Plain Pursuit (28 page)

When Carley reached Noah’s room, Samuel had taken a seat across from Esther. While it was nice to see them coming around, she suddenly felt like an outsider. She had been the one with Noah when he went under the anesthesia. She had stayed by his side. And she wanted to be the one with him when he woke up.

She tried to clear the selfish thoughts from her mind. After all, she’d been the one pushing for compassion from Noah’s family, and Noah would certainly welcome them by his side.

“One of us will stay with Noah for now, Carley. You can go to the
haus
and bathe, or just take a break for a time,” Samuel offered. Esther nodded in agreement.

“But I . . .” She didn’t want to leave.

“We will call you on the portable phone,” Esther said in a tone that didn’t leave much room for discussion.

Noah’s family had been more than willing to let Carley care for Noah. But now she wasn’t needed anymore? Now they were going to do the right thing? She opened her mouth to argue, stopped short, and again realized this was what she had hoped for—understanding from Noah’s family.

“I’ve been keeping his lips moist with that wet cloth,” she instructed, pointing to the white hand towel on the bedside table.

Esther reached for the towel and began to gently pat Noah’s lips. “We will take care of him now.” She smiled at Carley. She might as well have added, “Now be on your way.”

“We will call you with any word,” Samuel added.

A knot grew in her throat as Carley backed out of the room. She was almost gone when Samuel called after her. “Carley . . .”

She waited.

“Danki,”
he said.

Her lips curled slightly, then she nodded and left the room. She wondered if he was thanking her for staying with Noah or for the look she had fired Samuel’s way, which coaxed him to stand up to Bishop Ebersol. Carley had heard enough about Samuel over the past year and a half from Lillian to know he was a good man—a conflicted man, now crippled with fear for his son, torn between his family, his love for his shunned brother, and his desire to do right in the eyes of God.

After a bath and a visit with Lillian, Carley headed back to the hospital. Lillian had expressed relief that Samuel and Esther had mellowed and were tending to Noah. Carley still had mixed feelings about it. But it shouldn’t matter who was there when Noah opened his eyes—as long as he opened them.

Carley decided to check on Dana at the clinic since Lillian opted to catch a ride with Barbie a bit later. It was right at ten o’clock. When she pulled in, the glass repair van was out front, along with a blue Mazda she assumed must be Dana’s. Maybe today she would talk to Dana about her little lie.

She walked through the door of the clinic, wrinkled her nose, and held her breath. What was that smell?

Dana came down the hallway pinching her nose. Jenna trailed behind in the same fashion. Carley could hear noises from the back of the building.

“What is that smell?” Carley asked Dana, still clenching her nostrils together. “And where is the glass man?”

“The glass repairman is trying to be a plumber in the back. Something died in the pipes—a mouse or snake or something. He couldn’t stand to work in here, and I don’t blame him. The smell is about to kill us. So he’s seeing if there’s anything he can do.”

No sooner had she finished explaining when the man emerged from behind Dana. He entered the room and shook his head. “You’re going to need a
real
plumber. I’d get someone out here pretty soon too.” The balding man in a blue uniform sighed. “Guess I’ll have to replace the glass while holding my breath.”

“Dana, when are we going home?” Jenna asked.

“In a little while. You can go play outside if you want to.”

When Jenna was outside and the repairman was busying himself, Dana asked, “Noah still hasn’t woken up?”

Carley shook her head. “But his mother and Samuel wanted to spend some time with him, so I left.”

Dana’s eyes widened. “Really? I’m surprised.”

“They seem to be slowly coming around.” Carley shrugged. “I didn’t want to leave, but they are his family.”

“They sure haven’t acted like it.” Dana wrinkled her nose. “What are we going to do about this smell?”

Carley turned toward the repairman, who was carefully prying broken pieces of glass out of the windowpane. “Sir?” she asked, waiting for him to place a piece of glass in a metal trash can near the wall. “Do you know a plumber I can call?”

“Benny Friedman.” The man carefully removed another section of glass and tossed it into the trash can. “His number is in the book.”

“How will we pay for it?” Dana whispered to Carley.

“I don’t know, but we have to do something. If it sits like this, Noah will never get the stench out of here.”

Carley and Dana locked eyes, both of them thinking the same thing—what if Noah didn’t wake up?

“I’m going to head to the hospital,” Carley said. “I’ll call information for the number and try to make arrangements for the plumber to come out here. Can you stay here until this man is done with the windows?”

“Sure. That was my plan. And if you need me to come back and meet the plumber, call me.”

Dana was being sweet, but the lie was hanging over them and bugging Carley in a big way.

“Tell Benny the situation,” the repairman offered as he continued to work. “He’ll bill you. This guy, Noah, is a doctor. He’s good for it. Or someone from his family will handle it if he doesn’t—”

He stopped midsentence, but the damage was done.

