Blessed are the Merciful (18 page)

A
T TEN O’CLOCK ON
F
RIDAY NIGHT
, Joseph and Rachel were sitting beside Nancy’s hospital bed. Joseph gently squeezed his wife’s hand. “Sweetheart, please wake up. Please come back to me.”

Neither Joseph nor Rachel had slept since arriving at the hospital the night before. They had eaten only a few bites of food at the hospital lunch room. Yet the thought of leaving Nancy’s side never entered their minds.

Head nurse Alice Drummond came into the room, glanced at her patient, then looked at father and daughter. “Mr. Mason,” she said in a tender tone, “you and Rachel need to go home and get some rest.”

Joseph looked up at her. “We can’t do that, ma’am. We can’t leave her. What if she wakes up and we’re not here?”

Alice laid a hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “Listen to me, both of you. I’ve been a nurse for thirty-one years, and I know exhaustion when I see it. You’ve been here for over twenty-eight hours now and neither of you slept a wink last night. You’re going to collapse, and then what good could you do for Mrs. Mason if—when she wakes up? The best thing you can do for this dear lady is to go home, have a decent meal, then get yourselves a good night’s sleep in your own beds. You’ll be much better for it, and much better prepared to help Mrs. Mason when she regains consciousness.”

“She’s right, Daddy,” Rachel said.

“All right, ma’am, we’ll do it on one condition,” Joseph said.

“And that is?”

“You promise to send someone to the house if there is any change. Good or bad.”

“It’s a deal. If there’s any change, you’ll have someone knocking on your door.”

“All right,” Joseph said. “And though the doctors say our gardener is doing well … if he should take a turn for the worse, we’d want to know that right away, too.”

“You have my word on it, sir.”

Joseph squeezed Nancy’s hand and kissed her cheek and said, “We’ll be back in the morning, sweetheart.”

Rachel kissed her mother’s forehead and lovingly stroked her hair before following her father to the door.

Rachel was quiet for several minutes while Joseph drove the buggy through the dimly lit streets, then said, “Daddy, wouldn’t the police let us know if the person who ran Mama down turned himself in?”

“I’m sure they would. Chief Bennett as much as said so.”

“If he was a decent person his conscience would’ve gotten the best of him by now. He’d have been at the police station this morning to confess.” Rachel’s anger suddenly turned to grief and she bent over, putting her face in her hands. Joseph laid a hand on her back and patted her gently.

“Come on, honey,” he said, “sit up. We’re almost home.”

When they turned into the driveway, the sight of home gave a lift to their spirits.

“I’d just like to fall into bed,” Joseph said when they entered the house.

“I know, Daddy, but Mrs. Drummond was right. We need to eat something before we retire for the night. It’s been too long since we’ve had a real meal.”

They lit a couple of lanterns in the hall, then went to the kitchen. While Joseph built a fire in the cookstove, Rachel scoured the pantry for something nourishing.

“How about bacon and eggs, Daddy?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of frying bacon. Rachel steeped a pot of tea and sliced large pieces of bread, slathering
them with butter. Joseph set the table, and in a little while they sat down with plates full of food.

“Poor Mama,” Rachel said, “she’s had enough trouble in the past to do her for a lifetime. And now this.”

“When you say the past, are you talking about bringing you into the world?”

“Well … that and her childhood too.”

“But your mama never thought of your birth as ‘trouble,’ you know that. She was so delighted to have you she would’ve gladly gone through it again.”

“I know, you’ve told me that before. And it makes me love her all the more. Still, I wish she could’ve been spared some of the struggle she’s had to put up with.”

Joseph and Rachel cleaned up their plates and emptied the teapot, and Rachel put the dirty dishes and utensils in a large pan and added water. She was too tired to wash them. That would have to wait till morning.

Father and daughter extinguished lanterns as they went down the hall and made their way up the familiar stairs. Joseph stopped at his bedroom, and Rachel kissed his pale cheek and told him good night.

In her room she lit a lantern and poured water from a pitcher into the wash bowl. After washing her face she ran a brush through her thick hair, then doused the lantern and crawled wearily between the sweet-smelling sheets. She fell asleep asking God to spare her mother’s life.

In his own room, Joseph was struggling with the strong desire for a stiff drink. But there was no whiskey in the house; he would have to face the night on his own. Though his mind and body were spent, sleep was a long time coming.

