Читать книгу Texas Mum - Roz Fox Denny - Страница 9
ОглавлениеDelaney’s flight home wasn’t a nonstop. When she landed in Miami, she checked her messages and found she had a voice mail from Dr. Avery. Her body went icy, then hot, then icy again. Her steps faltered as she searched for a semiquiet spot to listen.
“I’m sorry to bother you on your trip, Delaney,” the message started off. “Nickolas told me you would be home tonight. I have some information that will undoubtedly affect some of your plans. Dr. Von Claus contacted me with good news. His expansion grant was accepted. He wants Nickolas admitted in San Antonio, and he’s arranged for a bed as soon as we can fly Nickolas down. We spoke at length, and I agree it’s the best option for Nick. I took the liberty of lining up a medical flight for the two of you tomorrow afternoon. Of course it hinges on your approval.”
In spite of the butterflies in her stomach, Delaney quickly called him back. “This is Delaney,” she said when Dr. Avery answered.
“Goodness, are you back in town already?” he asked.
“No, I have a layover in Miami. Does this mean Nickolas won’t need a marrow transplant after all?”
“No, no. He must have a marrow donor. But Dr. Von Claus’s program has been successful in stimulating the patient’s energy, which lets his team lower the frequency of radiation. All of that will hopefully give you more time to find a marrow donor.”
“His father has reluctantly agreed to fly to Texas for blood tests.”
“That’s wonderful! I hadn’t received any test requests. So, he’s coming here, rather than being tested in Buenos Aires?”
“Yes, he wants DNA tests done first. It’s infuriating and humiliating.”
“I’m sorry, Delaney. Some men find it difficult to face hard truths.”
“That’s a nice way of saying he’s being a jerk.”
“Ah...well, it’s a matter of opinion, I suppose. And you’re entitled to your feelings. When is he arriving?”
“Dario needs a few days to wind up his business before he leaves Argentina. I’m not totally sure when he plans to get here.”
“I’ll alert Dr. Von Claus to prepare documents needed for all the tests. One thing in your favor, Delaney, with the larger facility in San Antonio, they have much greater access to labs. DNA results shouldn’t take long.”
“I guess that’s something. You know I’m for anything that has a shred of promise to help Nick get better. Please, arrange the transfer, Dr. Avery. I’ll sign authorizations tonight. It will be midnight or later, but I’ll come straight to the hospital from the airport.”
“I’ll leave the necessary release forms with the ward clerk on Nick’s floor.” He gave her a bit more information about the receiving hospital, then said, “Delaney, don’t be too hard on Nick’s father. Remember we want his cooperation. The old saying is you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
“I know. I really do know that.” It was just so disappointing that he didn’t believe her. Didn’t trust her. After she hung up, Delaney took several deep breaths. Then she scrolled to Maria Sofia’s number. She should have gotten a number from Dario when he contacted her at the hotel, but she’d been so irritated by his attitude that she’d forgotten to ask.
The girl answered on the second ring, but their connection had static. “Maria Sofia, this is Delaney Blair.”
“Are you still in Argentina?”
“No, I left Buenos Aires early this morning. I’m awaiting my connection in Miami. Could you give Dario a message? Nickolas’s doctors will be moving him to San Antonio tomorrow.” She gave the girl the name of the facility. “I hope Dario hasn’t already booked a flight to Lubbock.”
The connection was bad, but Delaney caught Maria Sofia’s promise to let Dario know right away. “Our call is breaking up,” Delaney said, plugging one ear and moving nearer to a window. “I’ll be in Lubbock around midnight, Texas time, should Dario want to check anything else with me. Otherwise it’s the same plan, just a different hospital in a different city. Adios.”
She still had time to call Nickolas.
“Mommy, where are you? Last night you said you’d see me today.” He sounded fretful. Delaney was racked with guilt for leaving him in the first place to go on a wild-goose chase. Although, if Dario turned out to be a match, it would be worth every minute of her time.
