You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (39 page)

He’d known this man and his whole family all of his life. He’d even sat at John Randall’s kitchen table for supper many times. So he owed them that much. He was talking to John not as a doctor but as his friend.

“I’m having her prepped for an emergency C-section right now,” Doctor Emerson sighed.     “Charleigh’s a very sick woman, and even though I have her on a transfusion, she’s lost so much blood. We could go through with the whole surgery and lose them all, regardless.”

Kevin, who had been with Charleigh throughout the entire examination, came to stand beside his grandmother. He was wearing an outfit similar to the doctor’s.

“She’s ready when you are,” Kevin said, putting an arm around Madie.

Ronald stood up and nodded. “I will do everything humanly possible to get Charleigh and those babies safely through the surgery. You have my word.”

“Thank you, Ronnie,” John said, getting a little choked up.

“It’s in the Lord’s hands,” Madie added.

Doctor Emerson squeezed the old woman’s hand before turning to Kevin. “Would you like to observe? I don’t think Charleigh would mind.”

“Absolutely,” Kevin replied. “She’s been asking for Cordell, too.”

“That’s fine,” the doctor said and headed toward his patient.

Kevin hugged his grandmother.

“You take care of her in there,” Madie whispered in his ear. Her voice cracked a little.

“You know I will.”  And then he went over to where Cord was still sitting beside Dillon. Both men looked up at him.

“So, you’re going to have to deliver the babies early then?” Cordell asked for confirmation of what he had just overheard.

Kevin nodded.
“She’s in a pretty bad way. I’m afraid to say that they may not make it.”

“Then don’t,” the other man snapped, fighting back tears.

“She sent me to get you.”

“She’s awake?” Cord stood instantly.

“In and out.”

Quickly, they walked out of the waiting room together and down the hallway toward the operating room. A nurse was waiting just outside the heavy metal doors to help Cord into surgical garb.

Once he passed through those doors, there was no turning back. But when Cord saw Charleigh lying on that table, covered by a white sheet, her face was just as pale, he was planted in place. He couldn’t run even if he wanted to.

If Cordell didn’t know any better, she was already dead. Only the steady
beep, beep, beep
of a heart monitor told him otherwise.

“It’s all right,” A nurse said, patting him on the shoulder. “Go on over. She’s awake and responsive.”

Cord nodded and forced himself to move forward. There was a small metal stool just beside the table next to Charleigh’s head, and he sat down.

“Charleigh, I’m here.”

At the sound of her name, she turned her head toward Cord. Charleigh couldn’t say anything because her nose and mouth was covered by an oxygen mask. She blinked once, twice. Her emerald green eyes were swimming. Each iris was faded slightly around the pupil. Charleigh stared into Cordell’s face, but he wasn’t sure that she actually saw him.

He reached up and griped one of her hands that rested on her breasts.

A blue drape separated them from everything that Doctor Emerson, Kevin, and the nurses were doing. There was only the sound of the heart monitor beeping and the occasional whirr from an oxygen pump.

The clear mask on Charleigh’s face was fogged over.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Cord whispered and then tucked a stray ringlet back into the blue paper surgical hat that covered Charleigh’s hair.

Kevin was on the side where the action was happening. He would’ve preferred the other side of the curtain, looking down at the round plumpness of Charleigh’s belly that was painted
the burnt-orange color of antiseptic.

“Here we go,” Doctor Emerson said and began the incision.

Seeing the bright red of Charleigh’s blood slowly ooze from the wound, Kevin realized that he was holding his breath. He wouldn’t be able to really breathe until those babies were out, and he knew for sure that Charleigh was going to be okay.

***

Charleigh closed her eyes just as she heard the first cry.
The sweetest sound in the world.
Just as she had expected it to sound. It brought a smile to her face.

She opened her eyes and looked up to find tears glistening in Cord’s eyes.
             

A moment later, there was a second cry. Kevin appeared in Charleigh’s line of sight. He seemed to be crying a little bit, as well.

“They’re here, Char,” Kevin leaned down and whispered into her ear. He kissed Charleigh’s cheek. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She looked past the two men and saw two clear, plastic enclosures. And inside of those were the tiniest, sweetest people Charleigh had ever seen. Her heart did a cartwheel in her chest. Remembering the first time she’d laid eyes on Jamie, it was kind of like that. The most incredible rush of love flooded through Charleigh’s entire body.

Beyond that, just in front of the two heavy doors that led out into a long hallway, stood the love of her life. Jamie watched as nurses worked with their two sons. A smile spread across his lips.

They’re here, and they’re going to be fine.
Charleigh tried to communicate with him telepathically.

And then his eyes met with Charleigh’s. His expression sobered.

“Suction,” Charleigh heard Doctor Emerson call out, but he sounded so far away. Much farther than just on the other side of that sheet.

The lights overheard were harsh and overbearing. Charleigh wrenched her eyes closed. She opened them again just in time to see the nurses roll the incubators through the operating room doors. They passed right through Jamie as if he were air.

After a moment, Charleigh realized that Jamie was wearing all white. His crisp white dress shirt was white. A white jacket and pants. She continued to stare at Jamie. He appeared pristine, in a sense. Perfect. The word floating around in Charleigh’s mind like a lost balloon was
angelic.
My very own guardian angel.

But then Jamie held his hand out to her. At first, she wanted to scream.
No!
She couldn’t leave her babies! They’d all fought so hard. She couldn’t die after all that.

“We’ve got to stop this bleeding,” Doctor Emerson said. His voice was stern and a bit frantic. Kevin rushed back to his side.

