Read Online Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Emily Sue Harvey
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means her brain is swelling. I’m sorry. For the moment, we’re using Dilantin to control the intracranial pressure. It’s a very strong drug and hopefully it will do the trick. We’ll monitor her constantly to see how this works. In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing; take it a minute at a time.”
In the next instant, he was gone.
Liza looked at Garrison, who stood gazing at the empty doorway, frozen as a video pause, as if a three-hundred-pound linebacker had slammed into him and he needed only to topple. Feeling as though she were in a slow free fall to hell, Liza glimpsed Penny’s pasty face just as the girl burst into tears.
“Oh, Mrs. W,” she sobbed, “what’s gonna happen?”
Liza, numb as a Novocained tooth, gathered Penny in her arms. “Shh. It’s gonna be okay. We have to believe that.”
Garrison turned, a gaunt zombie as he faced her. “Yes,” he murmured in a voice as desolate as she felt. “We must believe that.”
Garrison awoke early, glad there had not been a call from the hospital during the night. No news is good news. He showered and dressed in a navy blue Armani suit and paisley tie for the difficult day ahead. Liza now finished her own grooming upstairs.
He picked up a mail package on the foyer table and turned it over. He hadn’t checked through the mail since the accident. The package was addressed to Angel. From Troy. Surrealism descended in a horrific avalanche.
Will she live to open it? Doubt nearly suffocated him. He clawed against it and shoved the package angrily onto the foyer closet shelf next to his briefcase. Troy’s memorial service lay before them on this lovely warm day. Wouldn’t you know the blasted
sun would be shining? Yet he knew rain would be worse, with clouds and mist darkening an already unbearable situation.
Neither he nor Liza wanted to leave their daughter’s bedside, but for the moment, her condition remained unchanged. Penny had arranged to stay at the hospital and vowed to call Garrison’s cell phone immediately in the event that anything happened.
We owe Troy’s parents. Garrison couldn’t get past that fact. June and Rocky Bailey were good, hard working people who’d lost their only son.
Troy’s dead. Young, vital Troy. How can it be?
Angel, please don’t die.
That possibility hit him like a sonic blast, right in the heart. He closed his eyes and collapsed against the foyer door, face burrowed in hands. God, Liza. Why did you let them go? I did all I could to protect Angel. And it wasn’t enough! The pain inside him roiled and swelled to bursting. Daddies are supposed to take care of their children. I tried, Angel. I tried in my own way to protect you. Maybe not always like you thought I should. But I always had your best interests at heart. With everything in me, I wish I could have prevented you from going that night. Troy would be alive. You would be moving around. Well. Whole.
In that moment, a vision of a small toddler boy zoomed in. “My name Twoy.” Little Troy, grinning from ear to ear, shaking Garrison’s hand on that long-ago day when Rocky Bailey had hired Garrison at the dairy farm, bailing him out of a penury existence.
Troy. Dead.
Troy was being laid in the ground today because Liza had overruled his judgment. And Angel lay at death’s door. Why? Anger blazed through him like a wild inferno and he threw his head back and clenched his teeth to stem a roar like a thousand cannons.
“Aargh!” He burst into sobs, and that’s how Liza found him, slithered to the floor, head between knees, in the grips of unholy, masculine weeping.
Liza dropped to her knees beside him, and he felt her reach to console him. Instinctively, his arms flew up to ward off her touch. When she persisted and attempted to embrace him, he curled himself away from her. The movement was primal, the survival kind.
“Oh, darling,” she sobbed, rocking back on her heels. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve caused all this
In the next instant, he was gone.
Liza looked at Garrison, who stood gazing at the empty doorway, frozen as a video pause, as if a three-hundred-pound linebacker had slammed into him and he needed only to topple. Feeling as though she were in a slow free fall to hell, Liza glimpsed Penny’s pasty face just as the girl burst into tears.
“Oh, Mrs. W,” she sobbed, “what’s gonna happen?”
Liza, numb as a Novocained tooth, gathered Penny in her arms. “Shh. It’s gonna be okay. We have to believe that.”
Garrison turned, a gaunt zombie as he faced her. “Yes,” he murmured in a voice as desolate as she felt. “We must believe that.”
Garrison awoke early, glad there had not been a call from the hospital during the night. No news is good news. He showered and dressed in a navy blue Armani suit and paisley tie for the difficult day ahead. Liza now finished her own grooming upstairs.
He picked up a mail package on the foyer table and turned it over. He hadn’t checked through the mail since the accident. The package was addressed to Angel. From Troy. Surrealism descended in a horrific avalanche.
Will she live to open it? Doubt nearly suffocated him. He clawed against it and shoved the package angrily onto the foyer closet shelf next to his briefcase. Troy’s memorial service lay before them on this lovely warm day. Wouldn’t you know the blasted
sun would be shining? Yet he knew rain would be worse, with clouds and mist darkening an already unbearable situation.
Neither he nor Liza wanted to leave their daughter’s bedside, but for the moment, her condition remained unchanged. Penny had arranged to stay at the hospital and vowed to call Garrison’s cell phone immediately in the event that anything happened.
We owe Troy’s parents. Garrison couldn’t get past that fact. June and Rocky Bailey were good, hard working people who’d lost their only son.
Troy’s dead. Young, vital Troy. How can it be?
Angel, please don’t die.
That possibility hit him like a sonic blast, right in the heart. He closed his eyes and collapsed against the foyer door, face burrowed in hands. God, Liza. Why did you let them go? I did all I could to protect Angel. And it wasn’t enough! The pain inside him roiled and swelled to bursting. Daddies are supposed to take care of their children. I tried, Angel. I tried in my own way to protect you. Maybe not always like you thought I should. But I always had your best interests at heart. With everything in me, I wish I could have prevented you from going that night. Troy would be alive. You would be moving around. Well. Whole.
In that moment, a vision of a small toddler boy zoomed in. “My name Twoy.” Little Troy, grinning from ear to ear, shaking Garrison’s hand on that long-ago day when Rocky Bailey had hired Garrison at the dairy farm, bailing him out of a penury existence.
Troy. Dead.
Troy was being laid in the ground today because Liza had overruled his judgment. And Angel lay at death’s door. Why? Anger blazed through him like a wild inferno and he threw his head back and clenched his teeth to stem a roar like a thousand cannons.
“Aargh!” He burst into sobs, and that’s how Liza found him, slithered to the floor, head between knees, in the grips of unholy, masculine weeping.
Liza dropped to her knees beside him, and he felt her reach to console him. Instinctively, his arms flew up to ward off her touch. When she persisted and attempted to embrace him, he curled himself away from her. The movement was primal, the survival kind.
“Oh, darling,” she sobbed, rocking back on her heels. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve caused all this
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