The Denver Cereal (7 page)

“
What happened?” Jacob
touched Jill’s arm.

“
Katy has to use the
restroom,” Jill said. “I’m really, really sorry. She takes forever
and . . .”

“
I wondered where it came
from,” Jacob said.

“
What?” Jill was so
surprised by his statement that she jerked out of her
Trevor-related panic.

“
Well, as a guy, you wait
forever for women in the bathroom. Waiting for Valerie? My sister?
I’d practically evolve into a new species before she came out
again.” Jacob smiled. “I didn’t realize three-year-olds curled
their hair. Does Katy have a propane curling iron too?”

Jill couldn’t help but
laugh. She shook her head. “A new species?”

“
You’ll see. You’ll have
the opportunity to wait for Val and you’ll know what I mean.” Jacob
laughed. “How about this? I’ll sit right here and you guys can go
in.”

“
Will you be
here . . .?”

“
There is no chance, not
one, of me ending this non-date,” Jacob smiled. “I’m having a great
time!”

“
Me too,” Jill
said.

“
I might get some food. Do
you want anything?”

“
French fries! French
fries!” Katy said.

“
Anything else?” Jacob
asked.

“
We can share a hamburger
or chicken strips,” Jill said. “There’s juice and water in the
backpack.”

She pointed to her
backpack, which he had insisted on wearing.

“
I wondered what felt cool
on my back!” Jacob said. “I’ll meet you here.”

With one last look at
Jacob, Jill and Katy went into the restroom. And Katy took forever.
Using this time as alone time with her mother, Katy reviewed all
the animals she had seen and the ones she wanted to see. She asked
questions about Jacob. Miraculously, Katy even went potty. After a
quick hand washing, they were out the door.

Jill scanned the area for
Jacob.

He wasn’t
there.

Jill had to bite her lip
to keep from crying. The one moment she let her guard down to have
a good time, look what happened? He left.

Feeling Katy tug her hand,
she looked down to see Katy pointing. Jacob sat at a table talking
to two octogenarian zoo volunteers. Jill hadn’t seen him behind the
volunteers. She felt a wave of relief.

“
Here she is!” the elderly
man said. He kneeled down to Katy’s level. “How are you, Katy? I’m
Edward and this is my wife, Mary.”

Katy shook his extended
hand.

“
I bet you’re hungry,”
Edward said standing. “We don’t want to keep you. We wanted to meet
Celia’s granddaughter and say hello to Jake. We’ve seen Delphie,
but we haven’t seen Jake since Celia died.”

In that moment, Jill
realized she knew Celia. Like a scene from a movie, Jill remembered
meeting Jacob at Pete’s Kitchen all those years ago. Every detail,
from how frail his mother was to the illegal jolt of attraction she
felt for Jacob, flashed across her brain. Shaking her head to clear
the memory, Jill wandered to the table.

Katy was already eating
her French fries when Jill sat down at the table. She watched Jacob
and Katy discuss the advantages of ketchup. Jacob had set up lunch,
including the fruit juice and water from Jill’s backpack. He had
bought a couple hamburgers, some chicken strips, and lots of fries.
For dessert? Denver Zoo crunch cereal, of course.

And they ate
everything.

One last bite, and Katy
was off!

Jill wiped Katy’s hands
while they walked. They found more penguins at Bird World. Katy
bounced along the metal guard rail past the hoofed animals. When a
buffalo caught Katy’s eye, she stopped stock-still. While Katy and
the buffalo shared a silent communication, Jill and Jacob stood
behind her.

“
I realize I knew your
mother,” Jill said.

Jacob nodded.

“
She was very kind to me
in a difficult transition in my life,” Jill said. “Sometimes, when
I get down, I talk to her . . . in my head, you
know? I always feel better when I talk to your mom. I think of her
as my guardian angel. I called her Celly . . . Celly
Marlowe . . . not Celia. I guess I thought your mom
was a Lipson.”

The buffalo looked away
and Katy ran into the cul-de-sac where the white wolf pack lived.
The animals greeted Katy with a wild howl, which she imitated. Jill
and Jacob returned to their places behind Katy.

