Snow Angels (12 page)

One of the nurses, an older woman with red hair and rimless glasses, greeted Andy by his first name. Everybody on the hospital staff knew him; in addition to emergency visits like these, he had scheduled rounds of visitations every Monday and Thursday.

“Hi, Muriel. Where is she?”

“Still in emergency. The doctor’s with her. The Sugarmans are in the waiting room. They were the ones who called the ambulance.”

“Is she going to make it?”

“I don’t know anything, Andy. They just brought her in a little while ago. Doctor Bates is on duty. I’ll make sure he knows you’re here.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

They walked down the empty corridor, following the signs that pointed to the emergency room. Kendra shivered. Andy put his arm around her shoulders. “Cold?”

Kendra shook her head. “No. Scared.” Her eyes filled with tears. “She’s eighty-two. She’s lived a good, long life. I know that, Andy, but…I just don’t want her to go yet. Maybe it’s selfish, but I need her. It doesn’t matter that she’s fifty years older than I am, Darla’s my best friend. I don’t want her to die.”

“I know. Neither do I.”

Inside the waiting room, Denny was on his feet, pacing. Sugar was sitting on a dark green sofa, clutching a handkerchief in her hands and looking very pale. They looked up when Andy and Kendra entered the room.

“We got here as fast as we could,” Andy said going to Denny and clasping his hand. Kendra sat down next to Sugar.

“We just arrived ourselves. I called you from the car.”

Sugar blinked and looked around the room, as though searching for something. “Where’s Thea?”

“Home,” Kendra said. “Sharon was still at the house when you called. She’ll stay with Thea until we get back. Don’t worry. Now, tell us. What happened?”

Sugar sighed. “We’d just finished eating. Denny was in the kitchen, wrapping up leftovers, and Darla and I were clearing the table. I was carrying a couple of serving bowls and Darla was following me, bringing in the dirty plates. I heard a crash and a thud. I turned around and there was Darla, laid out on the dining room floor.” Sugar stopped, unable to go on.

Denny finished the story. “We dialed nine-one-one. It seemed like hours before the ambulance came, but I know it couldn’t have been more than five minutes. They gave her some oxygen and loaded her into the ambulance. We followed in the truck. The doctors are working on her, but nobody’s been out to see us yet.”

“So, you don’t know what’s wrong?” Andy asked.

“Heart? Stroke? I don’t know.”

Sugar started to cry. “I shouldn’t have let her carry those heavy plates. I should have done it myself.”

Kendra took her hand. “Sugar, don’t. Don’t cry. It wasn’t your fault.”

Denny crossed the room and sat down next to Sugar. “There now,” he soothed. “Kendra’s right, honey. This isn’t your fault.”

“No,” Kendra said grimly. “It’s mine. I shouldn’t have insisted that Darla take over as pageant director. Andy warned me that it was too much for a woman her age. I should have listened…”

Andy pulled up a chair and reached out to grip Kendra’s hand. “That’s enough of that, Kendra. And you too, Sugar. You’re both beautiful, powerful women, but neither of you has that kind of power. Darla is a tough cookie, as energetic as many women half her age. And she loves helping people. There was no way either of you could have anticipated or prevented this. ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.’ The span of Darla’s life is God’s business. Not ours. We’ll leave it in His hands.”

And sitting together in the empty waiting room, the four of them bowed their heads and joined their hands, committing their friend to the healing touch of the Great Physician.

Kendra clutched the rails of the hospital bed and leaned closer. “Are you comfortable?” she asked anxiously. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes. You can get me the heck out of here,” Darla croaked. “I hate hospitals. They’re full of sick people.”

Muriel took her eyes off her watch, released her hold on Darla’s wrist, and made a note on her chart. “Not bad, Mrs. Benton. How are you feeling this morning? Better?”

