Authors: Ruth Ann Hixson
"I could have told you that much," Linda responded as she helped Sherry sit up after she regained consciousness.
"I can't go to the ER," Sherry said, still shaking. "I don't have a job anymore and I don't have insurance."
"We'll worry about that later," Chad said. "Are you going to walk out to the car or do you want me to carry you?"
"I'll walk," Sherry said. The tears were flowing again.
Chad helped her to her feet and supported her as they walked to the car while Linda put the kitten in the breezeway and locked the door. "I got her purse so we can get in when we bring her home."
"If," Chad said. "They might admit her."
"I can't stay," Sherry wailed. "Who will take care of Mitzi?"
"Keep talking," Chad advised. "It will help keep you rational." He helped her into the car's back seat and buckled her seat belt.
Linda put her purse and Sherry's on the passenger side front seat and went around to get in the back seat with Sherry. "You needn't drive like you're in hot pursuit. I want to get there in one piece."
Chad took a red light from the console between the front seats and stuck it on the dash. "I can get away with driving fast." He plugged the light into the cigarette lighter and backed out of the driveway. Once he got on the four lane, he pushed the pedal to the floor.
There was a roll of paper towels on the back floorboard so Linda tore off a few and gave them to Sherry to soak up her tears. If she wasn't restrained by her seatbelt, she would have put her arms around Sherry to comfort her but she deemed the seatbelt necessary as fast as Chad drove.
"I've picked up a tail," Chad said as his cell phone began ringing. He tossed it in the back seat. "Answer that."
"Hello, this is Linda Franquet."
"I want to talk to Chad," said the male voice on the phone.
"He wants to keep both hands on the wheel."
"What's going on?"
"We're taking a girl to the ER. She's really bad."
"Tell him to let me ahead," came the reply. "I'll clear a path for him."
Linda relayed the message to Chad who pulled over to the right lane as a state police car rocketed around him. Then he pulled back into the left lane following the car that had the lights flashing and siren wailing.
The cell phone rang again. "I'll leave you at the off ramp." The lights quit flashing as the trooper pulled into the right lane followed by Chad who took the off ramp.
"When we get to the hospital, you get in there real quick and get a wheelchair," Chad ordered Linda. "I'll take her in while you park the car."
When he lifted Sherry from the car and set her in the wheelchair, she was blubbering incoherently and shaking violently. Chad wheeled her right into the ER without stopping to check in. "I got a girl here that needs immediate attention!" he called to no one in particular.
A nurse came over. "You were in here this afternoon to talk to that accident victim. Do you like it here?"
"I got a girl with post traumatic stress. She needs help now. Where do you want her?"
"One of the private rooms just opened up. Follow me." She led him across a hallway to a room with one gurney in it. "You can go out to the waiting room while I get her undressed and into a gown."
Chad grinned at her. "I'm a state trooper. I've seen naked women before. Nothing surprises me anymore. How about I just turn my back for the sake of Sherry's modesty?" He turned around.
"Has anyone signed her in?" the nurse asked.
"My fiancee is supposed to do that," he replied.
"Do you know what brought this on?" the nurse asked.
"I don't know for sure but I have a pretty good guess. We were talking about her mother."
"You can turn around now," the nurse told Chad. He went to Sherry and took her hand.
"Her lies..." she became incoherent as she began sobbing harder. "Oh, Daddy. Where are you?" she moaned. "I need you."
"Do you know how to get in touch with her father?" the nurse asked.
"I don't even know who her father is," Chad replied. "Neither does she. Only two people know that. Her mother and her father."
"I'll get a doctor in here. Make sure she stays on the gurney."
"If you find my fiancee, let her know where I am."
A woman in a white coat entered the room. "I'm Dr. Brighten," she said. "I just saw her this afternoon. What has happened?"
"She's been through a lot," Chad informed her. "This is the second breakdown in a week. The first time she didn't come to the ER because she doesn't have insurance. Rose Dale was helping her get through it."
The door opened and Rose walked in. "Your timing is impeccable," the doctor said.
Rose walked over as Chad stepped away. "What happened, honey?" she asked Sherry taking her hand.
