At Bluebonnet Lake (Texas Crossroads Book #1): A Novel (32 page)

C
an’t you go any faster?”

When he’d seen the distress on her face and heard what had happened, Jake had assured Kate that he and Brad would get her to San Antonio as quickly as humanly possible. She knew that, and yet it seemed as if the plane was standing still.

“We’ve got some pretty strong headwinds,” Jake explained. Nodding at the plate of food she’d barely touched, he added, “Better eat some of that. From what I’ve heard, hospital food is nothing to write home about.”

Kate shuddered at the word
home
, hating to think of her grandmother in a hospital so far from home. She hated to think of Sally in a hospital anywhere, but somehow it seemed worse that she was in a place where she’d never been before. Alone. And that was Kate’s fault.

Waves of guilt washed over her as she remembered both Sally and Greg telling her she shouldn’t go to New York. They were right, and now Sally was paying the price. A very high price.

When she’d returned Greg’s call, Kate had learned that Sally had had severe indigestion right after breakfast but had blamed it on the extra piece of sausage she’d eaten. It was only when
she’d collapsed on the way back to the cabin that anyone had realized how serious her condition was. Fortunately, Greg had been headed to his own cabin and had seen her sprawled on the path.

He’d assured Kate that the Dupree paramedics had arrived in record time, but though they’d done their best, Sally remained unconscious. There’d been no time to call Kate to see what Sally would have wanted, so Greg had authorized further treatment. Afraid that the hour’s drive to the hospital was more than Sally’s heart and brain could survive, the paramedics had called for an airlift.

“We’re still waiting for her to come out of surgery,” Greg explained.

“We?” Kate’s brain whirled with images of Sally lying in an ER and now in surgery while Kate was surrounded by the luxury of the Prestons’ private jet.

“Roy and I. When I called him, the poor man was distraught. I couldn’t leave him in Dupree with nothing to do but worry, so I brought him with me.” Greg managed a short chuckle. “He’s trying to convince me to play chess with him. Says he needs to practice so he can beat Sally.”

At least one of them was remaining optimistic. As she picked at what appeared to be a perfectly prepared plate of eggplant parmesan and savory green beans, Kate could think of nothing but the fact that her grandmother might not be alive when she reached the hospital.

“I love you, Grammy,” Kate whispered, reverting to her childhood name for Sally. “Don’t leave me.”

At last the plane landed, and Kate sprinted toward her car. Grateful that she’d insisted on GPS for it, she followed the directions and found herself in the hospital parking lot less than half an hour after landing at the airport.
Please
be alive
, she prayed as she rushed through the doors and headed to the ICU waiting room. There she found Greg and Roy bent over a chessboard.

“How is she?” Kate asked as she approached the two men, her boot heels clicking on the linoleum floor. They both rose. Though she longed to throw herself into Greg’s arms and be comforted by him, something in his expression kept her at arm’s length. If he was blaming her for Sally’s condition, he wasn’t alone. Kate had spent most of the flight second-guessing the day. Would she have recognized the symptoms early enough to give Sally an aspirin and possibly avert the worst of the damage? She would never know.

Greg’s frown made Kate wonder if he’d read her thoughts. “She’s out of surgery, but her condition is critical. Her heart was in worse shape than they thought, and they had to do a triple bypass. Roy and I’ve tried to get in, but they won’t let us see her because we’re not family. They said until she’s more stabilized, only relatives are allowed.” Greg’s expression softened as he said, “You’ll be able to see her for five minutes each hour. You can probably go right now, if you’re ready.”

When the nurse ushered her into Sally’s room, Kate realized she wasn’t ready, that she might never be ready. It was as if she had entered a nightmare. The figure lying so still on the bed didn’t look like Sally. Surrounded by machines that beeped and whirred, with tubes snaking from her body, the tiny woman bore only the slightest resemblance to Kate’s grandmother. She looked pale and weak and oh so defenseless.

Kate pulled a chair close to the hospital bed and laid her hand on Sally’s. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Sally, but I’m here.” There was no answer, no sign that her grandmother was aware of her presence. Kate closed her eyes, willing the tears not to fall. She had read that even when patients were in a coma, they could hear what was happening around them and that they sensed visitors’ moods. Kate didn’t want Sally to know how worried she was and how desperately she wished she had stayed with her. Blinking rapidly, she opened her eyes and leaned over to press a kiss on Sally’s forehead. “I love you, Grammy.”

Before she knew it, the five minutes were over. When Kate returned to the waiting room, she found that, at Greg’s insistence, Roy had gone to the cafeteria. Though the story was plausible, Kate wondered if he’d wanted to spare Roy the sight of her after her visit. It was a good plan, for Kate was trying desperately to maintain her composure.

“How is Sally?” Greg asked, his voice low and filled with concern. Perhaps she had only imagined his coolness earlier. This sounded like the Greg she knew and loved.

“Oh, Greg, it’s awful! She doesn’t look like my grandmother.” Despite her resolve not to cry, tears began to flow. When Greg opened his arms, Kate ran into them, taking comfort from the way he enfolded her in his embrace. Greg was strong and warm and alive—all the things she feared Sally was not.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if she dies.” It was the first time she’d voiced her fears, and hearing the words echo in the room deepened Kate’s distress. She couldn’t bear the thought of a world without Sally.

