Chapter 40- Shawn
DYLAN
I was finally ready to leave for the airport.
With Brielle being on sick leave, I was basically the one in charge and I needed to oversee a couple of things before I left for my trip.
I stepped out of my office, only to bump into Savannah about to knock on my door, a distressed look on her face.
I panicked.
“What is it Anna? Oh, fuck, are the babies coming?”
“Dylan—”
“Come on, let’s get you guys to the hospital.”
I reached for her hand and started leading her towards the elevator, but thought better against it and made to lift her up instead. “I don’t think you should walk, come here I’ll carry you to the car.” She smacked my hand off frustratingly. “Will you listen to me for a fucking second?”
I stopped. “Okay?”
“The babies aren’t coming… in fact I’m fine,” She took a deep breath. “It’s dad.”
***
The drive to the hospital was a swift, silent one, each of us lost in thought it seemed. It was quite obvious though what everyone was thinking about;
The fact that our dad might not make it.
You know, I was trying my very possible best to be positive… t-to think positive thoughts— to have hope that perhaps—no, not perhaps— that he was going to survive this, but nothing was working. We had already been warned that his next attack could be very fatal, and this information kind of made hoping and being positive difficult.
Nevertheless, miracles did happen.
And at this critical moment, the only thing we could possibly do was bank all our hopes in the supernatural, because there just seemed to be no other way.
I left Anna at the hospital park to lock up the car at her order. She had insisted that I go ahead of her, pressing that me waiting for her to waddle after me was just going to waste time, and that she would catch up with me at her own pace.
It had actually been very easy locating dad’s ward after following the nurse’s directions. Ma was sitting in front of the ward, looking nothing like herself.
Ever since I’ve known her, the woman has never looked out of place. She was always pristine, elegant, never breaking out of character… but seeing her now, sitting there in just sweats and crocs… a few tears streaming down her face, she looked so small, and suddenly frail. You could tell that she wasn’t handling the whole thing very well.
“Ma,” I called out softly so as to not scare her.
“Oh my God, Dylan!” She was in my arms in a flash, her small body heaving with uncontrollable sobs. “It was horrible… y-you should have seen h-him, I couldn’t do a-anything—”
“It’s alright ma, he’s going to make it. We know how strong-headed he can be. Dad will make it, you’ll see.” I soothed.
At this point in time, I had to be strong for all of us. I had to try to give everyone some hope, even though I was lacking.
The door to the private ward opened and the doctor stepped out. The look on his face wasn’t at all encouraging. He shot my mother a brief look. “Uh, Dylan… can I have a word with you in my office?”
“Whatever you want to tell him about my husband can be said right here in front of me.” Ma cut in, her famous haughtiness slipping back even as she wiped her eyes dry. The doctor nodded. “Very well ma’am.” He wasted no time trying to sugarcoat things. “Honestly speaking, it’ll be a miracle if he’s able to survive the week. I think you guys need to start saying your farewells.”
Ma leaned against me, burying her face against my chest to gain control of her emotions. She pulled away after a moment. “I-is he awake? Can I go and see him?” She asked shakily. The old man nodded. “You can.”
He left us alone.
“I’m going in, D.” Ma told me softly. “Where’s Savannah?”
“She should be here any minute.” I informed her. I watched her nod and enter the ward without another word.
Savannah came waddling my way a few minutes later, looking very tired. I groaned as she settled heavily into the seat beside me. “Anna, you really shouldn’t be working yourself like this, you could have just stayed at home, I would have constantly called and kept you updated—”
“How’s he doing? Have you gone in? What did the doctor say? Where is Ma?” She dismissed my admonitions with a wave of her hand, much more interested in getting answers to her questions instead.
“Well, I haven’t gone in yet.” I told her. “Ma is in there with him and he’s not doing great, Anna.” I shot her a sad smile. “The doctor suggests we start saying our farewells.” She leaned her head against my shoulder, silently taking it all in. It took her sniffling for me to realize that she was crying.
