Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (37 page)

“How we
doing this morning?”

I forced one eye
half-
open. “E
vely
n?” What happened?
I
remembered
shots
fired and recalled my leg.
A deep breath increased the pain, and my words were choppy.
“W
hat’s with this chest pain
?
What’s
goi
ng on?”

Th
r
ough blurred vision
,
I watched
Evelyn inject something
into the IV
line
. “Y
ou’ll feel better in a jiffy
. I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes.”
Questions unanswered, she was gone.

T
he heaviness
on my chest
eas
ed up.
I
f my mind wasn’t
playing tricks on me
,
Maggie and
Sam
were staring
at me from the doorway.
T
hey tiptoed
closer.
Maggie touched my arm
. “You were shot in the chest and in the leg
last night
. You’re going to be fine.
Sam
’s here
,
too.”

“
Logan
,
I’m rig
ht here
.”
How did
a sick man
still have a soft voice send shock waves through him?
Sam
st
arted to take m
y hand and pulled
away. I tried
to lift my hand but it felt like
a lead
weight on
the end of my arm.

A
shoe squeak signaled
Evelyn
’s
return
. “Okay, visiting time’
s up.
”

“We can
sit—
”

“Doc’s orders. Every
one out.
” Evelyn placed
a
blood pressure
cuff on my arm. “R
est
,
and you’ll be
up a whole lot sooner
.”

I discovered I hated a
cheerful voice when I felt like
I’d been beaten up by that Chuck guy and Arnol
d—w
hat’s his name
? “W
hat’s the prognosis?”

“Doc will be
later
, to answer
your questions.
If you need the bedpan
,
push this
button.” She handed me a
p
lastic gadget
attached to a cord
.

“
I’m perfectly able to walk down the hall.”

“You can’t get out o
f bed until Doc gives the okay.
Call
me
if you need anything.”

“Great
.
I’ve
been assigned Nurse
Ratched
.” Evelyn tossed a grin
over her shoulder.
She
had no sooner
left than
I
heard footsteps—m
inus the squeak.

“Shh. I’m not suppose
d
to be in here.”

Were the meds playing tricks or was
Sam
actually
here? Whichever,
it was
my
kind of
a
dream.

She
slipped
her fingers through my hair and leaned closer.
Her tears fell
on
to the sheet. “You
scared
me—I
could have lost you last night.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”
I touched the
wet tracks on her cheeks.

She
whispered
a kiss across
my lips. “I need to go before I get thrown out again.”

“Take care of Maggi
e.” Not sure she caught it, but
she
had
smiled and glanced back bef
ore leaving the room. My pulse reacted
—
definitely
a good sign.

I
slept
after
Sam
left
, only to wake up
to Doc’s deep gravelly
voice and Eve
lyn’s inherently
efficient one
.

“Good
. Y
ou’re awake.”
Doc r
aised
my
eyelid
s
and
shone
a light in each eye. “How’s the pain level?”

“
M
ac
k
truck’
s gone
. Not
up to
run
ning
marathons.” I attempted
to scoot up
higher in the
bed—bad idea.

Doc
touched
my shoulder. “Take it easy. We’ll have you u
p later this evening.”

“When can I go home?”

“Typical.”
Evelyn chuckled.

Doc
flipped through the pages of my chart
. “F
ive. S
ix days. N
eed to watch for complications
and
swelling.
You took a nasty hit
to the chest.
”

“My leg—i
s it—
?” My body tensed
,
increasing the pain
.

“It’ll be s
ore for
a while. Might limp a few weeks
.” Doc flip
ped
my chart closed and handed it to Evelyn
. I’d watched him do this often
—my first
time
as
the patient—I didn’t want to make it a habit.

Evelyn straightened my blankets
. “Maggie and
Samantha
are waiting to see you. This will be their last visit for today. An
d don’t think I missed
Samantha
sneaking in earli
er—even I can’t interfere with—
” She let
the
words hang
and
I didn’t encourage her
.
I heard heavier footsteps and looked up.

