Dawn's Light (37 page)

Chris's eyebrows arched. “Wow, what a guy. He's like a hero. First getting the power turned on and now this?”

Deni ignored her gushing. “Chris, do you think those drugs will help her wake up?”

Chris tugged at the mask over her face. “Getting the swelling down will keep them from having to do a craniectomy. And without the intracranial pressure, things could turn around. It might not happen tomorrow, but it would sure give her an advantage.”

Chris went to the head of Beth's bed, checked her bandage.

“So are there parties going on everywhere around town, now that the lights are on?” Deni asked.

“There sure are. One on every block. It's like the end of World War II, when everybody was kissing in the streets. My parents have been firing up every appliance in our house, just to see if they'll still work. Some of them do.”

“It's weird, being so detached from it all. If all this hadn't happened, we'd be doing the same things.”

“So has Craig said when we're getting telephone service?”

“No, we really haven't had time to talk.”

“Are you going back to work for him?”

She hesitated and looked down at her hands, remembering the kiss he'd laid on her before he left town. “I don't know. I'm thinking about going back to the newspaper.”

“The newspaper? Why?”

Deni looked up at her. “It's just not the best idea to work with Craig. You know, with our history and all.”

Chris seemed to understand. Deni was glad she didn't make her explain more. After a few minutes, Chris went back to work on another floor.

Deni tried to get comfortable in her chair. She slid it back against the wall, rested her head back, and tried to straighten out in the chair. There was no way to get comfortable. She longed to stretch out in her own bed with Beth next to her. She got up and stroked her sister's hair. Would she ever wake up?

Deni sat back down and prayed that Craig wasn't just talking—that he really could get the medications Beth needed. Then she folded her arms on Beth's bed table, rested her head on them, and tried to doze.

“I made it back, babe. Drugs and all.”

Deni threw her head up. Craig stood in the doorway, suited up in a fresh pair of scrubs and a mask over his face. She jumped up. “You got them? You really did?”

His eyes were grinning. “I didn't think my car would go that fast. I must have gone ninety all the way. Thank goodness it was night or I might have run down a few dozen people.”

She threw her arms around him, and he picked her up and swung her around. “Told you I'd get them.”

“He got them, all right.” The nurse pushed past them into the room, holding two syringes. “Dr. Overton told me to give them to her as soon as they got here.” She injected one into Beth's IV. “You're a miracle worker, Mr. Martin.”

“Just doing what I can.”

Deni watched the nurse as she slowly injected the liquid. “God's the miracle worker.”

Craig nodded, as though he'd meant to say that.

The nurse administered the second drug, then checked Beth's heart rate and blood pressure. “It's in God's hands. We've just got to keep praying.”

The nurse left the room, and Deni bent over Beth, watching for any sign of a change even though she knew it was too soon. She put her hand on Beth's soft head and began to pray out loud. She felt Craig's hand on her back.

When they finished praying, they sat down. Deni wiped her eyes. “I really appreciate you doing that, Craig. Driving to Washington and back in one night. And it wasn't even government work.”

His eyes were red and tired, but they rounded as he looked at her. “I did it because I love you, Deni. And I love your family.”

She didn't know what to say to that. “Well, it was a really heroic thing to do.”

He took her hand, ran his thumb across her palm. “I'll stay with you until morning,” he said.

She didn't pull her hand away. How could she, after all he'd done? “That's not necessary. You should go home and get some rest.”

“I can't rest knowing you're here.”

It was sweet, so unlike the apathetic Craig who had disappointed her so after the Pulses. This kind of behavior was what she'd yearned for, but she'd never gotten it from him. Had his newfound Christianity changed his personality as well as his spirit?

She swallowed and met his eyes. “Craig, I've been thinking. I know I said I'd come to work for the recovery team, but you've probably had to replace me by now.”

“I'm holding your job, Deni. I hired another guy to help in PR, but your job is still there whenever you're ready to come back. We still have a lot of areas without electricity, and after we get all that fixed, there's still a ton of other things we have to do to rebuild the infrastructure. We'll need you for all of it.”

