Weekends Required (20 page)

Suddenly, a memory intruded on her happiness and the evening before came crashing back.
Oh God, no!
Jason was no better than her father; he had taken over her life. The packaging might be different; the rest was the same. Claire could hear her father’s mocking voice in her head as though it was yesterday.

 
Poor stupid Claire, do you honestly think that you, your mother or your sister would ever survive on your own? You’re barely fit to leave the house, everything you do is wrong. I’m left taking care of you bunch of fools. If I can ever even manage to get anyone to marry you, I truly pity them. Not only are you plain, you have a complete lack of intelligence. You and your sister got that from your mother, the only idiot I know bigger than you two. Sure you go on to college now and when you fail, as you will, don’t think you can crawl back to me to take care of you.

Claire pulled Jason’s pillow against her chest and wept. She cried for herself for probably the first time ever. She cried for the years of torment and abuse at the hands of a man who should have never been a husband or a father. She cried for the loss of her sister who never had a chance to spread her wings and for her mother who stayed as if she deserved no better. Lastly, she cried for the broken hopes and dreams she’d allowed herself to have about Jason.

He seemed so different. In the time she worked for him he praised her work and rarely questioned anything she’d done for him. He always treated everyone with respect, even when there was a problem. She was blindsided by the side of him she’d discovered yesterday. She almost felt like she’d imagined the whole thing; so great was her trust in him.

Maybe she could even find some way to deal with the loan he had engineered on her behalf, since she’d applied for it of her own free will. Contacting Pam and dangling a wealthy new client over her if she terminated Claire was something that she could find no way around. This reeked of something her father would have done. Had her second occupation so embarrassed him that he couldn’t imagine himself sleeping with someone who jumped out of a cake? Yet Claire had never found him to be arrogant nor snobbish; quite the opposite actually.

  Chapter Twenty  

She jerked as she felt a hand on her back. As she pulled herself up, she kept the pillow in front of her for coverage and attempted to wipe the tears from her face. Jason looked at her with concern in his blue eyes.

“Claire, baby, I’ve some news for you, and I need you to stay calm,” began Jason. Claire wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting him to say, but this was not it. Her eyes flew to his face, alarm starting to take over.

“What… What’s wrong?”

He took both of her hands in his as if to brace her, “Baby; it’s your mother; she’s been taken to the hospital.”

“Wha…What? No, that can’t be right, she’s at home with Louise.”

“I just talked to Suzy; Louise called her. When she couldn’t reach you on your cell phone she had Suzy’s number that you’d programmed in for her for emergencies and she called her.” As her hands started to shake, Jason gripped them tighter and said, “The car is being brought around now, if you can throw some clothes on, we will be out of here within five minutes, and I’ll get you to her.”

Still stunned, Claire looked at him almost in shock and asked, “What happened to her?”

“From what Suzy could gather, she passed out and Louise couldn’t get her to wake up. Suzy is on her way there now and will give us an update when she knows something. Baby, let me help you get dressed; you’re in shock.”

Claire let him lead her around like a child. For one time in her life she was grateful to have someone take care of her. Jason pulled a top and pants from her bag as well as undergarments and began putting the fresh clothes on her. By the time he was finished, a valet had arrived and the room was quickly packed up. Their suitcases were taken down and packed away in the car. Before Claire could even catch her breath, they were on the road leaving Charleston and headed for the hospital. Jason reached over and curled his fingers around hers, shooting her worried glances from time to time.

“Are you alright?” He asked with concern.

“I wish I knew what happened, she’s been good lately, better than usual. I would have never left if I’d believed anything could possibly happen to her. Louise must be so scared; I have to get to them Jason; I have to.”

“We’re going as fast as I dare; I promise we will be there soon." Jason pulled his cell phone from his pocket and passed it over to her. “Why don’t you try to call Suzy? Maybe she’s found out something by now? If she’s with Louise, you could speak to her as well.”

With an audible breath, Claire dialed Suzy and prayed she would answer. “Hello?”

