Just Destiny (8 page)

“We can give you a little time alone with him, but we need to do this before long. It’s for

the best.”

“Whose best?” George railed. “It’s only been a day, for Chrissake.”

“All our sakes. His sake. He needs us to let him go.”

George stared at Gabe’s still form, allowing the truth to sink in. His lips began to tremble; his hand covered his mouth, stilling them. He stared at the man in the bed, the man he’d raised and loved like a son. He’d gotten Gabe through his parent’s deaths, he’d taken him fishing, and taught him to drive on his old Ford Taurus. They had season tickets to the Tiger’s games. Gone? Fuck.

He closed his eyes against the truth. “What now?”

“We’ll call the mortuary and let them know we’re ready. When the kids get back, we’ll say our good-byes…and leave.”

He blinked furiously to stem the tears. With his thumb and index finger he pinched his nose. He forced his eyes open and looked at Judith. “Nobody’s going to be with him in the end? That’s not right.”

Jenny reached for Gabe’s hand. “I’ll be here."

An immediate protest formed on George’s lips, but he saw the grief etched on her young face and remembered how Gabe always jumped to her defense. He’d been crazy about the girl. Totally blind in love. Much as he wanted to deny it, Gabe would want it to be her. He blew out a deep breath, nodding.

It’d been hard burying his wife, parents, and sister, but this was infinitely more difficult. Too soon. Adele’s death had been a heartbreaking tragedy. George’s mother had been older when she died, and his father—his death had been hard, but they’d lived productive lives. For the most part. And his sister, Jan? Well, she’d simply been dumb and careless.

She’d followed that do-gooder husband all over the world to any unsettled third-world country when she should have been home taking care of herself. Plain stupid was what she was, but her son never went looking for trouble: Gabe was a good boy—a good man, George corrected. The best. He didn’t deserve this.

When Judith left the room, Jenny gave him one last stern look before slowly following.

What the hell does she think I’m gonna do to you?
He scowled back at her and pursed his lips hard against a caustic comment.
Jesus, Gabe, I’ll never understand why you married that one. Never mind her—I don’t know how much time they’re going to give me with you.

What in the hell happened? How can you be gone? I wasn’t expecting this yet. I should have had more time with you
. He paused and closed his eyes against the pain tightening his chest. He opened his eyes and looked at his nephew’s face, hoping to see a reaction, desperately hoping they’d all been wrong.
I never really came out and said it, but you know how much I love you and how proud of you I am, right? I mean, sure, we had our little quarrels—mostly over that girl—
He shook his head.
Sorry
.

It’s just…I tried to give you a happy life. I worked so damn hard to protect you—but I couldn’t have seen this coming. Dead at forty-three? Shit. What a waste. I am so damn tired of the waste. After your mother died, I should have been prepared for another life taken too soon, but it wasn’t supposed to end like this. Maybe it’s for the best, but damn it hurts
. He dropped his head and hot tears scalded his hand.
I’m just not ready for you to leave me too. Not yet
.

But you’ll be okay
. He blew out a deep, hot breath.
Jan. Adele. Those girls’ll take good care of you. It’s me I’m cryin’ for, you know that, right? You were my son. My best friend. I’ve never known a better man, and that’s the truth
. He sobbed.
I love you, Goddammit, and I miss you so damn much already
.

George heard footsteps and clothing rustling at the door. He took his handkerchief from his back pocket and turned his back on Judith, Jenny, and the approaching kids. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose, a loud honking sound.

A blue scrubs-clad doctor and nurse and some Amy chick, probably a bereavement counselor, paraded in after them. With apologetic eyes, the doctor instructed them to say their good-byes. One by one, they hugged Gabe and whispered some last words of love in choked voices, leaving the room blinded by tears. First Alex and Ted, then Judith, and then himself.

My God, he’d just got here an hour ago and already they were making him go. They didn’t give a man much time, did they? Maybe it’s just as well. Jenny took the longest, but they didn’t have too long to wait before a nurse escorted her from the room.