“I’m at the airport, honey. I’ll be boarding a plane soon, and that will bring me closer to you. Remember I told you last night I didn’t get to only fly on one plane to get home. I’ll see you tonight, but don’t try to stay up, because you need your rest, and it’ll be very late when I land. I’ll wake you up and let you know I’m there. I promise.”
“Did you buy me a present? Henry’s daddy came to see him today and brought him a Dallas Cowboys shirt. I want one.”
Delaney had been walking toward her gate, and it so happened there were gift shops galore. She checked her watch to make sure she had enough spare time to stop at one. “How about a Miami Dolphins shirt instead?” she asked, finding a table of kids’ shirts on sale right inside the door.
“Okay, I guess. Mommy...Henry asked where my daddy works. I told him I don’t got a daddy. He laughed and said everybody’s got one.”
Delaney’s heart seized for a moment as she waited in line to pay. Was it Murphy’s Law? Up to now she’d never needed to have this conversation with Nickolas. Henry was older than Nick, so it was understandable he might ask such questions.
“Nick, honey, Mama has to go board her plane. You be a good boy for the nurses, and I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?”
“Okay. Bye.”
She pocketed the phone, and paid for the shirt and tucked it into her carry-on. She’d never lied to Nick about the absence of his father. She had put off getting into it with him—waiting, she supposed, for when he went to school. Nick knew Zoey Bannerman had a dad, and yet he’d never asked her why he didn’t have one. The subject had never come up before. Now it had. Boy, howdy, just what she didn’t need—another problem to deal with.
More anxious than ever to get home, she forced her mind to things other than Nick’s absentee father.
San Antonio would provide a whole new block of prospective Latino donors. If things didn’t work out with Dario, she would need help arranging a recruitment event. She’d also need someone to drive her car to San Antonio, since she would fly with Nickolas. Maybe Jill Bannerman and Amanda Evers, her friends from La Mesa, would do that, and help her organize a campaign to register a new batch of prospective donors.
Her flight was called, temporarily stopping her planning. Delaney stood and gathered her things. Once boarded and settled, she got lost in thought again. It took a while, but she finally admitted she needed to feel as if she was doing something productive while she waited for Dario to be tested. Or with luck, maybe a stranger-donor would magically show up if she cast a wide enough net around San Antonio.
She tried to read one of her veterinary journals, but her mind skipped back to Dario, back to how good he had looked, back to how cold he had been. So, wouldn’t it be the perfect retribution to find a stranger donor and be able to tell Dario she no longer needed him?
Or not.
Deep down Delaney couldn’t help wishing he’d been someone she could lean on. Yes, she had done her best after he’d pulled his vanishing act to put him out of her mind. Of course he’d always lurked there. And now that he was back in the flesh, gosh darn it, he was stuck there. Her heart had a far more charitable opinion of him than her head did.
A few hours later when her flight landed in Lubbock, she was bone weary and champing at the bit to see Nickolas. Delaney retrieved her bags and rummaged in her suitcase for a sweater to ward off a nip of fall in the air. Nick had taken ill in late May, and here it was almost October. Oh, how she hoped he wouldn’t have to spend Halloween in the hospital. But that, too, was probably wishful thinking.
She arrived at the hospital after midnight. Per the hospital rules, she stopped at the main desk to check in. The night registrar knew her well, since she’d been there through Nick’s first bout with cancer, too. “Is everything all right with your son, Dr. Blair?” the woman asked. “Or did you go out for a breath of air before I came on shift?”
“I’ve been out of town for a couple of days, Marge. I know Nick will be asleep, but I promised him I’d come in when my flight arrived. I’ll probably spend the night at his bedside. Tomorrow he’s being transferred to San Antonio.”
The sympathetic clerk shot Delaney a look of concern.
“Nick’s doctor says it’s a positive move,” she assured the woman. At this small hospital, staff became like family.
