My Father's Gift (21 page)

Pastor Gibson hesitated. “She’s had surgery, but the doctors are concerned about infection.  They said that the next forty-eight hours are critical.  By the way, I told Sister Everett about my part in the plot to keep her and Brother Recinoire apart.

“How did she respond?”  Pastor Thomas asked.

“She couldn’t believe that I would betray our friendship that way.  When it really sank in, she looked like a wounded bird. I begged her to forgive me and finally, reluctantly, she did.”

“You were right. When I heard the news broadcast, I knew that a terrible price had been paid because of me.  For the first time in my life, I was forced to accept responsibility for some of the misery I’ve caused others.  That’s why I’m here.  I need to talk to Brother Recinoire and beg his forgiveness.”

At that moment, Cal walked back into the room because he remembered leaving his clothes.  When he saw Pastor Thomas, his demeanor hardened.

“What are you doing here?” he asked angrily. “If you’re here to gloat, you could have saved yourself the time and trouble.”

She attempted to speak, but he interrupted. 

“I’m sure that by now you have accurately concluded, I will not be returning to Eternal Joy.  And for the record, D’Cerner and I are to be married as soon as she has recovered.  Your lies won’t mean a thing.”

“Brother Recinoire, I’m truly sorry for the mess that I’ve caused.  I was wrong to mislead you and to try to keep you from her.  I’ll admit that I’m an envious person and the last thing that I wanted to happen was for the two of you to get together and start a church.  I know you won’t understand, but I’ve had to crawl many miles to get where I am—sometimes alone and sometimes railroading others.  I have no excuse for trying to impugn her reputation other than jealousy.”

Cal wasn’t interested.  He stared at her for a moment, turned and left the room.  She looked at Pastor Gibson as if she needed atonement from him, but he just shook his head. 

“I told you your plans had gone too far.  Trying to keep them apart was one thing, trying to destroy their reputations is another.  It almost cost D’Cerner her life and could have cost Cal’s as well.”

“I didn’t know anything like this would happen.  I was just trying to block their appointment.  Now what do I do?” she asked tearfully.

“The pastors’ council has scheduled a hearing in two weeks.  I doubt if D’Cerner will be able to make it.  So I suggest you rethink what you thought you saw.  As soon as word gets out they’re engaged, the council may be inclined to think your lie was deliberate,” Pastor Gibson responded.

“By the way,” she asked, “when did they become engaged?”

“No one knows.  Cal just announced it twenty minutes ago.  He wanted to make arrangements for a private room and since he was not legally the next of kin, he needed to get her daughter’s permission.  She may have been conscious long enough for them to talk.  He hasn’t said and no one has asked him.”

“Well, I really didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.  I’ll contact the council president and explain things to him.  You were right from the beginning.  God put them together.  We just wasted our time and I may have lost a good minister.”

“You might want to give Cal some time before trying to apologize again.  He’s been extremely upset waiting for news from the doctor.  That young man cares a great deal for D’Cerner.  I wish I had met him before now.  If I had, things may have been different,” Pastor Gibson said, wistfully.

“You’re right.  I’m going home to pray.  Please make sure he knows I’m praying for her recovery.”

“I will, but he might not want to hear it just now.”

Pastor Thomas left the room, resigned to live with the guilt of her actions.  Pastor Gibson left to go to the lab.  The group had all been tested and donated blood.  Cal’s sister was ready to leave to take Don and Kathy home.  Tyra and Sarah had come in and left, but planned to come back shortly.  Chantelle and Carlos weren’t budging until they saw their mother.  They were told they could see her shortly.  They were only allowing immediate family and Cal in to see her. 

There was no point in everyone else staying. 

When Cal returned to the waiting room from making arrangements for D’Cerner, he had changed his clothes.  He informed them of the arrangements and told them which floor D’Cerner would be on when she left intensive care.  A nurse arrived to inform them they could see D’Cerner, but only for a few moments.  She cautioned them she was still unconscious.  After showing them where to get masks and gowns to wear, she led Chantelle and Carlos into the room.  Cal and Pastor Gibson remained in the corridor where they could look through the glass surrounding the room.  Cal’s heart almost stopped beating as he saw her ghastly pale complexion.  Her breathing seemed shallow and he could only imagine how her children felt looking at the tubes protruding from her body and the monitoring equipment.  Carlos stood at the foot of the bed rubbing his mother’s feet, while Chantelle held her hand. 

