Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series (23 page)

Rita and Gavin would know what to do.

* * *

“
Chuck? What’s wrong?” Rita asked, opening the door wide to let him in.

“
I need to talk to you and Gavin.”

Rita closed the door behind him and guided him into their living room. She took a step back toward their kitchen and called Gavin, then she turned back to Chuck. “Can I get you something? Coffee or a Coke, maybe?”

Chuck shook his head and dropped on the sofa.

Rita took a seat in the armchair closest to him. “It’s Bobbi, isn’t it?”

“
She, uh . . .” He dropped his eyes to the carpet and felt the fear and grief push aside the anger he’d vented all afternoon. The tears were going to come, wanted or not. “She told me she’s not going to treat her cancer.” He raised his head and looked Rita in the eyes. “I’m going to lose her.”

“
Chuck, no.” Rita moved over to the sofa and slipped an arm around his shoulder.

She cried with him while he sobbed in fear and frustration. He knew she understood though. He could feel the burden shifting, his head clearing. He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “Thanks. I needed that.”

When he raised his head, he saw Gavin had slipped into the living room and sat in the armchair. “Shannon or Bobbi?”

“
Bobbi’s decided not to treat her cancer.”

“
Did she tell you why? How she came to that decision?”

“
It makes perfect sense to her,” Chuck said. “She believes God’s giving her a way to escape her pain.”

“
You challenged her, I’m sure.”

“
But I handled it all wrong. I got angry.”

“
That may not be a bad thing. Did she argue with you?”

“
Some. She said she had a right to refuse treatment. Didn’t seem to care what it would do to Jack or Shannon or the rest of us. Then she said Shannon leaving was her fault because she never taught Shannon any coping skills and I needed to quit feeding her empty hope.”

“
She wants to be left alone.”

“
Completely.”

“
And warned you not to try to change her mind?”

“
She said I could line up you guys or Joel or anybody else I could think of, but it wouldn’t do any good.”

Gavin nodded then crossed his legs. “She knows she’s in trouble. She wants you to get her some help.”

“
Then why doesn’t she say that! Why drive me out to the lake and tell me she wants to die?”

“
Because she knows that’s not right either. She doesn’t have the strength to figure it out, so if she shocks you into action, you’ll solve it and save the day.”

“
If I knew what to do, Gavin, I would have done it a long time ago.” The throb in his head returned, and he tried rubbing his temple. “Let’s start small. What do I say to her when I get home? Am I supposed to go along with her or what?”

“
I’d be very dispassionate about it,” Gavin said. “Have her start planning her funeral.”

“
Absolutely not!” Rita said sharply. “You’ll push her to suicide.”

“
No, it will make her face the very real implications of what she’s decided.”

“
I don’t think I can do that,” Chuck said.

“
All right,” Gavin said, “if that’s too extreme, what if you put her on a suicide watch? We can divide up the time and stay with her during the day while you’re at work.”

A suicide watch. He got a rise out of her when he asked if she’d be there when he got back. There was some appeal to keeping her fighting. Just then, Chuck’s cell phone rang. “It’s Joel,” he said as he answered it. “You’re not driving, are you?”

“
Not again,” Joel said. “What?”

“
Your mother’s decided not to treat her cancer.”

“
Why? What treatment options are they giving her? Does she understand it’s not anything like when her mother had it? Let me talk to her.”

“
It’s not that.” Chuck knew that “take charge, let me fix it” attitude all too well, but he also knew how close Joel and Bobbi were. “She, uh, she doesn’t want to treat . . . because she’d rather let it kill her.”

“
That’s insane,” Joel whispered. “She said that? That she’d rather let it kill her?”

“
She said God was giving her a way to escape the pain she lives with day after day.”

“
Dad . . . I thought after Ryan’s birthday . . . I thought she was doing better. How was she when she told you?”

“
Very straightforward, matter-of-fact. Said her mind was made up.”

“
She’s relieved.”

“
In a way, I guess. What am I going to do with her? She told me she had a right to refuse treatment. I said she wasn’t in any condition to make that decision, and she said, ‘take me to court.’”

“
Draw up the papers. I’ll sign ’em.”

“
Joel!”

“
Okay, maybe not. You haven’t called Jack yet, have you?”

“
No. I thought I’d make her tell him to his face. Let her see what it does to him.”

“
Oh, that’s good. What about Aunt Rita?”

“
I’m at their house. Gavin says to put her on a suicide watch and keep someone with her at all times.”

“
She’ll go ballistic.”

“
Good! I’d like to see some life out of her.” Chuck took a deep breath and sighed. “How do I get her back? She’s lost her will to fight this. She’s given up on Shannon ever coming home. This suicide watch thing, that’s a band-aid.” He held the phone against his chest. “You guys, too,” he said to Rita and Gavin. “How do we get her back?”

“
She has to do it,” Joel said. “It has to be her own revelation. Do you think she’d read anything?”

“
I doubt it. She told Rita reading her Bible makes it worse.”

“
She knows she’s wrong,” Joel said. “She’s knows she shouldn’t be shutting God out.”

“
So what do you suggest?”

“
Surround her. Watch the preacher channels on television. Do your Bible study in the kitchen where she can see you, and make sure the car radio is on Christian stations.”

“
And hope something clicks?”

“
Exactly. God’s Word never returns void, and it always accomplishes His purposes.”

“
Joel, you just might be brilliant,” Chuck said.

“
It’s not me. I’ll swing by and see Mom on my way home.”

“
Tomorrow would be better. She hates hovering, and I’m already gonna be in trouble for telling you.”

