Look to the Rainbow (15 page)

    “Makes my head…spin to sit up.”

     “I know, but I’ve got you.” Ross was talking to the paramedics and John breathed a sigh of relief. “Hang on just a little longer and then you can sleep.” He was already praying.

    Evan’s cell phone rang but he didn’t answer it. He was holding Mary Katherine after another round of throwing up.  It was getting harder to put on a brave front as she suffered but he willed himself to do it and not break down.

     Mary Katherine had never been able to not answer a phone. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”

    “If it’s important they can leave a message.”

     “It’s two in the morning. It’s an emergency.” She picked it up. “It’s Ross.”

      She could see he was torn. “Take it. I’m okay right now.” She moved to let him get up as he answered the call and lay down on the cool tiles.

     “Ross?”

     “I’m trying to fight off a coma.”

     
How can I handle this too, God?
Evan asked silently. “Give me some numbers.”

     Ross gave him the sugar levels and doses Kel had been given. “ I think we’re looking at severe bacterial pneumonia.”   

     Evan asked about antibiotics and changed the medication for the pneumonia. Ross concurred that it was a better choice, one he had considered but wanted Evan to confirm.

     “I’d feel better about this if you were here,” Ross said.

      Evan drew a really deep breath and didn’t answer.

     “Evan?”

     “Mary Katherine started chemo today and she’s really having a rough time. I know I promised you I’d always be there when Kel needed me, but I can’t leave her.”

     “Of course you can’t leave her, it’s out of the question.”

     Evan sounded tired. “I’ll call and check on you every hour or so. I’ll be up.”

      “George is gathering the troops for family prayers. We’ll pray for you and Mary Katherine too.”

      “Thanks. She might even appreciate them this time.”

      “Are you okay?”

      “This is harder than I thought it would be. I keep asking myself if it was necessary.  The biopsy didn’t show any concrete reason to do it. She agreed because I pushed for it.”

       “With good reason. In your situation I would have done the exact same thing. There’s always a chance it’s somewhere else with aggressive cancers.”

      “Being right doesn’t help right now, Ross.”

       “I’m sure it doesn’t.”

      “I’ll call you in a little while. If you need me before I do, it’s okay.”

      He ended the call and went back to Mary Katherine. “Ready to go back to bed?”

     “ I think so.” He lifted her up as though she weighed nothing. She was too tired to protest. “What did Ross want?”

     “Kel’s got pneumonia. They’re trying to keep him from going into a coma.”

     He pulled back the covers and eased her under them. “Do you need to go?”

     “Yes, but I’m not leaving you.”

     “But Kel needs you.”

      “So do you. Get some sleep if you can. I’ll be pulling an all- nighter. I told Ross I’d call him every hour or so.”

      She turned on her side and drifted off to sleep. She woke a couple of hours later and when she rolled over, Evan was on his knees beside the bed, praying, his Bible cast aside on the bedside table. She had never shared his faith, but neither had she discouraged it. She reached across the bed and slipped her hand in his. He kept praying, but clasped her hand tightly. It was the closest they had ever come to praying together.

      He checked in with Ross around six am. “How is he?”

     “About the same. Not any better, but not any worse.”

      He asked for vitals, adjusted the meds again. “It’s a guessing game Ross and I’m not sure I can get it right from here.” His voice broke. “I’m not even sure you should trust my medical judgment right now.”

     On his end, Ross was fighting to remain composed as well. “I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet, but try and get some sleep, okay?”

     “I’ll try, but no promises. Call me in an hour, before if you need to.”

      Evan’s phone rang again just after seven. He picked it up and saw Casey’s number. Mary Katherine had been back asleep for less than an hour. He answered it and stepped out into the hall. “Hello darlin’.”

     “I’m on your front porch but I was afraid you might not hear the doorbell.”

     “I’ll be right down.”

      He opened the door and she handed him a venti coffee. “I heard you guys might need some help.”

     “John called you?”

     “Ross. He’s more worried about you than Kel right now.”

      She went into the kitchen and put on a kettle of hot water. She was completely comfortable in their kitchen and every other room in their house, having spent so many hours there growing up. “I read somewhere that ginger helps with nausea associated with chemo so I thought  would make Mary Katherine some ginger tea.”