Chantelle was surprisingly calm as she talked to her mother and told her everything was going to be all right, that everyone loved her, and they would be there when she woke.  She then moved aside so Carlos could talk to her.

“Hey cookie lady,” he said, “your big kid wants to talk to you, but he needs you to talk back, so hurry up and wake up.  After all, I’ve got a game Friday and I need to tell you what happened.”  He was smiling behind the mush, but the pain in his heart was crowding his lungs and it was excruciating.  He had never seen his mother so vulnerable before.  He’d never seen her in a hospital before. The entire situation was more than he could handle.  Chantelle stood beside him and squeezed his hand as he clung to his mother’s hand.

“Mom, we’re going to leave for awhile, but Cal is here and everything will be all right.  See you later.”  They both gingerly kissed her forehead and left the room.

The nurse signalled through the glass that only one more person could go in for a few minutes.  Although he had permission to see her as her pastor, Pastor Gibson graciously deferred to Cal.

Cal’s breathing was labored behind the mask and for a moment, he could only gasp for air.  Then he steeled himself as he walked to the bed.  He methodically noted the functions of the monitoring system and how fast the IV dripped before uttering a word.  He held her hand and rubbed it thoughtfully, thinking about how she responded to his holding her hand when they were aboard the cruise ship.  Three days ago seemed like a time and place in another era.  He smoothed her eyebrows with one hand while still holding the other and said quietly, but ardently, “D’Cerner, you have to pull through this.  We have wedding plans to make and I refuse to let you leave me hanging around here alone.  Do you hear me?  I won’t let you go!”

For a moment, he thought she was coming out of it when she moved slightly, but it didn’t happen again.  “I’m not leaving this hospital until you wake up and tell me yes.  So, unless you want me to make a nuisance of myself, don’t keep us waiting.”  The nurse in the room signalled that his time was up.  He leaned over to kiss her forehead and when tears fell on her face, he gently wiped them away.

Pastor Gibson could not hear what Cal was saying to D’Cerner, but he could tell by the gentle way he caressed her, he wanted to see her whole and well.  When Cal came out of the room, he suggested that Chantelle and Carlos go home, but they refused.  So then he suggested they go get something to eat and read because it was going to be a long night.  Pastor Gibson offered again to get Cal something to eat but he refused.  He thanked Pastor Gibson for being there, but said he could handle things from there.  He had already arranged to stay in the hospital with D’Cerner, but he was going to make sure her children ate and he would eat with them.  Pastor Gibson extended his hand to shake Cal’s and told him they would continue praying.  He decided he liked Cal’s take-charge attitude, but wondered how it would fly with D’Cerner.  He chuckled about that on the way out of the hospital.

He thought aloud, “Lord, you have to let her live because I can’t wait to see those two together.  The friction between those two will definitely cause sparks to fly.”

Cal, Chantelle and Carlos went to a nearby restaurant since the cafeteria offered little to their liking and then spent the night at the hospital.  At fifty-minute intervals, throughout the night, they took turns going in to talk to her, without getting any response.  Seeing no change in her condition, Chantelle and Carlos went home at daylight to change clothes.

When Angela walked into the corridor leading to D’Cerner’s room, she stopped outside the room and looked at D’Cerner through the glass.  Cal was sitting there beside her, holding her hand, but obviously tired as his head drooped to his chest.  Angela’s heart ached for them both.  She started not to go in, but just as she turned to go to the waiting room, Cal stirred and noticed her standing there.  He gently laid D’Cerner’s hand back on the bed across her stomach, kissed her on the forehead and left the room.  Once outside the room, he told Angela that there was no change in her condition and he was glad she had come.  He suggested she go in and sit with her while he went to change clothes and shave.  Angela reached out to hug him, saw him stiffen at the approach, and she dropped her hands and went into the room.  She didn’t take offense to his actions.  She knew he was doing everything in his power to remain in control of his emotions and the slightest hint of emotional upheaval could cause him to lose it.  Standing beside her dear friend, she held her hand and rubbed it as she talked.

