Page 45 of Forever Christmas
That’s about four hours away. “They let you stayhere all night?”
“Sure,” Mom says. “New people come in fairly regular. I think they bring them up here from the ER if they aren’t stable enough for a regular room.”
“Some sad cases in here,” Uncle Ben says. His eyes dart to the weeping women. “Car accident. Teen daughter killed. Husband here after emergency surgery.”
My gaze skitters over them again.
I wonder what we look like to the others.Indifferent son. Unaffected daughter.
It was different with baby Finn. We were in the NICU and everyone’s situations were obvious. Each row was a different level of care. Finn was in the most fragile row.
Many of the babies on his row didn’t go home.
Here, you don’t see the same people day in and day out. Everyone moves all over.
A nurse comes in, nondescript in blue scrubs and black hairtied up tight. The room looks up expectantly, wondering who is getting news.
She heads toward us. “You all are for Robert Mays, right?”
“We are,” Mom says.
“He’s awake. Only two can come back at a time, for five minutes only,” she says. She looks at June. “How old is she?”
“How old does she need to be?” Uncle Ben asks.
Mom elbows him. “She’s fourteen. His daughter.”
“That will be all right,”the nurse says. “Who is first?”
Mom stands. “June? Gavin?”
My sister and I look at each other. Neither of us makes a move.
“I’ll go,” June says with a sigh.
They follow the nurse out of the room.
Uncle Ben leans his head against the wall. “Been a long day in these chairs,” he says.
“I bet.”
“I heard you drove up last night.”
“Yeah. Corabelle made me come.” I lean over and brace my elbowson my knees. My boots are covered in dust from the hike.
“I didn’t figure you’d do it. You’ve been scarce a while.”
I shrug. “She’s got my number.”
This gets a laugh. “I hear ya on that. Not much Phoebe asks for that I don’t do.”
Aunt Phoebe. I hadn’t thought about her in a long time. She didn’t always come up with Uncle Ben. They have an autistic son and travel is difficult.
“How is she?And James?”
“Percolating along. James ages out of public school next year, so we’ll have to figure out what’s next.”
“Is he doing okay?”
