Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) (30 page)

BARRY
stole a glance at the watch he’d laid out on the table in front of him. Two minutes later than the last time he checked. Another hour and forty minutes until lunch. He didn’t have the focus he needed to be in here today. His mind was across town, lying in a hospital bed for the fifteenth day in a row. Maxine was out of ICU, which left Barry with little to no excuses to keep from showing up for work. The world didn’t stop just because his life had a massive and sudden trauma, followed by a spiritual awakening he could not even begin to explain.

One hour and thirty-eight minutes.

He wondered what the person on the witness stand was talking about. He looked down at his legal pad and realized that what was left of his rational brain was sending signals to the hand holding the pen and he was at least taking notes.

A prior downtown Boston restaurant manager threatened Mr. Tony Viscolli with a sexual harassment charge. Since the restaurant was owned and operated by Viscolli Enterprises, she thought she could extort the millionaire. Barry was still baffled as to how the case made it all the way to court. He wondered how opposing counsel, her attorney, could show such poor judgement.

He refocused on the witness, caught up with his notes, and took his turn questioning the human resources director of Viscolli Enterprises. When he finished he sat down and looked at his watch again. One hour, seven minutes.

AS
the judge dismissed the court for lunch, he called counsel into his chambers to review the plaintiff’s motion to suppress the video of the accuser in Tony’s office, threatening him with a lawsuit if he didn’t give her a raise. Barry pointed out the signs throughout the hotel where Tony had his corporate offices that clearly read security cameras were in use, and showed that such a sign hung in Tony’s office. “This is a professional building, judge. It’s ridiculous to suggest that there isn’t any security.”

The plaintiff’s attorney tried to turn his nose down on Barry, but Barry had a good seven inches on him. “Your Honor, there was no reason for her to think that the office would be monitored during business hours. She had a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

“There wasn’t any sign that said that the monitoring only takes place during specific hours. No indication was given anywhere for that to be the case. Her assumption, in addition to being logically baseless, has no legal standing. Employees should have no reasonable expectation of privacy when standing in their employer’s office.”

The judge shifted some papers on his desk out of his way as his clerk brought him a sandwich. “He’s right. Motion to suppress denied. Go eat lunch. I’ll see you back in the court room in,” he looked at his watch, “forty-seven minutes.”

Barry went through the maze of courtroom hallways and went out a back door that he knew sidled next door to a deli. He ordered a roast beef on whole wheat to go, then reached into his pocket for his phone to check messages.

It wasn’t there.

He patted his jacket pockets, his briefcase, re-checked his pants pockets … nothing.

He must have left it sitting on the table in the courtroom. Mentally rushing the deli clerk, he had a $10 bill sitting on the counter before she even finished wrapping his lunch in the white paper. As soon as the sack was out of her hands, Barry grabbed it. “Keep the change,” he said, rushing out of the deli.

He had to go back through the front doors of the courthouse to clear security. Thankfully, the abnormally short line moved rather quickly and in no time he found himself in the inner sanctum of the courthouse. He took stairs instead of elevators and shimmied past groups of colleagues lining the halls until he made it back to his courtroom. As he walked to the front of the room, he recognized the back of his secretary’s head. Elizabeth turned as soon as she heard the sound of the double doors swishing shut behind him.

“There you are,” she said, holding up his phone. “I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour.”

“What happened? Is everything okay?” Barry rushed forward.

“Robin called.” Barry’s heart nearly stopped as fear gripped it. “Your wife is awake, cognizant, and asking for you.”

The air escaped his lungs in a rush. For a moment he just looked at her, then he gathered her into his arms and gave her a quick hug. “Thank God,” he said, setting Elizabeth down gently.

“Ann Morganson is coming to take over for you.”

Barry grabbed his phone and started scrolling through texts. “Good. We resume in twenty-two minutes. She needs to be here by then.”

“She’s in the building, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve talked to her myself.”

He saw the text from Robin, and another one from Sarah. “Good. Good. I’ll just go then.” Distracted, he left Elizabeth at the table, walking slowly while he scrolled through a text. “Tell her the motion to suppress the video was denied, and that it’s a cakewalk from here. She can read my notes.” He paused and turned back, holding out his briefcase. “They’re in here.”

Elizabeth took the briefcase from him and shooed him with her hand. “Go. We got it. See you whenever I see you next.”

Phone in pocket, keys in hand, he rushed out of the room. Elation, relief, joy … intense emotions battled for priority in his heart as uncharacteristic tears threatened. Awake. Cognizant. Two weeks ago, there was some doubt either one would ever happen again. A week ago, there was hope that she would wake, but uncertainty as to what her mental status would be. Cognizant was good. Asking for him was far better.

He drove her little green sports car through the lunch traffic, trying not to break any traffic laws, trying not to endanger himself in the process. While he drove, he prayed. He prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, hope, thanksgiving, joy … not even making a lot of sense to himself, but he knew God understood what he was saying.

