All Things Lost (2 page)

          “So what's up?” he asked.

         I looked over at Asher and decided to let him take the lead. He was Will's cousin after all, and knew him much better than I did.

          “We just hadn't talked to you in a while and wanted to see how you were,” Asher said carefully.

          Will frowned, “I'm fine. What do you mean how I am?”

          “Well, I mean…with everything…”

          “You mean Aidan being murdered?” Will
asked
bluntly.

          Asher blinked in surprise but recovered quickly. “Yeah, I guess so. And the baby's coming soon too, right?”

          Will smiled again, this time a genuine smile.
“Yeah, any day now.
It could even be today.”

          “They'll call you when Caitlin goes into labor?” I asked.

          
“Yeah.
Actually, she's already at the hospital. The doctor made her stay in bed for just about the whole last trimester. She's had a really hard time. A couple times, we thought she might lose the baby, but she's determined that nothing will happen to him. One nurse said it was almost like she was giving her strength to the baby. She's gone into labor several times early but they were able to stop it. They said next time though they'll just let her have him. She's getting weaker all the time and they can't take the risk of drawing it out any more.”

          “You said him; you know it's a boy?”

          “Oh yeah, we've known for a while now. With all the tests they've had to do it was easy for them to know.”

          “Have you chosen a name?”

          “I have a baby name book but I haven't been able to decide on anything yet.  If it's a boy I want his middle name to be Joseph, after his father. I thought about naming him Aidan but that would be too painful.” He looked away but not before I thought I saw tears well up in his eyes.

          “Have you painted anything lately?” Asher asked. Before the murders Will had been a rising star in the local art world. He'd even had his own show last fall.

          He shook his head and avoided looking at us.

          “You should get back into that, Will,” Asher said gently.

          “I know; I just haven't felt like doing it since…”

          I was starting to feel like all we were doing was opening up old wounds. I decided it was definitely time for a change of subject.

          “Ash and I are looking for an apartment over here, something close to school if possible.”

          “Really?” he asked without much interest in his voice. I wondered if thinking of apartments made him remember the apartment he had lived in with Aidan, been married in and then watched Aidan die in. It seemed like no topic was safe with him.

          “Yeah and we'd better go before it gets too late,” I said. I hoped the desperation wasn't too obvious in my voice. I wanted out of there bad.

          Will looked up and gave me a funny look so I guessed it must have been pretty obvious. “Why don't you come back for dinner? Mom will be home by then and she'd probably like to see you guys.”

          I didn't know why she would since I barely even knew her, but maybe it was Will that really wanted to see more of us. We agreed to be
back
around
five o'clock
.

          We spent the rest of the day driving around the city checking out apartments. We found a couple we liked close to the school and in our price range. We were feeling pretty satisfied with ourselves when we arrived back at Will's house.

          Will's mom was home and it smelled like Will had actually been cooking while we were gone. We were told that the meal would be ready soon.

          Dinner turned out to be quite good; Will had prepared a casserole of some sort that involved chicken, broccoli and cheese. The company wasn't quite as good. Will's mom was tired after a long shift at the hospital and any conversation with Will was fraught with landmines.

          Asher and I exchanged an unspoken message with our eyes and I was just about to make an excuse for us to leave when the phone rang. Will's mom excused herself and went to answer it. She was back in a flash.

          “Will, it's the hospital. Caitlin is in labor!”

          Will leaped to his feet, toppling his chair and showing the most animation I'd seen yet from him. He ran for the door then spun back around. “You're coming, right?” he said to his mother.

          “Yes, let me change and I'll be there,” she answered.

          Then he turned to Asher and I, who were still sitting at the table. “Will you guys come too?” he asked us.

          
“Us?”
I squeaked.

          “I'd really like it if you could be there too.”

          “We're right behind you,” Asher said as he jumped up.

          I followed the two of them out the door. Once outside, we decided that
Will
should ride over with us so we all piled into my Volkswagen Bug and headed for the hospital. As I drove I remembered that the last time I was at that hospital Will's dad had been dying. I wondered if that was on Will's mind too. It seemed like everywhere he turned that was some reminder of what he had lost. Maybe the losses would be overshadowed tonight by what he was gaining.

          We pulled into the hospital parking lot and we raced into the main lobby.
Will skid to a halt in front of the information desk.

          “Where do they have the babies?” he asked the startled looking young woman behind the desk. I had to fight down an urge to giggle, but she must have been used to hysterical fathers.

          “Fourth floor is maternity,” she said and Will was off running again, “Sir?” she called after him but he was already around the corner at the elevators. She turned to us, “Is he the father?”

          “Um…I guess so,” I said uncertainly.

          The woman shook her head. “They'll take care of him at the nurses' station there then.”

            Asher and I caught up with him a few minutes later. A nurse was explaining something to him as we approached but we missed the bulk of it.

