Returning Pride (2 page)

“
Oh my god! I’m so sorry, it slipped my mind. I just drove several hours and my brain isn’t in gear. Come in, my mother’s in the back.” She pointed him towards the back and started walking to her mother’s room.

He followed her, walking past the messy front room. She noticed that he took a quick look around.

“I just got home tonight. It appears she’s been sick for a while.” She waved a hand at the disarray.

When they reached her mother’s bedroom, Aaron got to work.

“
Are you just visiting from California?” he asked, while checking her mother’s blood pressure.

“Yes! No! I was planning on staying, I don’t know yet. I just decided to come back last week; something just called me home.” How could she explain that she’d felt drawn home? That she’d felt like she’d been starved in the city. “Is she going to be okay ?” She asked, she knew she had a worried look on her face as she was nervously fidgeting with her hands.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t like your mother’s blood pressure, and her temperature really worries me. I’d like to run some more tests.” He set his stethoscope down and leaned over to check the dilation of her pupils. Leaning back up he looked at her.

“
Allison, I’d like to move your mother to the hospital in Edgeview. I can have an ambulance come pick her up,” He said, as her mother started to mumble and toss about.

“Yes, of course,” she said, focusing on her mother’s face.

“I’ll just step out and make the call.” Aaron walked into the living room.

Less than an hour later, when the paramedics wheeled her mother into the emergency room, Allison and Aaron were right on their heels. She saw Lacey waiting just inside the front door of the hospital. She rushed over and gave her friend a big hug, bumping lightly into her small, pregnant belly.

“
It’s so good to have you back,” Lacey smiled at Allison. “How is she?” she asked as she turned to her husband.

“I’m going to go find out. I’ll be back shortly.” He gave Lacey’s hand a squeeze and disappeared down the hall where they had wheeled Allison’s mom.

The two women walked up to the front nurse’s desk and signed in. Lacey talked to the nurse briefly, then they turned to go sit in the waiting area, which was almost empty. The two television sets were set to the same news channel, and there was an older couple sitting across the way watching the weather.

Edgeview Medical Center was the only facility within fifty miles, so naturally, sometimes it was quite full. During the short trip there, Dr. Stevens, Aaron, he’d wanted her to call him, told her he had taken over his grandfather’s local office in Pride. But he confirmed that it was more for appointments and not emergencies such as this. Here, they could run blood work, do x-rays, even surgery if needed. Her mind numbed at that thought.

Lacey had stopped at the vending machines and grabbed a bottled of water for each of them. “Come and sit down. Aaron will take care of your mother,” she said, taking a quick sip of her water. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“I… I just got in about an hour ago. The place was messy, you know how my mom is about everything being tidy.” Lacey shook her head, “I don’t even know how long she’d been sick? If I hadn’t gotten home tonight…”

Lacey took a good look at her; and Allison knew what she was seeing. She was a lot thinner than the last time Lacey had seen her. Her eyes felt dull and Ally felt like she needed a good night’s sleep.

“You must be tired after the long drive. Why don’t you try to stretch out on the couch?” Lacey patted the cushions next to her. How could she refuse? Lacey had babysat Allison and Abby a lot when they were younger. She’d been like a really cool older sister to the pair.

Resting her head back on the small couch, she realized that she was very tired, but didn’t think she could fall asleep. Her mind kept going back to what she had seen at the house, how her mother had looked lost.

Even with the hum of the television, the bright lights, and the worry on her mind, she still drifted off. A few hours later, she was awakened by Dr. Stevens, who informed her they had moved her mother into a private room on the second floor. She was stable, but her fever was still holding. He told her they were running several tests and wouldn’t know the results until morning.

When Allison was finally allowed to see her mother half an hour later, she walked into the room with Lacey trailing behind her. Allison was grateful for the support of her friend.

She sat in the chair closest to her mother. Aaron pulled his wife aside and had a quiet conversation with her, after which she announced that she was heading home and would be back first thing in the morning.