“Well, I appreciate that. But I don't think I want it anymore.”

Craig stiffened. “Why not?”

“Because …” She got up, straightened Beth's blanket. “I love investigative reporting. I don't think I want to stop being a journalist.”

“But Deni, the money. We can pay you so much more.”

“I know, but that doesn't seem all that important to me now.”

He looked at her as though she had just asked him to leave. He got up and touched her shoulder, pulled his mask down under his chin. “Deni, we were going to be a team. We had such big plans. I believe God sent me here to win you back. I wouldn't have come if I didn't have hope. I know you loved me once, but I was stupid then.”

His sincerity touched her. “Craig, I can see that you've changed.”

“When we broke up, I knew it had a lot to do with your faith. Remember, you told me we were unequally yoked? I got a Bible and looked that up, trying to understand what that meant, and finally I got it. I realized that you can't marry somebody who has different goals and different priorities. What kind of life would that be?”

“That wasn't the only reason I broke up, Craig.”

“I know,” he said. “I was a jerk when the Pulses started. I got so wrapped up in my work, so busy that I didn't take time to try to get in touch with you or come to get you. And I started to reflect on all the things you had done to get to me and how you'd risked your life. I was a sorry guy, and I knew I needed to change. So I started going to church.”

“Which church?” she asked.

“Christ Fellowship. I'd walked by it a million times without even noticing it. Then one day I saw people going in. At first I just went and sat on the back row and listened every Sunday, and usually the preacher would cover something I'd never heard of. I would go home and look it up and read. I felt so helpless. At the Senate Building we were making all these plans, trying to get everything in place for the recovery. It finally occurred to me that all our efforts were worthless, because God is in total control. He'd caused the Pulses, and we had no way of stopping them or ending the crisis. It was all up to him.”

Deni gazed up at him, captivated.

“And then I started going on Sunday nights, and one night the preacher asked us to come down for prayer, and I went down and told him I needed prayer because I wasn't a Christian. I had never surrendered my life to Christ and I wasn't really sure what it took. Brother Harris prayed with me, and the next thing I knew, I had turned my life over to Christ. And from that moment on, I knew I was different.”

Deni blinked back tears. “I'm glad, Craig.”

He took her hand again. His were still soft from office work and paper pushing, not hard and callused like Mark's.

But these hands did important work.

“Deni, I know when I came back and told you I'd become a Christian that you and your family thought it was just a ploy. But it's not. God's changed my life.”

“I believe you.”

“It means the world to me if you do. You were in love with me once, baby.”

She looked away, but he touched her face and brought her gaze back to him. “With Christ at the center of our home, we can have a great marriage, Deni. We'll have beautiful children and a common purpose. Our careers are going the same direction. We have the same interests, the same intellect, the same drive. We'd be a power couple. You know we would.”

She didn't say anything. The compressor hummed, and she looked at Beth's stockings as they inflated. He turned her face back to his.

“I can see why you're interested in Mark,” he said. “He's a strong guy. You're right. He can do anything. But Deni, he's not right for you.”

She smiled and sat back down. “Funny, he said the same thing about you a few months ago.”

Craig stooped down in front of her. “He was right. The timing was wrong for us. But it's the right time now, Deni.”

What was he doing? On his knees in front of her. She tried to pull him up. “Craig …”

“No, don't.” He set his fingertips over her lips, silencing her. “Please, just let me talk. My life these last few months has been miserable without you. I've had this gnawing in my gut like I'd had an organ removed or something. I can't stand the thought of living without you, and I know I can make you happy. I can give you everything you want.”

“What are you doing?”

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the ring she'd worn for almost a year.

She sat up, rigid. “My ring …”

His eyes filled with tears, and her heart softened. She remembered all the hopes she'd had for them, all the plans they'd made together. How excited she'd been, how honored, for him to want her for his wife.

“Listen to me, Deni. I want you to put this ring back on your finger, and I want us to set another date. I want to spend my life with you. Please don't say no.”

Deni touched the ring, remembering all the pleasure it had brought her, all those months ago.

Suddenly, Beth's monitor began to beep. Deni sprang out of her chair, knocking the ring out of his hand.

