Bayview Heights Trilogy (71 page)

“That’s probably it.” Kurt circled around Zoe
and crossed to the door. “I can go over, if you like.”

“Let’s wait a bit. Philip insists I’m being
overprotective.” She leaned into Seth. “But Josh is so little.”

“He’s six, honey. We got three littler
ones.”

She shrugged.

“Let’s tackle hooking up the washer and
dryer, then,” Mitch suggested to Kurt. “Seth, you want to
help?”

“No. I’m not good with machines. I’ll set up
the crib in Camille’s room. I’m an expert at that!” He laughed.

Zoe headed back to the den, struggling to
stay cheerful. She was happy that the Lansings and Taylors had
settled into ordinary family life. Both couples had endured
hardships and deserved some joy in simple things like home and
kids.

So did she.

As she watched Kurt disappear through the
doorway, she wished…

But stopped herself. It was time to move
on.

o0o

AT ONE O’CLOCK the dryer was working. Kurt
dropped the wrench into a toolbox and stood. “I’m going next
door.”

“Why?” Mitch asked.

“Just a feeling. I want to check on
Josh.”

“You gonna tell Lacey?”

“No, let me see him first. No need to worry
her further.”

Forgoing a jacket, Kurt left by the side
entrance and jogged across the lawn from the Lansings’ new house to
the Taylors. The sun beat down on his head, refreshing him. He
knocked at the garage door and Celia opened it.

“Hi, Kurt. Lacey send you to check on
Josh?”

“No, I just had a minute and came over. Where
is he?”

“Upstairs with Philip. We’ve taken turns
sitting with him. He’s not sleeping well.”

Alarm tingled along Kurt’s spine. “I know the
way.” Hurrying down the hall to the stairs, he mounted the steps
two at a time and found Josh’s room. “Philip?”

Philip turned. A look of relief washed over
his weathered face. He shook his head. “I was just going to call
Mitch’s. Josh isn’t any better. Maybe worse. Celia said I should
have called sooner. I’m sorry.”

Kurt stared down at the bed. Josh was in a
fetal position, hugging his knees. “How long has he had his legs up
like that?”

“About fifteen minutes. And he’s hot
now.”

Quickly Kurt crossed to Josh. Felt his
forehead. It was sweaty. He soothed the boy’s blond hair. Though
not her natural child, Josh looked amazingly like Lacey. Sitting on
the edge of the mattress, Kurt gently turned Josh from his side. He
moaned and opened his eyes. When Kurt tried to pull down his legs,
he stiffened. “Got a tummyache, Josh?” Kurt asked.

Big blue eyes rounded on him. “I want my
daddy.”

“Call Seth and Lacey,” Kurt said to Philip.
“Tell them to come over.”

Philip swallowed hard and left the room.

Insinuating his hand between the boy’s torso
and knees, Kurt prodded his stomach. Josh cried out. Kurt checked
Josh’s pulse and examined his eyes.

When Philip came back, Kurt asked, “Has he
vomited?”

“No.” Philip looked worriedly at Josh.

“Get me a damp cloth, would you? Lukewarm
water.”

Philip returned with the wet washcloth just
as Lacey and Seth appeared at the doorway. The Lansings and Zoe
were lined up behind them. By this time, Josh was moaning
loudly.

“What is it?” Lacey asked, rushing into the
room, her face white.

Kurt mopped Josh’s brow and said calmly, “He
has symptoms of appendicitis, Lace.”

“
What?
”

“Just symptoms. I won’t know for sure until I
see blood tests, but his lower right quadrant is extremely tender.”
Kurt glanced up. “Mitch, go get the Bronco. You and Seth can ride
in front.” He began to wrap Josh in the light quilt. “Lacey, you
ride in back with me and Josh.”

“Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?” Seth
asked.

“This’ll be quicker.” He pulled his keys out
of his pocket. “Somebody get my bag out of my car.”

“I will,” Zoe said. “And I’ll drive Cassie
into town, too.”

“And me,” Philip said.

Kurt was all business now. “Philip, have
Celia call the hospital emergency room and alert them we’re
coming.” He bent to scoop the little boy into his arms and headed
downstairs.

Within minutes the caravan was on its way to
the Bayview Heights hospital. Josh lay curled up in the back seat
of the car with his head on his mother’s lap, in real pain now.
Kurt checked his blood pressure. It was low. And his fever was
104.

