I’ll be a better man. God didn’t want to hear that, he knew. But he didn’t know what to say or do so that God would answer his prayer. I love you. Please watch over Caroline and her family. Please bring her back to me. Amen.
As he opened his eyes, he did not feel relief, but he did feel steady and ready to face whatever the day would bring. He realized he was clutching his hands tightly and loosened his grip.
Nurses rushed by with carts, and a doctor casually strolled up to the main desk and began talking to someone else who had been sitting in the waiting area.
I need to go see her, he thought. He knew he couldn’t leave yet.
As he stood and started walking toward the main desk, a man in a black suit caught his eye. He looked familiar somehow. The man was quickly walking up the hallway, going away from Caroline’s room.
There was a hard look in the man’s eyes. “Excuse me,” he spoke to the doctor, insisting that he turn around. When he had the doctor’s attention, he continued. “I’m paying for my daughter to be transported to UPMC Medical Center in Pittsburgh, tonight. She needs to be there, where I can care for her and watch over her. I have large cases coming to trial soon, and I don’t have time to fly back and forth to check in on her here.”
The doctor took a professional stance and watched the man. “Mr. Lilly, I understand what you’re saying, but she has to be cleared to be moved before we release her to UPMC’s care. That could be tonight, or that could be in a few days or a week. She might also come out of the coma, by then.”
Her father? He wasn’t at all how Ben imagined he would be. Ben approached slowly. Neither man looked to him.
“I want her at UPMC as soon as possible,” Mr. Lilly said harshly. “Do what you need to do. I’ve got a conference call to attend now, but I’ll be back in an hour to sign any papers that need signed for her release.”
“Dr. Smith,” the nurse butted in, “you’re needed in room 113 for surgery.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lilly, but we’ll have to speak later. Your daughter will need to be cleared before she can be released.” Before Caroline’s father could respond, the doctor turned and left.
“That’s an outrage!” Mr. Lilly raised his voice at the nurse. “He can’t just walk off! My daughter is in there in a coma! I need her near me!”
At first Ben thought the man was just a pompous jerk, but he began to wonder if the stress of knowing his daughter was in a coma was causing him to act like that.
Ben approached the reception desk. “Excuse me, Mr. Lilly, I’m Ben, Ben Towne. I’ve become friends with your daughter since she and Eva came to the Outer Banks. I’m the one that found her after the storm.”
“Hello. She spoke of you on the phone once.” The man took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “It’s a shame we have to meet like this. I’m having her moved to a Pittsburgh hospital soon. It will be better to have her nearby. Thank you for watching over her until I could arrive. When she comes out of this, I’ll contact you.” The man paused for a second. “It’s strange. Her mother and I are divorced. I never thought I’d lose my daughter, too.”
“She’s not gone. She’ll wake up.” Ben didn’t know what else to say. He was in so much pain himself. Her dad needed to not think like this if he was going to help her. He had a heavy feeling in his chest as he realized he would be lost when she was moved to the other hospital. “What if I came to Pittsburgh to help be there for her, to be by her side until she wakes up?”
Mr. Lilly looked at his phone, checking the time. “No. No, you need to stay here. There is nothing you can do for her that I can’t. I don’t need someone else to look after, as well. You were more than friends, weren’t you? Here, write down your number for me and I’ll call once a week to let you know how she’s doing.” The man took a metal pen from his pocket and a slip of paper from the reception counter, and then held them out to Ben.
“Please think about it,” Ben said while writing down his name and phone number. How could he get her father to understand that he needed to be near her? “Would I be able to call you, also?”
Mr. Lilly wrote down his own number and handed it to him. “Call any time. I’m busy, so if I don’t answer, I’ll call back. You can call me Francis, by the way. You seem like a good guy. I’m glad you were here for her.”
“Francis, I…” Ben began to talk, but the man turned and walked down the hall toward the exit.
“We’ll talk before I go!” he called back. “I’ve got a meeting I have to attend!”
Time. He wished he had so much more of it. He looked to a wall-clock and saw that it was just after 11 a.m. Wow, I was lying here for a long time, wasn’t I?
