Sometimes life seemed to take a turn for the worst so quickly there was no way to brace for the trauma. Instead of toasting the New Year with friends, Cali sat in the emergency room waiting area; legs shaking, palms sweating, stomach in knots. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her uncle lying on the bathroom floor near death. She vaguely remembered Red running into the room, jumping into action by phoning the ambulance. She’d struggled with him, smacking him in the arm when he tried to pull her away from her uncle when the ambulance finally arrived. She’d screamed when they’d grabbed those damn paddles and shocked Uncle Cal, begging them to save him. She recalled threatening the paramedics with bodily harm and ordering them to be gentle when they placed him on the gurney. When they’d pushed him toward the waiting ambulance, her heart seemed to fall in her chest and her knees gave out. She didn’t hit the floor, though, because Red had been there to catch her.
Even now, his hand was on her knee, the other squeezing her hand. His strong presence seemed to be her only lifeline as people came and went through the ER doors. Families were cracking jokes and munching on chips. An older man was lying on a chair with his feet propped up. A teenager was checking her social media account on the public computers.
Cali was freaking out. They’d rushed him to the back so fast. She’d tried to follow him, but the nurses told her she would have to wait. The doctors should have come to get her, but so far… nothing.
“Why haven’t they come back out?” she asked. “What’s taking them so long?”
She felt his lips against her temple, his warm breath against her skin. “Baby, they’re probably doing everything they can for him. They’ll come out and update us soon.”
She rested her head against his. “Did you call Syd?”
“I did. She actually tried to come.”
Cali imagined the argument between Syd and Morgan when she’d informed him that she was going to the hospital. “I’m guessing Morgan wasn’t having that.”
“You know it,” he confirmed.
Morgan was right, though. Syd didn’t need to be there, even though Cali needed her best friend.
“He’ll be here, though,” Red said. “Since she couldn’t come, she’s sending him.”
Nodding, she covered her face with her hand. “What if he doesn’t make it, Red? What am I going to do without him?”
“Baby, don’t focus on that.”
“I can’t get that image out of my head,” she cried. “Seeing him like that…”
“Shhh.” He brushed his lips over her cheek and pulled her closer.
Morgan rushed into the emergency room a bit later, followed by Kent. Cali lifted her head off of Red’s shoulder as they approached her. “Hi,” she said, forcing a wobbly smile.
“Hey,” Morgan said, squeezing her shoulder and shaking Red’s hand at the same time. “We came as soon as we could. Syd sends her love. She wishes she could be here.”
“I know. I wish she could be here, too,” she said. “You should be ringing in the New Year with my friend.”
“We’re fine,” Morgan said. “She wouldn’t have it any other way. Mama is over at the house with her.”
Kent gave her a tight hug and greeted Red with some dap. “Any news?”
Shaking her head, she shrugged. “No. Red just asked the front desk for an update. They are supposedly checking as we speak.”
Both men took a seat across from them and Cali was grateful for their support. “I’m sorry about dinner, Morgan,” she said.
He waved her off. “Please don’t. This is more important. We can reschedule at a later time.”
“Tell me,” Red said. “What was the dinner all about, anyway? Are you proposing to my sister?”
Morgan snickered. “I’ve been trying to do that for days, but your sister isn’t cooperating.”
Cali grinned, content that her friend’s dreams were finally coming true. “What has she been doing?”
“Initially, I’d planned to propose after Thanksgiving,” Morgan told them. “I even took her to look at rings. Once she tried on the ring and realized that her finger was swollen, she bolted out of the store.”
The group laughed at Syd’s antics while Cali remembered a slightly different version of the ring store debacle.
“I already have her ring,” Morgan confessed. “I just took her to the store so that I could do the whole surprise proposal there. I mean, it was perfect. We spent Thanksgiving in New York and I planned this elaborate trip to Tiffany’s, like in the movie that you two watch constantly.”
“Sweet Home Alabama?” Cali and Syd had watched the proposal scene back to back. There was nothing like spending time with her best friend, watching cheesy chick flicks. “Ah, we love that movie.”
“I know,” Morgan said. “Don’t ask me why your friend is so weird.”
“Well, you love her,” Kent added with a snort, covering his smirk when Morgan glared at him.
“Is that the only time you tried?” Red asked, rubbing his thumb over Cali’s hand.