"Mom...Mom." Sherry couldn't speak clearly for crying.
"I'll get her a sedative to calm her down." Dr. Brighton left the room.
"We were talking about her mother and all at once she started crying and shaking," Chad explained.
"This all goes back to the lies her mother told her about why she took her away from the grandmother she loved. Her mother told her that it was to keep her from being molested. Then she found out that her mother left here one step ahead of an arrest warrant. All that she's been through the past fourteen years goes back to that one lie."
"Even more," Chad interposed. "It goes back to the lie her mother told about Mark touching her inappropriately."
Rose smiled. "She's in love with Mark even if she won't admit it even to herself."
Dr. Brighton came back with a syringe. "You'll feel a little pinch."
"No! No!" Sherry cried trying to pull away.
Chad put his hands on her shoulders to hold her down. Rose held her hands while the doctor injected the medicine.
"She should calm down in a couple of minutes. You're in early tonight, aren't you Rose?"
"Um-hmm. I came in because of Sherry. She's a special project of mine. I'm counseling her through this bad time. This breakdown is a result of the accumulative effect of her mother's lies and what she's been through with Elena Bayshore."
"Add to that her losing her job because of Elena," Chad interjected.
"Are you licensed for counseling?" the doctor asked Rose.
"Let's change that to mentoring. You don't need a license to be a mentor. Without her father and with her mother on the run, she needs someone to lean on. I'm just helping her over the rough spots."
After the injection took effect, Sherry became calm and coherent. "Please don't let them keep me," she pleaded with Rose. "I need to be in my own home."
"I understand, sweetie. But you can't be alone. Not after this episode."
"Linda can stay with her," Chad volunteered. "If she can't, I will. That might raise a few eyebrows but I don't care. I'm pretty sure Linda will stay."
"How do you feel now?" Dr. Brighton asked.
"A little drowsy. I'm sorry for causing such a fuss." Sherry mopped at her tears with a tissue. "Please don't admit me. I have a little kitten at home. She needs to be taken care of."
"You can't be alone until we find out how you come through this. I'm strongly in favor admitting you."
"No!" Sherry insisted. "You can't admit me if I don't want you to, can you?"
"You can go home but you can't be alone. Do you have someone to stay with you?"
Sherry looked up at Chad. "He said Linda can stay."
"All right but I need to give you another injection. The first one was to calm you down. This one will make you sleep."
"Do I really need it?"
The doctor nodded. "You need it."
Sherry didn't object. "I'll be asleep by the time we get home. How will I get in the house?"
"You let us worry about that," Chad answered.
Going up the highway Linda addressed that problem. "I'll have to go home to get my car so I can go to work in the morning. If you stay home, how will I get her in the house? She's already asleep. I can't carry her in."
"Call Frank Blakely and ask him to come over to carry her in. He seems to care a lot about Sherry. I wonder..."
"You wonder what?"
"I think I better keep my trap shut. At least for now. I'll put Frank's home number in your cell phone. It's past eleven o'clock. They will be in bed by now."
Chapter 16
When Linda pulled her yellow Ford in Sherry's driveway, she pushed the button on her cell phone to call Frank. Jan answered after four rings. "H'lo."
"This is Linda Franquet. I need to talk to Frank."
"Why?" Jan thought it odd that Linda would be calling that late. It surely couldn't be good.
"Chad and I had Sherry down to the ER tonight. The doctor gave her a couple of shots. She's sleeping. I need Frank to carry her in the house for me."
"Why not Mark? He's younger." Jan reached over to turn on her bedside lamp.
"If Mark comes over I'll never get him back out of the house. I don't want Sherry freaking out again if she wakes up and Mark's in bed with her."
Jan chuckled. "I understand." She shook Frank by the shoulder.
"Whaddaya want?"
"Linda wants to talk to you."
He frowned but took the phone. After a couple of "Uh-ha's" he gave the receiver back to Jan. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, yawning. He pulled on his pants, put on his shoes and ambled off to the bathroom.
