Finding Carrie (3 page)

Driving to the hospital was the longest drive of their lives. Isaac was looking out the window. “What if she doesn’t make it?” he asked after a long time spent in silence.

“I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about that,” she said. She moved to lean against the seat, still holding his hand.

He turned to look at her. “It’s all I can think about. I’m afraid of what I’m about to see,” he said, bringing her hand up to his mouth to kiss it. “Thank you for being here for me. I really need you.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” she said and leaned her head back on his shoulder.

The car pulled up to the front entrance of the hospital. Isaac got out of the car and reached around for Carrie’s hand. She took it and slid out the back. She went up to the driver. “Can you take our things to the hotel and check in for us?” she said, handing him a small folded piece of paper. It held the directions for the hotel. “Yes I can, Mrs. Walsch,” he said and took the paper.

“Thank you,” she said. She turned back to see if Isaac had gone in. He was waiting for her to send the driver away. Then she reached out and slid her hand around his right arm and held his elbow. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“No,” he said, shaking and sucking air though his lips. It sounded like a hiss.

“I’m not either, but let’s go,” she said. She tugged his arm to get him to move.

They got off the elevator, and were greeted by Isaac’s sister, Lee Lee. She hugged Isaac first, then went to Carrie. “How is she?” Carrie asked as she hugged Lee Lee back and kissed her cheek.

“She’s hanging in there. She woke up this morning, but she didn’t say anything,” Lee Lee said. She turned to lead the way to the room. Lee Lee looked just like her mother. She had her mother’s Japanese eyes, and she wore her heritage proudly. She always had her black eyeliner on that brought out the shape of her eyes, but today she didn’t have any makeup on at all. She had her long black hair in a ponytail. Lee Lee stopped in front of the door and turned around to say something. “I want you to prepare yourself for what you’re going to see. It’s not very good. The stroke aged her by twenty years.” They looked at one another and nodded then followed their sister into the room.

To their surprise, she wasn’t hooked up to any machines, but she did look older than she had the last time they saw her. They reached the side of the bed, and Isaac put his arm around Carrie’s shoulders. Then he bent his head to let out a sob. Carrie turned around to wrap her arm around his waist. She put her other hand on his chest. She was trying to be strong, but not for herself. If it were up to her, she would crawl and cry her eyes out for the woman she looked up to as a mother. For Isaac, though, she had to be strong; she didn’t want to make it worse for him.

She heard a small sound and turned her heard to look at her mother-in-law. Her eyes were open, and her arm was reaching out toward Carrie. She wiped her face and took her mother-in-law’s hand. Lee Lee slid a chair up to the bed so Carrie could sit down. “Hi, Mom, how are you?” Carrie asked, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to answer, but she wanted to talk to her.

She didn’t make a sound, but her mouth was moving. It looked like she was trying to say
girls
. “The girls, Mom?” Isaac asked as he leaned on the bed, trying to make out what his mother was trying to say. She didn’t say anything, but she nodded her head. She wanted to know where Carrie’s daughters were. When Carrie was eighteen, she had given birth to twin girls who were twelve now. She had thought she had her life set. She was in love with the father of her daughters and had dreamed of becoming a famous writer. But when the girls were only a month old, their father committed suicide and Carrie’s life was shattered. She found love again when she met Isaac two years ago. She felt alive again and she held on with both hands. Carrie’s mother-in-law loved Carrie’s daughters and told everyone that they were her grandchildren. She didn’t have any of her own, so Sabrina and Sierra were all she had.

“They are at home with my mother,” Carrie said, trying to reassure her that they were okay. Hana then shook her head back and forth, pointed at Carrie, and then pointed at the bed. “Do you want to see them, Mom?” Carrie guessed. She loved them so much. Of course she would want to see them before she went on to the next life.

Carrie then looked up at the faces in the room: Isaac’s dad, his sister and his brother, then back up at Isaac. “Do you think I should send for them?” she asked. No one had to answer. Hana made a sound of urgency. “Well, I’ll just step out for a second to make the call then.” She stood up and bent down to brush a kiss on her mother-in-law’s face. “I’ll send for them, and they can be here tomorrow, okay,” she said, watching Hana’s face light up. Even with only half of her muscles working, she still knew how to get her way. Carrie placed her hand on her stomach then turned to Isaac. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

Isaac took her place in the chair and gently lifted his mother’s hand. He brought it up to his mouth and kissed it. He pushed her hair off her face, and then he looked up and saw, for the first time, the big bouquet of flowers on the side table. The thing was enormous. “Good Lord, who sent those?” he asked.

“You did,” his father said. “They are all the flowers in her garden. She would love it if she could recognize them.” Isaac hung his head. He should have known that his wife would do such a thing, but why didn’t she tell him? “You have a wonderful wife. I just love her. We all do,” Isaac’s father said at the sight of his son’s head hanging low. The other two people in the room agreed with their father.

“Absolutely, she is my sister,” Lee Lee said to her brother, leaning against the bed. “You know Mom loved her. She went out and bought every one of her books. She was very proud,” she said, trying to make her brother feel better. “You do too, don’t you, Sam?” she asked her other brother, who was mainly silent. “He does, Isaac. He uses the line ‘my sister is a famous writer’ to pick up girls,” she said, giggling and looking at Sam.

“I do not, but I do love her, Isaac. I do,” Sam said, blushing. He took a step closer to the bed. “And Mom does too.”

“Aww, I love you too, Sam,” Carrie said when she walked back in the room. She walked straight up to Sam and gave him a hug and a kiss. Then she went to Lee Lee and gave her a hug and a kiss. “I love you too, Lee Lee.” Then she went to her father-in-law. She had to stretch up on her toes to kiss the tall man on the cheek. “I love you too, Dad,” she said with a grin. Then she went over to her husband, sat on his lap, and swung her arm around his neck. “And I especially love you,” she said as she kissed him.

