Curtis (34 page)

chapter FIFTY-SIX

Five days later

Friday, April 8, 2016

“What’re you doin’ up?” Kaleb asked Zoey when he found her downstairs sitting on the couch, the small table lamp on beside her. It was a little after five in the morning, and he knew for a fact that when he’d gone to bed, his wife had been right there beside him. Since he’d spent the last two nights at the hospital, Travis had urged him to go home because he looked like hell. Never mind the fact that Zane had chimed in saying that was how he normally looked. Punk ass.

Zoey glanced up from the book she was holding, and there were tears in her eyes.

“Are you readin’ one of those romance things again that makes you bawl your eyes out?”

Her smile was sweet. “No, I’m not.” She held up the book for him to see.

Kaleb had to move closer to read what was on the cover. “1973?”

Zoey smiled. “It’s your mother’s diary.”

“Really?”
Interesting.
“And you’re reading it?”

She placed the book in her lap and pulled her blanket up closer to her chest. “I couldn’t help it. I brought one to your dad the other day, and he let me read a couple of the entries. I asked him if it would be okay to read them. I hope your mom won’t get mad.”

Kaleb lowered himself to the couch beside her. “Honestly, I think she’d be honored. She kept those diaries for a reason.” He wasn’t quite sure what that reason was, but he doubted she’d thought no one would ever get a chance to read her life story.

“It’s funny,” Zoey said, her voice low, “I’ve lived next door to your parents my entire life, and it never occurred to me all that they went through long before you or your brothers came along.” Her smile turned mischievous. “I think your old man might just be able to give you a run for your money when it comes to that dirty talk.”

Kaleb frowned. “Now
that
I don’t need to know about.”

Zoey laughed. “Looks like they had a pretty healthy relationship. And your mom apparently liked his dirty mouth.”

That was probably a fair assessment. “Let’s just say, as kids, we did walk into a few situations that should’ve scarred us for life.”

Zoey chuckled. “I can only imagine.”

The last thing Kaleb wanted to do was remember those times. Specifically,
those
times when his parents hadn’t expected one or more of their children to walk in on them. His mother and father, for as far back as he could remember, had been very … close.

“But it wasn’t always roses for them,” Zoey noted, a sadness in her tone once again. “Did you know your mother miscarried a baby a few years before Travis was born?”

Kaleb remembered his mother telling them the story once. She’d been so happy to find out she was pregnant, but she’d miscarried at week seven or eight, or something like that. Although she had reflected back on it with a warm smile, he knew in his heart that his mother still mourned the loss of that baby.

“It took her a long time after that to want to have another child,” he told Zoey now.

“I can’t even imagine.” Her eyes welled with tears. “She’s been through so much.”

She had. They both had. And Kaleb knew without a doubt that they would get through this, too.

Which was why he’d spent days on end on his knees, praying that the good Lord not take his mother from him. These past few days had been hell on all of them. Especially his father.

“Come on, Pop. We’re blowin’ this joint for a little while.”

Curtis’s first instinct was to tell Travis that he wouldn’t be going anywhere, but the look in his oldest boy’s eyes told him that would be the wrong answer.

Travis shook his head as though reading his thoughts. “Come on,” Travis stated firmly. “No is not an option.”

There were a million and one reasons why Curtis didn’t want to leave the hospital, and they all pointed right back to his wife lying in that bed, sleeping soundly for the first time today. The infection was still ravaging her body, and she was continuing to vomit profusely. Unfortunately, she wasn’t making any progress, and as the minutes continued to tick by, when she wasn’t throwing up, she was sleeping more and more, her body working overtime to fight the infection that was slowly and completely taking over her body. The infection the doctors still couldn’t pinpoint.

“Kylie and Zoey are gonna stay here with her. If anything happens, they’ll call me immediately. You have nothin’ to worry about, so get up off your—”

Curtis cocked his head at his son, the look alone cutting him off. But instead of arguing, he managed to get to his feet. “Where’re we goin’?” he grumbled.

“Across the street to grab a bite to eat. Everyone’s waitin’ on us.”

“Everyone?” Curtis frowned.

“Yeah, you know, the other six who you donated sperm for.”

Curtis shook his head in disbelief. Some of the things that came out of his boys’ mouths.

He stopped by Lorrie’s bedside, leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be back in a bit. Love you, baby.”

She didn’t respond but he hadn’t expected her to. She was sleeping soundly, mostly due to the drugs they were feeding her for the pain.

On his way out the door, Kylie appeared, hugging him quickly before sending him on his way. He caught up to Travis, following him out of the hospital and directly to Travis’s truck. Just as his son had promised, they didn’t go far, only to the small Mexican food place across the street.

“You hangin’ in there, old man?” Travis asked as they walked through the parking lot.

Not nearly as much as he was letting on, but Travis didn’t need to know that. “I’m tryin’.”

“She’s gonna get well,” Travis assured him.

Curtis only hoped his boy was right. It had already been a week, and they were no closer to identifying the source of the infection, and the antibiotics didn’t seem to be working. The doctors had called in more doctors, everyone scratching their heads as they tried to determine what the issue was.