“I tried again one night at home.” Morgan clasped his hands together and leaned forward. “I had decided that elaborate measures with a pregnant Syd weren’t going to work, so I came home from work early and cooked dinner. We sat down in front of the fireplace, cozied up to watch a movie. The ring was under the pillow. She fell asleep.”
Cali’s mouth fell open and Kent leaned back in his chair, laughing loudly.
Red shook his head. “Wow. I can’t even offer anything to that. Maybe you should wait until after the baby is born for the proposal.”
“You’re probably right,” Morgan said.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Cali told Morgan. “You make her so happy. Her neurotic behavior seems to make you smile. And your jerk tendencies don’t faze her. I’d say you’re a match made in heaven. To think, you both were hell-bent on denying it for so long.”
“Look who’s talking,” Kent said. “You and Red’s ass… who sleeps with someone for years and pretends that they are just friends?”
“I don’t know. Who lets a woman that he’s obviously into leave town to marry a preacher man?” Red retorted.
Cali giggled. “That’s right. You tell him, baby.” They gave each other a high five. “The point is… we’re not pretending now. That’s all that matters.”
Kent rolled his eyes. “For the last time, there’s nothing going on with me and Allina.”
“Whatever, Kent,” Morgan said. “Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you’ll start to believe it.”
“Ms. Harper?” Cali turned toward the call, standing up when she realized it was the doctor.
“Yes.” She glanced at the older man’s name on his badge. “Is my uncle okay, Dr. Hessler?”
“He’s stable for now.” The doctor gestured toward an empty room in the hall. “I’d like to give you an update on what’s going on. Do you mind following me to one of the family rooms so that we can have some privacy?”
Privacy. Pulling on her suit coat, she held her chin high as she followed the doctor. Turning to Red, she asked, “Can you go with me?”
He nodded. Cali pretended not to notice the looks passing between the three friends. They knew it was bad news, too.
Once they were in the small room, the doctor sat in a rolling chair. He motioned Cali and Red to have a seat on the couch in the room.
“What’s going on, Dr. Hessler? Is he…?” She swallowed hard. “You said he was stable. What does that mean? Is he conscious?”
“Ms. Harper, we’ve done all we can do.” The doctor opened his file. “Your uncle’s heart is failing.”
“I know his heart is failing,” Cali said, frustrated at the doctor’s condescending tone. “I’ve already talked to the cardiologist. But what is going on with him now?”
“Mr. Harper developed a blood clot at the stent site and as a result, suffered a heart attack,” the doctor explained. “Thanks to your quick action in performing CPR and the prompt arrival of the paramedics, we were able to treat it in time with an aggressive course of medicine. However, the heart has suffered severe damage. His heart is enlarged. Surgery is an option, as you know, but with your uncle’s history and the weakened state of his body, it’s not recommended.”
“I know all of this,” Cali said. “What I’m not understanding is why you can’t do another angioplasty or a different procedure? I’ve been reading up on it, and there are so many options.”
Cali had heard what the doctors said a few weeks ago, but she’d researched heart failure and complications and there always seemed to be a treatment, a miracle. “We’ve already met with the doctors about his prognosis,” she said. “I just… need to know why.”
The doctor told her that each case was different. Uncle Cal had presented with multiple problems. Because his heart didn’t work correctly, his other organs were affected, including his kidneys and his lungs.
Resting her elbows on her knees, she dropped her head and choked back a sob. “Will he be able to leave here? Is he conscious?”
“He’s in and out of consciousness—and asking for you,” the doctor said. “I must warn you; he’s very weak.”
A few minutes later, Cali slipped into the dark hospital room, Red right behind her. After the doctor had left the small family room, she’d cried on Red’s shoulder until she was drained. Heart failure was one horrible thing; now they were dealing with the effects of the heart attack among other things. She could read between the lines. Uncle Cal’s organs were failing and medicine could only do so much.
With trepidation, she inched closer to the bed. He was lying so still, his chest rising and falling, and there was an oxygen tube coming out of his nose. “Uncle Cal?”
He opened his eyes. “Baby girl,” he said, his voice raspy.
“Hi.” It was the only word she could get out and it frustrated her to no end because more needed to be said.
He reached out to her and she placed her hand in his, careful not to disturb the tubes and lines and everything. “I love you, baby girl. So much. I need you to know that.”
“I do. I love you, too,” she told him. “But I’m mad at you.”
