Six Miles From Nashville (15 page)

“I do...but...”

“But, there is Gage. Is that what you are saying to me?”

“No. There is so much more. Many things happened to me.
I will tell you soon.”

“Rest, sweetheart.”

Mr. Barnes came into the room and held her close to his heart. “Mama is in town, but she acted up and got tossed out and told to stay away. I think I will go talk to her and tell her you are back in the land of the living. She isn’t allowed to see you until the doctor says it’s okay.”

“Kiss her for me. Tell her I am sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Betty,” he said.

Johnny sat on a chair beside the bed and watched the father and daughter as they talked. The man obviously adored her.

A nurse brought in a tray of food for Betty’s breakfast. It looked to be a liquid diet. Betty made a face and her dad laughed at her. Johnny said, “Yum.”

“It’s all I really want to have.”

Johnny lifted the lid of a hot steaming cream pitcher. “Smells like chicken broth...and there is your juice.”

The nurse replied, “Miss, you best eat all of this to get your strength back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good girl,” she said.

Johnny helped her arrange her napkin and put just the right amount of creamer and sugar in her coffee.

“You remembered!” she said.

“Of course.”

She sipped the broth down and rinsed it down with gulps of coffee. “Johnny, it has been over a year since you left school.”

“I know. Looking back, there really wasn’t a good reason that I didn’t call you. I guess I was afraid.”

“I was afraid
, too. If you had called the school, you might not have reached me.”

“Why? Did you leave the school?”

“Not on purpose.”

He studied her face. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “Can you tell me what you mean?”

“I was very depressed when you and Trudy left. Some of the other students treated me...well that isn’t important. One day, I began crying really loud. The women’s advisor didn’t know what to do with me so they called an ambulance. Honestly, I couldn’t stop.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said
, stroking her hair.

“They put me in a state mental facility.”

“What? Did your parents know?”

“Not at first.
”

“How long did you have to stay?”

She trembled uncontrollably.

He said, “You don’t have to say any more.”

“Yes, I do. They put me out at the end of the month. Probably because I didn’t have insurance. Mama and Daddy found out later.”

“Did the hospital help you
?”

She wrung her hands. “In no way did that place help me.”

“Betty, that is awful.”

“No the awful part is...” her voice became a whisper, “One of the patients...raped me.”

“What!”

“I wasn’t thinking. He was a younger guy that seemed to have the world against him. He tricked me. I told him ‘no’, but he took me anyway.”

“What happened when you told the people in charge?”

“I was afraid!” She croaked as she covered her face with her hands. “He w
as a very violent boy. He threatened me. I just tried to forget it.”

“After they released you from the facility, what did you do?”

“I didn’t want to go home, so I went back to Bible College. I got a scholarship to go with the choir on their world tour.”

He watched the emotions play on her face. “You don’t look like you enjoyed the tour.”

“I didn’t go.”

“Why not?”

“I found that...I found that there was a baby on the way.”

“A baby? You were expecting a baby?”

“Yes.”

“Did you go home?”

“Goodness, no! I just started walking down interstate forty. I went as far as I could and found a motel where I could clean rooms in exchange for a roof over my head. I had the baby boy there.”

“You had a boy...Is he okay?”

“I gave him away to be adopted out. I am sure he is fine.”

“Okay.”

“I found the cafe and Miss Sweetie and Bill put me to work. They took me in and nursed me to health. They loved me.”

“Of course they did.”

“Bill and I started writing songs together.”

“I heard the one about Christmas.”

“You did?”

Johnny felt nervous. “Babe, you need to rest. You told me all of this and are already
worn out. How much of this do your mama and daddy know?”

“Mama
knows everything except for the baby...and the attack. Daddy knows the whole story.”

“
I don’t think you are strong enough to tell her all of that right now.”

She moaned as tears fell across her face. “Do you feel bad about
me? Are you mad at me?”

He placed his palms on each side of her face. “I am mad at the creep that hurt you. I am mad that you didn’t feel that you coul
d go home. I wish you had told me so I could have helped you. I hate that you went though all of this alone.”

“I know
.”

“
Let me pray for you.”

He bowed his head and prayed silently for his beloved Betty and the little baby boy. He prayed for Bill and the loss he suffered. He prayed that Betty could stand the pain of losing Miss Sweetie.

Chapter 18

Bill returned to Betty’s room just before noon. She noticed the drawn look on his face. He pulled up a chair and asked, “Where’s Johnny?”

“I told him to go eat something.”

He shifted uneasily in the chair. “I have some hard news. Sweetie died in the crash. They said she didn’t feel a thing.”

Betty covered her face with her hands. “I think I knew it, else she would have been here with you. I didn’t want to believe it.”

“I still can’t believe it,” he said.

“I am so sorry for you.”

“Thanks. Are you feeling a little better today?”

She nodded.

Johnny came through the door with a plate of donuts. “I figured there would be visitors this morning. How are you, Bill?”

“Fair ‘nuff.”

“My grandpa used to say that. It says a lot
, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose I best get back to the cafe.”

Betty squeezed his hand. “I’m glad I had the chance to know her.”