“Hey,
Logan
,
” Pastor Jim called as he came in
to the room
and
dragged a chair closer to the
bed.

“Hello
,
Pastor
.
” Evelyn greeted my visitor
and
strolled
out of the room.

“The whole church is
praying for you.”
He crossed one leg over the other and held his Bible on his knee.
“We held a special prayer service, a
s soon as we heard
.”

“Appreciate the prayers. Not sure I’m on His good list.”

“God doesn’t quit on us
,
son
. We
may give up on Him for a season—He never gives up on us.
Have you thought your life may have been
spared for a reason?” He raised
his B
ible. “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

“Sorry, Pastor,
I’m running
short on faith
today
.
”

“I have orders to
keep my
vi
sit short. May
I pray with you?” He didn’t leave
space for a reply. “Father, we come b
efore Y
ou with thankful hearts.
Lord,
I
pray
that You restore Y
our servant
to perfect health. T
here is
a reason Y
ou chose to spare
Logan’s
life. Please reveal Your
purpose to him. Amen.” He shook m
y hand. “I’ll drop by again tomorrow
.”
I’m sure he knew he’d left behind questions
—ones not
eas
ily
answer
ed
.

C
hapter Thirty
-on
e

Too
many pieces o
f the puzzle remain elusive
. It’s difficult
hold
ing
on to the
ones
I
have
because the unknown overshadows the known.
Logan
’s
coming home tomorrow
—
that’s a good thing.
I’m eager to spend time with him.
The more I stress
to make sense of my
kaleidoscope
thoughts, the more they feel
like random craziness
.
~
Jour
nal e
ntry

“Come on
,
baby
. We’re picking up Maggie and m
aking sure everything’s ready
for
Logan
’s homecoming.”
Goldie
caught
my excitement
, and
jumped
into the SUV
,
whipping
her tail
against the seat.

T
he
drive along the
coast
worked its magic
. Thick
cumulus clouds hung l
ow
ove
r a
penetrating
blue
sky, w
hile t
he sea
filled the air with its
tangy smells.
Overhead, a
flock of seagulls flew
in formation
.
I pulled off the road and grabbed my camera. I
adjusted the lens and
quickly snap
ped a few shots—hoping for a great
one
I could
interpret
with a brush and canvas. We hurried back into the SUV
,
knowing Maggie was waiting.

La Dama De Blanca
appeared
. W
ith minimal effort
,
it could
touch the
whipped cream mounds
floating above
.
I rounded the curve and veered
i
nto the
herringbone
driveway leading
to
the
Lady in White
.
Maggie
waited
with her bag hooked
over one shoulder. I hurried to hel
p her load the bas
kets sitting
at
her feet.

“You’ve been busy. All of this from someone who claims she can’t
cook.”
The aroma of fresh baked bread tantalized
my stomach
—I realized I hadn’
t
bothered with breakfast
. “T
hese sweet aromas
are making me hungry.”

She handed me a
turnover as she scooted into the passenger seat. “Fresh from the oven.”

One taste,
I
almost
purred with delight. “Oh, this is good.” I
savored the sweet, juicy apples inside a tender crust.
I wiped smudges from the corners of my mouth
and licked
syrupy cinnamon
from
the tip of my
finger.

She placed
a drink
in the cup holder.
I slurped the warm
liquid
and
reversed out of her dri
veway
.
“Actually
,
I
baked Logan some of his childhood favorites. Dorthea, his housekeeper
,
wouldn’t be happy if I tried to interfere with the cooking. She adores Logan.”

We arrived
and unloaded
. Logan’s guesthouse, which he preferred over the main house,
was
the b
est place
for him to recoup
.
The
steps up to Maggie’s porch
would’ve
been
too
difficult to ma
neuver with an injured leg.
I
’d
take the day
shift a
nd she
would
take
night
s
.
Maggie
swep
t from room to room
,
inspecting minuscule details.