Then he stood next to the bed and checking the IV tubes.

“What can you tell me?”

“Not much more tonight. I’m waiting for the lab results. It shouldn’t be much longer.” He looked at his watch, “I’ll just go check on them.”

He turned and left Alison in a room with the bright lights, loud machines, and her mother laying there, drugged and sleeping.

I
ian knew she was back in town. He probably knew it before anyone else did. He’d sensed something was coming all day yesterday. It was hard to explain to anyone; since he’d lost his hearing, he could just feel things. At least when it came to Allison Adams.

He liked to think he was a patient man. He had, after all, learned a new way of living at the age of eighteen, and a completely new lifestyle. In all his twenty-eight-years, he’d never waited for anything as long as he’d waited for Allison Adams.

Allison had been there in first grade, her long blonde hair swinging with every step she’d made walking down the long school hallways. He remembered the first time she’d approached him. Her cheeks were red, her hands on her hips, and her eyes full of anger. She’d been beautiful. His little seven-year-old mind had gone blank.

She’d come to her sister’s defense after some of the boys he’d been playing ball with had accidentally hit Abby in the ankle. Iian had been the leader of the pack and had received quite the tongue lashing from Allison. He remembered he’d apologized to Abby in front of his friends, never once taking his eyes off Allison. The apology had labeled him a wimp in the eyes of the gang of seven-year-old boys. And so, after making a fool of himself in front of everyone that day, he’d pretty much tried to ignore her for the next ten years or so.

In his teens, he’d stumbled through inviting her to their school dance, his voice cracking a half dozen times, but the final results were worth it. They’d gone to the dance and had ended the night with a perfect chaste kiss. The next day Allison’s father had died of a stroke and she had backed away from him. He’d let her go then with a promise to himself that if he ever got another chance, he would never let her go again.

It was around nine the next morning when he walked into the hospital with his sister and sister-in-law, Megan. When everyone was saying their ‘Hello’s’, he looked across the room at Allison and noticed that she was built like most models, tall and slender. However, now she looked too thin and pale, there were dark circles under her deep blue eyes. Her blonde hair, which had been very short the last time he’d seen her, was now longer and pulled back. He knew she had freckles on her nose and a slight dimple in her right cheek when she smiled. He was so glad she was home.

Allison had spent the rest of the night in the uncomfortable chair sitting next to her mother’s bed. Her thoughts had wandered from her mother to her father, then to the last time she had been in this hospital. When her sister, Abby, had died.

Abby and Ally had been as closest as two sisters could have been without being twins. They were both dusty blondes with deep blue eyes and were tall and curvy, so unlike their mother, who was shorter and had dark curly hair.

When they had lost their father, the sisters had banded together and taken over the management of the family’s small antique store. They’d worked there after school every day. They even spent all their long hours of every warm summer inside, instead of running around like normal teenage girls should have. All for the sake of family.

Then a few years later, they had gotten news that Abby had Lymphoma. The cancer had spread so quickly that she was gone within months of her diagnosis, before she had even turned sixteen.

Their mother took to spending most of her days on the couch and Allison was left to fend for herself. Adam’s Antiques had sat on Main Street and had been her father’s passion. She’d struggled the first year alone, trying to figure out how to run a business and a household had been hard. Finally, she’d found her balance.

She’d put her desires in the closet for the first two years after her sister’s death. Never once going out on a date or focusing on herself, instead she had focused on her family business and silently painted in the back room. But one day that had all changed, the day she had met Megan, she had her to thank for launching her art career. Something she could never repay her friend for.

Allison had felt something pulling her back to the small town of Pride, lately. She’d woken up in a cold sweat one day last week, and it had only taken her a day to pack the essentials in her plush Los Angeles apartment. She’d cleared her schedule and left. She just knew it was time to come home.