“Well, if I am, it’s no credit to you people. Doctor Bates said I should rest, but how can I? People keep coming in here every two minutes to bother me. They woke me up three times to take my temperature last night. Three times! For heaven’s sake! I had a heart attack, not the flu. Why does everybody keep taking my temperature?”

“I’m going to take that as a yes. Anyone who’s got the energy to complain like that
must
be feeling better.” Muriel winked at Kendra. “Don’t stay too long now, Mrs. Loomis. Like the doctor said, she needs her rest. I’ll be back later to take your temperature.”

“Undoubtedly waking me up so you can do it,” Darla harrumphed.

“If need be.”

“Thanks, Muriel,” Kendra said as the nurse headed to the door. “Darla’s just upset. Don’t mind her.”

“I don’t. Mrs. Benton and I go way back; don’t we, Mrs. B.? I took piano lessons from Mr. Benton when I was a little girl. Went to their house every Saturday morning. Mrs. Benton always answered the door. She was just about as glad to see me then as she is now. Nice to see she’s feeling like her old self again.” The nurse smiled and left to tend to other patients.

“It’s true,” Darla said. “Jake gave her lessons for about six years. It’s a good thing she went into nursing. She wasn’t much of a pianist.”

Kendra smiled. “You
are
feeling better, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Better than I did, anyway. But I’m still tired. And frustrated. I don’t like being here. And I really don’t like the idea that I’ve left you in the lurch with the pageant. I’m sorry.” Darla reached out her hand and rested it on top of Kendra’s. “As soon as I’m out of here…”

“As soon as you’re out of here, you’re going to listen to Doctor Bates and focus all your energy on getting better. Cardiac rehabilitation is about to be your full-time job. You let me worry about the pageant.”

“But,” the old woman protested, “how can you manage it? You’ve got so much on your plate already. The baby. Running the dance studio. Hospital visits to cranky old ladies with bad tickers. And, on top of that, you’ve got family problems of your own: Andy and Thea. Not to mention this business with Sharon.”

Kendra rested her hand protectively on her stomach. “Don’t worry about the baby. I just saw the obstetrician and everything is fine. And, actually, having Sharon here has turned out to be a godsend.”

Darla drew her brows together in a doubtful expression.

“It’s true,” Kendra insisted. “We’ve got it all worked out. She will take Thea to school every morning so I can get a little extra sleep. And then she’ll pick her up in the afternoon, make sure she gets something to eat, and drop her off at rehearsal. That way I can go straight from the dance studio to the church. I had to rearrange my class schedule, but it’ll work. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I found out Sharon was thinking of moving to Vermont, but under the circumstances, it’s turned out to be a good thing. There’s no way I could do this without her.”

“I suppose,” Darla said grudgingly. “But are you sure it’s a good idea to have Thea spend so much time with Sharon?”

“Of course, it is.” Kendra replied. “After all, she’s Thea’s mother, isn’t she?”

“When oh when am I ever going to learn?” Kendra asked herself as she stomped on the parking brake and pulled the key out of the ignition.

Moving to Vermont with its calmer, more measured approach to life had definitely changed Kendra for the better. She wasn’t the same frantic, frustrated, and impatient woman she’d been three years before. But there was one area where Kendra’s growing maturity had yet to take root.

The second she got behind the wheel of a car, Kendra’s inner New Yorker reemerged. She attacked the country lanes and state highways of Maple Grove with the same aggression she’d have used to navigate the Westside highway during the Friday night rush hour. But, since the roads of Maple Grove were normally devoid of congestion (here a Ford F150 pickup and three turkeys constituted a traffic jam), she did so at about four times the speed she could have achieved in New York, which was about two times the speed limit on most Maple Grove roads.

In the three weeks since Kendra had taken over the pageant directorship, things had gotten even worse. It seemed like she was always late these days and the later she was, the faster she drove. Thankfully, living in a small town where everyone knew she was the pastor’s wife meant that the police tended to cut her some slack, but even so, getting pulled over and scolded by the local trooper took time which, of course, made her even later than she’d been to begin with. And today, Officer Lee had been especially stern with her.

