A Piggly Wiggly Christmas (16 page)

The nasty weather had finally cleared up, so the ride back to Second Creek was far less stressful for Gaylie Girl than the trip over. Few things annoyed her more than driving in the rain. She and Renza had remained unusually quiet so far, carefully sifting through all the information Mrs. Holstrom had given them. They were both lost in thought, in fact, when a muffled ringtone gave them a slight start.

“Oh, that would be my cell phone,” Gaylie Girl explained, gesturing toward the backseat. “It’s in my purse. But let it ring, please. I never use or answer it while I’m driving. There ought to be a law against that, in my opinion. It’s the addiction of the millennium the way all these people run around in traffic yakking up a storm like they’re hosting talk shows. I simply refuse to do any of that. Besides, it’s probably just Hale checking to see when I’ll be getting home. And if it’s not, whoever it is will leave a message.”

“Then would you mind if I check to see if there’s a message for you when it stops ringing?” Renza inquired. “Just in case it’s an emergency of some sort. After all, my hands are certainly free.”

The ringtone finally ceased, and Gaylie Girl gave permission with a hasty nod, followed by a snicker. “I hope you can actually find it, though. I’ve got everything in there except last year’s tax return.”

Renza retrieved the bulky handbag and opened it slowly, drawing back slightly as the contents came to light. “You weren’t kidding, were you? There’s an infomercial’s worth of cosmetics in here. But no sign of a cell phone.” Renza rummaged around further, making all sorts of mixing and clicking noises. “Ah, here it is! It was hidden by this little package of Kleenex you shamefully tore right through in Mrs. Holstrom’s office.”

Gaylie Girl gave her a prolonged sideways glance. “Now don’t pretend for a moment that your eyes were exactly dry, Renza Belford. You are a big fake behind all that prickly bravado and horse apple expletives. I saw you turn away from me every time I tried to make eye contact. This whole business about Wittsie is getting harder and harder to take as we get closer to the end.”

Renza shrugged and waved her off and then flipped the phone open, staring at the screen for a while. “Don’t worry. I think I can figure it out. I can tell it’s got a similar menu to mine.”

Gaylie Girl alternated between keeping her eyes on the road and sneaking glances at Renza’s intricate maneuvers with her thumb. Finally, Renza put the phone to her ear and began to listen in eager anticipation. The first words out of her mouth were mundane enough: “Yes, it’s from Mr. Choppy—I mean, your Hale.”

But Renza’s expression changed suddenly and drastically. The severest of frowns appeared first, followed by an audible intake of air. Then Renza paused to replay the message before closing the phone with a decided snap.

Gaylie Girl felt an initial wave of panic moving through her. “For heaven’s sake! Don’t keep me in suspense! What is it? What did Hale say?”

Renza took another deep breath and spoke slowly. “He wants you to meet him at the hospital right away. He says Henry Hempstead just called to say his wife had gone into premature labor, and they’re trying to save the baby right now with a C-section. That’s the secretary you’ve been filling in for, isn’t it? That sweet little Cherish Hempstead?”

“Yes, it is,” Gaylie Girl said, but her emotions prevented her from commenting further. They were all caving in on her, reminding her of how fragile everything had suddenly become. First with Wittsie. Now with Cherish. This just couldn’t be happening to the Hempsteads again. They had been so careful this time around, taken such elaborate precautions, and Gaylie Girl had been an integral part of helping them implement their best-laid plans.

“Do you want to go to the hospital with me? I’d really appreciate it if you would,” Gaylie Girl managed, once the initial shock had passed.

Renza reached across and gently rubbed her shoulder. “I most certainly will. In-laws should make it easy on themselves and stick together.”

H
enry Hempstead’s face looked drawn and haggard as he stood just inside the doorway of the Second Creek Baptist Hospital waiting room. Despite his recent emergency ordeal, he managed a somewhat presentable smile as Mr. Choppy, Gaylie Girl, and Renza came forward to offer him their further support. Their vigil had begun with their arrival some thirty minutes earlier, when they had discovered that it was a slow afternoon and they had the entire room to themselves. They had managed to keep their nervousness at bay by making small talk, swilling bad vending machine coffee and thumbing through worn, gossipy Hollywood magazines while Henry was being allowed his first visit to the neonatal intensive care unit. There he would be getting his first glimpse of his newborn child. In the interim, a rather plump surgical nurse sporting green scrubs and a flowered shower cap had ventured out and explained that Cherish was still in the recovery room after her traumatic but successful C-section. Now they were about to receive the prognosis for “baby boy Hempstead” from Henry himself.

“Dr. Cameron says it’s just too early to tell how things’ll turn out. We’re just gonna have to wait and see. He also says the next twenty-four hours’ll be real crucial. After that, it still might be days before we’re completely outta the woods,” Henry explained, his voice catching. Then he moved his index fingers toward each other until they were nearly touching. “But I’ve never seen anything so tiny. I can’t get over it. My son is just barely three measly little pounds. Doctor says that’s not too bad for twenty-eight weeks old, but that doesn’t change the fact he’s nearly two months premature.”

Now Henry’s eyes seemed to be searching the room for a place to focus as he rambled on about the predicament that was clearly threatening to overwhelm him. “I just never thought anything could be so tiny and still be human. I mean, it’s almost like he’s not real but some kinda doll. The nurse wouldn’t let me stay too long, and I had to put on a surgical mask just to enter the room. He’s hooked up to all these tubes, and there’s this ventilator thing to help him breathe. It looks so scary to me—”

“Come over here and sit down, son,” Mr. Choppy interrupted, nudging him toward the sofa where they had all been biding their time. “You’ve been through a helluva lot over the last coupla hours. You need to catch your breath.”