Lacey said, “I took his temperature at noon.
It was ninety-nine. And he wasn’t in this kind of pain.”

“It happens fast in cases like this,
Lace.”

Seth turned around. “Honey, it’s not your
fault.”

“Of course it’s not,” Kurt said, soothing
Josh’s forehead. “You can’t run to the hospital for every
tummyache.”

Lacey bit her lip and nodded.

In ten minutes—thanks to Mitch’s police
light—they reached the emergency room. Kurt carried Josh in; the
boy moaned pitifully at the jostling. As gently as he could, Kurt
laid Josh on the gurney and followed it down the hall.

The pediatric surgeon on duty introduced
himself as Tom Ryan. “What’s going on with the boy here?”

Kurt filled him in on the details as they
wheeled Josh to an examining room.

“You can come in with us if you like,” Dr.
Ryan said.

“Go, please, Kurt,” Lacey said.

He turned. “Of course.” Squeezing her arm, he
told her, “I’ll be back with news as soon as I can.”

o0o

FROM HER PLACE by the window, Zoe watched
Seth stroke Lacey’s hair as he kept her close to him on the orange
vinyl chairs.

“I’m so scared,” Lacey whispered.

Seth mumbled something Zoe couldn’t hear.

Zoe was scared, too. The only thing that kept
her together was Kurt’s calm demeanor and assurances. She prayed
he’d come out soon. It had been twenty-five minutes.

Cassie waited by the emergency-room door.
Mitch paced in front of her. Philip, looking a little gray, sat
stiffly in a straight chair at a small table. Zoe crossed to him.
“Can I get you something, Philip?”

“No. Sit with me, though.”

She sank into a chair next to him and took
his hand. “It wasn’t your fault, Grandpa.”

“My head knows that. I just wonder if I was
wrong to shoo Lacey out this morning. She might have realized Josh
was so sick.”

“Hindsight’s twenty-twenty.”

He smiled weakly. “Same thing Kurt said.”

“He’ll be—”

The door swung open and Kurt strode out. He
headed for the Taylors and knelt down in front of them. Tenderly he
took Lacey’s hands in his. “He has acute appendicitis, Lacey.
Fortunately the appendix hasn’t ruptured, but it’s inflamed. He’s
being prepped for surgery right now.”

Tears formed in Lacey’s eyes. “Surgery?”

“We have no choice, honey. It has to be done.
But the procedure’s relatively simple. He’ll be given a general
anesthetic, hydrated with intravenous fluids and dosed with
preoperative antibodies. We have to move quickly because we need to
get the appendix out right away. They’re coming out now with papers
to sign.”

“Oh, my God, if you hadn’t gone over...if we
hadn’t gotten him here, it might have ruptured.” Lacey’s tone was a
little wild.

“Well, it didn’t,” Kurt said, adopting his
calm doctor voice. “And it won’t. We’re on top of this.”

“Will you be in there with him?” she
asked.

“I’m going to scrub and watch, but I won’t
assist.”

Lacey gripped his arm. “But you’ll be
there.”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“What does the procedure entail?” Seth wanted
to know. He, too, had gone pale.

“There’ll be a small incision in his lower
belly, then they’ll tie the appendix off and cut it out. There
shouldn’t be any complications.”

“What about infection?”

“In any operation, infection can set in.”
Kurt stood. “But there’s no reason to expect anything to go wrong.
The surgery shouldn’t take more than a half hour.” He glanced over
his shoulder. “Here’s Dr. Ryan to talk to you about it.” Kurt
stepped back as the pediatric surgeon approached them. “Mr. and
Mrs. Taylor? I’m Tom Ryan…”

Zoe watched Kurt head to the doors of the
emergency room. Without thinking, she darted over before he
disappeared through them. “Kurt?”

He turned.

She squeezed his arm. “Thanks.”

Spontaneously he covered her hand with his.
“Stay close to them,” he said indicating the Taylors.

“Things
are
okay, aren’t they?”

“Of course, I’d never lie about something
like this. Even to the people I love.”

She understood his integrity, had always
admired it. Not until she sat down next to the Taylors did she
realize the irony of the thought. Men with integrity didn’t sleep
with their ex-wives.