Adam Burke awakened on Saturday morning after a near sleepless night, a hollow feeling in his heart. He pondered his move to
Nebraska and figured it would be a little over three weeks before he would actually arrive in North Platte.

After a bit of breakfast, he sat down and wrote a letter to William Dauntt, explaining his plan. He enclosed a check to cover the first two months’ rent on the office space and enough to cover the cost of a boardinghouse room for the same amount of time.

Adam briefly explained that the wedding he had planned didn’t work out. He would be coming alone.

At Ben Franklin Memorial Hospital, Alice Drummond had just arrived for the change of shift and was talking to Dr. Alban at the nurses’ station when a young nurse came running down the hall. “Dr. Alban! Mrs. Drummond! Nancy Mason is waking up! Mary Nall is with her, and she asked me to come and tell you!”

Dr. Alban and Alice Drummond hurried down the hall and entered Nancy’s room. Her eyes were dull as she looked at their faces.

“Has she said anything yet?” the doctor asked.

“A little,” Mary said. “Her speech is slurred, and as you can see by her eyes, her mind is hazy. But she asked for her husband and daughter.”

Dr. Alban leaned down close. “Nancy, I’m Dr. Richard Alban. Can you talk to me?”

Nancy’s eyes closed as she swallowed with difficulty, then she opened them and said, “D-o-c-tor, is … Jo-seph here? Ra-chel?”

“They will be here shortly.”

“I was about to change this bandage on her head,” Mary said. “Shall I go ahead, Doctor?”

“Hello!” came a voice at the open door. Doctor and nurses turned to see Joseph and Rachel looking a bit more rested.

“Jo-seph?” Nancy said.

“Mama!” Rachel darted to the bed. “Daddy, she’s awake!”

Nancy’s dull eyes brightened a bit as Joseph and Rachel bent down and kissed her.

“How long has she been awake?” Joseph asked.

“Only a few minutes, sir,” Mary answered. “I was checking her vital signs when she opened her eyes and looked at me. It took her a few seconds, but she was finally able to ask for her husband and daughter.”

“Oh, Mama!” Rachel said. “It’s so wonderful to see you awake!”

“Miss Nall needs to change the bandage on her head,” Dr. Alban said. “If you’ll give her time to do it, then you can come back and stay in the room.”

Joseph put his face close to Nancy’s and said, “Sweetheart, Rachel and I will be back as soon as the nurse has changed your bandage. All right?”

Nancy smiled weakly and said, “I … love … you.”

Joseph squeezed back the tears and said, “I love you too, sweetheart.”

Nancy slowly turned her gaze to Rachel. “I … love … you.”

“I love you too, Mama. With all my heart.”

Some twenty minutes had passed when Dr. Alban came into the small waiting room and sat down facing Joseph and Rachel.

“I must tell you that I’m amazed at this,” he said. “Amazed and very pleased. Nancy is awfully weak, so let me caution you not to make her talk. Just let her know you’re there. If she chooses to talk, fine. But don’t keep her awake if she wants to sleep.”

“We understand, Doctor,” Joseph said.

“I did question her a bit. She doesn’t remember walking home on Thursday. In fact, she doesn’t remember being anywhere on Thursday. Of course, this means she doesn’t remember what happened at the intersection, so she can’t tell us anything about it.”

“I guess we’ll never know exactly what happened,” Rachel said. “Unless the person who ran her down comes forward and turns himself in to the police.” There was a bitter edge to her next words. “But then if he was going to do it, he’d have done it by now.”

Alice Drummond appeared at the door. “Mr. Mason, there’s a Derek Mills here from the
Enquirer
. He would like to interview you.”

“May I go to my mother, Mrs. Drummond?” Rachel asked.

“Of course.”

“Daddy, I’ll be with Mama when you’re through with the reporter.”

“All right, honey. I’m sure I won’t be long.”

Joseph and Rachel stayed with Nancy for the day and into the evening. They let her sleep as much as she needed and talked to her briefly each time she awakened. Her responses were slow and sometimes incomprehensible, but Joseph and Rachel’s elation grew with each word she uttered. When the nurses came in to give Nancy her medicine for the night, she was able to tell Joseph and Rachel to go home and get a good night’s sleep.