“Suz, it’s me, are you at the hospital yet? Do you know what’s going on?” asked Claire urgently.

“I just had to threaten that old witch at the nurse’s station, but I finally got a few answers. They’re still doing tests but sweetie, they think she might have had a stroke. They’re also trying to rule out other things, but that seems to be the strong contender at this point. She’s awake but much sedated. That’s all I know.”

“A stroke… How could that happen? She just had a checkup, and they said everything was fine.”

“Sweetie sometimes they just happen; I don’t think they can predict them. Louise is here beside me now; I’m going to pass you to her. I’ll hold down the fort, be careful.”

The sound of Louise’s voice brought Claire to tears once again. “Honey I’m so sorry; I don’t know what happened to Evelyn. We were walking to the kitchen to have some breakfast, and she seemed just fine. Suddenly, she stopped and I looked back to see what was keeping her. She had a funny look on her face and when I reached out to take her arm, she just crumbled to the floor. I didn’t even have time to break her fall, it was so sudden. I tried to wake her up for a few minutes, and then I got my wits together and called 911. She never woke up Claire, why didn’t she wake up? I rode in the ambulance with her, and they said she still had a strong heartbeat, and that I should relax and let them do their job. I just want to see her to know she’s ok.”

Claire could hear the tears in her voice much as she could feel her own. She tried to compose herself, to be strong for Louise. “It’s going to be ok. I’m on my way and I’ll be there soon, and we will find out what’s going on. Please stay calm, I know you did everything you could. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

“Oh honey, you don’t worry about that, you can’t plan things; it would have happened just as easily with you at your apartment or at work so don’t be thinking that. I love you, and I’ll see you when you get here.”