When Kurt came back out thirty minutes later,
everybody stood. He pulled off the mask, which matched his green
scrubs. “Josh is fine. The surgery went without a hitch, and he’s
gonna have a scar to show to his brothers and the girls.” Kurt gave
them a few more details; his calm demeanor allowed everybody to
relax.

Lacey started to cry and buried her face in
Seth’s chest. Cassie’s eyes watered, too, and Mitch pulled her
close.

Zoe turned her back to them all and crossed
to the window, saying a silent prayer of thanks. Against her will,
tears of relief slipped from her eyes. She swiped at them
impatiently.

She felt Kurt come up behind her.

Trying to be strong, she didn’t face him.

His hands went to her shoulders and squeezed
gently.

She was assaulted by her senses—the feel of
his big frame behind her, his unique scent surrounding her. Against
her will, she leaned back into him. Just for a moment she let
herself revel in his touch, his smell, his
presence
.

Slowly he circled her around. Without looking
up, she let him pull her to him. His chin rested on her head, then
he kissed her hair. “It’s all right, sweetheart. He’s fine.”

“I know,” she mumbled against his chest. “I
was just so worried.”

“Me, too.”

“You were wonderful. They’ll never forget
it.”

“I’m just glad everything turned out all
right.” He hugged her closer.

And she didn’t have the strength to pull
away. For just a few minutes she let herself be held by the man
she’d never stopped loving.

o0o

ERICA STARED at the math test as if it was
written in an alien language. She’d never seen an eighty-anything
on one of her papers. AP calculus was hard, but that had never
mattered before. What could have happened? She held back the panic
rising in her.

“This must have been an unusually hard test,”
Mr. Hanson said. “The highest grade was eighty-nine.”

The kids called out, “Erica didn’t get a
hundred? Not even a ninety? We need a curve.”

She caught Shondra’s eye. Shondra shrugged
and showed her the eighty-eight marked in blood-red numerals on her
paper. “My mother will kill me,” she mouthed.

“I know,” Erica said back. Quickly she
computed her average. Even with this grade, it came to a
ninety-eight. That was only one point down from last time.

But her father would have a fit. She
remembered when Ms. Caufield spoke with her dad at Parents’ Night
about her grades…

Ms. C had pulled herself up straight but had
still only reached Jackson Case’s shoulder.
I think Erica’s
under a great deal of pressure, Mr. Case. Not all good
.

Her father’s tanned face had reddened. Though
only forty-five, he looked older, with lines around his mouth and
his hair graying.
I know my daughter, Ms. Caufield. She’s got
potential and she’s going to use it. Now, if you’ll excuse
us
…

Ms. C had called her father several times for
private appointments, but he’d refused to go. If he knew how much
time Erica spent with Ms. C he’d object. But he wasn’t home long
enough to know how Erica spent her days. He was only interested in
her marks.

As Mr. Hanson talked about the most-missed
questions, Erica realized her mind had wandered—and that was the
problem. Her focus was off. She’d been too caught up with other
people’s issues. Ashley’s. This thing with Ms. Caufield. Working at
the clinic. She needed to center herself.

And she needed to feel better.

Her gaze strayed to one of the boys two rows
away. Carl Pike. Big-time dealer. She knew Shondra had gotten some
uppers from him a while back when the pressure from her mother had
been too much. At the time Erica had warned her against dabbling in
drugs, and she was glad when Shondra stopped using altogether.

But the pills had worked. Shondra had been
like a different person, able to concentrate and focus for long
periods of time without sleep.

For a few weeks, how harmful could they
be?

Fishing in her purse, pretending to search
for a tissue, Erica checked her wallet. She found a fifty-dollar
bill stashed behind her license in case of emergency.

Hmm. She thought about it the rest of
class.

When the bell rang, she hurried out the
door.

Just behind Carl Pike.

When they were away from the others, she
tapped him on the shoulder.

o0o

“YOU CAN’T ATTEND Down to Earth. Ms. Caufield
will just have to excuse you.”

“What?” Shondra looked at her mother
incredulously.

“You received a low grade on this test. You
have to study. I’ll call Mr. Hanson to see if you can do extra
credit.” Joanna Jacobs wore her dark hair tightly cropped, and was
dressed, even late at night, in tailored pants and a blouse. She’d
come home from her law office and changed from her suit into the
outfit. Shondra knew from the past that she even left her panty
hose on.

“Ma, that’s ridiculous.”

“Do you have the highest average in the
class?”