Savage Love (21 page)

     “You’re sure that Daffyd won’t be there?”
Samantha asked.

     “Mom, you already asked me that three times. He is in the hospital for some new treatment. He has to stay there for a full thirty days under constant
watch. Come on, Mom, I told you that Trisha and Leal went to see his Grandma Sally for the holidays and Bryce is up there all alone. He begged,” Seanna was only half lying.

     “And he bought the tickets already? That wasn’t very smart, but I hate to waste money…” Samantha reasoned. “Ok, but I am telling you
, Seanna, this doesn’t change a thing. I will
not
be going to the hospital to visit Daffyd…You said he is doing well, right?”

     “Yep, he’s doing great. He won’t be home until after the first week of January. He wanted to do it some other time, but that was the only time available for the specialist,” Seanna continued in her plot
, asking God to forgive her lies.

     “Then we better get packed up if we leave in the morning. And we only stay for one week. I want to be in our own home for Christmas, and if Bryce doesn’t want to be alone, he can come back here with us,” said Samantha.

    “Thanks Mom! You’re the best!” squealed Seanna as she practically picked her mom up in a bear hug.

   “Get going you,” laughed Samantha almost feeling like herself again.

    
Shortly after three in the afternoon the next day the girls got off the plane, and Samantha was totally caught off guard when Trisha and Leal met them at the airport. Trisha promised to explain everything on the way, but warned that it was starting to snow again and that they should get on the road. Leal grabbed their bags and ushered them all out to the four wheel drive SUV. Samantha felt like she was being hijacked and new that something was not right. As soon as they left the parking lot she cornered her daughter.

     “I thought you said that Leal and Trisha were visiting Leal’s grandmother,” she said.

     “Bryce called and asked us to come back. He’s in some kind of trouble. We just got off the plane ourselves about forty-five minutes ago and he asked us to wait and pick the two of you up as well,” Trisha explained.

     “What kind of trouble?” asked
Samantha.

     “He’s having some spiritual trouble and said he needed some prayer warriors,” answered Leal quickly
, “I guess he’s getting four of them!”

     “I think it has something to do with a girl,” said Seanna
staying as close to the truth as she dared.

     “Well, I hope we can be of some help. He’s such a nice young man,” sympathized Samantha.

     Trisha started asking them questions about school and what had been going on with the two of them since they last saw each other and the rest of the trip went quickly with no mention of Daffyd or the truth of the situation. As soon as they pulled up, Bryce was out the door to help with the bags. He looked like the cavalry had just arrived in the nick of time. Bryce and Seanna were whispering as they followed behind the others.

     “Where is she?” Seanna asked.

     “Upstairs with Uncle Daffyd, she’s playing some kind of new age meditation music in his room and probably didn’t hear you guys pull up,” he answered.

     When they had all come into the house Bryce asked them to come to the media room right away, saying that he had something he needed to show them. Samantha gave her daughter a questioning look
, but Seanna just shrugged and followed him down the hall. They came inside and he shut the door and asked them to all sit down. Nervously he paced around in front of them for a few seconds until Seanna got up and grabbed his hand, keeping him in one place.

     “Mom, we have a confession to make. I lied to you about Daffyd to get you here. He needs all of us right now,” she stammered.

     “What exactly did you lie about, Seanna?” she demanded.

     “My Uncle is here and if we don’t do something
, he is going to die,” answered Bryce.

     “You two sit down, and I’ll try to shed some light on all of this,” offered Trisha.

     She proceeded to tell Samantha all about the way Daffyd took her letter and how they had left the house. Then she told her about the hospital’s answer to Daffyd’s condition, sending someone to help him give up and ‘die in peace’. Bryce took over then and filled them all in on the new young woman who had taken over the house
and
his uncle. He was at a total loss at what to do.

     “I know that I am
a grown man and that I should be able to handle this, but you’ll see…something more is going on here than what it seems. She has brought all these crystals into his room, but she shuts out all the light. She plays this weird music in his room all the time, and keeps him so doped up, he doesn’t even know what’s going on. Something stinks about this whole thing…you’ll just have to see…” he finished lamely.

     “So where is this woman?” demanded Samantha.

     “She is upstairs with Uncle Daffyd,” Bryce answered.

     “I’m going up there right now,” Samantha said as she got out of her chair.

     “Mom, shouldn’t we pray first,” asked Seanna.

     “You guys pray. I’m going to see what’s going on. You dragged me here and got me in this mess
, and I for one, am going to see, for myself, what is happening,” she stated.

     Samantha got to the top of the stairs with the others close behind her, deciding to pray on the way. Not even knocking, Samantha swept into the room, turning the light on as she came in. It only took a second for her to take in the condition of the room. The curtains had been replaced with some dark thick material so no sunlight would come in. There were both candles and incense burning on the end tables and there was a young woman sitting cross legged on the end of the bed. Her eyes flew open and she jumped up all flustered like a wet hen.

     “Who are
you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.

     “
We, young lady, are his family.
We
belong here.
You
on the other hand are not needed anymore. Take all of this…
junk
and get out,” said Samantha using her best ‘teacher’ voice, as she stormed across the room and opened up all curtains.

     “
My name is Miss Marsh, and I am not finished here,” said the woman, standing her ground.

     “You’ve done more than enough
. It’s time for you to leave,” said Samantha as she walked around the room gathering up the offensive items.

     “You don’t understand
. My job is to help Daffyd accept his passing and move on…” the woman tried to explain.