“Then, that’s good,” the woman said. “Would you like me to have an orderly prepare you a cot?”
“Thanks, but the chair reclines. I don’t want to disturb his roommate.”
A harried-looking man entered the hospital and approached the desk, so Delaney waved and headed for the elevators. She rode up with a couple of tired-looking interns. They got off on the surgical floor. Delaney went up two more floors to the pediatric area, which split off into a variety of wings. She was all too familiar with the cancer ward.
At the nursing station she was again greeted like an old friend. One of Nick’s favorite nurses, a young, dark-haired and cherry-cheeked woman, smiled and handed Delaney a folder. “Dr. Avery said you’d be by quite late. After you check on Nickolas, if you’d like to go to the waiting room, look these over and sign where the doctor put red x’s, we should be able to get his transfer scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I hate to see him go, but professionally speaking, I hope they can help him make a full recovery.”
“You and me both, Jessie.” Delaney took the folder and tucked it under her arm. Glancing back, she said, “I’ll probably spend what’s left of the night. I’d appreciate it if someone can drop off a blanket.”
The nurse nodded, and Delaney went down the hall. She peeked in, then entered Nick’s room. She was always struck by how small he looked in the bed. One arm was hooked up to a hydration drip, and the other was curled tightly around his stuffed cow. She set the folder and her purse on the chair and riffled her fingers through his dark hair. Last time, chemo had left him nearly bald. This time they were using only radiation. It had other devastating effects, but he hadn’t lost his hair.
Was it her imagination or were his eyelids more translucent and bruised-looking? He seemed thinner, if possible, from when she’d left him. The radiation gave him stomachaches, and on the days he had the treatments, he didn’t eat. Was he wasting away before her eyes? Could Dario reverse it?
“Mommy?” Nickolas barely uttered the word, but his eyes, open now, looked large and dark in the soft glow of light that was always on behind the bed.
She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Shh. It’s very late, and we don’t want to disturb Henry.”
Nodding, he touched her face. “Did you bring my football shirt?”
“I have it. You can see it in the morning when there’s better light.”
“Okay. Will you stay?”
“Yes. I have to go sign some papers for Dr. Avery, but I’ll stay right here until after you go back to sleep. And I’ll be here when you wake up in the morning.”
He didn’t respond but grasped her hand, forcing her to perch awkwardly on the edge of the recliner. She watched his incredibly long eyelashes as his eyes slowly drifted shut. She loved him so much. Her heart was a lump of lead in her chest. Nick was incredibly trusting, as if he believed her very presence could make him better. If only that were true.
Sitting in the semidarkness amid the clicks, hums and beeps of the equipment monitoring her child’s vital signs, Delaney found herself praying that Dario would show up in San Antonio and his blood would be near enough a match to Nick’s to give their son a chance for a full recovery. So many times of late she had bargained with God for Nick’s life. She didn’t know what she had to give in exchange, but she’d put everything on the table.
Delaney brushed his warm little fingers with her thumb until his hand relaxed and dropped away from hers. Only then did she take the folder and go down to the empty waiting area. As a rule there were always anxious parents or other family members there, sitting in quiet groups, drinking coffee from the large industrial pot. Tonight she didn’t want coffee. But after reading the same paragraph several times without making sense of it, she rose and poured herself a cup. The aroma alone helped her digest the complicated content. She read to the end of the document, then sat and stared into space.
Her signature would permit Dr. Von Claus to place Nick in an experimental program where limited data suggested promise of beefing up his energy. As always there were risks. He might be allergic to the experimental cocktail of meds, for example.
Rising, she went to the sink and dumped what remained of her coffee. She remembered back to the boy her son had been after he’d gone into remission, before the fevers had returned with a vengeance. He’d been a normal, happy-go-lucky kid whose curiosity had seemed boundless. Now he was pale and wan, and intermittent fevers sapped his will to get out of bed.
