Courage Tree (33 page)

Z
oe leaned back against a fallen tree, watching Sophie’s mother as she sat cross-legged on the forest floor, holding her ill—perhaps her dying—child in her arms.

“What’s your name?” Zoe asked her.

Sophie’s mother raised her cheek from where it had been resting against her daughter’s head.

“Janine,” she said. She looked into the woods, in the direction of the road, still two or three miles away from them. “Please let them come soon,” she prayed aloud.

It had been nearly a half hour since Janine had returned from making her call. She’d told Zoe that help was on the way, and then the two women had settled into a silence made necessary by Janine’s fervent attention to her daughter.

Zoe had not been able to stop herself from listening for the crackle of leaves that would indicate that Marti had followed—and found—them. But aside from the hum of insects and birdsong, Sophie’s labored breathing had been the only sound in the forest.

“Where did you find her?” Janine asked now. “Are you one of the searchers?”

Zoe was not certain how to answer. “I was living out here in a shanty,” she said. “Sophie showed up there a few days ago.”

“Didn’t you know she was lost?” Janine asked. “Why didn’t you call the sheriff’s office?”

“I have no phone,” Zoe said. “And I didn’t know how much of an emergency this was. How sick she was.” She hated herself for making excuses. If Sophie died, she would have no one to blame but herself.

Janine lowered her cheek to Sophie’s head again and closed her eyes. She rocked her daughter slowly, holding one of her small, bloated hands in her own, and Zoe fell back into a guilty silence.

Two men and one woman, all dressed in EMT uniforms, arrived after another half hour had passed. None of them looked at Zoe with any unusual interest, and she guessed she had made a more successful transition from actress to mountain woman than she had thought.

They’d brought a stretcher with them, and they strapped Sophie onto it, her tiny body asleep, her breathing still uneven and rasping.

“I have medication she needs with me,” Janine said, pulling the strap of a small case from her shoulder. “Can one of you start an IV?”

“Can’t do it here,” the woman said. “Let’s get her to the chopper. They can run an IV there.”

They raced through the forest as quickly as they were able, the stretcher making the going rougher and slower than it would have otherwise been. Finally, they reached a road, but it was high above them, and it took the effort of everyone to push and pull the stretcher and Sophie up the short cliff.

The road was filled with vehicles—sheriff’s cars, a fire
truck and an ambulance—and people in a variety of uniforms rushed toward the stretcher as it rose above the cliff. It was disorienting, seeing all those people, all that activity, after spending a couple of months alone in the woods, and Zoe hung back at the edge of the cliff.

“We’ll just carry her to the chopper,” one of the rescuers said, waving away the medic from the ambulance.

Zoe turned to see a helicopter sitting at the edge of the dirt road, precariously balanced on an outcropping of land that looked like it might be used as a place to turn around or as a scenic overlook. She felt frozen in place. Where should she go? Should she turn herself in to the sheriff right now? But before she could decide, Janine surprised her by grabbing her arm, and Zoe willingly ran with her toward the helicopter.

“Are you a paramedic?” Janine asked the young woman who helped them climb inside the helicopter.

The woman nodded. She’d pulled a stethoscope from around her neck and was listening to Sophie’s chest. “She has kidney failure, right?” she asked.

Janine nodded. “Yes, and I have medication with me that needs to be administered to her intravenously.” She opened the soft-sided case and pulled out a plastic bag filled with liquid.

“What is it?” the paramedic asked.

“It’s called P.R.E.-5,” Janine said. “She’s taking it as part of a study.” She reached into the bottom of the case and drew out a page from a prescription pad, handing it to the paramedic, who scanned it quickly.

“Okay,” the young woman said. “Let’s get her hooked up.”

Zoe watched as they found a vein in Sophie’s puffy arm and inserted the IV.

Once the infusion was running and the helicopter was in the air, she looked across the stretcher at Janine.

“Will this work quickly?” she asked.

Janine shook her head. “Right now, she needs dialysis. I’m just hoping this can give her a chance.”

“It’s Herbalina, right?” Zoe asked.

Janine looked surprised. “How did you know? Did Sophie tell you about it?”

Zoe nodded.

Janine smiled at her, then cocked her head to the side, and Zoe knew that the younger woman was seeing her—
truly
seeing her—for the first time. Janine’s eyes widened.

“My God, you’re Zoe,” she said.

Zoe leaned across the stretcher to touch Janine’s wrist. “Right now,” she said, “I’m just a mom like you, trying the only way I know how to save my daughter.”

S
ophie was going to sleep through the dialysis, that much was clear. Janine sat at her bedside in the hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, praying that she would survive the myriad problems her failed kidneys had brought upon her. She was hooked up to a respirator and attached to monitors of all sorts. The attending physician said it was a miracle that she was alive at all, and he became an instant believer in the power of Herbalina.

She gave him Dr. Schaefer’s number so that they could discuss the treatment for Sophie’s condition. And once she was certain that Sophie was getting the best care possible, she went into the lounge outside the intensive care unit to call Joe.

There was no answer at his home phone, and no answer on his cell phone, either. If he had the cell turned off, she knew he was probably in the middle of a tennis game with Paula, and it both amazed and irked her that he could play tennis with Sophie still missing. But then, he thought Sophie was dead and that there was nothing more he could do. She left a message for him, then called information for Paula’s number.
But, of course, there was no answer at Paula’s house, either. Paula had left her cell phone number in her answering machine message, though, and Janine jotted it down.

Then she called Lucas at Fairfax Hospital.

“He’s in surgery,” the nurse who answered the phone told her.

“Surgery!” Janine said, alarmed. “What for?”

“They found a transplant for him,” the nurse said. “He’s getting a kidney.”