“Hey, Pop,” Ethan greeted as they approached the table.

Curtis nodded, taking a seat.

“Jared’s on his way,” Sawyer noted. “I invited him.”

Although Jared hadn’t been in Coyote Ridge but for a few years, having grown up in El Paso with his mother and father and gaggle of siblings, it was good to have the boy there with them. Gerald had called Curtis right after the big falling-out between Jared and his ex-wife, asking if Curtis could keep the boy preoccupied. Since Travis had just opened the resort and Curtis knew they were all moving toward handling that and less and less at Walker Demolition, it had seemed the natural thing to suggest. That was how Jared had come to Coyote Ridge.

And the good news was that it looked like the boy was there to stay.

“So, there’s a rumor goin’ around,” Brendon stated after the waiter had brought tea and chips.

Curtis looked up, realizing his son was speaking to him. “About?”

“About diaries Momma kept,” Braydon added.

Curtis smiled. “What about ’em?”

“Did she really keep a diary since she was fourteen?” Zane asked.

“She did,” he told the boys, reaching for a chip.

“I heard Zoey’s readin’ them?”

Curtis nodded. His daughter-in-law had asked, and after he’d okayed it with Lorrie, he’d given her the go-ahead. He was proud of the life they’d lived and he knew Lorrie was, too.

“You think that’s a good thing?” Zane’s question was directed at Kaleb. “Your woman readin’ about Pop’s dirty mouth? I heard her talkin’ about it.”

The group laughed, and Curtis shook his head.

“I can totally see Momma writin’ that in there,” Sawyer added. “I remember when I was little”—Sawyer glanced at Travis—“I think I was, like, three or four. Trav came into my room one night and told me I wasn’t allowed to get outta bed ’cause Momma and Daddy were makin’ lots of noises and they didn’t wanna be bothered.”

Oh, Lord.

Curtis felt a blush creep up his neck. He couldn’t help it.

Ethan barked a laugh. “So it is true!”

“What?” Curtis asked, looking from one boy to the next. “Y’all think you were the only wild ones in Coyote Ridge?”

Kaleb turned to him. “I still can’t believe you renamed the whole freakin’ town for her.”

“I woulda renamed the whole damn state if that’s what she’d wanted,” he said confidently.

“Wouldn’t doubt it,” Jared said, taking the empty seat beside Curtis. “Sorry I’m late. My daddy always said Uncle Curtis had it bad for Aunt Lorrie. Said he’d never seen anything like it.”

Curtis didn’t know about all that. It was love. Plain and simple. A love that had taken a firm grip on his heart long ago and never let go. Not much different than what his boys had found.

“There’s not a whole lot you can do when love finds you,” Ethan said, smiling at Curtis. “Right, Pop?”

“Nope. You just gotta give in and enjoy the ride.”

chapter FIFTY-SEVEN

Ten days later

Monday, April 18, 2016

Curtis was pacing the floor, waiting for the doctor to show up for his morning rounds. Lorrie had had an exceptionally bad night, and he wanted to know that the hell they were doing to get her well. They were going on three weeks in this place, and so far nothing they’d tried was working, and he was growing tired of the runaround. Something had to be done. Someone had to make her better, because he couldn’t sit back and watch her get worse.

“Mr. Walker.”

Curtis looked up at the sound of the doctor’s voice. He was walking toward him in his crisp white coat, holding a chart in his hand as he scanned the pages. The only thing that stopped Curtis from railing on the guy was the concerned look on his face when the man finally met Curtis’s gaze.

The doctor nodded toward Lorrie’s room. “Let’s go in and talk.”

Swallowing hard, he followed the doctor into the room.

“Lorrie,” the doctor greeted, his tone a tad more cheerful than before. “How’re you feeling?”

Lorrie was sitting up in bed for the first time in what felt like days, but she looked weaker than Curtis had ever seen her.

“Not good,” she rasped, her voice brittle.

“We got the result of the bloodwork from this morning. Still no improvement.” The man’s face softened. “Truth is, it’s not looking good at all.”

They had asked him not to sugarcoat things, but Curtis wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way the doctor was relaying his concerns. Especially not directly to Lorrie.

“I don’t understand,” Curtis barked. “Why the hell can’t you find what’s causing this?”

Lorrie’s hand landed on his, her way of pulling him back from the ledge. The doctor seemed to understand, because he didn’t take offense to Curtis’s outburst. Instead, he set the chart down on the table beside him and leaned against the wall.

“I’d like for you to walk me through exactly what happened since”—he briefly glanced at the chart—“Dr. Willow removed the kidney stone.”

“We’ve been over this already,” Curtis stated, his frustration growing stronger.

“I understand that,” the doctor confirmed. “But I’m hoping if we go over it again, maybe I’ll pick up something that I missed before.”

Curtis started to answer, but Lorrie beat him to it.

“Dr. Willow said it was a normal procedure,” she explained. “They blasted the stone, removed it, sent me home with a Foley catheter and a stent in my bladder. Two weeks later, I went in and they removed that, and they sent me home with a clean bill of health. Curtis took me to dinner, and two days later I’m here.”