Yawning, she paced around the table and massaged tight knots in her shoulders. If only she had family with whom to bat around the pros and cons of this offer. She hesitated to call it an opportunity, because all results from the study weren’t rosy.
Did she trust Dr. Von Claus and Dr. Avery? Without answering her own question, she picked up a pen and scribbled her name beside the red x’s. As a veterinarian there were times she’d given advice based on her gut instinct and sketchy evidence. Closing the folder, she took it back to Nurse Jessie. Then she took the thin blanket the nurse had scrounged up and hurried back to Nick’s room where she relaxed as best she could in the recliner.
* * *
A CRESCENT MOON and a few stars still adorned the lavender early morning sky when Dario exited the hacienda and tossed two suitcases into the back of his Range Rover. He was flying off to Texas, and he hadn’t slept much over the past several nights. His ears still rang from the daily battles with his father and his older brother, who also thought he ruled the roost now. Lorenzo had bowed out of the squabbles shortly after Delaney’s visit.
Dario thought about how much he disliked arguments, unlike the other hotheaded men in the Sanchez family. He’d tried to reason with them, then cajole them. He’d appealed to their sense of duty. Nothing swayed the old man or Vicente. During last night’s fracas at dinner, his father had threatened to have Benito Molina, the estancia attorney, strike Dario’s share in the hacienda and the business. Then Maria Sofia had waded in, demanding to know why she didn’t get an equal share of the family holdings, which opened a whole other debate. The three sons knew, of course, that su padre believed women should be taken care of by their father, brothers or husbands. Their little sister had her own strong views on that.
Hoping he could put the whole mess behind him while in Texas, Dario fastened his seat belt and thrust the key into the ignition. All at once the rear passenger door opened, and he saw a bag or two tossed in before the door slammed and he was plunged into darkness. Then the front passenger door opened, and Maria Sofia climbed in.
“What in the devil are you doing?” Dario roared.
“Going to Texas with you,” she said, settling into her seat. “We’d better hurry, or we could miss the flight.”
“We are not going anywhere. You, Maria Sofia, are staying here.”
She shook her head.
“Out.” He shooed at her with his right hand. “You don’t have a ticket, and even if I wanted to buy you one at the airport, even if there are spots available on both legs of my flight, Papa would skin us alive when we return.”
She pulled some papers from her shoulder bag and waved them under his nose. “I have tickets, Dayo. Papa paid, but he had Lorenzo book online for me.”
“Why? Why would Papa do that?”
“Drive, and I’ll tell you.”
Ribbons of sunlight had begun to lighten the sky overhead. Dario threw the Range Rover in gear. Only after they were through the gate did he ask, “So, did all of these big changes come about after I left the table last night?”
“Yes. Vicente would have no part of it. I could have done the booking myself. Papa is so provincial.” She shot Dario a grin that he didn’t return. “I think he caved because he’s afraid you’ll do something stupid, like marry Delaney Blair. And Lorenzo said, while I’m gone, Papa’s going hunting for some suitable man to take me off his hands. He’s near apoplectic at the thought of me wanting an equal share in the estancia.” She rolled her eyes. “Can you believe he still thinks arranged marriages are acceptable?”
Dario grunted and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“My mother would have never gone along with that idea.”
“I don’t know.” Dario shrugged. “My mother would have fought him tooth and nail. She was a firebrand. Your mother was a lady in every sense of the word. She loved Papa and catered to his every whim.”
“That’s so lame. Well, I’m not going to be coerced into marriage. And you’re a fine one to talk. You walk off instead of standing up to Papa and Vicente. I guess I can understand you taking heat from Papa. But what right does Vicente have to yell and get so angry at you for wanting to go see Delaney Blair?”
