The Daily Novel

Chapter 25

Cathy tried to walk, fell, then dragged herself across the lawn. “Jennifer!”

The young officer ran to her side. “What’s wrong?”

“My daughter . . . she went back inside!”

“I’ll get her,” he said. “Stay here.” Holding his hand over his nose and mouth, he rushed into the inferno.

Long moments passed before he carried Jennifer’s limp body out in his arms. The fire trucks and an ambulance rumbled up as he reached the street. A paramedic took the girl from his arms, laid her down, slipped an oxygen mask over her face, and began CPR.

Cathy sat on the frigid pavement, holding Jennifer’s blanched-white hand. She shivered from the cold and the shock of her injuries. “Come on, baby. Come back to me,” she moaned.

Jennifer’s body jackknifed abruptly. She coughed harshly, gagging, until her lungs refilled with oxygen. Her eyes fluttered open. After a moment she realized where she was. Her eyes searched the area around her frantically.

The policeman who had saved her life knelt beside her. “Looking for this?” He placed the object that had nearly cost her her life gently on her chest. “You didn’t let go of it, even when I picked you up. I figured it might be important to you.”

Jennifer decided then and there to marry a policeman some day.

The firemen knew their efforts were fruitless. The fire roared through the house. Neighbors gathered on their lawns to watch the action as the firemen directed their hoses onto the roofs of the adjoining homes. One neighbor coaxed Flo near enough to lift her into her arms.

Another ambulance pulled up. Its flashing light cast eerie splotches of red and white in a dizzying circle on the surrounding landscape. Paramedics helped Cathy to the ambulance and were closing the door when Jennifer tore away the oxygen mask and staggered toward the vehicle. “Wait! I’m going with her. I’m okay.”

They allowed her to ride beside her mother, who, now that the shock and adrenaline were slowly wearing off, drifted on a pulsing cloud of pain.

•

Even with dark smudges of soot on her face, and her hair a tangled mop, Ben recognized Jennifer immediately. Wrapped in a blanket, she trotted beside a gurney being wheeled into the Emergency Room by paramedics.

Ben rushed to meet them. He took one look at Cathy’s swollen, discolored face and eye, and directed the paramedics to an examination room. “What happened, Jennifer?” Ben asked, beginning his cursory examination of Cathy.

Between crying and coughing, Jennifer explained the terrifying events of the morning. “Are you . . . okay?” Ben asked.

Jennifer caught his meaning. “Yes. I . . . I poked him in the eye before he . . . he could—”

Ben squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “You did great.” To the nurse attending him, Ben said, “Let’s get Mrs. Radski to X-ray. I want shots of the left jaw, cheek, and eye orbit.”

“She hurt her foot, too,” Jennifer said. “Her right one.”

Ben pulled back the sheet covering Cathy’s feet. He manipulated the bones of her foot. “Yep. Get X-rays of the right foot, too. She has a broken great toe, for sure, but let’s make sure there isn’t anything in the foot or ankle,” Ben instructed the nurse.

Cathy’s eyes opened, slowly focused. “Hey, Ben . . . what’s up?” she asked, her mouth twisted, using only the right side to speak.

“How do you feel?” Ben asked.

“Like I went ten rounds with Mike Tyson,” she said weakly.

“Nah. You still have your ears,” Ben joked. “I’m sending you for X-rays right now. Do you need something for pain?”

Ever game, Cathy smiled lopsidedly. “No, thanks . . . “I’ve got plenty already.”

Jennifer took Cathy’s hand in both of hers. “I’ll be right here when you get back, Mom,” she said, as the nurse wheeled Cathy away to the X-ray laboratory.

Ben dropped his arm over Jennifer’s shoulders again. “What’s that leaning against the wall? You had it when you came in.”

“It’s supposed to be a surprise, but I don’t have any place to keep it, now,” Jennifer said, lifting the object into her arms.

“I have an office the size of a broom closet. I’ll put it in there for you, if you want. In the meantime, you probably ought to call Lauren. Ask the nurse at the desk over there to dial the third floor station for you.”

Jennifer entrusted her “secret” to Ben. Then she went to call her aunt. She wondered if there was a good way to tell someone you’ve burned down her house.

Ben put Jennifer’s bundle in his office. When he walked into the hall, another gurney came through the ER doors. This patient cursed and fought against the restraints holding his arms and legs securely on the gurney. A heavy gauze pad covered his right eye. He also had a police escort. “Where do you want this one, Doc?” the young officer who had saved Jennifer asked. His tone indicated euthanasia would be a good alternative to treatment.