     “No,
you
don’t understand.
We
don’t accept death. We rebuke it! This man is not dying,” said Samantha as the others looked on in shock.

     “Amen!” said Seanna.

     “You can’t tell me to leave. I was hired by Mr. Sayvage and only he can tell me to leave,” she countered.

     Samantha went to
the edge of the bed, took Daffyd’s hand and gently rubbed his arm. “Daffyd, I need you to wake up,” Samantha gently commanded.

     The nurse tried to stop her, but Seanna and Trisha both grabbed her by an arm and held her back. She shook them off, but stayed where she was. Finally
, Daffyd got his eyes opened and tried to focus in on the face before him.

     “Hello, Daffyd,” said Samantha with a smile.

     “Samantha?” he croaked.

     “Yes, Daffyd, I
’m here and I need you to wake up. Can you do that for me?” Samantha continued.

     “I’m so tired, Samantha…so tired…you didn’t come…” he whispered.

     “I’m here now, Daffyd. I’ve come for Christmas and Seanna is here, with Bryce. Can you wake up?” she crooned.

     “Where is Trisha and Leal…they’re gone Samantha…” he cried.

     “Oh, Daffyd,” said Trisha as she came to the side of the bed with tears running down her face, “we are right here. We are home again.”

     “You’re all here…all of you, and it’s Christmas?” he asked confused.

     “We are all here, and we all love you, Daffyd,” said Samantha with a catch in her voice.

     “
We will all be here for Christmas, but right now there is something we need you to do. We need you to tell Miss Marsh that she isn’t needed now that we are here,” Bryce spoke up.

     “You’re right
, Bryce, we only need each other…” he smiled with his eyes closing again.

     “Well, you heard him,” said Samantha. “Now Seanna and Bryce you help…Miss Marsh was it...gather up her things and get her on the road before that snow builds up.”
The girl turned and walked out of the room knowing that it was no good to argue. Her big plans of comforting the hot young nephew and getting in on some of the old man’s money were over.

      “Leal and Trisha, you help me move Daffyd into my room until we get this one cleaned out!” she reached down and touched Daffyd’s sleeping face. “We are home.”

     Seanna and Bryce escorted the released care giver to her room. She assured them that she didn’t need help with packing, but Seanna had a feeling that their ordeal with Miss Marsh wasn’t over. Sure enough they found several items stashed away that didn’t belong to her. Bryce found his inner-lawyer and told her to keep the things as her final payment for services rendered and to count
herself blessed not to have to face criminal charges. He was just thankful that the scheming young woman had never figured out who his uncle really was.

Chapter 21

It Was All a Dream

     Over the next few days they all cleaned the house, beginning with Daffyd’s room, while at least one person stayed with him at all times. Soon he was back in his sunlit room that had been aired of all things unwelcome. They played soft inspirational music at night when he seemed to be the worst. Samantha had taken control, bossing everyone around like she owned the place. They all happily did what she asked, amazed at the change. She even called the hospital and demanded they send a replacement nurse over. She specified an older, Christian nurse who wanted to see her patients live. When the chief of staff tried to defend his earlier actions she just interrupted him and said, “Dead men don’t make donations unless you are in their will…I’m pretty sure you’re not mentioned!”

     It took two days for the right nurse to be located. When she showed up, Samantha was so relieved to see a no-nonsense woman
in her fifties, that she greeted her with a hug. She got, Mrs. Mallory settled and ended up telling her the whole story from when they first met Daffyd to the most recent events. The woman listened patiently with no emotion on her face whatsoever. When Samantha was finished, Kate, as she asked to be called, wanted to know more about the patient. Samantha went out on a limb and told her the whole truth about Daffyd’s identity, his illness and the problem with the heavy medications that he was taking.

     “He can be qui
te the bully when he isn’t on drugs. I’m afraid he is not going to be easy to handle getting him off,” Samantha explained.

     “Honey, I grew up on a cattle ranch with three brothers and I raised two boys of my own. I know how to handle a bully! Let’s go take a look at my patient and see what they have him on.”

     Kate reduced Daffyd’s meds right away deeming him strong enough to handle the stress. It didn’t take long for him to become more lucid. He still was confused most of the time and was in and out of sleep for the better part of the day. Soon though, he was sleeping peacefully through most of the night. He repeatedly asked if they were ‘all really here’, not believing his eyes. Several times he mumbled ‘it was all a dream’.

    
Kate took a nap during the day and insisted on being the one to sit with him at night, telling the other’s she was used to it and that they needed their strength. She was a blessing to them all not just her patient. She was quick with sound advice and just as quick to laugh at something that would tickle her. Time went on and Samantha had to call her principal and ask if he could get someone to fill in until January, telling him that it was a family emergency and asking him to pray.

     Once Kate stopped giving him all of the medications, except for the actual treatment of the cancer, Daffyd finally woke up completely. He behaved like a sullen child demanding that they
give him the pills that they had taken away. Finally Samantha had had it. Even though Kate was true to her word and handled Daffyd quiet professionally, Samantha snapped. They had been at the table eating a late supper and could all hear him yelling from downstairs. Samantha stood up and mumbled under her breath, ‘
That is enough,’
and rushed upstairs. The others looked at each other with raised eyebrows, Bryce was grinning, and all in one accord they followed her up. She went through the door and found him sitting on the edge of his bed yelling at Kate to leave him alone.