Jacob smiled.

“
Most people know her as
Celia Marlowe. My dad was always just ‘the husband’ to her
magnificence. I felt lucky to have known her.”

“
Me too,” Jill said. “She
had this friend . . . Crazy red hair?”

“
Delphie?”

“
Delphinium, like the
flower. She gave me a reading before I married Trevor. She told me
Trevor would betray me three times before I was finally done with
him. I thought the whole thing was hilarious.” Jill sighed. “I told
Trevor and . . . Well, he wouldn’t let me go back.
After Celly died, then again when I was pregnant with Katy, Delphie
offered a free reading, but I . . .”

“
Delphie can be a bit
much,” Jacob said. “She lives with me . . . I mean
in my house . . . I
mean . . .”

“
I know what you mean,”
Jill said.

Jacob smiled.

“
I hate to think of it.
You know? Trevor’s only betrayed me twice,” Jill said. “I hate to
think of what the third time will be.”

“
Then don’t,” Jacob said.
“Just be here with me.”

On impulse, he slipped his
arm around her. When Jill leaned into him, their eyes caught with a
jolt of electricity. She lifted her chin and his mouth made an easy
journey toward her luscious lips. Their lips were almost touching
when they heard:

“
Stupid bee. You won’t
hurt me again. I’ll squish you and . . .”

“
KATY! NO!” Jacob and Jill
screamed at the same moment.

Disaster in the form of a honeybee

They were too late. As
Katy’s fingers closed to squash the honey bee, the bee stung her.
Clamping her hand closed, Katy screamed in terror and
pain.

“
Oh my God.” Jill dropped
to hold her daughter. “She’s hyper-allergic to bees.”

“
Show me your hand. Katy,
show me your hand. Katy, show me your hand,” Jacob
screamed.

He knelt next to the
shrieking girl and pried her tight fist open. Using his zoo pass,
he flicked the stinger from her hand.

“
We have to get to the
hospital,” Jacob said. “JILL!”

Jill looked up at him. Her
worst nightmare unfolding, Jill went completely blank. Horror
overwhelmed her. Katy was going to die!

Jacob wrestled Katy from
her arms.

“
Hold my hand,” he
commanded Jill.

He grabbed Jill’s hand.
While Katy howled in his arms, Jacob hauled Jill through the zoo.
The balloon, tied to Katy’s wrist, trailed behind them like a green
beacon. Running past Edward, the volunteer, he yelled for Edward to
call Children’s Hospital at St. Joseph’s. Katy was heading toward
anaphylactic shock. Several people dialed their cell phones at
once. The crowd stepped aside and Jacob raced through the
zoo.

In his arms, Jacob felt
Katy get ever warmer. Somewhere near the front gate, she stopped
crying. Her throat closing, his tiny burden began to gasp for air.
Her skin burned under his hands. He picked up the pace while
dragging Jill behind. From the edge of the parking lot, he unlocked
the Lexus. Flying to the front passenger seat, he laid Katy on his
lap.

With great effort, Katy
pulled in breath. Ripping an inhaler from a plastic Walgreens bag,
he shot Primatene Mist into Katy’s mouth and counted down one
minute. He was about to spray the inhaler again when Katy coughed
and took a clear breath.

“
Oh, thank God,” he
said.

Moving quickly, he
strapped Katy into her car seat and then buckled Jill into the
passenger seat.

The message that Celia’s
granddaughter was in trouble had gone out over the zoo airwaves.
Elderly volunteers appeared from nowhere to help. The volunteers
blocked the road so Jacob had a clear shot.

Jacob, Jill, and a
wheezing Katy sped out of the parking lot. The tires squealed as
they turned left onto Twenty-Third Avenue. For once in his Denver
life, Jacob hit every green light and missed all road
construction.

The emergency staff was
waiting at the curb of the hospital. Yelling orders, the doctor
began treating Katy in her car seat. As if in a trance, Jill stood
watching the emergency team. Jacob came around the car to wrap
himself around her. Nestled in his tight embrace, Jill began to
sob. He covered her face when the nurses carried Katy from the car
and onto a stretcher. A nurse cut the forgotten balloon from Katy’s
wrist. With Jill in his arms, Jacob watched the green balloon
disappear into the bright sky.