“I’m not kidding, Kendra,” he said as he tore the paper off the pad and handed it to her through the open car window. “This is absolutely your last warning. Next time I’m going to have to issue a real ticket. Slow down! I mean it this time.”

“You’re right, Jim. I’m sorry.”

“It’s dangerous! Besides, how does it look for the minister’s wife to be forever getting pulled over for speeding? Not good. That’s how.”

Kendra nodded. “I know. I’ll slow down. I promise.”

“Okay,” he said, though Kendra could see that he wasn’t convinced. “How’s the pageant coming along? Is my boy giving you any trouble?”

“Jimmy? Oh, no. He’s a great kid.”

The Lee boy, Jim Junior, was playing Santa Claus. It was a big part and an important one. In the first act he was the jolly old elf himself, overseeing and commenting upon the impromptu “talent show” among the workshop toys as they competed to see which of them deserved the title of Most Important Part of Christmas. And in the second act, he had to switch gears to become the wise and reverent St. Nicholas who narrates the Nativity story, making the toys, and the audience, understand that the meaning of Christmas begins and ends at the manger. It took real maturity to pull it off and, though he was only fifteen, Jimmy Lee was the right young man for the job.

“Jimmy’s quiet but he works hard. When the rest of the cast gets a little too goofy or wound up, he’s the one who can get them to settle down and refocus. All the kids respect him.” Kendra smiled. “Guess he’s like his old man that way, huh?”

“Don’t go trying to butter me up,” Jim said with a grin. “Next time I pull you over, you’re getting a ticket. A real one.”

“I hear you, officer. But seriously, Jimmy’s a real good kid. You should be proud.”

“Thanks. That’s nice to hear. Now, where are you off to?”

“The dry cleaners. We’ve got dress rehearsal today and nobody remembered to pick up the costumes from the cleaners.” Kendra looked at her watch. “I’ve got to be at the church with the costumes in twenty-eight minutes.”

“Well, you’re going to be late,” Jim said unsympathetically. “Deal with it, Kendra. And stick to the speed limit.”

“I will.”

Kendra kept her word; she had to. She got stuck behind a school bus that seemed to stop and unload dawdling third-graders at every corner and driveway between the dance studio and the dry cleaner. Kendra knew it was her own fault. If she hadn’t been speeding, Jim Lee wouldn’t have pulled her over and she’d have been on the road ahead of the bus.

The parking lot and sidewalks were slick with winter ice and snow, so Kendra took her time walking. Not that she’d have been able to speed her pace even if she’d wanted to. Now in the final month of her pregnancy, the baby slowed Kendra’s steps and made her unwieldy, but, surprisingly, this didn’t bother her as much as it had a few weeks before. Recently, Kendra’s anxiety about motherhood and marriage had been surely but steadily replaced with a sense of peace, a quiet assurance that whatever strength and wisdom she needed to deal with the upcoming challenges of parenting would be provided at the moment she needed it.

It wasn’t that life had suddenly changed for the better. Andy’s schedule was as crowded as it had ever been and Kendra’s was just as bad. Andy had finally sat down with Kendra and told her about the problems he was having with Riley and the board. It was a relief for Kendra to realize that Andy’s emotional distance over the last weeks had nothing to do with their relationship. But that relief gave way to feelings of indignation that someone at the church would even think of questioning her husband’s leadership, even if—as Andy had explained in tones that Kendra felt were far too forgiving and magnanimous—that someone was just young and overeager, but basically good at heart.

“Good at heart! Are you kidding? Andy, you’re too good to be true. I know you’re a minister but…isn’t there a limit to what ministers have to put up with?”

“Nope,” he said with a wink. “There’s that whole part about having to forgive your brother seventy times seven.”

