She put Andy to bed and called Jane, who had gathered a very disturbing piece of information. She had talked to a friend of hers in the city that day, a woman who had known Laura Hutchinson for years. She said she'd had a drinking problem ever since she was in her teens. She had gotten treatment for it years before, and as far as the friend knew, she hadn't slipped since then. “But what if something's changed?” Jane asked in a worried tone. “What if she's drinking again, or drank that night?” They would never know. Page listened to what Jane said, and mulled it over. It was all gossip, all conjecture, all wanting to blame someone. But none of it would change what had happened.
“She's probably clean,” Page said in a spirit of fairness.
“If she isn't, you'll be reading about it one of these days in the tabloids,” Jane said. “The papers certainly seemed interested in her when it happened.”
“I hope for her sake that's not the case,” Page said quietly. “I hope she's fine. I don't think gossip helps anyone.”
“I just thought you'd be interested in hearing her history,” Jane said. She'd been very excited by the information. What if it had been the older woman's fault, and not Phillip's?
“It's not really fair to judge her by a problem she had that long ago,” Page said to her friend. “Anyway, thanks for the information.”
“I'll let you know if I hear anything else.” And then they exchanged the usual information about Allie. There never seemed to be time to talk about anything else these days, and afterward Page paid some bills and caught up on some mail. It was the first time all week that she had taken a few moments to catch up on things, and it felt good to do that.
The next morning she took Andy to school, and then went back to the hospital to see Allie. In the past two days, she felt as though she had accomplished some things. She had spent some time with Andy, which he had needed desperately. And she felt calmer than she had before. She knew now that if this was going to be a long haul, she'd have to keep her wits about her, and her strength up.
Allie was still holding her own when Page got to the hospital shortly before nine o'clock in the morning and the nurses all smiled cautiously when they saw her. They all knew how close Allyson had come to dying the night of her surgery, and suddenly it made every moment, every day, more of a gift and infinitely more precious.
“How is she?” Page asked hesitantly. She had called several times since the night before, and they had assured her that nothing had changed. She was still stable.
“About the same.” The nurse smiled at her. She was a woman about the same age as Page with a good head, a warm heart, and a great sense of humor. Her name was Frances. “Dr. Hammerman saw her an hour ago, and he seemed satisfied with her progress.”
“Has the swelling gone down any?” It was impossible to see under the enormous dressing, but she seemed to be resting more peacefully, and her color was a little better.
“A little bit. The surgery seems to have reduced the pressure.” Page nodded and sat down next to her, she took Allie's hand as she always did, and began speaking to her softly. There was no visible change since the day before, but Page still felt better about everything. She was better able to accept what was happening, and she was even less angry with Brad. She couldn't explain why, but she knew she had changed after her experience the other night with Allie.
When Trygve showed up at ten with a bag of croissants for her, he noticed the change in her again too.
“You look happier than you have all week,” Trygve said with a smile. “It's nice to see it.” People had a remarkable way of adjusting to anything. He felt better himself, after six days of visiting Chloe. She was being moved out of ICU that afternoon, and in a few more weeks she'd come home. It had been a long week, but at least they had all gotten through it.
Page waved when they left the ICU, and when she left the hospital later that day, she stopped in to see Chloe. She was less groggy now, although she was still in considerable pain. But her room was filled with flowers, and a few of her closest friends had come to see her. Trygve was standing outside the room, taking a breather and leaving the kids to visit without him. It was the first time Chloe had seen friends since the accident. Until then she had only seen her father and brothers. Jamie Applegate had called and asked to see her too, and Trygve had asked him to wait another day until the weekend. Jamie had been very polite to him, very concerned, and he was very anxious to see Chloe. The largest bouquet of all, which arrived the moment she moved into her room, was from Jamie and his parents.
“Things are looking up.” Page smiled at him. It was nice to see him looking relieved and more cheerful.
“I'm not so sure.” Trygve smiled ruefully. “Maybe phase two won't be so easy. She wants her music, her friends, she wants to go home next week, which is impossible, and she wants me to wash her hair.” But they both knew how thrilled he was to be having these problems, and not those related to her survival.
“You're very lucky,” Page said with a quiet smile. She would have liked to have the same problems he did.
“I know,” he said gently. “I hear you almost lost Allie the night of the surgery.” One of the nurses had told him the whole story.
She nodded, not quite sure how to explain it to him without sounding crazy. “It was the strangest experience I've ever had. I knew what was happening. I felt it before they even called me. I was sure she was about to die, and so were they …I've never felt closer to her … I remembered every day, every hour, every minute … I thought of things I'd forgotten for years, and then suddenly I could feel things change … I could feel her come back from a great distance. And I've never felt anything as powerful, or as peaceful. It was incredible.” She still felt awed by it, and he could see it in her eyes as she told him.
“You hear about things like that …thank God she came back,” he said, looking at Page, almost wishing he could have been there with her. The nurse had also told him they'd called Brad, and he had never come to be with her.
“She surprised us all,” Page said with a warm smile.
“I hope she continues to do that.”
“Me too,” Page said softly.
“How's Andy holding up?”
“Not so great. He's been having nightmares,” she lowered her voice not to embarrass him, even though he wasn't there, but he would have hated anyone to know, “and wetting the bed. I think he's really shaken up over all this, but I don't want him to see her.”
“I agree.” Allie still looked terrible. No matter how stable her situation had become since the second surgery, she still looked terrifying to those who saw her. Even Chloe had been shocked the first time she had been aware of it, and she had sobbed when she understood it was Allie. At first, she hadn't even known it. “It would be too traumatic for him.”
“Actually, he's having a hard time with us too.” She hesitated for a long moment, staring down the hall, and then she looked up at him. “Things are getting pretty rough with Brad, and Andy knows it. He's not coming home much these days. He …uh …actually, he's talking about moving out,” she said almost calmly. There was the smallest tremor in her voice as she said it, but she surprised herself by how smoothly she said the words. After sixteen years, he was leaving her. In fact, for all intents and purposes he had already left her. He had called her that morning and told her not to expect him home for the weekend.
“Poor kid. That's a lot to handle all in one week,” Trygve said emphatically.
“Yeah, except I haven't told him. But he knows something's up, and he's very worried.”
“I didn't mean Andy when I said 'poor kid,' I meant you. You've really been through it. At first it just sounded like Brad was hysterical after the accident, but it sounds like things are a little more complicated than that.” He was sorry to hear it.