Ordinarily composed, not to mention sturdy of frame and jaw, Henry was too shaken to resist the suggestion, immediately doing as he was told while the others gathered around him solicitously.

“One of us would offer to go and get you some coffee, Henry, but you really don’t want what they’re serving up in that machine out in the hallway, believe me. I may never get this nasty aftertaste out of my mouth,” Gaylie Girl said, patting his hand after settling in next to him. “Have you had anything to eat? I bet you’ve forgotten to. My first husband, Peter, lost at least ten pounds worrying about me both times I delivered our children. Oh, he’d come into my hospital room and tell me that he’d eaten, all right, but he was just plain lying about it. Maybe I could go and get you something from the cafeteria?”

“That’s okay, Miz Dunbar. We ate our big Sunday dinner together after church as usual, and then about an hour or so later, Cherish started getting these pains in her stomach. We both thought it was indigestion at first, especially since it was too soon for the baby, you know. Cherish had some bad indigestion all durin’ the pregnancy.”

Mr. Choppy was shaking his head now. “Well, I know for a fact that you and Cherish did everything you were told to do this time. All I ever got was good reports from the both of you. I know this is a big shock to you right now, Henry, but I got a feelin’ that your baby boy is gonna do just fine. I’m sure he’s a fighter just like his daddy is.”

Henry suddenly leaned forward on his elbows, hanging his head between his legs before it snapped back up after a brief interlude. “Whew! I felt kinda sick there for a second, Mr. Choppy. But it passed. Why do these things keep happenin’ to Cherish? Plus, I’m thinkin’ about too many things at once. Like my supervisory shift out at the catfish plant. It starts in a few more hours, and I’d really rather be here in case somethin’ happens. I’d—I’d want to be here for Cherish in case—” His voice broke off.

Gaylie Girl was squeezing his hand now. “I’ll call up my Petey and tell him what’s happened. He’s still here in town, staying out at Evening Shadows with our Myrtis.” She managed the softest of chuckles. “Petey and Euterpe have become her permanent fixtures, it seems. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be happy to appoint someone else to manage your shift so you can stick around and monitor things here.”

Henry’s pleasant features brightened for the first time. “Oh, that’d be great, Miz Dunbar. I’d really appreciate it. And since I have the chance now, I’d like to tell you what a pleasure it’s been to have your son as my boss now. I think everyone here in Second Creek is so happy he bought the plant. He’s truly given Pond-Raised Catfish new life.”

“I’ll pass all that along to him, and I’m sure he’ll enjoy hearing it. But meanwhile, you have to take care of yourself, young man. You’re a father now, and you have to keep up your strength for Cherish and your son. And that means you can’t get by with no food or rest or breaks,” Gaylie Girl continued. Then she turned toward Renza, who was sitting beside her. “I have an idea. Let’s you and I go to the ladies’ room together, shall we?”

“But I just went a few minutes ago.”

Gaylie Girl repeated part of what she’d just said with a pronounced emphasis. “I said—I . . . have . . . an . . . idea.”

Renza got the message this time, so up and off they went, promising to return soon and leaving the two men alone together.

Mr. Choppy wasn’t sure this was the right time to bring it up, but some instinct kept tugging at him to chance it; that it might be just the thing to give Henry the additional hope and strength he surely needed for whatever lay ahead. Still, two or three minutes of awkward silence passed before he actually broached the subject.

“I don’t mean to pry into your personal business right now, Henry, but I was wonderin’ if you and Cherish—” For a brief moment, he lost his nerve but soon regained it as he kept his goal in mind. “Well, son, I’m confident this is gonna turn out just fine for the two of you, as I said. We’ll all watch that boy a’ yours grow up strong and healthy just like you are. So, here’s the thing I wanted to get to. Have you and Cherish thought about namin’ a godfather?”

Henry turned his head dramatically, looking happily surprised. “Why, no, Mr. Choppy, we hadn’t thought about it at all yet. Maybe we would have if we’d known the baby was gonna come along so far ahead a’ schedule. Were you thinkin’ a’ runnin’ for that the way you did for Mayor?”

Their laughter eased the tension a bit, and Mr. Choppy said: “Well, I was for a fact, son. I don’t mind tellin’ you that I’ve thought of your Cherish almost as a daughter since just after she came to work for me back in May. What a ray of sunshine she’s been for me since day one! No better secretary anywhere, although my wife’s not half bad either. I’d just be honored if you’d let me pay you back in such a special way.”

“Hey, you’d get my vote for sure, Mr. Choppy. And when they finally let me go see Cherish, I’m bettin’ she’ll be thrilled to vote for ya, too.”

Mr. Choppy quickly reflected, leaning back in his seat with a smile on his face. “My, my. I guess I’m blessed four times over then. Mayor, husband, stepfather, and now godfather all in the same year. How often d’ya think that happens in life?”

“Not often, I expect, but I know this much. I couldn’t a’ named a nicer fellow for it all to happen to.”

That triggered another question that no one had asked yet. “Speakin’ of names, had you and Cherish come up with any for the baby before all this happened?”

Henry was nodding his head slowly. “Actually, we had. We went around and around the way most parents do, and we’d pretty much picked out two that we liked the best. Lauren Margaret if it was a girl, and Riley Jacob if it was a boy. Those really weren’t from either of our families, by the way. We just went down to the library and checked out one a’ those baby name books.
1001 Baby Names Your Child Can Live With Later
, I believe it was. That nice Miz Grubbs just led us straight to it.”