“Me
, too.” Bill placed his large cowboy hat on his head and left for the cafe.

Johnny poured her a fresh glass of water and wrapped a donut with a napkin before giving it to her. “Are you okay? I know she meant a lot to you.”

“Sometimes you just go through so much sadness, nothing seems real anymore.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He was afraid she was slipping away from him. He released her and asked, “How important is
Gage to you?”

“Important? I don’t know.” Her lips lost all color and she leaned back on her pillows.

A nurse came to the room with a tray of food for her. She rushed to Betty and took her pulse. “You need to let her rest. Go on, now. She is regressing.”

He stepped out of the room and walked to a window at the end of the hall. He felt his prayers were getting no good results for Betty. He had begged God to let them be together again. She seemed to be slipping out of his grasp. “God, if I can’t have her,
let her be loved by someone You want her to have. Please let her live...,” The prayer went in spurts of desperation throughout the morning.

He was exhausted. Sleeping on the cot was no better than trying to sleep on a busy street. Nurses were in and out all night long. It was no wonder Betty was worn out. He found a quiet family waiting room that was unoccupied. The room had a television, phone, recliner, and couch. He opted to leave the television off and lay down on the couch. Soon he was asleep.

While he slept, Phyllis and Tom Barnes came into Betty’s room to visit. Betty had been given a shot to make her relax. Her eyes were half-closed.

Phyllis put her hand on her daughter’s forehead and pushed stray hair away from her face. “You know, you are still my baby.”

Betty nodded and softly answered, “Hum.”

Phyllis turned to her husband. “I thought you said she was awake now.”

“She is, it’s just that she gets really tired.”

“I don’t know how that could be. She has lazed around in bed for days.”

“Phyllis, don’t talk so loud. Dr. Marsh finally allowed you to see her. You don’t want to be kicked out again.”

Phyllis gave him a withering look.
“No help on your part.”

“Don’t start with me,” he growled.

“My, haven’t you discovered a backbone after all these years!”

He put his hand in the middle of her back and guided her away from the bed and out of the room. “You wouldn’t want me to do what I want to do. You are a spoiled little woman with not
a thought about anyone else but yourself. This accident didn’t happen to you. It happened to our little girl. For once in your life, I would like to see you care about someone besides yourself.”

She sobbed. Her pitiful voice echoed through the hallway, “You are always so mean to me. My baby girl is in there and you won’t let me see her.”

Nurses at the desk near the room looked up from their work and listened.

He took her by the elbow and led her to the elevator. Once inside, he snapped. Something came loose in him that he had been holding every since he had met Phyllis. He was raging on the inside, but he spoke in an eerily calm voice, “Woman, you are treading on dangerous territory here. I would watch it if I were you.”

She squealed in a high pitched voice, “Are you gonna beat me to death like your pa did your ma?”

Her insensitivity was like cold steel puncturing his heart. He looked at her and saw her for who she was and not what he wished for her to be. The anger turned into
calm revelation. He spoke softly, “I have never hated you more than I do at this moment.”

“Did I
strike a nerve?” she said in a mocking voice.

The elevator door opened and they walked down the hall to the main entrance. Instead of going outside, he sat on a large chair in the main reception area.

“What are you doing?”

“I am not engaging you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You aren’t worth my time or the breath it takes to argue.”

She scowled at him and kicked his large foot. “You better come with me right now!”

“I have business to do here,” he said calmly.

His demeanor infuriated her. “You can’t do business. I hold the purse strings.”

“You only hold the purse strings that you know about.”

“What are you talking about?”

“None of your business.”

“I’m your wife. It is my business.” She stomped and fluttered around him like an annoying fly.

“My dear, the money you have been taking over during our marriage is a mere allowance. My mother left me a fortune. The stipulation was that your hands were never to soil one crisp dollar of it.”

“Your meek, stupid, beaten to death mother left you a fortune? Likely story!”

He stood and put his nose against hers. The words he spoke were clipped and effective, “You are never to speak of my mother again. I can see that I am exactly like her, only I have been
beaten by a horrible woman and her conniving selfishness instead of fists. At least with fists, the pain ends quicker. As of this moment, I am taking a stand against you and your devilish ways. If you continue with your tirades, you will be banished from my life and Betty’s. Have I made myself clear?”

“You can’t do that!”

“I can and I will. You have stepped over the line. One more word and I will divorce you. I will get a settlement to strip you of all your precious possessions. You will be penniless. I will expose you for the rat that you are.”

She retreated from him. “Why do you got to be so mean?”

“I learned from the meanest woman in the world.”  He approached the billing desk and took a check blank from his wallet. “Miss, I understand that my daughter owes a deposit for her stay.”

“What is her name?”

“Betty Barnes. She has been on the critical list. I believe they upgraded her to serious or something of that order.”

The woman found the file in a tall stack on her desk. “Yes, we do need at least a deposit. Her bill is growing by the hour.”

“Let me fill out the papers. I am going to pay her bill. I see that it is already at the ten thousand dollar amount.”

He filled in the check except for the amount. “How much is required until the charges are assessed?”