Souls' Rescue Part 12

"Yeah." Talia said, putting emphasis on the word. "So, you need to find your mom?"

"Oh, I just found her." Kelly said something, but her voice sounded m.u.f.fled. "She's been standing behind me the whole time. She's a professional eavesdropper, and it's killing her not to hear our conversation."

Talia joined in the laughter. "She should meet my mother. They could trade secrets."

"I bet."

"Now that I've found Mom I best get her to some food."

"Talk to you soon?"

"It's a deal, babe. Bye."

"Bye."

Talia folded her cell phone closed and placed it on the bed next to her hip. Her door opened and a young woman placed a tray on the table beside her bed. Talia tried to hide her disappointment when she lifted the lid on the plate. It looked like eggs, smelled a little like eggs, but she was pretty sure that scrambled eggs weren't supposed to be runny. She sighed and put the lid back on. The food wasn't entirely bad here, but a lot of it wasn't very good either. She wondered if her body would be whittled down to a thin stick by the time they released her. Hospital Weight Loss Program.

"Where's Jacob when I need him?"

Her best friend popped his head into the room. "You rang?"

"If you have a bagel in that bag you're holding I'll give you my firstborn."

Jacob laughed heartily. "Honey, you know d.a.m.n well neither of us is parenting material." He tossed a small brown bag onto her lap and pulled the food tray away from her. "Eat up. You can put me in your will."

"Oh sure," Talia said between bites of the warm, raisin bagel. "I'll leave you my hundreds of dollars."

"Humph. Might be a bit more than that before too long." Jacob made himself comfortable on the edge of her bed. "So, any word from the cute redhead?"

"Her name is Kelly."

"Any news from Miss Kelly?"

"We just got off the phone."

"Good. I figured if you hadn't heard from her by this evening I'd call her myself."

"And what would you have said to her?"

"I'd have asked her when she's going to ravage you."

"Jacob!"

"Someone's got to pop the question."

"Don't you dare!"

He waved the comment away. "So, is the little hottie enjoying her cruise?"

"Yes, she is." Talia reached into the bag for another bagel. "Stop being so nosy. If anything of importance happens I'll let you know."

"You better. My own life is way too boring. I need to hear about yours so I can live vicariously."

"You want to be in a hospital with a broken leg, not to mention all the internal problems?"

"No." He tapped her good leg playfully. "I want a gorgeous redhead sitting by my side watching my every move and ready to jump on me the moment I snap my fingers." He snapped his fingers to demonstrate. "That's what I want."

"Yeah, me, too." She winked at him and finished off the bagel. "Got any more?"

"Women." He handed her another bag. "Never satisfied."

THE PICKUP AREA at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport was crowded with people, and Kelly had a tough time finding Scott's truck. She'd called him when they left baggage claim, but with all the traffic she wondered if he'd even see them.

The afternoon sun shone brightly, and the moment Kelly stepped out of the airport, and was smacked in the face by a wave of sweaty humidity. "Ick. Can't we go back to the Caribbean?"

Marina said, "Not if you want to see Talia and make sure her surgery went well."

"You sure know how to put reality into a fantasy, Ma."

"Just doing my job."

Kelly spotted Scott and flagged him down. He parked his red Ford F-350, got out, and gave Marina and Kelly hugs. "I don't remember you having so much luggage when you two left," he said as he loaded their belongings into the back of his truck. "And I know they weren't this heavy."

"Sorry you're such a weak and dainty man, Scott." Marina squeezed his bicep and winked at him. "Maybe we ought to call a porter to help you, little fellow."

"Why did I agree to pick you two up?"

"Because you're nice." Kelly tossed in a small gym bag, finishing off their stack of baggage. "Besides, a guy your age has trouble picking up women. All this brute effort and muscle-flexing is good for your image."

"Hmm. When did thirty-nine get old?"

"The same time that fifty-eight did," Marina said.

Scott pretended to inspect his truck tires. "I think the rear is riding kinda low now. I'll have to take your stuff home and come get you two later."

"Scott Sanderson, get in the truck and take us home like a good boy," Marina called from the front pa.s.senger seat.

Kelly giggled as Scott obediently got behind the wheel. "Wow. You jump pretty high for her, and she's not even your mother."

"She's a mother. That's enough."

Marina patted him on the head. "Good boy."

Kelly settled into the truck's rear seat and listened to her mother babble about their trip. The cruise had been fun and relaxing, but now she ached to see Talia, and she knew she wouldn't get to until after dinner, now that her mother had asked him to stay.

There had been something tugging at the back of her mind all day. She hadn't heard from Talia after the surgery and had left more messages on her voice mail. She'd even tried to call Jacob, but had to leave messages for him, too. She felt edgy and worried, but tried to put her concerns aside for the time being.

At home, Scott placed the last of the bags in the front hall of the McCoy home and wandered into the kitchen, making a show of sitting heavily into a chair at the table. "I'm beat."

Kelly followed him. "You're the biggest pu-"

"I will wash that mouth out with soap," her mother said, "if you say that word, young lady."