“But…” Kendra sputtered. “In this case, I mean…isn’t there some kind of loophole?”

“Afraid not. And you’ve got to promise me that, no matter what, you’ll treat Riley and his family just as you always have, with kindness.”

“But!”

“I mean it. This isn’t the first controversy I’ve had to deal with since I was ordained and it won’t be the last. Churches are like families, from time to time we have arguments and disagreements, but we have to work together and forgive each other, no matter what. If we didn’t, we’d be torn apart from the inside out.”

If this line of reasoning had to be applied to anyone besides her husband, Kendra would have accepted it readily, but Andy
was
her husband. She loved him and in the battle between love and logic, love usually triumphs.

“Andy, how can you just sit back and put up with this? After all you’ve done for Riley, for the whole church, how can you tolerate all this whining and complaining?”

Andy laughed. “Oh that’s easy. I just remember all that God has done for me, including tolerating all
my
whining and complaining.”

Kendra was worried about Andy and frustrated that she could do so little to help him beyond listening and praying. But Andy assured her that was exactly the kind of help he needed and so she did both wholeheartedly, grateful that they were communicating again.

There were so many challenges to face and Kendra was glad that she didn’t have to face them alone.

Thea was no longer overtly rude to Kendra, but their relationship was far from what it had been, Sharon having replaced Kendra in the teenager’s affections. Darla was out of the hospital, but faced a long road to recovery. And, on top of everything else, the baby had shifted into a position that made Kendra’s back ache constantly, making it hard to sleep. Even so, Kendra was in a far better frame of mind than she had been just three weeks previously. It wasn’t that the situation had changed all that much, but Kendra had.

When she’d come to faith three years before, Kendra had begun the habit of rising early and starting her day with a few quiet minutes with God. Sometimes she read the Bible, sometimes she wrote in her journal. Sometimes she sat and made a mental list of all the things she was grateful for. Sometimes she paced the floor and poured out her complaints and frustrations. Other times she opened her mind and heart and quietly waited for guidance. But no matter what the agenda, Kendra faithfully kept her daily appointment with God, growing in faith, finding peace.

But during the first trimester of her pregnancy, when she felt so exhausted that it was everything she could do to stay awake past eight o’clock, Kendra had started hitting the snooze button on her alarm in the mornings, sleeping through her prayer time. It had gotten to be a habit and so, even though her flagging energies were recharged later in the pregnancy, Kendra rarely made time for God. When she did, it tended to be a hurried affair in which she muttered a quick prayer, all the while thinking of all the things she needed to accomplish that day, following it up with a laundry list of problems that she thought God ought to fix, along with a list of suggestions as to exactly how He might go about doing that.

In short, Kendra’s previously intimate relationship with God had regressed to the point where Kendra treated the Divine as some sort of celestial Santa Claus, whose sole purpose was to fill her spiritual stocking magically with all the toys she demanded.

However, Sharon’s arrival changed that. She’d volunteered to swing by the house and take Thea to school in the mornings so Kendra would have an extra hour to rest before beginning her busy day. But the pain in her lower back made it impossible for her to sleep in. Instead, she resumed her old schedule, beginning her day with real, heartfelt prayer and meditation. She was so glad she did.

This one simple change had made a palpable and immediate difference in Kendra’s outlook and attitude, giving her a new perspective and helping her respond to difficulties and setbacks calmly and thoughtfully. Which was a good thing because as she walked down the icy sidewalk toward the dry cleaners and peered into the storefront window of Ming’s Chinese restaurant, Kendra’s difficulties were about to increase exponentially.

Thea was sitting in one of the booths near the window picking at a plate of fried rice. Kendra couldn’t see his face because he bent his head low, nuzzling Thea’s neck while the girl giggled and pretended to push him away, but she knew that the boy sitting so close with his arm draped over Thea’s shoulder like a creeping vine clinging to a wall was Josh Randall.

Sharon was nowhere to be seen.