The Life She Wants (24 page)

“She has a counselor,” Emma said. “A counselor who asks her if she's jealous of the new stepmother.”

“Dear God, what an imbecile! I knew of Mr. Christensen's marriage. When he filled out his contract, we always ask them to list the family members and pets in the household and I knew he had a teenager and was engaged to be married. But I didn't know he'd been widowed.”

Riley's phone rang again. Again she looked at it. “She really wants me. I'm sorry,” she said before clicking on. “Yes, Maddie?”

“Mom! We were in an accident! Someone hit us. We're taking Daddy to the hospital. Mom, he's hurt! He's hurt!”

“Slow down, Maddie,” Riley said. She completely forgot about Emma as she put the cell phone on speaker so she could gather her purse, keys, coat. “Are you hurt?”

“No. Not really. But they couldn't get Daddy out right away and they wouldn't let me go in his ambulance because they needed the room to work on him. Oh, Mom, what if he dies?”

“He's not going to die,” Riley said. “What hospital are you going to?”

Maddie asked someone. “Petaluma.”

“Are you sure you're all right?”

“A couple of bumps, that's all.”

“All right, I'm coming. I'm on my way.”

Riley ran around her desk, past Emma and out the door. Two seconds later she ran back in and said, “Jock and Maddie were in an accident.”

Emma grabbed her tote and ran out with Riley. “I'll come. Lock the door, I'll be right behind you. You might need me.”

For just a moment Riley was thinking,
Why would I need you?
But she didn't say anything, she just locked the door without bothering to check the office, turn off the lights or anything. She bolted for her car and without looking back at Emma, she jumped in and flew out of the parking lot and down the road.

She still had Maddie on the line. “Okay, I'm driving. Tell me how you are,” she nearly shouted into the phone.

“We're here! I'm going in with Daddy! No more phones!”

Riley growled as they were disconnected.

It took thirty minutes to get to the hospital and Riley ran from the parking lot into the ER. She asked for Jock Curry or Maddie Kerrigan and was directed to the waiting area. “But are they all right?” she asked in a booming voice.

“Mom?” a voice called. “Mom?”

Ignoring all protocol, Riley pushed people aside to go into a treatment area where a series of beds were enclosed by curtains. “Maddie?” she called.

“Here!” Maddie said.

Riley found her sitting on a bed, holding an ice pack to her forehead, tears running down her cheeks. She embraced her and squeezed her too tight.

“Mom, Daddy is hurt. They took him upstairs to see if he needs surgery. I had to call Gramma and Grandpa because I'm not old enough to make decisions for him.”

“Maddie, is he conscious?”

“He was talking a little. He has pain in his shoulder and stomach and he got a cut on the head that bled everywhere and he said he was bruised all over. He says he's fine. But the doctor says he's not fine and needs X-rays and stuff and to be checked for internal injuries and a head injury, so he's gone upstairs.”

“Have you been checked over?”

She nodded. She took away the ice pack to reveal a contusion. “I might've hit his head. Someone just ran into us—
kabam
! She hit Daddy's side of the car and they could hardly get him out!” Then she burst into tears. “Mom, what if he isn't okay?”

“Shh, Maddie. He was talking and conscious—that's a good sign. They'll take good care of him.”

* * *

Adam jogged into the front entrance of the hospital and Emma was there, waiting for him. “How are they?” he asked.

“Maddie is fine and they've taken Jock to surgery, but they're not sure they're going to operate on him. He has some kind of spleen injury that they might be able to manage with medication, but they'll have to watch him, keep him. His parents came right away. Maddie and Riley won't leave until he's completely out of the woods. And I knew you'd want to see them.”

“Where are they?”

“They're all in the third floor waiting area outside of surgery. Quite the group.”

“Okay,” he said, grabbing her hand.

“Ah... I'm going to go. Will you call me if you need me? If there's any change?”

“You don't have to go, Emma.”

“I think I should. I'm not family and I'm not family of family. I just wanted to be here until everyone arrived, just in case...well, in case Riley needed me.”