Greg stroked Kate’s back, his motion rhythmic and somehow soothing. “You’re stronger than you realize, and I suspect your grandmother is too,” he said. “Whatever happens, you’ll get through it. I know you will.”

His words were like balm on an open wound, lessening the pain, making Kate believe that healing would come. She rested her head on his chest and let the tears flow. When at last they stopped, she murmured, “I should have been there.”

This time there was no response. Though Greg did not pull away, Kate felt him stiffen and knew that she’d touched a raw nerve. She should have listened to him, but she hadn’t.

As the elevator binged and Roy emerged, Greg let his arms drop. “I need to take Roy home, but I can come back if you want me to stay with you.”

Though that was exactly what Kate wanted, she couldn’t
ask Greg to drive an hour to Dupree and then turn around, not looking the way he did. “You must be exhausted.” And thanks to her, he had had a long, stress-filled day. If Kate had been here, Greg wouldn’t have had to spend the day at the hospital.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was working on the stuff I promised Drew.” Greg rubbed his forehead, trying to smooth the wrinkles, and as he did, he said, “I almost forgot to ask. How did your presentation go? Did the clients like it?”

Kate nodded. “They did, but that doesn’t matter now.” She gave Roy a brief smile before turning back to Greg. “You’d both better get some sleep. Why don’t you call me in the morning? I’ll be okay until then.”

They were brave words. Perhaps saying them would make them true. When the elevator door closed behind Greg and Roy, Kate glanced at the clock. It would be another forty-five minutes before she could see Sally again. Though the waiting room was surprisingly pleasant, the chairs more comfortable than she had expected, she knew she couldn’t remain here. If she did, she would simply replay the scene in the ICU, picturing Sally surrounded by tubes and machines.

Grabbing her purse, Kate wandered down the hall, her mind whirling in a dozen different directions. She saw herself reveling in the luxury of Aunt Ivy’s corporate jet while Sally was in a helicopter, fighting for her life on the way to the hospital. While Kate was sharing sandwiches and conversation with the Prestons, nurses were monitoring Sally’s vital signs as the surgeon tried to repair her heart. Even now, while Kate was debating which direction to turn, Sally was lying helplessly in the hospital bed.

If only Kate had been with Sally, but she hadn’t, and nothing would change that. There was nothing she could do except pray, but though she’d offered countless pleas to God, she had received no answer.

Her thoughts continued to roil, her heart to pound with an
guish. When she saw the sign for the chapel, Kate stopped. She knew that God would hear her wherever she was, but perhaps she could find the peace she sought within.

She entered the small room, dimly registering the stained glass window at the far end, and sank onto the last pew. As she closed her eyes, Kate waited for the comfort that she normally found in a church to settle over her. It did not. Instead, her thoughts grew more turbulent, pictures of Sally with those horrible tubes mingling with memories of the day they’d buried Grandpa Larry. As the images changed with the unpredictability of a kaleidoscope, Kate thought she heard an ominous cackling, like the sound of a Halloween witch but far more menacing.

Her eyes flew open, and she looked around. The chapel was empty. It was only her imagination, her guilty conscience conjuring both sights and sounds. Or perhaps it was Satan, preying on her vulnerability.

Kate pulled a Bible from the rack in front of her, and as she did, the evil cackling subsided and her pulse returned to normal. Drawing comfort from the familiar texture of leather and the simple gold lettering, Kate bowed her head and closed her eyes again.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, needing to say the words aloud. “I was so wrong. I should have listened to Sally and Greg. I shouldn’t have gone to New York.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she dashed them away. “I know I couldn’t have changed anything, but I should have been with Sally. I should have been by her side on the ride to the hospital. I should have walked next to her as they wheeled her into surgery. Please, God, don’t let her die.”

There was no answer. Though the terrifying images had faded, Kate was still filled with a sense of despair, as if she’d lost something infinitely precious and had no idea how to recapture it. Her fingers tightened their grip on the Bible. She needed to do more than hold it.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the book to Isaiah. When she’d been troubled as a child, Grandpa Larry had told her he found comfort in that book and had urged her to read it. Kate skimmed the pages, looking for a verse that would give her the comfort she sought. And as she did, her eyes lit on the sixteenth verse of Isaiah 42. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”

Kate stared at the words, committing them to memory. Grandpa was right. The answer was here. She had been blind—so blind. She had trusted in herself, not seeking God’s plan for her life. She’d been so proud, so certain that she knew what she should do, and she’d been wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. That was why she was now in the darkness, seeing only a crooked road that led to an unknown destination and feeling more alone than ever before.

“Please, God, don’t let it be too late,” she prayed, her index finger tracing the words that had embedded themselves in her heart. “Show me the path. Make my crooked ways straight, and if it is your will, heal my grandmother.” She closed her eyes for a second, knowing there was more to be said. “Your will, Lord, not mine.”

Kate wasn’t certain how long she sat there, her head bowed, the Bible clasped between her hands. All she knew was that she felt the weight lift from her shoulders, and her heart filled with hope. She did not know what the future would hold, but she did know what was important: the people she loved. Sally, Greg, and her new friends in Dupree would walk the path with her. That much was clear.