He watched in astonishment as Judith and Alex both wrapped comforting arms around a sobbing Jenny and led her down the hall. Grief did strange things to people, he thought as he and Ted followed. The Amy lady trailed behind, like the caboose on a train. She was probably just as useless. When they reached the elevator, he turned back and out of the corner of his eye, he saw them wheel Gabe away in the opposite direction around the corner.

Although he was now on a gurney, George was sure it was Gabe. What in the hell was going on? Why was he still hooked up to the breathing machine? George turned around and sprinted down the hall. Pain from arthritis in his hip caused him to limp, but he caught up to them. “Hey, what’re you doing? Where are you taking him?”

They paused but didn’t stop until he passed them and blocked the hall.

“Where are you taking my boy?”

The doctor looked beyond him to where Amy had come up behind them.

George narrowed his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“It’s okay, George. This is how it’s done.” Judith said. The others gathered behind her.

“How
what’s
done? When you die, your body stops breathing and they cover you with the sheet. Or they put you in some giant black baggie or something.” He pointed at Gabe lying on the gurney, chest still rising and falling with the machine. “That is
not
how it’s done. He’s still breathing.”

“Gabe wanted to donate his organs,” Judith said.

“The hell he did,” he exploded.

“It’s what Gabe wanted. Jenny signed the papers.” Judith looked at the waiting team. “Go ahead.”

“You can’t do that.” Donate his organs? He looked at his helpless nephew, picturing them slicing him open and hollowing him out before giving him back to them to put into the ground. He didn’t deserve that. He was a good man. He deserved to be buried whole, with honor. Rage and betrayal ripped through George.

The team resumed pushing Gabe’s gurney.

“You do and I’ll sue you and this whole damn hospital,” he snarled. He pointed an accusing finger at Jenny. “I don’t give a damn what she signed, nobody’s carvin’ up my boy.”

Amy eased around the others, little miss meek preparing to confront the lion. “Mr. Turner, I understand your concern, but—”

“You understand
nothing
, lady.” He turned back to the doctor. “You’re not taking him anywhere. You turn that machine off right here and let him die with dignity.”

“We can’t do that,” the doctor said.

Jenny, her face red and blotchy from crying, looked at the waiting team. Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Please. Take him.”

The team wore varying degrees of relief and acceptance on their faces as they escaped. They’d actually listened to the little twit. Astonished, he turned on her. “Stop them.”

“It’s what he wanted, George,” she choked out.

“How the hell could you know what he wanted? You only knew him a few years, I knew him his whole life, and I’m tellin’ you it’s not right.” He chased after the team. “Wait,” he yelled as they pushed Gabe onto the elevator.

They hesitated long enough to look past him to Jenny, who nodded miserably as the stainless steel doors glided shut.

Gabe was gone. He had to get him back. He couldn’t let them do this. It was inhumane.

“Goddammit, come back here. I’ll sue!” he yelled, smacking his palm against the cold pewter doors.

Judith put a hand on his arm. “George, calm down. The decision’s been made. And I think it’s the right one.”

“Then you’re an idiot.” He shook loose, giving her a stony glare of betrayal. They were going to carve Gabe up over his dead body. He’d lost enough. Gabe
would
be buried with the same parts he came into the world with. Mind racing, he struggled to gather his scattered thoughts. It’s clear they wouldn’t listen to him, but they’d have to listen to a judge. “Let go me. I’ve gotta call my attorney.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you can’t stop it. Gabe believed in organ donation, and as his closest living relative, Jenny’s wishes take precedence.”

He glared at the bereavement counselor. “Is that true?”

She nodded. “Yes, but most people—”

“Stop them.” He hovered over Jenny, crowding her, intimidating. “You can stop it. They’re going to carve him up and hollow him out like a Thanksgiving turkey. How can you let them do that? And you claimed to love him,” he scoffed.

“I
do
love him,” Jenny whispered, anger glistened in her tear-drenched eyes.

“Then stop them.” Tears burned his eyes. He wasn’t too proud to beg. He looked at Jenny, letting her see his gut-wrenching sorrow and desperation. “Stop them. Please.”

“I can’t.” She held his gaze. “It’s what he wanted.”

He bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Tears eased around his fingers in a steady, uncontrollable flow. There had to be a way. He raised his head to the ceiling, blinked hard and took a deep steadying breath.

