“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” said Alice in a sob. Heather understood. There were too many “most-likely’s” and “probably’s” involved to comfort them. Shit, she wanted God Almighty to come down and assure her that Jane was going to be okay.
“And before you two say what’s coming next, she doesn’t want anyone to change their plans. She wants you,” Heather continued, looking at Alice, “to go home and deal with your family.” She looked over at Laurie. “And she wants you to keep your promise to visit your folks so you can come visit her,” she said with a slight break in her voice, “over Christmas when she’ll be back at home.”
“It’s not fair,” Laurie mumbled. “You get to go be with her.”
“That WAS my plan, so I’m not changing anything. It just means I have to drive to Dallas instead. Her parents and brother are already on their way.” None of the girls had met Jane’s family, though she spoke of them fondly and had pictures of them on her desk. Her parents were rich from both oil and cattle, and her older brother John was a broker on Wallstreet. He was married and had three kids. Jane absolutely adored her nephew and her two nieces. Heather had apparently hired a “local” man to look after the horses and ranch for a while.
“Promise me right now,” said Laurie in a strained voice, “that you will call me each and every single day to let me know how things are going. Otherwise . . . otherwise I’ll be really put out.” Heather smiled a tired smile and hugged her girlfriend before drawing Alice into the embrace as well.
————– ————–
A week later . . .
————– ————–
The next week went by agonizingly slow. Each of the girls felt as if her movements were restricted by mud and her vision was bound by fog. Laurie and Alice were both wanting to cancel their plans to go, but a second call from Freddie has reiterated Jane’s desire that they continue with their current plans, as well as the fact that the surgery would have begun long before they could make it down. Heather drove Alice to the bus stop on Friday afternoon the week before Thanksgiving, promising to call her. Then she took Laurie to the airport that evening. That parting was awkward for both of them. Not only because of the situation with Jane, but because it was the first time they would have been apart that long since they started dating. A number of kisses were exchanged just before Laurie boarded her flight. Heather made a joke about boarding “Plight 842,” referencing a verbal error she had made once down on the ranch. With her two friends on their ways home, Heather jumped in her car and headed for Dallas.
The trip was long and lonely, and finding the right hospital in the vast DFW metroplex was no small feat. Jane had gone into the OR that morning, a fact which weighed heavily on Heather’ mind the entire trip. When she hauled her tired and sore carcass into the visitor parking in the hours before dawn, she was only still moving due to the imbibing of a tremendous amount of black coffee. It occurred to her that visiting hours were long over, but maybe she could at least find out where Jane’s room was before finding some sort of accommodations. She staggered in the front doors, only to find Michelle sitting in the Lobby. The powerful woman seemed barely conscious when Heather wandered up and nudged her shoulder. Michelle’s eyes shot open under her ten-gallon hat. She looked up, saw Heather and almost crushed the young girl with a bear-like hug. Michelle’s eyes were blood-shot and she seemed pale.
“What happened?” Heather asked, even more concerned than before. “Jane . . .”
“The surgery went fine,” Michelle whispered, sinking back into her chair. Her hands were visibly trembling as she placed them against her face and rubbed her eyes. “The doctors sounded mighty confident about her recovery.” Heather sat down and put her arm over the woman’s shoulders as Michelle continued speaking. “Freddie went back to the hotel with her folks and her brother. I told ’em I’d wait here ’til you snuck in. Figured you’d come here first.”
“I didn’t even think about how late it would be.”
“She won’t be ready for visitors until day after tomorrow. Actually, I keep forgetting that today is tomorrow, so we can see her tomorrow. They want to keep an eye on ‘er today. But we . . . we’ll be able to watch her through the glass.” Heather moved to hold the muscular woman’s head as the tears began to fall. “Through the fuckin’ glass . . . ,” Michelle continued.
Heather had no idea what to do or say. Michelle had been as solid as a rock since she had met her, and seeing her vulnerable was a shock to the girl’s system. She was one of the most physically gifted and powerful women . . . hell, powerful PEOPLE she had ever met. But Michelle was helpless, and that feeling of helplessness was killing her. The hospital staff just wandered by. This sort of behavior was old news to them.
When Michelle had finally regained control, she pulled a handkerchief from her shirt pocket and blew noisily into it. Completely unrefined, that was the Michelle that Heather had come to know and love.