Charleigh heard this. Doctor Emerson’s voice seemed to echo in her mind.               Suddenly Charleigh felt strange. Her mind was fuzzy.  She felt herself slowly slipping. It was strange. The sensation of being pulled out of her body was like nothing that she’d ever felt before.

The fight had taken so much out of her, though, and Charleigh was tired.
So very, very tired. 

She could finally be with Jamie. That’s all she’d ever wanted, after all. To be with the man that loved her with all of his heart. And now she could.

A tear rolled down Charleigh’s cheek as she turned her face back toward the bright lights above. Strangely, it was brighter than before. She took one last breathe and closed her eyes.

Charleigh felt herself give over to Jamie.
Okay.
With that single thought, it was as if she had been pulled out of her own body, and Charleigh could see everything that was going on around her from where she suddenly stood next to him.

“We’re losing her,” Doctor Emerson said to Kevin, who stared across Charleigh’s body at the other man with a look of sheer panic.

“We need a crash cart,” the doctor called out.

One of the nurses grabbed Cordell by the shoulder and pulled him back toward the doors. Another ripped away the curtain that had separated Charleigh’s body into two sections, giving the doctor more room to work.

“Charging,” Doctor Emerson screamed, touching the paddles together and then to Charleigh.

It caused her body to vibrate.
Charleigh’s head involuntarily wobbled back. Doctor Emerson stopped to look at one of the nurses, who was watching the heart monitor. She shook her head, and then the doctor went through the process again. Twice more, and then the monitor began to sound off with one loud, long beep.

“She’s gone?” Kevin asked. Tears had soaked the mask that covered his mouth. “
No
. No, she
can’t
be.”

Epilogue

September 11, 2008

“Charleigh.”

The sound of her name called the woman away from her thoughts about back to the present moment. She turned to her right and saw a man standing a few yards away. Her eyes met his, and he realized that she was still stuck somewhere else. She didn’t speak to Kevin, at least not at first.

“What time is it?” Charleigh asked finally, clearing her throat.

“A little after one,” Kevin replied. “We were worried about you. Didn’t think you would come.”

I almost didn’t
, she thought to herself. Charleigh sighed, shrugged. The crowd had already passed by, and it occurred to her that she’d been standing there for quite a while.

“I’ve been here. Just kinda watching everything from up here. Thinking about some things.” Charleigh turned back toward the fence.

The man only nodded as they stood together, looking down through the chain-links.

Being in this place reminded her of the time her father had taken her to see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Just as she was now, Charleigh had been overcome with the most exhilarating feeling of peace, even though so many people had lost their lives in this place. It was hallowed ground.

It was a deafeningly silent. Even in the middle of New York City. All across the city, horns were honking. People were rushing from point A to Point B, but everything seemed to slow down once you stepped foot onto this place.

At first, she’d thought that it would be heart wrenching to come to Ground Zero. More than two thousand men and women had lost their lives here, and that included three men whom she had known personally: Jamie, Greg, and Daniel. Charleigh was surprised that it wasn’t. Looking down at the crowd that had gathered, she realized that it was actually very healing.

It was funny that after all of these years, it didn’t get any easier to think of him. Jamie. The sound of his name still caused goose bumps. Chills ran down her spine. Even in this heat.

“Jenna and Brian are down there with Gram, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Lenore.” Kevin told her. “Where are the boys?”

“Taking a nap back at the apartment,” she replied and brushed her hair back over one shoulder. “We’re flying back home tonight.”

“They’ll want to see you before you do.”

Charleigh nodded. She’d spoken with Madie earlier, and they’d agreed to have a late lunch together with the boys. Just in case she couldn’t bring herself to come. Now that she was here, Charleigh knew what the next step was. To go down and place the white roses that she held in her hands along with the rest. There were three. One each for Jamie, Greg, and Daniel. She had tied yellow ribbons around each of the stems, and wrote their names.

Kevin reached out and touched Charleigh on the shoulder. With her fingers still twisted around the metal, she turned to look up at him. He noticed the ring on her left hand. The ring his brother had given to Charleigh more than seven years
ago. She’d put it on her finger all those years ago and never taken it off. The yellow stone sparkled in the sunlight.

             
So many things had happened in seven years.
Life
had happened. Things had changed. Time kept marching on toward another minute, another hour, adding up to another day, and on to another year, yet Kevin was certain that one thing hadn’t changed. Charleigh’s love for Jamie.

The world was a better place with Charleigh Randall in it, in Kevin’s opinion.

Yes, she had died on that table the day Jacob and Caleb were born. For five whole agonizing minutes, Kevin stood, staring at her lifeless body, unable to move or speak. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from her face.

Then, her heart began to beat again
, all by itself. Just like that. It had been nothing short of a miracle. She was an angel on earth, given a second chance to make a difference. This was something that Charleigh was more than aware of, and she never took a single day from then on out for granted.

“Are you ready to go down?” His question was answered with a simple nod.

Charleigh took a step away from the fence and then stopped.

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want, Char,” Kevin assured.

“Yes, I do,” she replied, putting a hand to her heart, and took deep breath. “I’m okay.”

She looked up at
him with the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. There was only one other person who had eyes like that. A six year old boy by the name of Caleb James Randall— also known affectionately as Cal or C.J. He looked just like his father— acted like him on most days, too, which was when Charleigh called him by his full name— but had the eyes of his mother.

Kevin smiled. “Okay.” He put an arm around Charleigh’s shoulders, and they walked down together.