Читать книгу Ties That Bind - Marie Bostwick - Страница 21

I’ve only been in New Bern for a week, but I’m on a first-name basis with much of the hospital staff. Cheryl was working the security desk when I arrived. When I reached into my purse in search of my driver’s license, she waved me off.

“Don’t need it, Reverend,” she said and pulled a laminated tag out of her desk drawer. “My supervisor said to make you a permanent I.D. badge. Now you won’t have to waste time talking to me anymore.”

“Thanks,” I said, slipping the chain with the badge hanging from it around my neck. “But I don’t consider talking with you a waste of time. How’s your family?”

Her face lit up. “Great! Rich got called back for a second interview. Thanks for praying, Reverend. We sure could use the income.”

“When’s the interview?”

“Thursday at two.”

I pulled a notebook out of my purse, the one I use to keep track of people’s prayer requests, and jotted down the information. “Thursday. Two o’clock. I’ll be praying.”

When I got to the nurse’s station, I asked Trina to tell Margot I was there.

“You can tell her yourself, Reverend. She’s passed out on a sofa in the waiting room.” Trina, whose brisk, efficient manner masks a very tender heart, sighed. “I tried to convince her to go home and get a little sleep, but it was no good. Can you talk to her? She looks just awful.”

“I’ll do what I can. How is Olivia? Any change?”

“You know I can’t discuss a patient’s condition,” she scolded, “not even with you.”

A buzzer rang. Trina looked up and down the hall, searching for a white-uniformed subordinate. “What’s the point in being the charge nurse if there’s nobody to be in charge of?” she grumbled, getting to her feet.

“I can tell you one thing,” she said, looking over her shoulder before walking quickly down the corridor. “Three days ago, nobody would have given you odds on Olivia lasting out the night. But she’s still here. She’s a little fighter, that one. She just might end up surprising everybody.”

Margot was asleep on a vinyl sofa. She lay on her back with one arm crossed over her face to block out the fluorescent glare of the overhead light and the other drooped limply off the sofa cushion, dangling near the floor next to an empty bag of cheese puffs and a paper cup half-filled with cold coffee.

“Margot?” I whispered.

She jumped at the sound, her arms jerking as if she’d received an electric shock.

“I’m awake!” She sat up, blinking her eyes several times. “What is it? Is something wrong? How long have I been asleep? Why didn’t somebody wake me up?”

“It’s okay. Olivia’s fine. I brought you clean clothes and something to eat. Charlie baked you some cookies and made me promise to make you promise to eat them.” I lifted the paper grocery bag I was carrying.

“Thanks,” she said, blinking again. “I’m not hungry right now. What time is it?”

“Four-thirty.”

She really did look awful. Her hair was flat on one side and poufed out on the other. There were mascara smears under her eyes and a coffee stain on her sweater.

“Margot, go home for a few hours. You need to get some sleep.”

“I did get some sleep,” she said defensively, glancing down at her watch. “I just slept for three hours. I feel fine.”

I doubted she’d been asleep anywhere near that long, but I wasn’t there to start an argument. I tried another tack. “Your parents called me from the road. They’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

I had offered to arrange a service for Mari at the church, but the family didn’t want that. Instead, Werner and Lillian accompanied Mari’s remains on the seven-hour drive to Buffalo, where they had made arrangements for interment in a local cemetery and a brief private graveside service conducted by their hometown minister. Margot stayed in New Bern to watch over Olivia. Given the circumstances and the seriousness of Olivia’s condition, I suppose it made sense. However, I was concerned that Margot didn’t have a means of saying her farewells to her sister. Funerals aren’t for the dead, but for those who are left behind.

“When your parents get here, why don’t you go home for a little while? They could call if there is any change. You could be back here in ten minutes. I’m teaching a new members class tonight, but if it’d make you feel better, I could come to the hospital after.”

Margot shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “Thanks, but no. I’d never forgive myself if Olivia suddenly woke up and I wasn’t here. Or if she …” Margot stopped, refusing to give voice to her worst fears. “I’m not leaving.”

“Margot, you’re stubborn.”

“I never used to be, but when it comes to Olivia …” She shrugged, unable to explain this sudden personality shift.

“Maybe your maternal instincts are kicking in.”

“Maybe.”