That was the exact same story they’d told repeatedly to everyone who asked.

“He didn’t say anything else? Nothing he was worried about?”

Curtis wondered why the doctor didn’t bother to call Dr. Willow and get the scoop for himself. Or maybe he had and that was the problem. There were no more details to the story. “That’s it,” Curtis acknowledged. “But you said it’s not her kidney, right?”

“It’s not her kidney,” he confirmed, his face once again masked. “What about after that? What did you eat? Did you go anywhere?”

Curtis looked down to see that Lorrie had once again drifted off. She’d been so out of it lately, both from the drugs and the infection brutalizing her body.

Curtis sighed. “When she felt better, we went to eat at the same place we’ve been eatin’ for forty years. She wanted to spend a little time with the horses, but we didn’t stay long.” He glanced down at her once again. “Other than that, pretty routine. We stayed at the house, and then the next thing I know, she’s pukin’ her guts up askin’ to go to the hospital.”

“Join me outside,” the doctor said to Curtis, nodding toward the hallway.

Curtis didn’t want to join him outside, but he forced his feet to move.

The doctor closed the sliding glass door and turned to face him. “Mr. Walker, you asked me not to sugarcoat it, so I’m not going to. We’ve tried everything we know to try, and nothing’s working. Her white blood cell count continues to concern me. Because we can’t pinpoint it, we’ve been trying new things every day based on the blood work results. As you can see, nothing is helping.” The doctor glanced into the room briefly, then met Curtis’s gaze again. “And now there are other issues.”

“What sort of issues?” Curtis felt a little dizzy.

“Her kidneys aren’t functioning properly. They have significantly reduced function, and basically, her organs are all starting to slow, which indicates that the infection is winning. Sepsis will slowly tackle every organ and reduce how they function until her vitals become unmanageable.”

“What does that mean?” He reached for the desk, trying to keep himself upright.

The doctor nodded down the hall. “Is the family still here? I think it might be best if I talk to everyone at once.”

Curtis nodded, then somehow managed to follow the doctor down the hall and to the waiting room. For the past few days, the boys had been spending most of their time there, sleeping in the waiting room until they were allowed to come back. Everyone was getting more and more worried, not wanting to be far if something happened. Curtis couldn’t blame them, though he had continued to hold out hope.

The doctor had just sucked all the hope right out of him with those few words.

When they stepped out into the waiting room, it was full of people. Probably ninety-eight percent of them Curtis’s family. Even Gerald and his wife had come down from El Paso, wanting to be there for Lorrie and helping out with Curtis’s grandkids so his children could be there.

Travis was the first on his feet, with Gage right beside him, both men moving toward Curtis. “What’s goin’ on, Pop?”

Curtis shook his head, then allowed the doctor to repeat the same thing he’d just told him, going into more detail about the deteriorating organ function. It sounded bad, really bad. As though the doctor himself was beginning to think that Lorrie could very well take a turn for the worse.

“What’re you sayin’?” Zane asked, his voice harder than Curtis had ever heard it.

“I’m saying the prognosis isn’t good. At this point, Lorrie’s going to continue to deteriorate, and likely her organs will begin shutting down. From there, we’ll only be able to make her comfortable until…” The doctor took a deep breath. “Basically, we need to prepare ourselves because we are losing this battle.”

Curtis’s legs went out from under him and the world began to spin.

“Dad!” Travis yelled at the same time Curtis felt strong arms grab him.

Travis and Kaleb lowered him into a chair, but Curtis hardly noticed. He’d gone completely numb. He heard voices continue to speak as the boys fired off questions, voices rising, emotions beginning to be set loose.

This couldn’t be happening.

It couldn’t.

Curtis wouldn’t know what to do without her.

And with that thought, he started to cry and he couldn’t stop.

This couldn’t be happening. No way could this actually be happening.

Zoey couldn’t hold back the tears, but she wasn’t the only one. When Curtis broke down, the room suddenly went silent, other than the horrific sound of his broken sobs. Travis and Gerald took the doctor out into the hall and were talking to him, while everyone else in the room was either in tears or damn close.

“Come here, baby,” Kaleb said, his voice low and gentle.

He wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him back, tighter than ever.

This couldn’t be happening. Lorrie was the foundation of this entire family. It was her love that kept things running smoothly. It was her voice of reason, her kind heart, and yes, even her stern side when things weren’t being managed appropriately that kept this huge, wonderful family together.

What would they do without her?

Curtis’s devastating sobs grew louder and Zoey managed to release Kaleb. “Go to your dad. Please. He needs y’all right now.”

Kaleb nodded, tears in his eyes.

As she stood back, she watched as all seven of Curtis’s sons as well as Beau, Gage, and Jared rallied around him, trying to keep him together while he fell apart. His desperate pleas to God broke her heart.

V, Kylie, Jessie, Kennedy, and Cheyenne came over, and the six of them clung to one another while they stood and watched the most horrific scene as the Walker men crumbled.

This couldn’t be happening. Something had to be done. Someone had to figure out how to fix this, because these men—these proud, strong, stoic men—would never be the same if something happened to Lorrie.

Hell, none of them would.