     Evan leaned against the kitchen counter and Casey thought he looked about ready to drop. She folded him into a hug and he started sobbing. She held him close and let him cry. “You didn’t have to do this all alone, Ev.” she whispered. “All you had to do was call.”

     “I don’t know how to help Kel from here, but I can’t leave Mary Katherine. I don’t know what to do Case.”

     “You’re going to get some sleep before you do anything else. You can’t help anybody else in the condition you’re in. I’ll take care of Mary Katherine. Ross is capable of taking care of Kel until you get some rest.”

      “I thought I was prepared to handle it Casey, but I wasn’t . And we have to do this five more times at least.”

      “The operative word, Evan, is ‘we.’ You aren’t doing this alone again.”

     He started crying all over again.

     The sun was shining through the window when Mary Katherine opened her eyes. Casey was reading in the overstuffed chair in front of the bay window and Evan was sleeping on the sofa.  She smiled because the scene was familiar; Casey had always loved reading there as a child and Evan had fallen asleep on the sofa more than one time after chasing around the Lansing children when they came to stay for the weekend. This had usually happened when she instigated ‘quiet reading time,” which always prompted Seamus to wonder if reading was generally loud for other people.

     She spoke softly, not wanting to wake Evan. “Casey?”

     Casey closed her book and sat on the bed beside her. “How are you doing?”

     “Much better. When did you get here?”

     “Early this morning after Ross called me afraid Evan was about to have a nervous breakdown.”

     “Really? In front of me he was nothing but strong and positive.”

     “ I think not being able to be there for Kel pushed him over the edge.”

     “Have you talked to Ross? How is Kel?”

     “I spoke to him about thirty minutes ago. Kel’s fever is dropping and so are his sugar levels. It sounds like he’s going to be okay.”

     “Thank you for coming to the rescue.”

      Casey hugged her gently. “My pleasure. Do you want a cup of tea? Maybe some breakfast?”

     “Tea definitely, and maybe I will try to eat something.”

     “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Call down if you need me.”

      Mary Katherine eased herself off the bed and was relieved that standing didn’t make her feel dizzy or sick. She walked to the sofa and bent and kissed him. He opened his eyes and started to get up, but instead, she sat down and put a pillow in her lap and he lay back down and closed his eyes. She stroked his hair while he slept and thought that if there really was a God, then he had blessed her immensely when he gave her Evan.

Chapter Fourteen

    
Tara came down the stairs at George and Lily’s house and saw Kel standing in the foyer. He still looked as if he could use a few more days to rest and recover, but in less than an hour he would be back on the road.

     “I opened the little gift you had Lily put on my pillow,” she said. When she had gone to bed the previous evening there had been an elaborately wrapped box waiting for her. Inside she had found Godiva chocolates and a CD of the
Finian’s Rainbow
soundtrack.

    “Those songs always remind of you now.”

     “Hmmm, I was thinking they would remind me of you.”

     He took her hands in his. “Do you need a reminder?”

     “No, I think of your frequently, all on my own.” They walked down the hall and into the sunroom at the back of the house. He took her in his arms and she rested her head against his shoulder.

     “You’ll catch up with us in New York?” They would make a couple of stops before she joined them.

      “Yes. Kel, tell me what do about this story Bobby keeps asking for.”

      “The one about Alise?” She nodded.

      He sighed. “I need to talk to you about everything that happened with Alise, but now isn’t the time and I don’t want to have that conversation over the phone in between campaign stops. I’m sure Debby is pushing him to print that story, but I’m still not in favor of it and I know that I don’t think you should be the one writing it.”

     “Every time he comes in and brings it up I’m certain he’s going to fire me. He also doesn’t like it anytime a new picture of me is printed in the newspapers.”

     “You have no control over what other papers print.”

      “He still doesn’t like it.”

      He lifted her chin. “This is just what I’ve been talking about. If you are considering any kind of long term relationship with me, this is going to be a part of your life. You’ll have to deal with Bobby and the press. I’m not here to do it for you. Just like I’m not going to be here to help Janet plan her wedding, no matter how much she wants me to. I wish I could help both of you, but I only have so many hours in a day and they’ve all been scheduled for me right now.”