Dario shot her a veiled look. “Vicente loved someone when he wasn’t much older than you are now. They were engaged, and planning a big wedding. Soledad begged to go with them when he and Papa delivered bulls to a rancher in Wyoming, and then she ran off with a rodeo bull rider. Vicente says he’s over it, but he isn’t. It’s why he doesn’t work with the bulls, never makes deliveries and instead only handles the financial end.”
“How come I didn’t know any of that?”
“You were a toddler. And Vicente remains bitter. He holds his loss against all Americans. That’s why I didn’t fight with him about Delaney. He’s not going to change his mind.”
“That’s so unfair. Instead of holding a grudge, he should have found someone else to love.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Dario mumbled. They drove in silence as they entered the city and traffic picked up.
“I want to market our bulls,” Maria Sofia said, veering to a side topic.
“You what? Now, wait a minute.” Afraid of sounding too much like his father, he elected to bite back a remark hovering on the tip of his tongue, mainly that selling bulls was no job for a young woman.
“Would you stand up for me? Papa might listen to you.”
“Maria Sofia, I don’t think your years at a finicky girls’ school lays the groundwork to sell cantankerous bulls.”
“I don’t, either, which is why I took online courses in marketing from a reputable university, too.” She shot him a smile.
All he could do was laugh as he pulled the Range Rover into airport parking. “And that is something my mother would have done to outsmart my father. We’ll talk about some of your ideas later. I’m sure we’ll have downtime in San Antonio. Even if you convince me, you still have to get approval from Papa, Vicente and Lorenzo. We’re all equal partners, remember.”
“The fact you’ve said you’ll listen gives me hope, Dayo. I got all A’s in my marketing courses. The final paper I presented was based on our family operation. The professor said I showed ways to cut costs and increase sales by up to forty percent. I think money softens the hard heads of men like Vicente and Papa, don’t you?”
“As someone who’s still smarting from going three rounds with them and not winning, I’m in no position to offer help.” He parked and pocketed his key. “Let’s scramble. If the international check-in lines aren’t too long, we may have time for coffee. Here, let me get your bags. Do you have your passport?”
She nudged him away from the passenger door and crossed her eyes deliberately. “Stop being such a Sanchez. I’m capable of carrying my own bags.”
Dario drew back. “You don’t always have to flex your muscle to gain respect.”
“It seemed to me your respect for Delaney ticked up after she called you an ass and told all of us she was going back to Texas to find other donors.”
Lengthening his stride, Dario didn’t argue.
* * *
DELANEY FELT LOST in the larger city of San Antonio and in the bigger hospital. She was staying in a budget motel within walking distance of the hospital. It was noisy, but she thought it was safe.
Nick had become more fretful, too. Until he completed a full range of admitting examinations, he was in a private room. And the nurses, while competent, weren’t like the friends he’d left behind in Lubbock.
There hadn’t been any additional word from Dario, and that worried her.
Today was Saturday. Jill Bannerman was bringing Delaney’s car to San Antonio. Their friend Amanda Evers had had to go to Utah to see her father, who had fallen and broken his hip. Jill had had to wait until her husband, Mack, freed himself up from duties at their ranch to follow his wife to San Antonio in their vehicle.
Delaney had promised to meet them in the lobby of the sprawling hospital. She jumped up when she saw them.
Jill hugged her. Mack, his teenage daughter, Zoey, and Zoey’s best friend, Brandy, hung back.
“Can we see Nickolas?” Zoey asked. “Then Daddy’s going to take Brandy and me for a boat ride on the River Walk while you and Jill make plans for another campaign to round up donors. Is Nickolas worse?” the girl added worriedly.
Delaney hugged everyone before she answered. “He’s not worse, Zoey, but he’s no better. Doctors here have developed a new mix of meds we hope will keep the cancer from ravaging his strength. He’s been cranky since the move. Hopefully seeing you guys will add some sense of normalcy. Everything here is new and confusing to him. By the way, until they complete his initial tests, his visitors have to wear masks. You’ll see a box of disposable ones clipped to his door. There’s a trash bin outside to toss the used ones in when you leave.”