“Oh, he’ll make it!” Dana bellowed. Her comment reinforced Carley’s earlier thoughts about Dana’s feelings for Noah. She turned toward Carley. “Call me from the hospital and let me know how Noah is doing.”

Carley eased her way out the door and decided again that she would forgo an unpleasant conversation with Dana.

She pulled onto the highway and decided to call Matt before calling the plumber. It amazed her the way she had distanced herself from him, from her life in Houston, from all that had been familiar.

“Do you know how long you’ll be there?” Matt asked after Carley explained about Noah.

“I don’t know yet.” She had money saved, plus her inheritance from her mother, which would hold her over for a while if need be.

“You didn’t even want to go on this vacation. I’m surprised you aren’t hightailing it back to work, but I can understand you wanting to help your friends.”

For once, work wasn’t the only thing sustaining her. “You almost sound like you miss me.”

“Carley,” he said slowly, sighing. “You just needed some time to regroup and focus on you. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to roll. I’ve got two feature stories waiting in the wings for you. Speaking of which, how’s the Amish story coming? With all that’s going on, I bet you’ve got quite a piece going.”

“I haven’t exactly started it.” Writing was the last thing on her mind.

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be a great story.”

“I’ll get started on it when things settle down around here.”

“If this guy hasn’t woken up by now, how do the doctors know he will?”

“He will. I know it.”
He has to.
“I need to go, Matt. I promise I’ll call you about my plans soon.”

“Take care, Carley.”

It had taken longer than she expected to convey all the details of recent events to Matt. She was nearing the hospital when she finally called the plumber. She listened to the recorded greeting and then left a message. Hopefully Benny would call her back soon. The situation at the clinic needed some immediate attention before things got worse.

Noah—adrift in an altered state of consciousness—struggled to open his eyes or to move at all. Even the twitch of a finger was impossible. Darkness engulfed him from the backs of his eyelids to the depths of his soul. Sluggish thought patterns briefly formed then vanished with no recollection.

The noises around him were familiar. Hospital monitors. Faint voices from outside the door. Doctors being paged. Yes, he was in the hospital. Why wasn’t his body responding?

Is this a dream?

An uncomfortable feeling in his abdomen sent a rush of brain activity spiraling around in his head—aimless thoughts too groggy to formulate into any sense.

“Where is everyone?” he heard a woman say. “They said they’d stay until I got back.”

Lips brushed against his forehead.

“I’m sorry I left you. Your lips are dry.”

The gentle dabbing of moisture on his lips was comforting. The softness of a hand cradling his cheek was soothing.

“Please wake up, Noah. Please. I need you to wake up.”

Carley?

“Samuel and your mother sat with you earlier. Everyone is so worried about you. David’s kidney is functioning so well. You saved his life.” She was crying. “Please wake up.”

The kidney. Yes, his kidney, Noah recalled. He gave a kidney to David.

Samuel
and my mother were here? Why is Carley crying? Don’t cry, Carley.
I’m here.

Noah could feel her breath as she whispered, “Please wake up, Noah.”

I’m trying to wake up. Why can’t I?
His thoughts were starting to scramble. He drew a blank.

“It’s Carley, Noah.”

Yes. Carley. I’m glad you’re here.

He fought to keep his thoughts focused and wondered why he couldn’t open his mouth and tell her.

“Noah, you’re going to have to wake up so we can get your clinic up and running. There are a few problems, and I need you to tell me what to do.”

There was a sloshing in his head, like water lapping against the inner walls of his mind. It was growing louder.

God, what is happening to me? Am I dying? Where are You, then?

A new, deeper voice was in the room. “We left to eat some lunch.”

Samuel?

He heard another woman’s voice. “
Mei
boy still has not woken yet.”

Mamm, is that you?

Where was he? Things weren’t making sense. Desperate to see past the haze of confusion and quiet the swooshing rush in his head, he focused all that he could muster on opening his eyes. There was no light. Only darkness—darkness and . . .

Where am I going?

Any understanding drifted away. Nothingness returned.

Only a few days ago, Carley had dreaded her trips to the hospital. But now she could hardly stay away. Exhausted, busy, worried—she didn’t have time or tolerance for her past to rear up and drag her down. Even the hospital stench had grown more tolerable. Her flashbacks about the accident were less frequent.

“Is there a phone book in that drawer, Samuel?” Carley asked. She pointed to the bedside table close to where Samuel was standing.

He pulled the drawer open, then shook his head. “What do you need?”

“A plumber, I guess,” she answered, sighing. “There’s a terrible smell coming from the back of the building at Noah’s clinic. The glass repairman thinks there’s a dead mouse or snake that might have crawled into the pipes somehow. He gave me the name Benny Friedman, but I left a message and he hasn’t called me back. I was going to try someone else. Maybe there’s a phone book down the hall.” She turned to exit the room.