Critical Impact. Linda Hall

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СКАЧАТЬ Catherine, was there, along with her mother’s sister, Lois. “Can we see her now?” her mother asked.

      “Yes,” Deputy McCabe said. “Come in.”

      Anna gave them a weak, “Hi!”

      Her mother rushed toward her. “You gave us quite a scare. You were in surgery so long.”

      “No one would tell us a thing,” her aunt, Lois, added.

      Anna didn’t see the two officers leave, but the next time she looked up, they were gone.

      Her mother kissed her cheek and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re okay. We’ve all been praying so hard. I put you on the prayer line at our church, and Lois had you on the prayer line at her church.”

      “Thank you.” But here is where Anna had her first inkling of a serious question. Two young women had died. Was she alive because she had more people praying for her? And did they die because no one prayed for them? Why had God protected her, but left Hilary and Claire to die?

      “We were so worried about you,” Aunt Lois added. “It’s been all over the news. Everywhere!”

      Anna nodded.

      “Are you in pain, dear?” her mother asked. “Should I call the nurse? The doctor’s on her way. I know she wants to talk to you.”

      “That’s good.” Anna tried not to wince.

      Lois said, “We’ll get the nurse. I can tell by your face that you need something for the pain.”

      Anna’s head felt muzzy. All she wanted to do was sleep.

      “We won’t stay long,” her mother said, smoothing her bangs away from her face. “We’ll be back in the morning. I’ll bring you your Bible and some magazines and books. Is there anything else you’d like?”

      “Can you bring me my glasses?” she asked. “They’re in my top dresser drawer in the cottage I’m renting. I lost my contact lenses somewhere.”

      “Certainly, dear,” her mother said, writing all this down on a piece of paper.

      “I’m in the cottage closest to the water.”

      “I know, dear.”

      “You can get the key from Bette. I don’t know where my purse is.”

      “Bette has already phoned us,” Lois said. “She sends you a hug.”

      When Anna had moved back home to Whisper Lake Crossing in such a hurry, her mother had tried to persuade her to move into the cottage that she and her sister shared. Anna declined. She wanted—needed—her own place.

      For her entire life, all Anna had ever wanted to do was to fix people’s hair and play with makeup. It was a fascination that sometimes furrowed her mother’s brows. What kind of career was esthetics for a nice Christian girl? Yet, when it became evident that Anna would not be swayed in her career goal, her mother reluctantly decided to support her. Anna breezed through Shawnigan Community College and was hired at a local spa. When a teaching job opened up, Anna applied for it and was accepted. She enjoyed teaching, but knew that what she really wanted to do was stage makeup.

      Hollywood had beckoned. Maybe if she moved to California she could get a job doing makeup for movies. She packed up and moved. She’d apply for a job once she got there. She had never done anything quite so reckless before.

      But what she didn’t fully understand was the hierarchy in movie land. It made no difference what you knew, it was who you knew. She worked at networking. She met Peter and he promised her things. He said he could get her a job. He did.

      But then she owed him.

      Six months ago she came home to Maine without saying goodbye to anyone. Her mother knew what had happened, but her mother was the only one.

      Anna was currently renting a cottage in a resort called Flower Cottage, which was only a few minutes’ walk along the lakefront from her mother’s cottage.

      “And when you get out of the hospital, whenever that may be, you’ll be staying with us,” her mother added. “The new windows came today. You’ll stay in the parlor. We’ve already been talking about that.”

      Anna smiled up at her mother and her aunt—her only family. The sisters were only a year apart in age, and no one would mistake them for being anything but sisters. Yet their personalities were like the moon and the sun. Her mother was soft-spoken and introverted while Lois was opinionated, outspoken and extroverted. When Lois’s husband died and Catherine invited her to come live in the cottage, Anna worried that Lois would take advantage of her mother, yet Catherine seemed to be holding her own. And for this, Anna was glad.

      But what would it be like to add a third person to the mix? She closed her eyes. Maybe she wouldn’t have to find out. Maybe she could go home to her little rented cottage by the lake.

      But without the use of her right hand for a while, she guessed she would have no choice but to stay at her mother’s.

      “I hate to break up this party,” a nurse said. “But we need to get Anna ready for the night. And it’s way past visiting hours. The doctor will be here in a few minutes.”

      The sisters kissed her good-night and left.

      “I’m Sara,” the nurse said when her visitors left. “I’m your night nurse. If there’s anything you need, please call me. I’ll clip the button right here beside your left hand. Is that okay?”

      “Thank you.”

      The doctor was an orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Neale, who told her that she was indeed lucky that her right hand hadn’t been entirely crushed. It had been touch and go for a while, the doctor explained.

      Anna nodded.

      The doctor went on. It didn’t look as if crucial nerves had been damaged, and they were doing every thing they could to save her hand. The cast and splints had been configured to provide the least mobility now at this critical stage.

      Save her hand? Anna blinked. She was told that her wrist and hand would require further surgeries, plus lots of physiotherapy. The doctor concluded by saying that her muffled hearing as a result of the blast should be temporary. Anna nodded, took the proffered pain pills and drifted off to sleep.

      Anna woke up. It was dark. A doctor in green scrubs, a surgical mask and a bonnet was standing at the foot of her bed and holding a pillow. Anna squinted. Were they taking her for more surgery? She would be glad when her mother brought her glasses tomorrow. What did this doctor want? More blood? A check of her vitals? To change the IV?

      The person with the pillow simply stood there and looked at her without moving.

      Finally, Anna said, “Hello?” Her middle-of-the-night voice was feeble and hoarse.

      No response.

      Anna said it more loudly. “Yes?”

      The person in the green scrubs moved to the side of her bed. Then the doctor bent down close to Anna, and with one quick movement plunged the pillow СКАЧАТЬ