“Anna, it’s going to be okay.”
She lifted tear stained eyes to look at me. “No, Dylan. It’s not, it’s really not… and— and I can’t help but think that this is somehow my fault, you know? L-like my bitterness and unforgiving heart had somehow caused this… tha-that I could have had a few years more to spend with him had I forgiven him sooner.”
I knew what she was talking about.
It was honestly how I felt too. I had no words of consolation to that, and so I just wrapped and arm around her and leaned my head against hers. “I feel the same way too.” I admitted softly. “But sometimes things just happen. Not because of our own doings or the things we say, just the mechanisms of life I guess.”
Savannah chuckled. “You know, dad really spoiled you silly when you were younger.”
I smiled fondly. “Hey, now you know that’s not true. You were the daddy’s girl to the best of my knowledge.” I told her.
“I guess I was.” She reflected sadly, the wane smile not leaving her face for a moment. “Dad has always been so strong, so full of life. You know, there’s a little part of me that is fully convinced that he’ll bounce back even stronger than before, but that’s just wishful thinking right?” I stood up and reached for her hand, helping her to her feet. “Sometimes, it’s okay to hope Anna… even when it feels like all is lost.” I told her philosophically. “Come on. We’ve given Ma enough alone time with him, let’s go in.”
BRIELLE
We were almost done packing.
Silvie had agreed with my suggestion to take a break and head home to Alexandria, so we had quickly gotten to packing for the vacation.
It was about an hour past lunch, and Syl and I were famished, so we put the packing on hold and were in the process of fixing ourselves something.
I stirred the spicy tomato sauce, taking a lick directly off the ladle to see if everything was perfect, much to Silvie’s irritation. “God, how many times do I have to say this? That’s an unsanitary thing to do. Why can’t you Renaud people use a fucking spoon?” She complained bitterly.
I chortled. “We Renaud people? How many of us do this?” I asked, intrigued.
“You do it. So does Nick.” She explained, rolling her eyes at the teasing glint in my eyes.
“I haven’t heard you talk about my brother in about a week. Why, is there trouble in paradise?” She didn’t answer, suddenly nervous.
“Trouble? Why would there be trouble?” She asked shakily.
I chuckled, nudging her with my shoulder. “Come on, I was just teasing. Why are you so worked up?”
“I’m not worked up!”
“Oh, but you are, Syl.” I reprimanded, all traces of mirth leaving my face. “What’s wrong? You know you can tell me, right?” She nodded, taking a deep breath. “I haven’t found a way to tell you about this earlier, but…” She trailed off.
“But what, Syl?”
“Nick asked me to be his wife and I said yes.”
Wait, what?
I squealed in delight, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. “Oh Syl, you silly girl. You're engaged?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She laughed along with me. “I really wanted to, but things weren’t really working out for you and I felt bad about it.” She explained.
I understood where she was coming from.
“We never hide things from each other, Syl. The good, the bad, the ugly… we tell it all.” I squealed again. “Gosh, congratulations! We’re finally going to be sisters for real.” Silvie laughed. “I never thought this would happen, honestly. Who knew a childhood crush could grow into something more?” I wrapped my arms around her again and squeezed. “I’m so happy for you!”
“I know you are Lu, I know you are.”
We spent the next thirty minutes eating lunch and chatting, you know discussing wedding plans and planning. My phone rang in that moment, the sound taking us both by surprise. I reached for it, glancing at the screen.
It was Dylan.
Silvie and I’s eyes met. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
I honestly didn’t know.
I was still dealing with the little pain in my heart, even though I understood his intentions. I hesitated briefly, finally deciding to answer the device. “Hello?”
“Bree, I know this is random, but you need to come to the Saint Nick’s hospital right now.” I stood up, all anger vanishing only to be replaced with concern instead. “The hospital? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Came his reply. “It’s my dad, he's not doing great, and he wants to see you.”