“She’s right,” Judith said.

“And the baby. Daddy wanted Jenny to have his baby,” Alex said, as if offering hope.

George froze, then slowly turned around to stare at his great niece.

Alex’s eyes widened with the sudden realization that she’d told a secret.

“What baby?”

Everybody started talking simultaneously, but George waved them aside, zeroing in on his great niece.

“What baby, Alex?” he asked softly.

Stuttering, she eased closer to her mother. “I…the one Jenny’s gonna have.”

His gaze settled on Jenny’s flat waist. “You’re pregnant?”

Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head.

“Gabe and Jenny were trying to get pregnant when this happened,” Judith said. “They’re going to save Gabe’s sperm for her so she can try again to conceive.”

Save Gabe’s sperm? How would they even get it? More surgery? There? Eyes wide, his neck extended in disbelief. “That’s sick.”

“It is not,” Judith said.

“He’s dead.”

“All the more reason to want his baby. She wants a living part of him. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s illegal. Why…it’s rape—that’s what it is. It’s rape. You can’t do that.” He jabbed a finger at them, before gripping his waist with tense fingers that he longed to curl around their collective necks and shake some sense into them. Sick. Crazy. Illegal. It had to be illegal.

“He’s her husband. It’s hardly rape, George,” Judith maintained.

“There’s no law specifically forbidding sperm recovery in situations like this,” Amy stated.

George glared at the five, hardly able to comprehend their madness. His gaze honed in on the counselor as she spouted her ridiculous statement. Apparently he couldn’t stop them from taking Gabe’s organs, but he could handle this little grief mouse. Furious, he turned on her, jabbing the air in front of her. “
You. Stay out of it
.”

He glared a long minute at Judith, then Jenny. “First I find out Gabe’s been injured on the afternoon news; when I get here I find that he’s brain dead and only the machine’s keeping him alive.” He ticked the offenses off on fat, short fingers. “Then I find that you’re about to desecrate his body, and
now
you think you’re going to steal his sperm and have his baby—after he’s dead?”

He shook his head. Calm defiance settled over him. “No way, lady. No. Fucking. Way.”

Jenny didn’t know how she’d make it through the following few days when she had trouble just leaving the hospital. After George stormed away to call his attorney, Jenny, Judith, and the kids gathered their few things and headed down the hall. Jenny lingered as long as she could, surprised to find herself reluctant to leave.

She’d spent every minute of the past two and a half days within these cream-colored walls, and suddenly the prospect of stepping out into the world frightened her. Given the circumstances, she should have hated the place, but walking toward those gliding doors made her increasingly nervous.

Something lodged deep in the heart of the hospital pulled at her as if by some strange magnetic force. She’d lost so much here—her baby and her husband—and she wanted them back. Both of them.

She’d barely had a chance to get used to the idea of their baby before that dream had been ripped from her—but Gabe was reality. It wasn’t right leaving without him. She’d come with him; she should leave with him.

While at the hospital, Jenny felt this vague connection to Gabe even though he was gone. Now she was abandoning him. She didn’t say anything because the others would think her nuts, but she felt this urge to ask if she could wait for Gabe and drive to the funeral parlor with his body. Knowing how crazy the thought was, Jenny kept quiet and followed them into the chilly evening air.

Clutching the white plastic bag containing Gabe’s belongings, Jenny paused in the open car door and watched a red and white life-flight chopper approach through the dim evening light. It hovered over a cordoned off area of the blacktop above a large red circle surrounded by neon orange cones, before gently setting down.

Were they bringing in a critical patient or were they here for Gabe’s organs? No medical personnel rushed out to greet them. A man and women left the helicopter before the blades had a chance to slow. Both wore ugly, wrinkled, green scrubs and white running shoes. The man carried a red and white cooler. Jenny turned away. There was her answer.

Judith drove them to the bed and breakfast. While Jenny quickly packed her and Gabe’s stuff, Ted secured the bikes on her jeep. She checked out in a numb haze, signing where indicated and responding to the owner’s condolences with a nod and murmured thank you. She pushed through the door, anxious to get away from the inn.