn’t told Harmony where. Harmony wondered if the trip had in some way involved her daughter and granddaughter, and hadn’t gone well.

The more Harmony examined her mentor, the less she liked what she saw. “Are you sure you’re up to this? I mean, you look like you might need a nap more than a long wait while they get to me. It’s a clinic, not an office, and I’ve been warned I might be sitting for hours.”

“I brought a book and some papers I have to go over. I’m looking forward to sitting.”

Charlotte was actually a replacement. After considering and reconsidering, Harmony had invited Davis to attend her first prenatal visit. She’d thought he might have questions the doctor could answer, but he’d sounded surprised she believed he might want to come. He’d pled a full day at work, but under it, she’d detected relief that an excuse had occurred to him so quickly.

Out of the car, she waited for Charlotte to join her on the curb. “You came because I told you Davis was too busy, didn’t you?”

“This is an exciting appointment. I just wanted to share it with you.”

Harmony knew better. The appointment was routine, likely to be filled with paperwork and perfunctory questions. Charlotte had come because she didn’t want Harmony to be alone or disappointed there was no one to share this event with. Not the baby’s father. Not her own mother.

“I just thought…well, you don’t look like you’re feeling up to par. Maybe you ought to be resting.”

“I’ll sit quietly.” Charlotte smiled fondly at her. “I saw my doctor this morning, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Then you’re okay?”

“He ran some routine tests. You know that’s what they do best. And he sent me home with a prescription, the other thing they love to do. So it’s all under control.”

Harmony wondered
what
was under control, but she knew the functions of the human body weren’t always that much fun to discuss.

They walked up a brick walkway recently swept clean but in need of repair. Mountain Medical was two stories and narrow. From the road she’d noted how far back it went, bordered on both sides by walkways to other entrances.

Inside she waited in a short line to sign in. The receptionist, who already looked harried, assembled a pile of papers, although Harmony had already filled out and returned a small packet she’d received by mail.

The woman handed her a clipboard. “By the time you’re done with these, we’ll know everything except your views on climate change. But this will give you something to do while you wait. And you
will
wait. Our director’s out for the day, and we’re missing two other staff members this morning. I hope you brought something to do.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Harmony took the papers and made room at the window for the next woman.

She and Charlotte took seats in a corner. The room was filling up fast and there weren’t many left. Harmony apologized.

“Harmony, I volunteered to be here. You write, I’ll read.” Charlotte opened a novel with a lighthouse on the cover and a long stretch of beach, although Harmony had expected something about real estate or global economics, complete with notes scribbled in the margins.

“Is the book good?” she asked.

“It makes me wish I’d spent the past twenty years just reading for fun.”

Harmony wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was glad Charlotte had something to keep her occupied.

She worked on the papers, answering questions until she was finally finished. She took the clipboard back to the window and left it, and by the time she got back to her seat, it was the only empty one in the room. She moved her denim backpack to the floor and sat again.

Someone had cared enough to make the room as attractive as paint and supersize decals could. One wall was a soft blue, the one beside it a sea green. Another was yellow, and the final wall was a pale coral. The decals were cartoon babies, smiling, playing together and sleeping. There were bulletin boards everywhere with information she probably should read but couldn’t, because she didn’t want to lose her seat.

At least two dozen adults occupied the room, along with almost a dozen bored children. She decided that, if nothing else, this was a chance to pick up parenting tips. Some of the mothers had brought things for their children to do, which kept them at least minimally satisfied, but others simply ignored their kids, who were climbing on tables or racing back and forth, and others reprimanded their little ones every time they whined or did anything except sit perfectly still.

She made mental notes. Always bring something for her son or daughter to do, because the two of them probably had lots of waiting in clinics ahead of them. Don’t get angry with a bored child. Play word games to keep him occupied. Compliment him when he’s good.

Of course now she was thinking like the child was a boy. She wondered if Davis would prefer that. Would he find more in common with a son? Would he then be more inclined to get involved? Buddy had certainly been the favored child in her family, but Davis wouldn’t be abusive, not the way her father had been. Except that, as she thought about it, she couldn’t help but see similarities. Davis, too, wanted things his way, and he liked to be waited on. He didn’t like noise or hassles. If he’d come today, he would probably have refused to wait.

Of course, if she was married to Davis, she wouldn’t be
here
. She would be in a doctor’s office with soft music and plenty of comfortable chairs. Her wait would be minimal, and the doctor and nurses would know her name. The information she needed wouldn’t be tacked up on bulletin boards.

Harmony didn’t want to be critical. She knew she was lucky to have a place where she could be checked and cared for. But it was hard not to compare.