She softly clicked to end the call and handed the phone back to Jason. As she felt his hand return to hers, all the reasons she was mad at him seemed to pale. She knew that she would have to end what was between them soon; she would think of that later, right now she needed to feel loved even if it was all a lie.

~~~~

Jason clasped Claire’s hand again, trying to infuse some of his strength into her. She looked so pale and fragile. He knew from Claire that her mother had many health problems and even though he would never admit it to her, he was very much afraid that this was something serious.

This crisis had delayed what he was sure would have been another big blow up this morning between them. He wasn’t naive enough to believe that just because they had sex, mind blowing sex actually, that it was over. When she confronted him last night with that damn folder, he had suddenly been deadly afraid of losing her and whatever they had between them. It wasn’t that he didn’t want a serious relationship, there had just never been anyone with whom he felt the need to pursue one with; until now.

Claire, to put it mildly, had knocked him on his ass. He wanted to be with her, missed her when she wasn’t around and desired her like he had never desired another woman. The need for her hadn’t lessened; if anything it had intensified each time they were together. She was a constant ache that he never seemed to be able to rid himself of. He only truly felt at peace when she was lying in his arms. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when he knew he loved her, it was just there.

With that love also came certain fears; fear of losing her, fear of not being loved in return, fear of uncharted territory. Jason spent his life making problems go away; he solved them in business, he solved them for his parents and for Ella. He couldn’t understand how he had so offended Claire. She couldn’t honestly want to shoulder the burden when he could make it all go away. He wanted to take care of her, wanted her to have no worries.

He would see that her mother got the best treatment available, and if she wanted to remain in her home, he would have it repaired and hire someone to live with her. Possibly, he had overstepped the bounds a bit by talking with Pam, but surely she would see that it was all for her. The realization that he loved her made him never want to see another tear in her eyes.

 Chapter Twenty One

Claire was relieved to see they were now close to home. Jason had broken every speed limit, and they arrived at the hospital faster than Claire could have dared hope. She’d used the drive to compose herself; she needed to be strong for her mother and for Louise.

Jason led her to the emergency section of the hospital where they found Louise and Suzy sitting side by side with hands clasped. Claire rushed forward, and Suzy stood to greet her. “Hey guys, have you heard anything new?” She asked anxiously.

Louise rose and took her hand. “The doctor just talked to us. He’s certain now that Evelyn had a stroke. Her speech has been affected and there’s some facial drooping. He says she’s stable now, but it will be several days before they can really assess the extent of the damage.”

She felt Jason’s arm go around her for support and was grateful to lean into him. “When can I see her?”

“We don’t know yet; we haven’t been able to get a straight answer on that,” said Suzy.

Jason moved Claire to a chair and lowered her into it. “Let me see what I can find out, ladies; I’ll be right back.”

Claire, Louise and Suzy all sat close together; hands clasped. Suzy looked at Louise and then at Claire and said, “Claire, I’ve been trying to convince Louise to let me drop her at home for some rest. She’s been here for hours, and I know she’s tired.”

“No, you don’t worry about me; I’m not going anywhere until one of us gets to see Evelyn and knows she’s ok,” said Louise. Claire knew by the stubborn set of her mouth that trying to talk to her was pointless.

“Suz, thanks for calling and coming here, I felt so much better knowing Louise wasn’t alone.”

“It’s no problem; some of these doctors are complete studs. I might start hanging out here in my spare time. Can you see me as a doctor’s wife? Maybe a plastic surgeon so I can get some really big knockers, right?” Claire and Louise both burst out laughing.

Leave it to Suzy to find a way to lighten the mood. Jason walked down the hall at that exact moment and raised a brow as he looked at them. “Ok ladies, fess up; am I the cause of the laughter?” Still smiling Jason took the seat beside Claire and automatically linked his hand with hers. A move noticed by both Louise and Suzy.

“Nope, sorry, we can laugh at you later though if you don’t want to feel left out,” said Suzy.

Claire turned to him, “Did you find out anything?”

“Unless there’s a problem, they’re going to move her out to ICU from emergency in about an hour. After she’s moved, they’ll allow one person at a time to go back for no more than ten minutes until visiting hours end at eight.”

“Hey cool,” said Suzy. “That’s a good sign that they plan to move her. Why don’t we all go down and grab something to drink and maybe a bite for Ms. Louise here?” Despite Louise’s protests, they all went to the cafeteria and bought coffee and sandwiches.

Even though she was trying to put on a brave front, Claire was terrified inside. Would her mother be able to recover with all the other health problems she had in addition to the stroke? As if sensing how she was feeling, Jason lifted a hand to rub along her back, soothing her tight muscles. Suzy made an effort to keep everyone entertained as Claire kept a close check on her watch wanting to be back for her visit with her mother.

Louise took the time to quiz Jason on everything she could think of. She seemed to give him her unofficial seal of approval by the time they were finished. Jason rose a few moments later, and they emptied their tray and went to the ICU unit. After checking with the nurse’s station, Claire was given her mother’s room number and reminded again that she could only visit for ten minutes. With a squeeze of her hand for encouragement, Jason released her and escorted Suzy and Louise to the waiting room while she went down the hall to locate her mother’s room.

~~~

Claire came to a stop and her hand flew to her mouth when she saw her mother. She seemed to be covered with wires and tubes. She had a tube in her mouth and her arms and hands both had IVs taped into place. There were wires peeping from the top of her hospital gown as well. A nurse was standing beside of the bed, checking her pulse rate and recording her vitals.

She walked slowly forward, trying to get her emotions under control. The nurse turned and gave her a warm smile. “Hi there, I’m just finishing up here. My name is Glenda, and I’ll be your mother’s nurse so you will see me a lot. Are you Ms. Walter’s daughter?”

“Yes… Yes, I am. I’m Claire Walters. How… How is she doing? Should there be this many things connected to her?”

“It’s pretty normal for a stroke victim. The doctor will assess her daily, and she’ll be gradually removed from some of the monitors as she improves. I know it looks really scary, but it’s normal at this point,” assured Glenda.

“Has she been awake recently?”

“Not since she’s been moved here. They have her sedated. It can be very confusing and upsetting for someone who suffered a stroke to be faced with any speech or movement issues so soon afterwards. The doctors want to make sure they’re on hand, and that they have a good idea of what they’re looking at before they risk the patient possibly doing further injury to themselves in a state of panic.”