Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (36 page)

I
tugged on my seatbelt as s
he pulled away from the curb. “What’s go
ing on?”

“
Logan
’s been shot.
”
Unspoken fear filled her expre
ssion and sent chills skittering through my body
.
She took the next corner
,
barely keeping four tires on the ground.

My entire
bod
y had
begun to shudder and shake, and
my stomach was about to empty itself
.
Maggie
made an abrupt stop
at the hospital entrance
and we darted inside
.

T
helma
halted her pacing
as we entered the double glass doors
and
rushed toward
us
.
“He’s in surgery. Evelyn and Doc are in w
ith him.”

Maggie grabbed
Thelma’s arm. “Where was he hit?”

“His leg and chest. They’re trying to st
op the bleeding in the chest cavity
.”

Maggie took over the pacing and Thelma sat on a cush
ioned chair. She mo
tioned for Maggie to join us
, and
we all locked hands
.

“Father, our brother needs you. He
’s been wounded while
protect
ing
others. Guide the hands of Doc
and Evelyn. Send your angels into the OR. In Jesus
’
n
ame
,
we pray.”
Thelma fi
ni
shed praying. I
n unison
,
we whispered
amen
.
Maggie paced the length of the room and back again, over and over.

A short while later
,
Alec
came jogging
in.
“Any news?
”
he
called from the doorway.
Thelma brought him up to date as she had with us.

I patted
the c
hair next to me, and
Alec
plopped into it
. Weariness
clouded his features like a
veil
.
“We
re you there when it happened?”

He nodded.
“
Logan was shot
in an exchange of gunfire.
After the medic
s arrived on the scene
,
he passed out
. H
e
lost
a lot
of blood.”

Thelma tugged
her sweater around h
er shoulders. “How could this ha
ve happened in
Serenity
Cove?”

Alec
shook his head.
“Crime follows growth.”

Maggie
sat on the other
side of
Alec
and
cle
nched her hands
in her lap
. “We’re getting one
of
those huge marts by the middle of this coming year. Some of the shop
owners are worried they won’t be able to stay in business.”

“The summer visitors will
still
prefer the unique
ness of the
shops
on Main Street
, won’t they?”
I
wanted
Serenity
Cove to remain unchanged.
I
made the mistake of
put
ting
the adoption, my grandparents
,
and
Anne
all ahead of Logan
. Each time my
heart
reached
out to him
,
I jerked
away.
P
lease
, Father,
give me another chance to get it right.

Doc
stepped into the waiting area
, and
slumped into a seat.
“The good ne
ws
is that h
e’s stable.
” Doc ran his hand across his face.
“
Evelyn and I will take turns being here round the clock. We found a bullet
in his chest,
within the lumen of the right lobe bronchus. We successfully removed it
without complications. If it’
d been lodg
ed
this much closer—
” Doc
spread his thumb and index finger
,
leaving
only a
minuscule
gap
. “W
e would’ve needed to airlift him to a larger
facility. His leg will heal
fin
e—m
ight
limp for a few weeks.”

Maggie visibly took a deep breath. “Can we see him?”

“It’s best if you go home
. G
et some
rest and come back in a few hours.
I’ll
be here for the next four
.
Then E
velyn will take
over
.
” He
turned to
Alec
.
“
How are the others?”

“One DOA, the second airlifted to
Mariner Bay
. Multiple head and chest wounds
.
”

Doc ran his fingers through his scruffy be
ard and shook his head. “What’s happened to our town?
”
His question hung in the air as he left the waiting area.

Logan would want me to take care of Maggie. “Let’s go
,
Maggie.” I handed her a fresh tissue from my bag. The sun
had come up—everything was always
better in
the light of day—or was that merely an illusion?
I prayed for God to
make it so.

At the apartment,
Maggie stretched out
on
the sofa
. “
We
have
some
crime in
Serenity
Cove, although
more often when the summer residents and visitors are here.
But p
eople are
n’t usually
killed.
”
She r
epos
itioned the pillow under her head
.

I cuddled with Goldie on the floor
. “I
wish Doc had let us
see him.”
The minutes
had
slowed to a crawl. I needed to see him. To touch
him. To talk to him.

“That makes two of us. Can’t argue with Do
c—I’ve tried.” She suddenly bounced back up
. “I’ll make
tea
.
”

I
sat at the
kitchen
table
. She
put the kettle on
and
joined me while we
waited
for the steam to set off the whistle
. “I ran into Roger on the
shore.
You should’ve heard the way
he
talked about
Anne
,
his first and only real love
.”

Maggie went to the sto
ve
and
finished making
tea
.
“Too bad she didn’t end up with him. Whoever this other person was,
Anne was left to deal with the consequences.”

We sett
led
on each
end of the sofa
.
“
I wanted to know my birth
father’s name, and maybe even meet him. But now I don’t want anything to do with him. His irresponsibility impacted many lives—the aftershocks are still being felt.
”
I removed the three letters, the ones I had read,
from the basket and handed them to Maggie
.
I also gave her the
card Anne
had
never sent for my sixteenth birthday
. “These are lett
er
s my
mother
wrote
to Anne
.
”

Maggie
read
the card first
.
“Anne
loved you
so much
.”

“I can’t help but grieve over the fact I ne
ver got to know her before she—
”

“
You would’ve adored her
.”
She read each of the letters
.
Creases formed on
her forehead
as
though trying
to
comprehend an underlying meaning
.
“
The way they’re worded
soun
d
s
imperson
al.
But
it
seems
like
she wanted Anne to have a better life.
”

“
The money
fit my mother’s character
.
I
t’s
doubt
ful
she told my father
.
He would’ve never agreed
.
” I caught myself chewing on my bottom lip, again.
“
This seems
trivial
with
Logan
in the hospital. When I think of what
could’ve happened
.”

Maggie closed her eyes.
“When I heard
Logan
had been shot
,
it brought
a fear
out
in me so strong I
…
I
wasn’t sure I could go to the h
ospital
. Pain gripped my insides and time reversed to the most
horrific night of my life—the night my mom died.
He’s my only family. W
hat would I do if
anything happened to my brother?
” She let the words hang in the air for a moment.
“It doesn’t change the struggles you’re working through.”
Maggie, ever supporting the emotional needs of those around her, had thrown the light back on me.

With a tilt of my head
,
I
shrugged.
“K
nowledge of the past is only important i
f
it prop
els life forward. I don’t want
t
o become
so
mired in the past
the future dims in comparison
.
”

She
loo
ked at me,
as though
she
had
understood better than she wanted to.
“I keep dragging the past into the present—not in a pos
itive way.
” She suddenly stood and pulled
her phone from her pocket
.
“
I’m going to
check on
Logan
.”

I took our cups t
o the kitchen for a refill. B
efore
I returned
,
she’d already ended the call
.

“Any changes?”

“Thelma’s on duty
. She
says he’s resting and comfortable. We can see him in anoth
er two or three hours. I
want
to go now.”

“L
et’s go. We can
pee
k in for a moment
.” I need
ed to see him
. P
lease
let him be al
l
right
.
Remembering Roger’s parting words
,
m
y feeling
s
for Logan flashed in
my
mind
.
Father, please give me the chance to hold on.

             
Chapter
Thirty

I tried
t
o
see throu
gh t
he back of my eyelids
.
The pressure
in my chest
felt
like
a M
ac
k
truck had parked
on it
.
I heard a
beep
ing
and footsteps rushed
into
the room.
Man
,
what a
vivid
nightmare
.