Jennifer came up beside Ben. Scowled. “It’s Lloyd. Do the world a favor and put him out of our misery.”

Ben hid his amusement. Jennifer would be all right. She took after her mother when it came to rolling with the punches life metes out on a regular basis. He saw Lauren step from the elevator, waved, and led Lloyd and his contingent into the examination room.

Jennifer met her aunt halfway to the elevator.

They sat together in a small, littered waiting room.  Lauren held Jennifer’s hand as the girl retold her story. “Your house, everything you had, and everything you got for us is gone, Lauren. If we hadn’t been there this would have never happened. We brought Lloyd down on you,” Jennifer said, her lip quavering.

“Hush. Don’t blame yourself for your crazy father’s actions. I just thank God you weren’t harmed. And Cathy will have the best care available, here at St. Matthews.”

“But—”

Lauren drew the girl’s face to her breast. “I’m insured, Jen. Over-insured for that matter. My house and the contents can be replaced . . . you and your mother couldn’t be.”

“But where are we going to stay? I . . . I really liked having a home. Even if it wasn’t really mine.”

That, Lauren thought, was a good question.

Lauren called her father at work and broke the news to him. He insisted on coming to the hospital immediately and arrived in under an hour. Jennifer ran to meet him when he walked in. He took her delicate face in his rough hands. “Are you all right, honey?”

“I’m fine, Grampa. But Mom—”

“Where is she?”

Lauren stepped up beside Jennifer. “She’s in the OR having facial reconstruction. She got lucky. The blow shattered her cheekbone but not the orbit of her eye. And she has a busted big toe. She’ll be okay.”

“When . . . when can I see her?” Frank asked.

Lauren’s heart missed a beat. “You want to see her?”

“Of course I do. She’s my daughter.” Frank ran his palm over his balding head and stared down at the linoleum. “It’s been a long time since I thought of her that way. But when you called me . . . all I could think about was that my little girl was hurt.”

Lauren hugged her father. “They should have her in a room in a couple of hours. I’ve requested she be sent to my floor. We’ll go see her together.”

“Then there’s nothing I can do here?”

“Not right now, Dad.”

“Okay. I’ll go shopping. I can’t have my granddaughter running around in a blanket. Write down your sizes for me, Jennifer. Shoes on up.”

“We’ll have a lot of shopping to do tomorrow. I’ll have to get all of us new things. First, though, I’ll have to find us an apartment,” Lauren said, already tired just thinking about the days to come.

“Apartment? Bull! You can stay with me. Cathy and Jennifer can have my bedroom, you can have the other bedroom, and I’ll be fine on the sofabed,” Frank said.

“We’ll be like sardines—” Lauren began.

“Well, fish in this family swim together. No more discussion,” Frank said flatly.

Ben walked up behind Frank. “And now that the shark is going to jail, they won’t have to worry about being eaten alive. Mr. Radski will be facing numerous criminal charges once he’s released.” He offered his hand to Frank. “I’m Ben Tolson, Mr. Miles. Lauren has spoken of you often.”

Frank shook hands with the attractive man. “You’re the boyfriend?”

“I sincerely hope so. I care a great deal about Lauren . . . and her sister and this brat,” Ben said, ruffling Jennifer’s hair affectionately.

Frank saw the look that passed between Lauren and Ben. It reminded him of the silent way he and Olivia had conveyed their love, even in a room full of people. He liked Ben immediately.

Three hours later, after Lauren’s shift had ended and Jennifer was cleaned up and outfitted with a too-small blouse, too-large jeans, and sneakers no self-respecting teenager would be caught dead in, they all entered Cathy’s room.

Heavy bandages covered the entire left side of her face. Her foot hung from a pulley above the bed, elevating her splinted toe. Her unbandaged eye widened when she saw her father. “Hi, Daddy,” she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“Can I hug you without hurting you?” Frank asked.

She spread her arms. “You can hug me even if it does hurt.”

Lauren and Jennifer watched self-consciously as Cathy and Frank remained in a long embrace. Frank’s shoulders shook with his sobs. Hearts, like dilapidated fences, could be mended. Instead of the cold wire fences required for rebuilding, these hearts were repaired using the warm, strong bonds of love.