As he entered the hospital, he nodded a hello to the volunteer behind the big circular desk. He wondered what they thought of the family members that they saw every day, week after week. Did they wonder? Did they know? Did they figure out who was visiting whom?

In the elevator, he happily bypassed the intensive care unit and made his way up to her floor. Nervous little jolts started zipping through his system. Excitement urged his feet to move faster down the hall. The wave of relief rushing through his system left his knees feeling shaky.

“MAXINE
, you need the medicine.” Sarah stood next to the bed with her hands on her hips, still wearing her nursing uniform, and staring down at her sister like a mother reprimanding a child. Meanwhile, Maxine couldn’t help feeling like one. A nurse standing next to her held the syringe and an alcohol pad.

“I don’t want it. I’d rather have some aspirin or something.”

“You’re only saying that because the last shot hasn’t completely worn off yet.”

Her voice was no longer a weak whisper, but it was still very scratchy. “I don’t care, Sarah. The stupid shot hurts worse than anything on my body right now. At least let me see if I can manage the pain without it.”

Sarah glared at her until a look of understanding popped into her eyes. Then she stepped closer to the bed and leaned down. “Maxine, please don’t be stupid. You aren’t going to become a drug addict because you received managed pain medication in the hospital after being in a car accident that nearly ripped you in half.”

The only thing that kept her from rolling her eyes was the fact that they ached. She had honestly not thought about the fact that their mother had been a habitual IV drug user in years. “I’m not worried about becoming a drug addict. The shot hurts. Instead of my IV, they put it in my hip and it burned and ached forever after. I’d rather just try this without it.”

“In about forty-five minutes, I promise you will regret this.”

“I’ll decide then, in that case.”

Sarah sighed. “Listen, Maxi. I know you. You can’t handle a nick on your finger when you’re peeling potatoes. There’s a lot of pain being shielded from your senses right now. Why suffer when you don’t have to?”

“Because I don’t like pain. Right now, my hip hurts worse than my arm, chest, or leg.”

Sarah sneered. “You’re not making any sense at all.”

Barry stood in the doorway, so shocked he couldn’t move. Twenty-four hours ago, Maxine had either been incoherent and delirious or completely still and asleep. Now she was arguing with her sister as if the last two weeks hadn’t happened. He’d known that Doctor Roxanne had intentionally kept her heavily medicated to keep her movements to a minimum as well as combat the pain and shock of the trauma, and he’d known that they intended to change the dosage today, but he’d had no idea of the result.

Guilt immediately flooded his system, pushing away the elation and the joy. The first day he didn’t keep a diligent post by her bedside and she was cognizant enough to win an argument with Sarah. Even the preparations for the court hearing today had been done in the chair next to her bed.

He suddenly realized how selfish he was being. Instead of feeling angry that he hadn’t been present when she woke up, he should feel overjoyed. So he grinned and stepped all the way into the room.

“Welcome back,” he said, moving around Sarah and the nurse to the other side of her bed.

Maxine rolled her head on the pillow. “Barry. Thank God. Will you please tell Sarah to leave me alone?”

When she spotted him at the door, his eyes had been swirling with emotion; relief, joy, anger, too many to count, really. By the time he’d made it to her side, his expression looked pleasant, his eyes nearly blank. He lowered his head and gave her the gentlest of kisses, barely touching her lips. She wanted to ask him about it, but she still had the syringe to contend with.

“Why would I want Sarah to leave you alone?” he asked, lowering his bulk into a chair.

“Because she wants her friend to stick a needle into my rear end.”

Sarah sighed dramatically. “Barry, she’s never going to be able to handle it when the pain medication wears off entirely.”

He shrugged. “Then wait it out. Tell her you told her so when she admits she was wrong. I don’t see the point in getting her riled up now.” He shifted his eyes to Maxine. “Why don’t you want it?”

“Because it hurts.”

He stared at her blankly then blinked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to me.”

“That’s because you’ve had a rather serious head injury. You’re confused,” Sarah said with her hands on her hips.

Maxine sneered. “This from the woman who denies herself the basic pleasure of ice cream because it has mammal’s milk and bird eggs in it. Don’t talk to me about confusion.”

Sarah turned to the other nurse. “Forget it. If she asks for this in an hour, I’d find ten other patients to see to first if I were you.”

The nurse chuckled and recapped the syringe. “Just buzz me if you need to, Mrs. Anderson.”

“Thank you.”

Sarah leaned over and kissed Maxine’s cheek. “I’m glad you’re alive. I’m glad you’re back to being my annoying big sister. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay.” She let out a breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Arguing with Sarah was easy, but this time it took a lot out of her. Feeling like she’d recouped some of her strength, she turned her head toward Barry again. “Did you win today?”