Now when she looked up and saw her two friends walking into the room, she smiled. When she saw Iian trailing behind them, her heart jumped. He looked like he would rather be anywhere but in the sterile environment, and was immediately mesmerized by him. It had been hard to live almost her whole life with a crush on someone who pretty much ignored her. She felt plain and grimy from having slept in the hospital chair all night. She hadn’t even gone home to shower, and for that matter was still wearing the clothes she’d left California in. She must look terrible.

She greeted her friends and updated them on her mother’s condition. The doctor’s still hadn’t told her anything more.

When Dr. Stevens walked in a few minutes later, she gave him her full attention.

“
Allison, I’d like to talk to you privately.” He nodded towards the hallway.

“No, please, they can be a part of this,” she smiled at her friends, her honorary family.

“Well,” he said, taking a seat across from Allison. “As you know there are a few things that we’re concerned about. Your mother had a very high temperature, and her red blood cell count isn’t what we want to see. We’re running more tests and would like to keep her here for a few days.” He said as he looked over the chart again. “I know you answered this question last night, but has she been taking any medications that you’re aware of?”

“No, um, I think she had some blood pressure medicine, but I’m not sure what it is.”

“That’s fine,” he said as he wrote something down. Just then Allison looked up and saw her mother looking back at her.

“Mom!” she rushed to the side of the bed. “How are you feeling?” Dr. Stevens walked over and started checking her mother’s vitals.

“Allison? Where am I? What happened?” She looked around the room at all the faces.

“You’re at the hospital in Edgeview. I came home and you had a fever,” she said sitting next to her mother as she held her frail hand.

“
Take it easy, Mrs. Adams. Just lie back. I’m Dr. Stevens. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know. Can I go home? I don’t want to be here.”

“Mom, they want to keep you a few more nights. How long have you been sick?” Allison could tell something wasn’t right. Her mother’s eyes kept darting around the room.

After the long silence Allison asked again. “Mom?”

“Oh Abby,” she patted her hand. “I was just dreaming about you, I’m so glad you’re here. Your father was getting worried, you know we don’t like it when you sneak out at night.”

She laid her hand on Allison’s cheek, which had gone very pale.

Iian stood once again on his hill, looking over the town of Pride. He often came out here to think or take long walks along the shore to clear his head. He could make out a stream of smoke coming from the Adams’ chimney and wondered how they were doing.

It had been a few days since the trip to the hospital. Alzheimer’s was a hard blow and he knew that Allison had been very busy since returning home.

Lacey, Megan, and a group of church women had been helping her out. He’d even helped by making a big batch of his own chili, which he had his sister deliver instead of taking it there himself. It wasn’t that he was avoiding seeing her again. He just thought that she had a lot on her mind and he didn’t want to get in her way. His sister, on the other hand, had scolded him for not being more neighborly. But she’d delivered the chili and left the subject alone, Iian thought she knew about his secret crush on Allison.

Looking up, he remembered seeing Allison in the grocery store yesterday. She’d been alone and had been cornered by a dozen of the older women in town, which in his mind, accounted for half the population in Pride. Once he’d stepped into the building and given his sternest look towards the group, the women had dispersed. Allison had left without a glance in his direction.

As he stood looking out at the vast ocean spread before him, he realized that he was lonely. He’d been living in his large house for almost two years by himself. Sure, he had kept himself busy at the restaurant most days, and then there were the family dinners every week. Looking back, he couldn’t remember the last time he had been out on a date. He’d tried dating after his accident, but it always left him feeling frustrated with the lack of ability to communicate.

Because of the communication issues, he’d hand picked most of his staff in the kitchen at the Golden Oar. Two of the other chefs knew sign language, and the other one was quickly picking it up. Lacey was still in charge when it came to the dining room staff, and he let her be. The kitchen was his place, and looking over the town he realized, so was Pride.

His brother and sister now had their own families, which were getting bigger. Everything seemed to be changing without him. Since things were changing, it was about time he stood up and grabbed what he wanted before it was too late, and he figured he might as well start tonight after work.