“Dee, I know you can hear me so don’t pretend you can’t.  There are a lot of people waiting to talk to you.  Most of us kinda love you and need for you to talk to us.  Cal looks terrible.  If there has ever been a man infected with love’s bite, he’s it.  If anything should happen to you, I don’t think that brother is going to make it.  So, listen up, here’s the deal.  When you wake up, I promise not to fuss at you for making us worry.  Besides, I can’t wait to tell you about the juicy stuff that’s been going on up in here.  Now you know me, I call it like I see it and it seems to me that you’re not going be getting rid of Cal any time soon.  So we gotta talk. Okay?” 

Tears were rolling down Angela’s cheeks as she talked.  She was trying to be a stalwart lean-on-me friend, but things just didn’t look too promising from what she could see.  She sat down in the seat Cal had vacated, still rubbing D’Cerner’s hand and started praying.  “Daddy, I know you can do all things and what I want you to do most of all, is to wake her up.  Too many of us need her and it’s not time for her to go.”

About that time, she looked up and saw Chantelle and Carlos standing outside the room.  Angela kissed D’Cerner on the forehead and left to talk to them.  Chantelle informed her Cal had announced he and D’Cerner were engaged last night and Angela couldn’t have been more stunned as well as pleased.  Cal returned from changing clothes in time to see the startled expression on Angela’s face.  As Angela turned to him to ask the inevitable question, he stopped her by simply saying they were getting married as soon as D’Cerner recovered.  Before Angela could comment, the doctor came in. He assured them even though there was no change in her condition, she was not getting any worse.  There was a mild infection, which they had anticipated, causing her to run a slight fever, but they had it under control.  After the doctor left them, Chantelle and Carlos went in to sit with their mother for a while, leaving Angela and Cal alone.

“Cal, can we sit down and talk for a minute?” Angela asked him.

“Yes, sure,” he answered, his voice heavy with stress-inflated exhaustion.

“I’m not going to ask when D’Cerner agreed to marry you, but I do need to know if you really care about her.  You can tell me it’s none of my business, but I’m making it my business.  I don’t want to see her hurt anymore.”

“I don’t want to see her hurt either.  And yes, I do care about her.  Very much.  In the midst of all this foolishness, I never got a chance to tell her that.  But I can promise you one thing, Angela.  I will never let anyone hurt her again.  You can place that on the altar of the heavenlies,” he said passionately.

“That’s all I wanted to know,” Angela said.  “That’s my girl and when she hurts, I feel it.  But as long as the two of you are going to be together, it will be all right.  I’ve got to go home and go to bed, but I’ll call back here later.  Have Chantelle call me if there’s any change.  And Cal,” she said, hugging him this time, “it will be all right.”

Cal sighed and gave in to the hug and actually hugged her back.  “I know it will.  It has to be.  Thanks for your vote of confidence.”

Throughout the day, Pastor Gibson came in to check on D’Cerner.  Tyra and Sarah returned to check on her, while Cal, and her children kept their vigil.  Angela called back twice and was told there was nothing new to report.  Again, the threesome decided to spend the night in the hospital. 

Around midnight, the alarm on D’Cerner’s monitoring system caused a flurry of activity from the nurse’s station.  Chantelle and Carlos were asleep, but Cal heard it and woke them.  They all ran to the corridor and watched through the glass as the nurses worked on their mother.  Cal had an arm around each of them.  Chantelle shook uncontrollably.  Carlos stiffened as he watched, horrified.  Cal refused to think about anything other than holding onto her children.  Fifteen minutes passed before a nurse came out to inform them D’Cerner’s heartbeat had become irregular, triggering the monitor’s alarm.  They changed the drip on her IV and she was stable again.  They went back to the waiting room and as soon as they calmed down, Cal assured them he would keep watch and they fell asleep, exhausted.

After they fell asleep, Cal covered them with the blankets the nurses had left them and went back to D’Cerner’s room to watch over her.  He stopped in the corridor outside the room and stood looking through the glass window.  He had no idea how long he stood there, willing her to live, until he felt one of the nurses touch his arm.

“She’s coming around.  Which one of you wants to go in first?” she asked him.