“
Hang in there, Dad. Everybody’s praying. Something’s got to give.”

“
I know,” Chuck sighed. “I love you, Joel.” He snapped the phone closed and pushed it back in his pocket. “He says surround her with God. Preachers on TV and radio. Read and study in front of her.”

“
I like it,” Gavin said.

Rita nodded. “Then I’ll be there at nine tomorrow, but Chuck . . .” She glanced at Gavin, then crossed her arms tightly across her chest. “I mean, far be it from me to argue with you and Gavin, and now Joel, but I think it all hinges on Shannon. Bobbi was just beginning to heal after Brad’s death, then Shannon left. You said she’s given up hope that Shannon’s coming home. That’s what brought her to despair. Shannon may be the only one who can draw her back.”

“
Then I have to find Shannon,” Chuck said.

Chapter 15

Candor

Chuck pulled into his driveway as the last light of day faded behind him. His house was dark except for a soft glow from the study. Bobbi. He hadn’t felt so much riding on a conversation with his wife since she discovered his affair. And he blew that one.

He opened the front door as quietly as he could and locked it back carefully. Bobbi sat in her corner of the love seat, sipping a cup of coffee, exactly where he’d left her.

Not wanting to startle her, he spoke quietly. “Bobbi? Can we talk?”

She never turned around, but she set her cup on the desk beside her. “Do you think we can be civil?”

“
Can you forgive me for raising my voice?” He shuffled across the room, silently coaching himself to keep his voice low and controlled. If he came across frantic or desperate, she’d tune him out.

“
I asked for it.” She drew her legs closer to make room for him on the love seat, but he pulled the desk chair around instead. She frowned at him. “So who did you rat me out to?”

“
Rita and Gavin and Joel.” Chuck leaned forward in his chair and looked into those beautiful brown eyes, now drained of all their energy. He had to make this about her. “Bobbi, you’ve thrown up a wall between us. I can’t take what you say at face value anymore.”

“
You think I’m lying to you?”

“
You’re keeping things from me, and yes, I believe you’ve been misleading me.” He took a deep breath. “Right now, I don’t trust you to be by yourself.”

“
And you just left me for three hours?” she huffed. “Do you know how ridiculous—”

“
This is not negotiable. Somebody’s going to be here with you around the clock. Unless you decide to go to church with me in the morning, Rita will be here at nine o’clock.”

“
You’re treating me like a nutcase!”

“
No, I love you and I have an obligation to protect you. If that means protecting you from yourself, so be it.”

Her eyes darkened with tight fury. “I don’t need protection.” She swung her feet down off the love seat and stood up. “I want to be left alone.”

She tried to sidestep his chair, but he caught her by the arm and spun her around to face him. “Oh no. You’re not walking out on me.” The genuine shock, or maybe fear, in her eyes burned through him and he dropped his hand. Anger was the last thing he wanted her to see. He’d lost it with Shannon and she left. He stepped back and wiped a hand across his mouth. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Bobbi, I would give my own life, right now, if I could take your anguish away, but I can’t.”

Fear and failure threatened to choke off the words before he could get them out. “I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, and I love you more every single day. I can’t sit by and watch you die a thousand deaths when it doesn’t have to be this way.”

He reached for her hand, but she held it close, glaring at him. “I’m gonna fight this, and if it means I have to fight you, I will.”

* * *

Sunday, September 21

Rita rang the doorbell at Chuck and Bobbi’s and paced.
Be calm and detached,
Gavin said.
Bobbi doesn’t need you to solve this today. Just be there for her.
Right. It would take every ounce of restraint she’d ever mustered to keep from going in there, shaking Bobbi, and screaming, “Have you lost your mind?”

She knew when Bobbi was diagnosed that something was . . . off, but she reasoned it away. What right did she have to dictate how Bobbi should respond to the waves of heartache? If she and Gavin had to face what God asked of Bobbi and Chuck . . . she would have collapsed long ago. Not Bobbi. Bobbi was like tempered steel. She would find her anchor. Some way, somehow. Because if she didn’t . . .

The front door swung open. “Rita, thanks,” Chuck said. “Bobbi’s back in the kitchen.”

“
How is she?”

“
Barely speaking to me for having you come over.”

“
Did you sleep?”

He shook his head. “Sleep? What’s that?”

“
I’ll get lunch together for you.”

“
Thanks. For everything.” He picked up his Bible from the table and headed out. “I hope you can get through to her.”

Rita watched Chuck drive away, and apprehension seized her. What if she said the wrong thing? What if she made things worse? Everyone knew how often her mouth got her in trouble. Calm and detached, she coached. She sighed and walked back toward the kitchen. She couldn’t do calm and detached.

Bobbi sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. The morning paper, still in its plastic bag, lay within easy reach. “I hope he’s paying you the standard rate for sitters.”

In spite of the bitter edge in Bobbi’s voice, Rita joined her at the table. “Have you had breakfast?”

“
Yes, and I took a shower, too. I’m not quite as pathetic as you guys think.”

“
I don’t think you’re pathetic. You’re heartbroken. I don’t know how you’ve kept going this long.” Bobbi dropped her head but didn’t respond. “And you’re not the only one. Chuck’s wearing himself out trying to keep up appearances.”

“
Chuck . . . He wants to fix everything.” She absently straightened the fringe on the placemat. “Things are so hard for him.”

“
Then how can you even
think
of not treating your cancer?” She said it. Now she had to keep pressing. “This will kill him.”

“
No.” She jerked her head up and made eye contact with Rita for the first time. “No, Chuck is very strong, and God will be there for him.”

“
But He’s not there for you? You know that’s not true.”