Kelly closed her mouth, and Scott triumphantly stuck his tongue out at her. She said, "Wimp. You didn't have to lug all that stuff across two airports."

"Neither did you," Marina said. "You pushed the cart, Kelly. I hardly count that as 'lugging'."

"I had to load and unload it. A lot." Kelly persisted, smacking the back of Scott's head when he stuck his tongue out again.

"Hey!" Scott said.

"Knock it off you two."

"He started it!"

"She started it!" They broke into laughter.

Marina gathered some food from the cabinets to prepare their dinner . "I raise one child and end up with two. How?"

"Because you're so good with children." Scott rose and kissed her on the cheek. "That's why you adopted me."

"I adopted you under protest." She swatted him with a spatula. "Go get cleaned up. Both of you. I'll not have you eating my food when you're dirty."

"Yes, mom," they chorused and raced each other to the bathroom.

When dinner was finished, Scott helped Kelly with the dishes, then they made their way to the back porch. Kelly kept looking at her watch, hoping Scott would hurry up and leave. She wanted nothing more than to get in the car and race over to the hospital to check on Talia. Instead, she felt she needed to be polite as she listened to him recounting stationhouse politics and recent rescues. After a while, Kelly rose and came back with sodas.

"Hey," he said, "I saw all those beers in the fridge. I'm legal to drink, you know?"

"Yeah, and you're driving home, remember?"

Scott opened the bottle and took a drink. "So, have you talked to Talia since you got back?"

"Scott, you've been with me the whole time I've been home. Have you seen me talking to her?"

"No, but you could have done it before you got to baggage claim at the airport. Or maybe you could have snuck off to the bathroom to call her."

"I don't need to sneak off."

"You do if you don't want your mom to hear your conversation."

"True, but I haven't called. I'm thinking I'll sneak in later and check on her."

Scott reached over and slipped the cell phone from the clip on Kelly's belt. "Here." He handed it to her. "Call. Talk."

"I left her messages earlier. She might be asleep."

"Then call the nurses' station. You can at least find out how she's doing."

Kelly dialed the number and spoke to a nurse. The call was brief and when she closed her cell phone she felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Her face must have given away her feelings, because Scott had hold of her arm and was talking to her.

"Dammit, Kel, tell me what's going on?"

"They took her leg." Her voice sounded distant and flat, like it wasn't coming from her own mouth.

"But didn't you expect that? I thought you said the docs weren't thinking they could save it."

"Yeah, that's what they said. But Talia was so sure it wasn't going to happen. And I wasn't there with her when she woke up. G.o.d, Scott, I should have been at her side. And the nurse specifically said no visitors now. Talia is being closely monitored in ICU in wake of the surgery."

"Oh, man, that sucks, Kel." Scott said. "But hang tight. You'll see her first thing in the morning. I'll go with you if you want me to."

Could she feel any worse? And she didn't think she could possibly stop the internal turmoil until she actually saw Talia and a.s.sured herself that she was all right. "I think I'd like that. I don't want to run across her mother by myself."

Scott hugged her tightly. "I got your back. You know that."

Kelly extricated herself, went into the kitchen, and came back with a cold beer in hand.

"Hey, that's not fair."

"You have to drive. I, on the other hand, get to stay home now." She took a swig. "Good thing I've got more."

Chapter Fifteen.

THE PAIN WOKE Talia long before the sun had risen. She wanted to call for a nurse, but didn't want any more of the narcotics that had kept her in a stupor since the surgery. Had it been two days now? Her mind was so cloudy she couldn't be sure.

The room she was in was different, smaller, and two walls were windows with the shades drawn. The door was open and she could hear beeping and hushed voices.

She looked at her bedside table for her cell phone. She needed to call Kelly, but she had no idea where her phone was. A pink water pitcher and a box of tissues were the only items on the table. The hospital phone was gone too. She needed to hear Kelly's voice and know that everything would be okay. Talia had to make sure Kelly wouldn't leave her now that she was-was what? Crippled? Maimed? How could she describe it? This was a h.e.l.l of a way to lose weight. That thought made her laugh bitterly through the tears that suddenly misted her eyes.

She grabbed the tissues and threw the box across the room. The action did nothing to satisfy her and made her belly hurt like h.e.l.l. She was still tender from her internal surgeries, and now had to contend with losing a leg.

And maybe losing Kelly, too.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she angrily wiped them away, but that didn't stop them from coming. She couldn't stop looking at how the blanket was flat where her leg should be.

"How can my leg be gone?" she said to the empty room. "I can feel it. I know it's there, but when I look for it-"

"Talia?" The soft-spoken voice startled her and Talia looked to the doorway. Dr. Lin, a slim Asian woman with light footsteps, came into the room. She had her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat and a smile that was way too cheery for the early hour.

"Dr. Lin, why can I still feel my leg?" Talia pointed needlessly to the missing appendage. "And it hurts. What's going on? And why am I in a new room?"