Pie Town - Lynne Hinton [52]
“But that’s what has me worried,” Malene said. “She’s never been to you before. She’s never been to anyone but Alex before now. Something’s different this time because she did come to you.”
Oris didn’t comment. He found the fact that his dead wife had visited him to be disconcerting as well, and it wasn’t because he was disbelieving or afraid of visits from people who had moved beyond. He was afraid for the same reason his daughter was. Alice had never visited anyone but the little boy. Her coming to him instead was unexpected and seemed to render troublesome news. She had practically pushed her husband out of bed.
Both father and daughter knew that since he had been able to talk Alex claimed to have an angel watching over him. It was one of the first words he said, “Lady,” pointing to the empty air above him. They thought he was talking about a nurse or his female doctor of whom he was especially fond. They waved it off and thought nothing of it. When he could put together sentences and make sense in a conversation, he had told Malene about the woman who came to him. He had explained that she was not a nurse or hospital worker, she was real and yet unseen by everyone but him.
He rarely spoke of her, but there had been enough times that Malene had finally pieced it together. She figured out who his lady was. Alex was being visited by Alice, his great-grandmother, her mother. For years she didn’t speak of it to anyone, not even Roger. And then she had finally confided in her father one evening after he confronted Malene about Alex having a make-believe playmate. He was not sure it was normal for a child to be so sure of the presence of an invisible being.
“I knew it was her,” Oris confessed. “I knew she came to the boy.” He shook his head. “All this time, ever since you told me about his dreams, this woman, I knew. Ever since I understood he wasn’t making up some playmate to take the place of his mother, ever since I knew not to be worried about what he saw, who he saw, I knew it was her. And I was happy and pissed off at the same time, because I wanted her for myself. I wanted her to come to me. All this time.” He wiped his eyes. He had been up for hours and he was tired. “Now I wish she hadn’t.”
Malene reached her hand over and squeezed her father’s arm. “You said it yourself,” she noted. “He’ll be fine. He always is.”
They drove in silence for a while, making their way the 160 miles to Albuquerque, where they knew Alex would be treated in a pediatric intensive care unit. After all the years and hospital stays, they knew practically everyone who worked on that unit. They had even called the head nurse for the night shift once the paramedics arrived, letting her know that they were on their way.
“Roger getting one of the boys to come and pick him up later?” Oris asked.
His ex-son-in-law was riding in the ambulance with the boy. Malene had decided to let him go ahead while she rode with her father. She shrugged. In their brief conversation, the two of them hadn’t gotten that far in their plans.
Roger had driven to Malene’s house before the ambulance and after Oris. He was wearing his uniform because he thought it somehow granted a bit of authority when they arrived at hospitals, and they wanted all the extra attention or authority they could use. He’d also be ready to hurry back to Catron County to handle any emergency. As usual, he had brought along a small bag of toiletries. He kept one in his car at all times. He had become accustomed to the hospital runs and the overnight stays with his grandson.
Malene had called him as soon as she got off the phone with Oris, while she was in the room with Alex. At first she had thought her father was crazy, waking her up in the middle of the night, telling her to go and check on the boy. At first she refused, but when he had said that he was on his way over there, she had gotten out of bed and gone into the room next to hers. Oris had been right. Alex was hot and his breath was labored. There was a rattle from his chest. She called 911