Brandy pointed to the rows of seats in the lobby. “Mr. B said I should wait here while he and Zoey visit Nickolas. He doesn’t know me as well as he knows Zoey. My mom said having so many visitors might be too much for him.”
Delaney took a second look at the two teens, who suddenly seemed less like kids and more grown up. “There’s a smaller waiting room on the fourth floor near Nick’s room. It’s quieter than here and has newer magazines. You can go up with Mack and Zoey and wait there. But, Brandy, he knows you well enough. I’m sure he’d love to see all of you. And you said you can’t stay long.”
“Is there a gift shop?” Zoey asked. “Dad said I could buy something for Nick here since, with homework and all, I didn’t have time to get anything in La Mesa.”
“Nick’s favorite toy is the stuffed cow you gave him, Zoey. Save your money for the shops along the River Walk.”
Mack Bannerman groaned. “Don’t tell them about the shops. I only promised the boat ride and lunch at one of the cafés that overlook the river.”
Jill, Mack’s first love and now new wife, patted his arm. “You big phony, we talked about how much the girls could spend on clothes in those cool shops.”
Chuckling, the handsome rancher bent and silenced his wife with a kiss. Delaney was glad that Mack had found such happiness, but she envied the loving relationship he and Jill had.
Jill playfully pushed her husband away. “You guys go see Nickolas. Do get him something from the gift shop. I need some time with Delaney. Touch base after you finish shopping with the girls on the River Walk. Then you can swing back and get me.” She picked up a large leather bag at her feet. “We’re going for coffee, and to discuss a plan for another donor drive.”
Mack and the girls waved and headed off, and Delaney ushered Jill to the steps that led down half a floor to the hospital coffee shop.
Jill patted her ever-present camera bag. “If we put a photo on the recruitment flyer of you and Nickolas, strangers will imagine themselves in your shoes.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to raise awareness in the Latino population here, but I also have to consider the cost. Printing a color flyer is considerably more expensive than a black-and-white text-only one like I used in La Mesa. I spent a small fortune on the trip to see Nick’s father.”
“But it resulted in him coming to be tested. That’s good, right? In fact, maybe you should wait until you see if he’s a match.”
“I gave that a lot of thought.” Delaney paused to fill two Styrofoam cups with coffee. She handed one to Jill and indicated where she could add cream and sugar.
Jill helped herself to a generous amount of both. Delaney, who drank her coffee black, led the way to a table for two tucked into a quiet corner.
Jill said as she sat, “I sense that you want to go ahead with this donor registry roundup. I don’t want to pry, but are you afraid Nick’s dad will back out? What is his name? I hate to keep referring to him as that guy.”
Delaney circled the rim of the steaming cup with one forefinger. “His name is Dario. Dario Sanchez. His family and friends call him Dayo. I did, too, during our short summer...affair, I guess you’d call it.” She frowned. “To be honest, Jill, I don’t know if he’ll back out.” She couldn’t hide her anguish from her friend seated across the small table. “Frankly I go back and forth between hoping he comes and that he’ll be a match, to worrying about other ramifications if he does. He was so different from the man I remember. His family, except for his half sister, is rude and controlling. Another big worry that one of Nick’s nurses in Lubbock brought up—what if Dario demands equal custody once he’s satisfied Nick is his son?”
“Is that likely? I mean, you said he’s involved with a family business in Argentina.”
“He is. But ask Mack to verify how charming and persuasive Dario can be. Mack bought a bull from him that summer, too. What nags me is the nurse was once married to a Latino. She said it’s a cultural thing for the men to especially want custody of their boys.”
“Heavens, you don’t need that.” Jill spun her cup a few times before taking another sip. “I never got to know my real father, and I’m a new stepmother myself. I can almost assure you that when Nick is older he’ll want some kind of relationship with his birth father.”