“Can I help you?” the nurse greeted him warmly as he approached the reception desk once more.
“I’d like to see Caroline Lilly, if she’s able to have visitors,” he said. Soon he was back in her room, holding her hand and looking at her face. You are beautiful even with your bruises and scars, he thought while listening to the sound of her steady heartbeat, coming from the monitor hanging on the wall. He kissed her hand again. “I will be here for you,” he said, not knowing if she heard him at all, where her mind was.
That night, he stood in Albemarle Hospital’s parking lot, watching the roof of its main building. Helicopter blades whirled in his vision, churning wind in their wake. His heart broke as he stood there, helpless against whatever would come.
The helicopter lifted into the sky.
Ben watched it until its lights disappeared amongst the tapestry of the night’s stars.
20
After the helicopter had left, Ben took a boat back to Avon to be with his father, determined to gather the pieces of his life. But Caroline’s coma weighed heavily on his mind.
As he helped his neighbors fix the damage to their homes and stores in the coming days, Caroline’s face was constantly in his thoughts. He walked past the yellow house on the corner and was reminded of a walk with her. He had eaten lunch with her in The Froggy Dog Café, and as he helped repair their damaged deck, he was reminded of her contagious smile.
It didn’t help that his calls to Francis Lilly’s cell phone went unanswered. And the man never called him back.
UPMC hospital refused to release any information to him because he was not a family member.
That brought up another point. Where were Eva and Suzie? What had happened to them?
The road connecting to the mainland was decimated by Irene. It was still completely impassible, a week after the storm.
Then one day, as Ben was sitting on his porch with his head in his hands, sweat rolling down his back, word came over his radio that the Cape Hatteras ferry was finally cleared to ship cars and people across The Sound, to Stumpy Point, North Carolina.
“I have to go,” he told Mason. “I have to know how she is.”
“If you need me, I’ll come,” his father said, clutching his hands. “And I’ll watch over Excelsis once he’s ready to be released and can come back. You have extended your hand to him. He’s still welcome in our home.”
They didn’t have a long goodbye. It wasn’t their style. But as Ben sped down the road away from Mason later that day, he felt a knot in his heart. I’ll be back soon, he mentally promised the man. As soon as Caroline is well.
The ferry rocked as he took the last car space on its deck. He opened the Jeep’s door and stepped out, feeling the harsh beat of the salt-wind against his skin.
“Where are ye going from here?” A fisherman approached him and asked.
“To find hope, or to give it.” Ben stood, watching the blood-red sunset devouring the sky.
21
Wind whipped around him as Ben drove the last leg of his journey toward Pittsburgh. Trees on both sides of the road blurred in his vision, a funnel directing him toward Caroline’s side.
He looked at the time. Ten hours, he thought, exhaustion coming over him. Ten hours was the amount of time he had already spent driving, without any rest since exiting the ferry in Stumpy
Point. His heavy eyes called him down to sleep. I’m so close. I can rest when I get there. He shut his eyes for a moment. That’s all he needed, just a second to relax…
Darkness.
Humm. Humm. Humm. He startled awake as his Jeep hit the highway’s rumble-strip, veering off the road toward a ditch.
With a quick jerk he was back on the road, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
HONK! Another car burst around him.
I have to find a rest area and take a break, he realized, though he still hated stopping before reaching Pittsburgh.
A few miles down the highway he saw a sign for the next rest area. There would be bathrooms, a Burger King and possibly even a place for him to park his car and take a short nap. He hated to admit it, but he was ready for this break. The only other places he had stopped so far were gas stations. A person can only survive for so long on Combos and Coca-Cola. The thought made him smile.
It was 8 a.m. as the yellow Jeep veered up into the rest stop parking lot. The ham and egg biscuit was delicious and the warmth from the sandwich felt good on his hands. His carton of orange juice was a nice replacement for his Coke.
Ben drove the Jeep over to a shaded area with overhanging tree limbs and reclined his seat. He set the alarm on his phone for thirty minutes, and then double-checked the doors to make sure they were locked. He wrapped his jacket around him, shut his eyes and was fast asleep.
He awoke with a jolt, to horns honking and people