“Gawd,” Michelle muttered. “Think I’d never been in a hospital before, the way I was carryin’ on and such.”
Heather looked at her. “Listen, if there’s anything you want to talk about . . . I mean, I know you and Freddie have probably talked and all but . . .”
“She’s such a trooper,” Michelle said. “I don’t know why I’m such a mess. Doctors told me they’ve done this a million times. But I still worry . . .”
“You worry because it’s Jane and because you love her,” Heather said. “She’ll pull through just fine. You’ve got to believe that.”
“I do. Believe me I do,” Michelle said, staring off into space. “It’s just . . . Before the surgery, she called her lawyer in. She didn’t . . . doesn’t much care for lawyers, but this one is a stand-up kinda guy. She was so fuckin’ calm and poised. You know, like she always is. She called me in to be a witness when she signed her friggin’ last will and testament.” The big woman sniffed. “Ever seen somethin’ like that?” Heather could only shake her head, causing Michelle to go on. “Someone takes an ordinary piece of paper and writes down what they think their life is worth. It’s like making a deal with Death. How do you do somethin’ like that?”
“She did it now because she didn’t want you to have to deal with it later. I can’t even imagine how you feel right now, but even Jane won’t live forever.”
“I know,” said Michelle. “But it was different, you know? There’s a difference between knowin’ in your heart that everyone has to go someday and puttin’ it down in stone for the world to see. It was like I was signin’ away her life. And even though everyone’s sayin’ she’s gonna be fine, I keep thinkin’ back to that moment.”
Heather hugged her friend again and kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s get you back to the hotel. Freddie’s probably worried sick about you.” With that, she led Michelle out of the hospital lobby.
—————– ———————
After a morning’s sleep . . .
—————– ———————
Coming back that afternoon was hard for Heather. Their access to Jane was limited, only being able to see her through a glass window. But Heather also found herself almost relieved. The woman didn’t seem to look as bad as she had been expecting. You never would have convinced Freddie and Michelle of that as they pestered every doctor or nurse that wandered by about what was going on. Heather was actually worried that Michelle was going to hurt the anesthesiologist for not knowing something completely unrelated to his field. Luckily Freddie was able to get her calmed down before security had to be called. Michelle eventually apologized, and the man proved to be a good sport.
When Heather arrived, she met Jane’s family for the first time. Her parents were actually very sweet people in their sixties who rarely left sight of their only daughter. They did take the time to thank Heather for driving down, but spent most of their time discussing medical and other matters with Michelle and Freddie. Heather thought it was funny to watch. Jane might not have been married to either of her girlfriends, but the group treated each other like in-laws. Heather used a calling card to get a hold of Alice and Laurie to let them know how things were going. Heather promised to call them every day, or if anything changed.
Subsequent looks showed no trace of the tumor, and Jane’s health was slowly but steadily improving. She wasn’t really conscious yet, but the doctors had warned them all that such would be the case. They didn’t want her coming out too rapidly after that kind of surgery. With Heather and Freddie focused on Jane, Heather spent a lot of time talking with Jane’s brother. John was considerably more laid-back than she expected him to be. She had heard that those Wallstreet types were nothing but nerves. John was a big guy, six feet four and built like a linebacker, which he had indeed been back in college. The two of them spent a lot of time in the hospital cafeteria, throwing back the strongest coffee the hospital staff could brew and talking about everything from cars to financial advice.
“Got a question for you,” said Heather.
“Shoot.”
“What was she like as a kid? Jane I mean? Seriously, was she just born brilliant or what?”
John grinned. “You noticed that too? Imagine how I felt. My baby sister graduated high school before I did. Think I didn’t get teased about that?” They shared a laugh. “Yeah, actually I think she was born smart. She had the whole ‘Santa Clause isn’t real’ thing figured while most kids were still writing letters to the North Pole. She was always a reading level or two or three ahead of anyone else in her classes. But she loved to play too. She was one of the meanest kickball players I’ve ever seen. But even then, she was thinking about the strategy of the game. This was in elementary school. And she always had a small group of friends that followed her around like she was the messiah or something.”
“Yeah, like that’s changed,” said Heather, her voice dripping with sarcasm.