Addy got out of town and onto the highway and drove ten miles over the speed limit the whole way to the hospital. When she got there, she braked in front of the emergency room doors, but Pearl didn’t get out of the SUV.
“Addy, I can’t go in there alone. I’m strong, but when it comes to Sonny, I can’t imagine life without him. If it was a stroke, and he didn’t make it, I don’t want to be alone. Jesse will be in there. I know that, but I’ll have to suck it up and be brave for him and his brothers when they come home. I need you there to give me the strength to do that. Go on and park, and we’ll go inside together.” Pearl wiped tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“If that’s what you want.” Addy swallowed hard and drove to the parking lot. She thought about calling Mia but decided against it—not until she knew more about his condition.
Pearl opened the door as soon as Addy parked the vehicle. “I’m ready now. I might not like the news, but with you by my side right there at first, I can handle it.”
Addy tossed the keys in her purse and walked beside Pearl. The automatic doors slid open, and Jesse met them in the middle of the waiting room floor. He wrapped one arm around his mother and the other around Addy. “Grady’s back there with him now, but he said that you can go be with him, Mama. Dad still can’t talk, but he wrote your name on a piece of paper. I figured you’d be getting here about now, so I stepped out to talk to y’all.”
“One at a time?” Pearl held her hands tightly together.
Addy could feel Pearl’s anxiety and sense of doom. “Can I go stand outside the door?”
Jesse shook his head and nodded toward the left. “Only one at a time goes through those doors right there. Mama, he wants you.”
Addy gave her a quick hug and whispered, “It’s all right. Jesse and I are both right here. If he needs a shoulder, I’ve got two, and Sonny will understand if you aren’t strong.”
“Thank you.” Pearl straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and marched through the doors leading back into the emergency room.
Jesse collapsed into a chair, propped his elbows on his knees, and put his head in his hands. “I’m so scared, Addy. He was coming from the kitchen to the living room and he just fell on the floor. By the time I got to him, his eyes were wide, and he couldn’t speak. I just knew it was a stroke, but Grady says he thinks it’s the side effects of his medicine. What if he’s wrong?”
Addy sat down in the chair right next to him and wrapped him up in her arms. “I should have told you all the side effects so you would have been prepared for something like this when you were alone with him. This is the very first one listed.”
“Thank you for being here,” he muttered.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” she said. “Have you called Cody and Lucas just in case it’s not his meds causing this?” She hated to even say the words out loud, but if she were one of the other two sons, she would want to know what was going on with her parents.
“Grady said it wasn’t a time to call in the family, but I did anyway. Cody was in London for a fundraising event and said he’d catch the next plane to the States. Couldn’t get a hold of Lucas. He’s somewhere in France training some horses for a multibillionaire, and the phone service isn’t good,” Jesse answered.
Grady pushed through the doors and stopped in front of Addy and Jesse. Addy dropped one arm but kept the other one around Jesse’s shoulders.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Grady said in a professional tone without making eye contact with Addy.
Jesse raised his head and asked, “Was it a stroke?”
Grady shook his head slowly. “I’ve done preliminary tests, and it doesn’t appear so. We’re going to do a CT scan to confirm it’s not a brain issue, and then put him in a room. We want to keep him at least twenty-four hours for observation. I still think it’s the trial drugs, but we’ll be absolutely sure before we send him home.”
“How will you know?” Jesse asked.
“We’re flushing the drugs from his system right now. If that’s the problem, he will start to regain his ability to speak by morning,” Grady answered. “Time is going to be our biggest asset right now. It would be best if you went home and got some rest. Pearl has already said she won’t leave his side. Y’all can go in and see him for five minutes. Don’t worry, Jesse. We’ll make her comfortable.”
“Thanks, Grady,” Jesse said. “We’ll wait right here until he’s in a room. We want to see him before we leave.”
“Fair enough.” Grady turned around and disappeared through the doors.
Jesse cut his eyes around to focus on Addy. “Is he shootin’ me a line of bull, or is he tellin’ the truth?”
“I really think he’s being truthful,” Addy answered. “If it had been a stroke or a brain bleed of some kind, the symptoms would have been different. You would know that from your medic background.”
“Never dealt with that kind of problem,” Jesse said. “Mostly I was sewing guys up, starting IVs, and getting them ready for the helicopter to fly them off to a hospital for more extensive care.”
Addy removed her arm from around him and laced her fingers in his. “Well, darlin’, I’ve dealt with lots of stroke and heart attack patients, and so has Grady. I’m going to choose to trust him, but I am sorry this trial thing didn’t work. If it had, it would have hopefully stopped the MS right where it is.”
“God, I’m glad you’re here,” Jesse whispered.
“I’m glad you are,” Addy said. “And I know Pearl and Sonny are, too. Sweet Jesus!” she gasped as she grabbed her phone from her purse. “I’ve got to call Mia.”
* * *
When Addy and Jesse got back to the ranch house that night, Mia met them at the door with a scowl on her face. “I’m on my way to the hospital. I packed a bag for Nana.” Her chin quivered for a few seconds and then she broke into tears. “I’m going to go and be there with Nana. She needs me.”
“They said only one person can stay with him.” Jesse drew her to his side with an arm around her shoulders. “Grady is his doctor, and he thinks that, by morning, Dad will be talking again. I can drive that bag back to Mama.”
Mia stiffened her back. “He can’t talk! How is he communicating? Oh, Jesse, what if he never laughs or talks again?”
“He will,” Jesse said. “He’s a strong-willed guy. He will get over this.”
“What caused it?” Mia asked.
“Most likely the trial drugs he was taking for his MS,” Addy answered.
“Then he can’t have them anymore, right?” Mia asked. “I don’t care if he gets in a wheelchair. I want to be able to talk to him as long as we can.”
“He’s off of them already, and they are flushing them out of his system.” Jesse hugged her closer.
Addy’s phone rang, and a heavy silence filled the room. She’d told Pearl to call her if things got worse so they could rush back to the hospital. With trembling hands and a shaky voice, she answered the call.