He smiled. “I know.”
“You scared the shit out of me,” she continued. “You know I don’t know anything about medicine. I had to do CPR. Can you believe that?”
“Maybe you should have listened in first aid class,” he said with a low chuckle.
“You always told me you’d be here. But look at you… over there dying.”
He started to laugh but coughed instead. She pulled a few pieces of tissue from the bedside table and held them up to his mouth. He took it from her, spitting out phlegm. “Listen to you, taking a page from my book, huh? Finding humor in everything. The doctor talked to you?”
She nodded. “He did.”
“I don’t want any extraordinary measures.”
Peering up at the ceiling, she sniffed. “I know.”
“I just want to be with my girl, for however long I have.”
She took another Kleenex and dabbed his eyes. “I’ll be here.”
“You’ve made me so proud,” Uncle Cal said, his voice thick. “I’m so grateful that I had a chance to raise you.”
“No, I’m the one that’s grateful. My life could have turned out so different if you hadn’t saved me from that hotel room, from my… mother.”
Uncle Cal glanced behind her shoulder. “Red, thanks for being here with her.”
“I’m going to be—” The buzz of his cell phone sounded in the room. He glanced at the screen and turned to them. “I have to take this.”
She nodded and watched as he exited the room.
“He loves you, Cali,” her uncle said.
“I know.” She smoothed a hand over the hair on his arm. As a child, she’d always complained that he was too hairy and he’d always tell her she’d like “hairy” one day. Smiling at the memory, she had half a mind to tell him that she never did like men with lots of hair.
“Good. I’m glad you two got it together. Always keep an open mind when it comes to relationships. Be willing to bend.”
“This coming from a man who once told me that love was for wimps.”
“That was because I didn’t want you to date. See, I had a reason for everything I did. Always for your protection.”
“Well, I won’t go into you threatening all my dates with sewing their lips shut if they dared to kiss me. I will say that I’m so glad that you had my back. I don’t know who my real father was, but it never mattered to me. You’ve been the only father… the best father I could have.”
“Cali,” he said, his voice full of emotion. “I need to tell you something.”
“What is it?” she asked. Uncle Cal had an urgency in his voice that concerned her.
There was a soft knock on the door, and Red stepped in.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Can I talk to you outside for a second?”
“Sure.” She turned her attention back to Uncle Cal. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
Following Red outside the room, she leaned against the wall. “Are you okay? Is it Syd?”
“No. It’s Nia.”
“What about her?”
“My contact at the police department… he found her.”
She paused as his words registered. “That’s… great. Do you know where Corrine is?”
“Where is she?” Cali asked.
“It’s just like you thought.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “She’s been staying in Niles.” Niles was a small town on the western side of the state. No one would ever guess she’d go there, especially since she had no family in the area. “But arrested in Benton Harbor, Berrien County.”
“That’s not far,” she said. “You should go.”
“I hate to leave you,” he admitted.
“You have to go see about your daughter, Red,” she insisted. “I have support here. I’ll be fine.”
He rubbed her hair. “You’ll call me if anything changes?” When she nodded, he told her, “I’ll be right back here.”
“Baby, just go. If I need a break, I’ll head over to see Syd.”
He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unhooked a key. Holding it up to her, he said, “Here’s my house key. I’ll text you my alarm code so you have it.”
“Are you going by yourself?” she asked.
“Kent is going to ride with me. Morgan needs to be close.”
“Of course.” She gave him a watery smile. “I’m glad he’s going with you.”
He pressed his mouth to her forehead, then her lips. “I love you. I’ll call to check on you.”
She swallowed, biting back the urge to beg him not to leave her. “I love you, too. Drive safe. Let me know when you get there.”
He glanced at his watch. “Happy New Year,” he whispered against her lips.
“Happy New Year to you, too,” she murmured.
Cali didn’t know how long she stood there after Red raced out of there. She couldn’t bring herself to go back into the hospital room, to sit there and stare at her uncle’s dying face. A kind nurse stopped to ask her if she needed anything. She told the woman that she could sure use a stiff shot of tequila, to which the nurse giggled, then offered her a cold apple juice and a warm blanket instead. As the nurse hurried off to get those things for her, Cali closed her eyes. I got this. Psyching herself out was never her strong suit. But it was the only way she was going to be able to face this head on. Turning on her heels, she walked back into the room.