          “You can wait right over here,” the nurse was saying as we joined them.

          She led us to a small waiting area with several institutional couches and chairs. A magazine rack with health magazines hung on the wall. They looked like fascinating reading...if you were there recovering from a lobotomy. I had a feeling this would be a long wait.

          “I'd better go call home,” I said after a few minutes of silence.

          “Good idea,” Asher said, “I'd better call Mom and Dad, too.”

          We asked for the pay phones at the nurses' station and then set off to call home.

          When we got back at the waiting room we found several new additions. Will's mom had arrived and to my surprise, Laura and
Gabe
were there too. Laura was one of Will's lifelong friends and
Gabe
was her boyfriend. Laura was one of the most strikingly beautiful girls I had ever seen, half African-American and half Native American. She had long shiny black hair and dark almond-shaped eyes.
Gabe
was Hispanic and very handsome in his own right. They were both students at the college Asher and I would be attending this fall.

          After the initial greetings were over we all settled back down on the hard furniture and began to chat. We filled the whole room but luckily, there weren't any other women in labor right then. Will was noticeably brighter than he'd been all day.

         Asher and I brought Laura and
Gabe
up to date on what had been happening in our lives, graduation and deciding to move, and then it was their turn.

         “Well,” Laura said with a dramatic pause, “a lot has been happening with us too.”

         She held out her hand and I noticed a large diamond on her ring finger.

          “Oh
my gosh
!” I gasped. I leaped up and hugged her and then
Gabe
. Asher was a little slower on the draw but then he joined in on the congratulations too. Will apparently already knew and just smiled at all of us.

          “And that's not all,” Laura said, and glanced over at
Gabe
, who nodded encouragingly. “I've decided I'm not going back to school in the fall.”

          For a moment we all sat in stunned silence. It was obvious that this one even caught Will by surprise. Then we all started talking at once.

          Laura raised her hands palm out as if to say stop and we obediently stopped speaking. “I've decided I want to go to police academy.”

          “But aren't you studying criminal justice anyway,” Will's mom asked, “Wouldn't that be useful?”

          “Well yeah, but I've decided I want to do this now. I don't want to wait. And the department will pay for my schooling later if I decide to go back.”

          “It sounds like you've given this a lot of thought.”

         “I have.
Gabe
and I have talked about it and he supports me one hundred percent. I've already done all the preliminary requirements and I'm starting in the next class.”

          We talked for a while longer about their big news and then moved on to other things. Every once in a while a nurse would come out and tell us how far along Caitlin was and how much longer they thought it would be. It seemed things were moving pretty quickly and it wouldn't be one of those long drawn out labors. It was still quite a long time though, and before long Will's mom fell asleep. Shortly after I noticed Asher had dozed off and I moved closer and pulled him against me where he slept on my shoulder.
Gabe
was drifting off when the big news finally came.

          “Mr. Keegan?” a nurse asked the room in general.

          “That's me,” Will
said
jumping up.
Gabe
started and sat up and Asher blinked drowsily, looking a little like an owl that had been startled awake. Laura leaned over and gently shook Mrs. Keegan.

          The nurse wore a rather grim expression and I had a feeling her news wasn't good. “Mr. Keegan, I'm sorry, there have been some complications.”

Chapter 2

          “What do you mean complications?” Will asked; his voice tight with fear.

          “The doctor will be out shortly to explain everything,” she said evasively. “So far I believe the baby is alright, but the mother is having a very hard time.”

         
“So far?
I don't understand. What's going on?”

          Mrs. Keegan stepped forward. “Grace Keegan. I work here at the hospital,” she said by way of introduction. “What exactly are these complications?”

          The nurse gave the rest of us a doubtful glance but did give Mrs. Keegan a quick technical summary of the situation. Then she apologized again and left.

          “What did all that mean?” Will demanded.

          She sighed and sat down before answering. “It's not good.”

          Will sat down heavily with a stunned expression. “The baby…?”

          “I honestly don't know. They will probably take the baby soon, but it's all in God's hands really. It doesn't sound like Caitlin is doing very well at all.”

          We all settled into a tense, watchful silence. No one drifted off to sleep now. We were all on edge as we waited for word. Finally Caitlin's doctor came into the waiting room.

          “What's going on?” Will
asked
immediately.

          “Well, I have to be honest with you; it's not looking good right now. I believe in being direct with my patients and with their families. I've talked to Caitlin and we've made a decision. We're not at all sure baby and mother will survive. Caitlin has told me that the baby comes first; at all costs I am to save him. So we're going to do an emergency c-section. Once we have the baby safely out of Caitlin we'll…”

          “Doctor,” a nurse interrupted in a pinched voice, “You'd better come now.”

          “Excuse me,” he said and practically ran out the door.