“Oh, my God, how wonderful!” Janine said. She asked several more questions, trying to determine how long Lucas had been in surgery, when he was expected to be in the recovery room, but the nurse could offer her few answers.

She tried Joe’s number again, and when there was no answer, she dialed the number for Paula’s cell phone. She was surprised at how quickly Paula answered the call.

“Paula, this is Janine,” she said. “Is Joe with you?”

Paula hesitated. “No,” she said. “Where are you?”

“I’m in West Virginia. I found her, Paula.”

“Janine! Oh, God, Janine, is she…?”

“She’s alive, but very sick. She’s in the hospital here in Martinsburg.”

“Where did you find her?” Paula asked, then added quickly, “Oh, Janine, you never gave up. You were right!”

“It’s a long story,” Janine said. She thought about seeing the dog in the woods, and about her first vision of Zoe carrying Sophie on her back. She thought of Zoe turning herself in to the police once they had reached the hospital, offering to lead them to her daughter, Marti, begging them to get Marti help rather than simply returning her to prison. Too much had happened. Way too much to tell Paula right now. “Do you know where I can find Joe?” she asked.

Paula hesitated again. “I’m not sure,” she said. “If I hear from him, I’ll tell him to call you though, all right?”

“Yes, please. He should get here as soon as he can.”

“I…all right,” she said. “I’ll tell him. And, Janine? Please keep me informed on Sophie’s condition.”

“All right,” she said. “I will.”

J
oe had no idea where he was. He tried to open his eyes, but the bright light forced them shut again, and he heard himself groan. His entire world was centered on the dull ache in his side.

“How do you feel, Joey?”

He turned his head toward the voice and forced his eyes to truly open. Paula was sitting next to his bed, stroking the hair back from his forehead. Then, slowly, he began to remember where he was—as well as his reason for being there.

“It’s over?” he asked. His mouth was painfully dry. He tried to lick his lips, but his tongue offered no moisture.

“Yes,” she said. “And you did very well. Lucas is still in surgery, but so far, things are going smoothly.”

He nodded. He vaguely remembered having this conversation with her already, and guessed that this was not the first time he’d gained consciousness. This
was
the first time he felt truly awake, however.

“I have some other news, Joe,” she said. “Some wonderful news.”

“Tell me.” He could see that she was smiling.

“I heard from Janine,” she said. “She found Sophie. She’s sick and in the intensive care unit at a hospital in West Virginia, but she’s alive.”

He was dreaming. He had to be. He tried to sit up, but the pain cut straight through him.

Paula put her hand on his shoulder to hold him down.

“Whoa,” she said. “They’ll have you up soon enough. They told me you’ll be walking in the morning.”

“Where did she find her?” he asked.

“I don’t know the details, but…Joe, I need to tell her where
you
are. She’s trying to find you to tell you about Sophie.”

He pictured Janine at Sophie’s hospital bed, alone. How many times had the two of them shared that vigil?

“I have to get there,” he said.

“I spoke with your doctor. You’re not going anywhere for at least three days, and even then, you’re just going home to rest.”

“I want to see Sophie.” His voice sounded childlike to his ears, and that was the way he felt—like a child who wanted something desperately. “I need to get out of here,” he said.

“I know you do,” Paula said. “And you’ll be able to soon. But not yet. Right now, though, I need to know what to say to Janine. I want to tell her the truth, Joe. I think it’s the only way to make her understand why you can’t be there.”

“No,” he said. “There’s no way you can tell her the truth without telling her that Lucas and I are brothers, and that would lead to other questions, and…no one else can know. Lucas shouldn’t have told me all that he did, and I shouldn’t have told you.”

“I’m glad you did,” she said, and he knew he’d
had
to tell Paula, that he was incapable of keeping secrets from her.

“But I want Janine to know what you did,” Paula said. “To know that you saved Lucas’s life. That you’re the most incredible man on earth. That you sacrificed—”

“Paula,” he said, interrupting her.

“What?”

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I don’t need her to know any of those things,” he said. “It’s not Janine’s opinion that matters to me anymore.”

T
hey finally let Janine into Lucas’s hospital room. She walked in quietly, not wanting to wake him if he was still asleep. He lay in the bed, hooked up to a couple of monitors and an IV, and he looked pale and pained, but his eyes were open, and he smiled when he saw her.

“Hello,” he said. “You found me.”

She leaned over to kiss his temple. “Not only did I find
you
,” she said. “I also found Sophie.”

His mouth fell open.

“She’s safe,” she added hurriedly. “She’s going to be all right.”

He didn’t seem to know what to say. “Have I died and gone to heaven?” he asked. “Or is this just a dream?”

“Neither.” She pulled a chair close to his bed and sat down. “It’s a very long and quite amazing story,” she said, knowing there was too much to tell him just then. “She was staying in the log cabin.”

“The one we saw from the—”

“Right.”

“You had a feeling,” he said.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s here in the pediatric unit. They transferred her here this morning from a hospital in West Virginia.”

“I can’t wait to see her,” Lucas said. He shook his head in disbelief. “This is too wonderful.”

She saw his eyes begin to tear, and she handed him a tissue from the box on the nightstand. It was a moment before he could speak again.

“Oh, Jan,” he said, “I’m so glad for you. And for Joe.”

“Joe doesn’t know yet,” Janine said. “I can’t reach him. Paula said he went off on some retreat or something, and he doesn’t even have his cell phone with him. Isn’t that weird?”

Lucas smiled. “A retreat, huh?” he asked.

She nodded. “Doesn’t really sound like Joe, does it?”

Lucas’s smile turned to a grin. “Oh, Joe might surprise you,” he said. Then he reached out his arm, wrapping his hand around her wrist, tugging her toward him.

“Come closer to me, sweetheart,” he said. “I have so much I want to tell you.”