He found Linda standing beside her car. Lights were on outside and inside the house but she had told Frank she would unlock the doors and turn on the lights. Sherry was sound asleep on the passenger side front seat. He opened the car door and unfastened the seat belt. "Go open the door for me."
He lifted Sherry and carried her inside while Linda held the storm door open. "Where's her bed?"
"Over where the living room should be." Linda followed along behind him to turn back the comforter. After he laid Sherry down, Linda took off Sherry's shoes and pulled the comforter over her. Before she turned off the light, she took the brown duvet and two pillows from the pile of Alison's belongings and carried them to the daybed. "I guess this is where I sleep tonight."
She found Frank perched on the milk can in the kitchen drinking a cup of cold coffee. "What happened?" he asked.
Linda sat down at the table. "Post traumatic stress is the official diagnosis. Chad was telling her about not being able to find her mother and all at once she began crying and shaking. She ran in the bathroom and threw up. Then she fainted. Chad called Rose and she said take her to the ER. She even went in to work early to be there."
"She's that type of person," Frank observed. "Carl Dale is a lucky man. Are you going to be here tomorrow?"
"I have to go to work unless she's really bad."
"I'll check in on her. I'd guess she's past that I-don't-want-the-Blakelys-around attitude. She can't do any worse than put me out like she did last week."
"She got fired from her job today," Linda informed him.
"Poor kid. We'll take care of her. Have a good night." He went out to his truck debating whether to tell Mark. Mark would want to move in with her and that would only make matters worse. "I'll think about it in the morning. I need to get some sleep."
****
While Frank went about the work of washing the milkers, he thought about Sherry. She had been a happy young woman when she arrived there three weeks ago. No wonder she crashed with Elena trying to kill her and her mother causing trouble. Mark didn't help matters any.
Alison had been causing trouble ever since he'd known her as a teenager right after her parents bought the house from him. But he just couldn't go back to live there after Julie was killed. So he sold the house and moved in with his parents. He needed someone to mind Mark while he worked. His heart ached so bad he'd taken to drinking. Until one morning he'd come in so slopped up he couldn't help with the milking.
His mother had smacked him around good and told him to shape up or get out. "You have a son to raise. He's already motherless. Will you make him fatherless, too?"
It took some time but he eventually learned to live with being a widower with a small son. He still got choked up when he thought about Julie and how she'd died. He had a constant reminder of how beautiful she was. All he had to do was look at Mark. The boy had his mother's looks but his father's temperament.
Frank hung up the plastic apron and headed for the house. He wanted to get over to Sherry's. He opened the fridge and found that Jan had already anticipated that he would be taking Sherry breakfast. A note was propped against a pint jar of milk. FOR SHERRY. Beside it was a dish with five eggs. Between them was a slice of ham in a plastic sandwich bag.
He put the ham slice in his jacket pocket, tucked the jar between his left arm and his body and carried the dish of eggs in his left hand leaving his right hand free to open the door. "You have to stay home, Laddie," he told the dog as he followed his master to the truck. He put the jar and eggs on the passenger side and climbed in.
In order to unlock Sherry's door, he had to hold the storm door open with his shoulder, and balance the eggs on top of the jar of milk as he poked the key in the slot and turned it. Before he could step inside, Laddie pushed ahead of him. "What are you doing here?" Frank demanded as he grabbed the dish of eggs before they tumbled to the floor.
The kitchen door stood open so Laddie ran right in. Frank followed, closing the door. "Go wake Sherry," he told the dog as he set his fragile cargo on the counter and took off his jacket. "Cool in here," he murmured. "We've got get her some heat."
Sherry shuffled sleepy eyed into the kitchen with Laddie ahead of her. "I don't know which is worse; being woke up by a fuzzy kitten in my face or by a dog's cold nose. Where'd Mitzi go? Laddie scared her."
Frank turned with a grin on his face. "Look under the table. That's where Laddie's attention is."
Sherry grabbed Laddie's collar and pulled him along to the bathroom where she pushed him in and closed the door. "I'm not crawling under the table to get you," she told the kitten. She took a small can of cat food from the pantry, popped the lid on it and scraped the food onto a saucer. She held it down for Mitzi to see. "Here kitty."