On Sunday morning, Adam Burke left his room after breakfast and picked up the Sunday edition of the
Philadelphia Enquirer
in the lobby of the apartment building. He returned to his room and searched the paper for news about Nancy Mason.

On page three, an article by Derek Mills said that Nancy had regained consciousness on Saturday morning. Dr. Richard Alban, the physician in charge of Mrs. Mason, spoke with caution, but he believed that his patient was on the road to recovery.

Adam laid the paper down and massaged his temples. “Thank God she woke up.”

Throughout the day, Adam thought of the distress Nancy Mason’s family had endured. By sunset, his conscience was eating away at him, and he decided he needed to go to the hospital and talk to Nancy and her family. Surely the Masons wouldn’t press charges when he explained to them what had happened.

Adam decided he would leave home early in the morning and stop at the hospital to see Mrs. Mason on his way to the office. Then he would talk to George Benson and give him notice that he would be leaving the firm in about two weeks.

Joseph and Rachel were at the hospital early Sunday morning and were elated to see Nancy more alert than she had been the previous evening.

Alice Drummond came into the room and told Joseph there had been some visitors, but Dr. Alban had left orders that no one could see Nancy except her husband and daughter. The receptionist was keeping a list of the names so the Masons would know who had come.

“Do you know why Cecil didn’t come to get me?” Nancy asked suddenly.

Joseph quickly leaned over the bed and studied Nancy’s face. “Is some of what happened that evening starting to come back?”

“I … I guess so. Not much … though I remember waiting for Cecil to come get me. But he never did.”

“That’s because Rachel found him unconscious at the barn door, and we had to bring him here, to the hospital. We were just leaving when we saw you being brought in on a cart.”

“Oh.”

“Rest now. You need to get your strength back, then we can talk about what happened that night.”

When night fell and the hour grew late, the nurses came in with Nancy’s bedtime medicine. After she had taken it, she set loving eyes on her husband and daughter and said, “It’s time for my family to go home and get their rest.”

Joseph leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. “We’ll be here in the morning, honey.”

Nancy smiled. “How is the company going to survive if you’re not there tomorrow?”

“American Securities will make it all right.”

Rachel kissed her mother and said, “You rest good now. I love you, Mama.”

Nancy smiled. “I love you too, my precious little girl.”

Joseph and Rachel entered the hospital early on Monday morning with buoyant spirits. But as they drew near Nancy’s room, a doctor rushed out of the room and ran down the hall the other direction. They could hear distressed voices coming from the room.

When they reached the partially open door, Joseph saw Dr. Alban, Mary Nall, and another nurse working on Nancy.

Mary caught sight of them and left the bedside to head them off. “I’m so sorry. She’s taken a turn for the worse. We’re doing all we can.”

Just then the doctor who had run from the room a moment before pushed past them and hurried to the bed.

“I have to get back to her,” Mary said. “We need you to go to the waiting room for now. Please … don’t give up. Dr. Alban will come and see you once we get her stabilized.”

“Is she going to make it?” Joseph asked.

“As I said, we’re doing all we can. Now I must get back to my post.”

Rachel took hold of her father’s arm. “Come on, Daddy.”

A man and woman were just leaving the waiting room, holding on to each other, as Joseph and Rachel approached the door. Rachel guided her father to the couch and sat down beside him.

Joseph stared at the floor and mumbled, “She isn’t going to make it. I know she isn’t going to make it.”

“No, Daddy,” Rachel said, squeezing his arm. “She will! You must believe that! We have to—”

Dr. Alban appeared at the door. “Mr. Mason … Rachel … I’m so
sorry. We couldn’t save her. She took a turn for the worse about half an hour ago. She began mumbling incoherently while Miss Nall was checking her vital signs. We know now that the blow she received when the vehicle struck her was more severe than we thought. There is every indication that she died from a brain hemorrhage.”

Father and daughter sat like statues, unable to move or speak.

Alban wiped tears from his eyes. “I … I have to tell you that if by some miracle Nancy had lived, there is a good possibility she would never have been normal. I know she showed what seemed to be great improvement, but with the damage done to her brain, she no doubt would not have been the same as you knew her. Please know that my heart goes out to you. And if there’s anything I can do for you, I want you to let me know.”