“Sorry,” Judith apologized, looking shamefaced.
“Could we back up a bit?”
“What for?” Corinne asked, catching her breath.
“I just saw an old friend,” Judith said with a lame little smile. “I wanted to say hello.”
“If your friend has come to visit, whoever it is will
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wait,” Corinne declared. “I have to keep to a schedule.
I don’t want to lose my job when this Cleveland bunch
takes over. I have a mother to support, remember?”
Judith felt the wheelchair move forward at what
seemed to be headlong speed. Unfortunately, Renie
was up ahead. If she had seen Mavis, she hadn’t bothered to stop. But Renie and Mavis didn’t always get
along. Maybe, Judith thought, her cousin had chosen
to ignore the TV anchorwoman.
Once they reached the shower area, Corinne struck
a more amiable attitude. “I’m sorry if I was rude,” she
said as she helped Judith take off her hospital gown,
“but this has been a very difficult day, what with this
takeover and all. Plus, we’ve had some problems with
the showers the last couple of days. Curly, our maintenance man, thinks one or two of the pipes may have
frozen. In fact, the shower area has been off-limits
until just a little while ago.”
“That’s fine,” Judith murmured. “It’s just that I’m so
worried about my husband, and when I saw Mavis . . .
my old friend . . . I thought she might be able to help
me find out what’s going on.”
“There’s nothing to fret about,” Corinne said glibly as
she turned on the taps and helped Judith into the shower.
“I’ll stand right outside. If you need help, just call.”
Judith regarded the steady stream of water with
trepidation. “Are you sure this waterproof cover on the
dressing will keep my wound dry?”
Corinne nodded. “That’s why it’s there. Just don’t
do anything to dislodge it.”
“Where’s my cousin?” Judith asked, looking around
at the other stalls as if she were searching for a lifeline.
A stream of curses exploded out of a shower stall
across the aisle, answering Judith’s question.
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“My cousin hates showers,” Judith explained to a
startled Corinne. “She never can manage the taps.”
“She manages quite well with her mouth,” Corinne
noted with disapproval.
“Uh . . . yes,” Judith replied, maneuvering her way
under the showerhead. Though she was unsteady, the
rush of warm water felt wonderful. For a brief time,
she submitted her body to a sense of total cleansing,
as if her anxieties were flowing right down the drain.
Confidence as well as strength seemed to grow
within her. She vaguely heard Corinne say something about having to step outside for a moment.
Then Judith found the shampoo and began to wash
her hair.
“I’m done,” Renie announced grimly. “Are you
okay?”
Judith peeked around the curtain. “Yes, I’m almost
finished.”
Renie finished putting on her gown and robe. “I’ll
get Corinne to help you come out.”
Judith rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, then fumbled with the taps. She wasn’t quite sure which way to
turn them, but eventually figured it out before scalding
herself. She shook herself as vigorously as possible,
then reached for the towel that Corinne had left on a
peg just outside the stall. Judith was awkwardly drying
off when she heard a noise nearby.
“Coz?” she called, wielding the towel. “Coz?”
Renie didn’t answer. Nor was there any response
from Corinne. Puzzled, Judith rubbed at her wet hair,
then wiped away the moisture that had gotten into her
eyes. When she finished, she blinked several times to
bring her vision into focus.
Then she screamed.
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281
A man’s hand appeared from the other side of the
shower curtain and was reaching out to grab her.
As strong masculine fingers wrapped around her
wrist, Judith screamed again.
EIGHTEEN
“MOM! WHAT’S WRONG?”
Judith’s mouth hung open as she gaped at her son.
“Mike?” she gasped, squeaking out his name as if
she were more mouse than mother.
“Didn’t you hear me call to you from outside?”
Mike asked, gallantly trying to avoid peering into
the shower stall.
“Ah . . . No.” Judith swallowed hard, then did her
best to wind the towel around her body. “The water
was running.”
“Hang on to me,” Mike said, looking sheepish.
“I’ll help you out. Gee, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Judith gingerly stepped out of the stall. Her
knees wobbled and she had to lean against her
son. “Give me a minute to collect myself. This is
the first time I’ve been able to take a—” She
stopped, her heart suddenly in her mouth as she
realized what Mike’s arrival could portend.
“Joe . . .” she said with difficulty. “Is he . . . ?”
“He’s doing okay,” Mike said. “I talked to him a
few minutes ago.”
“Oh!” Relief swept over Judith. “You’re sure? He
really seemed to be on the mend?”
Before Mike could answer, Renie reappeared. “I
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see you got your mother out in one piece,” Renie said.
“It’s a good thing—Corinne was called off to help
some post-op patient.”
Judith stared at her cousin. “You knew Mike was
here?”
Renie nodded. “I met him when I went to get
Corinne. Aren’t you tickled to see him?”
Judith started to laugh, a gust of relieved tension that
verged on hysteria. Renie put an arm around her
cousin. “Take it easy, I’ll help you get dressed. Then
we can talk.”
Ten minutes later, Judith was back in their room,
where she gratefully let Mike help her get settled.
“Now,” she said, finding the least painful position in
the bed, “tell me about Joe and how you got here.”
“I saw the story on the news,” Mike explained after
pulling Renie’s visitor’s chair over by Judith’s bed so
that both he and his aunt could sit down. “The snow
had stopped up at the summit around midnight, and the
highway crew started clearing the pass not long afterward. I’d called the hospital to ask about Joe, but they
wouldn’t tell me anything, even when I tried to get
tough with them. What really bugged me was that they
wouldn’t put me through to you. They said it was too
late. I guess it was, maybe twelve-thirty.”
“I can understand why they don’t want to disturb patients that late,” Judith said, “but I’m sorry I didn’t get
to talk to you.”
Mike shrugged his broad shoulders. “Not talking to
you made up my mind—as soon as the roads were
clear, I headed for the city. I’ve got four-wheel drive,
chains, everything except skis on my forest service vehicle. When I arrived at the hospital, they wouldn’t let
me come up to the third floor. No visitors, they said at
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the front desk, because of some dumb press conference. So,” Mike continued, lifting his hands, “I went to
the fourth floor, to see how the other Flynn was doing.”
Judith smiled fondly at her son. “I’m so glad. I
haven’t seen Joe since they brought him in here. It’s