“I'm going up there,” he said. He leaned toward her and kissed her on the forehead. “Thank you. I'll call you the second I know something.”

“I'll be around. Go take care of your girls.”

Emma was glad to be leaving, though she was worried about Jock. She had a soft spot in her heart for the guy after his amends. If they kept him in the hospital for the weekend, she'd swing by and pay him a visit.

Her phone chimed with a text and she saw it was from Lyle.

Can you call or come by the shop before we close?

She got in her car and turned it on for a little heat, but she sat in the parking lot while she called Lyle. “What's up?”

“You might want to hear this in person. Are you far away?”

“Half hour, I suppose. Just tell me. It's been a crazy day.”

“Well it's about to get crazier. Lauren Shay stopped by the shop today.”

“My sister?”

“She wanted me to get a message to you. Rosemary wants to see you.”

“Well, that's going to be pretty difficult as I can't go to Palm Springs,” Emma said.

“She's back. She's ill, Lauren says. She's back in the family home with Lauren and Anna and...” He took a breath. “She's in hospice care.”

“Wow. What about her husband?”

“I didn't ask. I have no idea what this is about, just that she's back and she's apparently dying and she wants to see you. I have Lauren's number if you need it.”

“I don't know,” she said. “You know I'm afraid of Rosemary. She's mean. Do you suppose she's thought of one last mean thing to do to me before she dies?”

“I'll go with you,” Lyle said. “You might want to call Lauren and get more information before you walk into the lion's den.”

“Are you almost ready to close the shop?” she asked. “Can we grab a glass of wine? I have a bottle in the refrigerator at home.”

“Won't you be with Adam?” he asked.

“Not for a while. See, Jock and Maddie were in a car accident and Adam's at the hospital. Maddie's all right but Jock isn't—they might have to remove his spleen. The call came while I was in Riley's office. We were having a little meeting because one of our clients murdered her husband and a cleaning crew found them.”

“And you want a glass of wine?” Lyle asked. “If I'd had that kind of day I'd just hook up a nipple to the bottle and go to town.”

“Want to come over and watch me unwind? I'd like to talk out this situation with Rosemary.”

“I'll be there in about thirty minutes. Don't start without me.”

* * *

Adam found Riley alone in the waiting room and she jumped up when he came in.

“How did you know to come?” she asked. “I was going to call you and Mom in a little while, but I didn't want to scare you. Maddie is okay.”

“Emma called me. Where's Maddie?”

“She's in Jock's room. She won't leave him. She's fine, but it really scared her to see her dad all banged up and medical people rushing around him.”

“What happened?”

“A young woman ran a light and T-boned him on the driver's side. Her airbag deployed so she escaped injury. But both cars are likely totaled.”

“Maddie wasn't driving?”

Riley shook her head. “Thank God.”

“Emma said his parents are here.”

“They went down to the cafeteria to get coffee. Mrs. Curry is a little shaken. I think they're going to call Jock's brother and sister. There could be a crowd soon and he's in a holding room being monitored so they can take him into surgery if they have to. Apparently he has some internal injuries. He said he feels like he's been thrown down a flight of stairs. He's in a lot of pain and they have him medicated. The bruises on his face are starting to show up.” She winced. “He looks awful.”

“Are you trying to get Maddie to leave? Go home?”

“No, we're going to stay. I might run home and get her a change of clothes—she has blood on her clothes from Jock's head. Not much of a cut but it sure bled a lot.”

“And Maddie? Anything at all?”

“Goose egg.” She touched her own forehead in the spot. Then her eyes filled with tears. “I had words with Jock Christmas night.”

Adam frowned. “I thought the two of you did fine,” he said.

“Not at Mom's. I drove to his house. I wanted to talk to him about... Oh shit, about nothing, really. Just that Maddie's growing up so fast and she'll go off to college and get married and have children and... How are we going to balance all that?”

“Divorced couples do it all the time,” Adam said with a shrug.