“
Mr. Marlowe?” An
official-looking woman stood next to him. She held a clipboard
jammed with forms.

“
I need to move the car,”
he said. He set a credit card on her clipboard. “Can I fill those
out when I get back?”

“
Sure,” she said. Pointing
to the man standing next to Jacob, she said, “We have a
valet.”

Still shielding Jill in
his arms, Jacob gave the man his keys.

“
We’ve had a horrible
shock. Is there a place we can . . .?” Jacob
asked.

“
Of course.” The woman
smiled. “I’ll take you to a quiet place where you can talk. But I
do need . . .”

“
Sure,” Jacob said.
“You’ll let them know we are back here.”

“
Of course.”

They followed the woman
through the hospital to a small, empty waiting room. Jacob settled
Jill on his lap. While he held her, stroking her hair and back,
Jill cried her heart out. When her tears evened and her breath was
deep, he got her some water.

“
I’m going to call Mike,”
Jacob said. “I have a friend who works emergency at Denver Health.
I’m going to call him as well. He might be able to help. Is it all
right to get my friend’s help?”

Jill nodded her head.
Watching Jacob on the phone, she felt almost drunk from the release
of emotions. She was so used to being in control, so used to having
to be in control, that she felt ungrounded. When Jacob slipped his
arm around her, she tucked herself into him. Surrounded by his
warmth and scent, she was safe.

She only let go of Jacob
when Megan peeled her from his embrace.

Mike arrived not long
after Megan. Her two oldest siblings were all set to take over when
Jacob’s doctor friend, John Drayson, came into the room. Tall with
dark, curly hair, he shook Jacob’s hand and then spoke with Mike.
Mike introduced him to Jill as the husband of an old army
friend.

“
It’s very unusual for a
child to have this kind of reaction,” Dr. Drayson said. His accent
was foreign, British, she thought. His cobalt blue eyes were
present, clear, and kind.

“
I was stung when I was
pregnant,” Jill said. “I . . . I’m allergic to
bees . . . I didn’t have
insurance . . . I mean for the
baby . . . what the state gives
you . . . but not for an allergic reaction. I got
really sick.”

“
What about Katherine? Has
she ever been stung?” Dr. Drayson asked.

“
About a year ago,” Jill
said. “We were at the Botanic Gardens. Trevor wanted to take a
family break. He was . . . studying for finals. She
likes to run out ahead and just ran into the bee. Trevor wouldn’t
let me take her to the Emergency room because
he . . . he didn’t want the disruption
or . . . the expense, I guess. I was horrified that
she would die . . . but Trevor said it was my fault
for not watching her. I’m not a very good mother. I took her to
Walgreens. It’s across the street from Pete’s and I know some of
the pharmacists . . . from working at
Pete’s . . .. It was the only thing I could think
of . . . The pharmacist was very kind. He told me to
give her Benadryl. He made a place for us by the pharmacy so he
could make sure she was all right. It took a while, but the
Benadryl eventually worked. He told me she might die the next time
she was stung.”

“
Her reaction makes more
sense. Without treatment, any allergic reaction can get stronger
with each event,” Dr. Drayson said. “This is the Trevor from the
engagement party?”

Jill’s head jerked up to
look at the doctor.

“
My wife and I were there
as Jacob’s guests. You put on quite a show. My best friend is the
lawyer who kept shouting from the back. You’ve traded up, my dear.”
Dr. Drayson nodded his head toward Jacob. “Is there anything else
you can tell me?”

Jill shook her head.
Biting her lip, she whispered, “Trevor said . . .
I . . . Is Katy going to die?”

Dr. Drayson smiled. “She’s
very sick. The allergic reaction went through her body. They’re
working to keep her body from getting too hot — kind of like a bad
fever. She’s responding well and seems very healthy. They gave her
steroids to fight the allergic reaction. It will be a while before
we know for sure. For now, they’re cautious but very
hopeful.”