Beth's face was pink, warm. Deni caught her breath as her eyes moved under the lids. “Beth!”

Beth opened her eyes and looked right at her. “Don't do it, Deni.”

Beth had spoken! Deni's heart almost stopped, and she bent over her sister, tears rushing to her eyes, her nose. “Oh, sweetie!”

Her sister's eyes closed again as two nurses ran in. “What happened?”

“She woke up!” Deni cried. “She woke up and spoke to me!”

The nurse went to her bed and patted her cheek. “Beth? Beth, can you hear me?”

The other nurse was listening to her heart. “Heart rate has gone back up. Blood pressure is normal.”

Deni swung around. “Craig, go get my parents. Hurry!”

“I'm on my way,” he said, and ran for the door.

eighty-eight

T
HE POUNDING ON HER BEDROOM DOOR FRIGHTENED
K
AY
from a deep sleep, and she bolted up. “Who is it?” She reached for the lamp and flicked it on as the door flew open.

Craig burst in. “Come to the hospital,” he said, breathless. “Beth woke up.”

Kay couldn't speak. He was supposed to be in Washington. Had she heard him right?

“Are you serious?” Doug launched out of bed and grabbed his pants.

“Yes. She opened her eyes and spoke. Deni sent me to get you.”

Finally, reality penetrated her fog. Kay grabbed her robe. “She was aware? She
spoke
?”

The dim lamp light only deepened the shadows on Craig's face. “I only heard four words before I left, but yeah, she spoke.”

Kay turned on the overhead light so she could look into his tired face. “Four words. What were they?”

Craig hesitated a moment. “She said, ‘Don't do it, Deni.’ ”

Kay just stared at him. “Don't do what?”

He shrugged, looked at the floor. “It doesn't matter. The important thing is that she recognized her sister.”

“Oh, Craig!” She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him back. “The drugs—you got them back already?”

“Yes. They gave them to her an hour or so ago.”

Kay's arms came up in a show of victory. “That's why she woke up! Craig, how can we ever thank you?”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “You'll think of something.”

She knew he referred to Deni. There wasn't time to think about that now. She looked around for something to wear. She hadn't done laundry in days. Grabbing up the clothes she'd taken off last night, she turned back to Craig. “We'll be ready in two minutes.”

The door closed, and she ran toward her closet. Doug ran into her, and they both laughed. “She's awake!” Kay cried.

Doug picked her up and kissed her neck. “Hurry now!”

She threw on her clothes and grabbed her shoes. Doug was already out the door as she hurried through the house. She ran halfway up the stairs and called Logan and Jeff. “Beth woke up! Hurry, guys! Put on some clothes. Let's go.”

The sleepy boys almost tumbled down the stairs, and they all piled into Craig's car. Kay wept all the way to the hospital, thanking God for this answer to prayer.

eighty-nine

B
ECAUSE HER SITUATION HAD BEEN SO DIRE AND THE NEWS
was so good, the staff of the ICU allowed the whole family to come into Beth's room. Kay wrestled on her scrubs, thrusting her leg into the wrong hole. Frustrated, she pulled them off and tried again.

As the guys finished getting suited up, she flew into Beth's cubicle. Deni was bent low over Beth, talking softly to her.

“Is she still awake?” Kay asked.

Deni looked up, her eyes tired, but bright with hope. “No, Mom. She's out again.”

“But she woke up? She recognized you?”

“Only for a second. But her blood pressure is stable now, and you can see the color in her face.”

Kay touched Beth's face. “Oh, why wasn't I here?” Gently, she shook her. “Honey, can you hear me? Can you wake up? Please. Mom really wants to see that you're all right.”

There was nothing.

“Sorry, Mom. I tried to keep her awake.”

Kay fought her disappointment. “That's okay. If she woke up once, she'll do it again. The steroids obviously helped. We just have to be patient.”

Doug swept past her to Beth's side. “Oh no. She's out again.” He straightened and looked at Deni. “Tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out.”

Logan and Jeff came in, and Deni looked past them to the door. “Where's Craig?”