“I'd never been in his house,” she said quietly. “He has a nice house. He has a room for Maddie.”

“What's the matter, Riley?”

“I was mean to him. I kind of picked a fight with him. And he said he did his best but it was never good enough. You know I'd never even been in his house?”

“You said that already,” Adam pointed out. “It's okay. The only relationship you had with Jock was the parenting of Maddie and you both do that pretty well.”

“He implied I never gave him a chance,” she said.

“Riley, what the hell is this?”

“I don't know, I don't know,” she said. She went for the purse she'd left sitting on the chair and dug around for a tissue. She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. “I think I've made so many mistakes.”

Maddie came into the waiting room with a doctor; the doctor had a bolstering hand on Maddie's shoulder. “We're going to take Mr. Curry into surgery. I think he's going to have to part with that spleen, after all, and while I'm in there I can look around for any other problems.”

“Can I talk to him?” Riley said, looking suddenly panicked.

“He's being prepped,” the doctor said. “He'll be in surgery about an hour then in recovery.” He turned to look down at Maddie. “When he wakes up in recovery you can see him, but then you should go home for the night. He's going to be groggy and it would be best for him to sleep.”

“I'll be quiet,” Maddie said. “I'll sit with him and be quiet.”

“If I thought he needed someone to sit with him, believe me, I'd put an RN at his bedside. But he's going to be monitored, checked regularly and we're going to take good care of him. If there's any change in his condition, I'll call you personally.”

“But I'll see him after surgery?” she asked.

“Absolutely. I've got this.”

“Okay,” she said meekly.

Adam waited around for the two and a half hours it took for Jock to have surgery, regain consciousness in recovery and see Maddie. During that time more of Jock's family showed up, all wanting to see him. Adam had called June and she came. He stepped outside a couple of times to text Emma and was relieved to know she was home and having a glass of wine with Lyle. When the doctor was finally ready to kick the whole lot of them out, June left with Jock's parents, holding Jock's mother's hand and reassuring her.

Maddie seemed to be exhausted. Adam walked them out to Riley's car. “Would you like me to follow you home? Feel like talking about it?”

“What is there to say?”

“Well, I think maybe you have something heavy on your mind. Mistakes, Riley? I've always felt like you do everything right.”

She looked at him with a weak and rueful smile. “Shows what you know.”

“I'm coming over,” he said. “You can put Maddie to bed and we'll talk a little bit.”

“No offense, Adam, but I don't feel like talking right now.” She stopped walking and looked in her purse, patted her pockets and said, “Nuts. No cell phone. It must be in the waiting room. Adam, take Maddie home please? I'll be right behind you.”

“Sure. I'm parked right over here, Maddie. Let's get you home so you can get out of those bloody clothes and get a shower.”

“Yeah. I guess,” she said, leaning on Adam.

He put his arm around her and opened the passenger door for her, settled her into his car.

“Thanks, Uncle Adam, for coming to the hospital.”

“Everyone came. It was like a party.” He reached across the console and patted Maddie's knee. “You feeling a little better now that he's out of surgery?”

“I guess so. It's just that I know so many people who lost a father when they were still young, and just the thought... Two friends at school, and even you, Uncle Adam.” She sniffed back tears. “I want Daddy to have a chance to be happy, that's all.”

“Your dad seems pretty happy to me,” Adam said.

“He says he's fine, that he's happy, that he's proud of me. But one time when we were talking he said his one biggest regret was that he couldn't get Mom to marry him so we could be a real family. But he doesn't blame her. He said he made mistakes.”

“Mistakes,” Adam muttered. “Lots of talk about mistakes these days. You know what I think? I think I'm tired of hearing about mistakes. It would be a lot more productive to leave the mistakes behind and just think about the future.”

“Don't you have any regrets, Uncle Adam?”

“Everyone does, Maddie. But I think my life has turned out exactly the way I meant for it to. And it's a good life. Our family might be a little different, a little chopped up here and there, but last time I checked, we were all feeling pretty lucky with what we have.”