“You know I love you with all my heart,” he said as he kissed her on the mouth.

“I know,” she said into his mouth.

Lee Lee cleared her throat to gain the cute couple’s attention. Carrie quickly jumped out of Isaac’s lap, ran around him, draped her arms around his neck, and smiled up at Lee Lee.

“Did you send for the girls, Carrie?” Lee Lee asked.

“Yes, they will arrive tomorrow at four,” she said, standing straight up. Lee Lee sighed and nodded. They stood there for a long while, watching the woman that they each loved so very much.

Then visiting hours were over, and they could only let one person stay. “I’ll stay,” Isaac’s father said.

“No, Dad, you stayed last night. You need to get some sleep,” Lee Lee said.

“I’ll stay,” Sam said. “I want a chance to be alone with her just one last time.” They all looked at him but decided to let him stay. Carrie gave him her cell phone number, just in case he couldn’t remember, and made him promise if anything happened or if he needed anything, to call her. He nodded and put the paper in his pocket.

They all bent and kissed Hana on the forehead before they left the room.

Standing outside, they all hugged each other and went to their cars. Isaac and Carrie’s car was waiting for them. Before Carrie went to the car, she called her father-in-law back to her. “Dad,” she said, running to catch up to him. When he heard her call, he turned around to face her. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask me or Isaac, okay? No questions asked,” she said then smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Carrie,” he said, then turned back to follow Lee Lee to the car.

When she turned back toward the car, Isaac was standing there waiting for her. “You offered him money, didn’t you?” he asked. He knew her all too well. She was very generous with her money. She gave to orphanages and to homeless shelters. She had a lot of it, and more poured in every day thanks to the wonderful books she wrote and the movie she was fortunate enough to star in. She never lived like she had money, though.

“No. I just said that if he needed anything, I would help out as well as I can,” she said with her chin up, very proud of herself.

“He’s not going to ask for any,” he said. He helped her into the car then slid in after her.

“I know, but at least I offered,” she said, setting her head on his shoulder and looking up at him.

“Yes, and thank you so much,” he said then bent down to kiss her.

Chapter 3

C
arrie was sitting at the bedside, holding Hana’s hand. Hana appeared antsy for some reason. “The girls will be here in a little while. You need to rest so you can see them,” Carrie said, trying to calm her mother-in-law down. Isaac came from behind her and slid his hand on her neck. Carrie reached up to hold it.

“We should get going so we can make it to the airport before the girls arrive. I’m taking Dad and Sam home before we go,” Isaac said.

“Okay, I think I’m going to stay here with Mom. I want to keep her company. She’s been very restless,” she said, looking up into Isaac’s eyes.

“I don’t have a good feeling about that,” he said with a worried look on his face.

“I’ll be just fine. I’m in the hospital, what could happen to me here? Take Lee Lee with you. I know the girls would like to see her,” she said, standing up to give him a hug. She loved the way he was when it came to her protection. She was a famous writer, and the crowd always got a little out of hand at her engagements. He sighed and gave in.

“Okay, you’re right. You’re in the hospital, but if anything happens, call the nurses’ desk. Promise me,” he said, burying his head in her hair and taking a deep breath.

She could feel his breath on the back of her neck. It sent tingles down her spine. “I love you,” she breathed into his shoulder as he held her. He then reached up to take her hand and brought it up to his lips.

He bent his head, kissed each one of her knuckles, and whispered, “I love you,” with his lips pressed against her skin. “I must go now.” Then he put her hand over his heart.

“I know,” she said, letting out her breath. She took her other hand and wrapped it around his neck to bring his head down to her. Their kiss was long and slow, with everything around them disappearing. They were unaware of where they were. It was always like that when they kissed. She turned her head to speak as he feathered kisses across her cheek. “Do you think there will always be magic between us?”

He stopped kissing her and took her head in his hands. “As long as the world keeps turning,” Isaac assured her and then bent back down to kiss her again.

“Good,” she whispered into his mouth. The world went away for a long moment until there was a sudden coughing sound that startled them both; it was Sam standing at the doorway.

“I do realize that you two love each other very much, but I need to go home now, Isaac,” Sam said, looking pale and severely exhausted.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I just hate to be without him,” Carrie said, letting go of Isaac and walking over to Sam.

“I understand. I really do,” Sam said with both hands up in surrender. “You really don’t need to explain a thing,” he said. She reached up to kiss him on the cheek.

“Isaac, you better take him home quickly. He feels hot,” she said.

“Are you feeling okay, brother?” he asked, walking over to Sam.

“Yes, just tired,” Sam responded and then disappeared down the hall.

Isaac stayed back just a few more seconds so he could kiss Carrie just one more time. It was a pain getting him to leave in the morning to go to rehearsal sometimes, not because he didn’t want to, but because he just could stop kissing Carrie. “Okay, sweetheart, I think you’d better get going. You don’t want the girls waiting.”

Pulling back and looking at her, Isaac said, “No, I suppose not. Please be safe, okay?” He had a bad feeling about leaving her in the hospital, but he shook it away, gave her one more kiss, and went out the door, holding her hand until he was too far away to hold on to it anymore. Carrie stood there just a moment more as she savored the kiss he had given her, and then she went back to Hana’s bedside.

“Did you know that I love your son?” she asked, bending down to kiss her mother-in-law on her forehead. Hana always told her that she loved the way they were together and she knew that her son would be taken care of, which kept Hana’s heart at ease about Isaac.

Hana must have understood what Carrie said to her; she squeezed her hand. Carrie smiled down at her. She bent down to kiss her forehead and brush the hair out of her face. “Rest now, Mother dear. The girls require a lot of energy.” She giggled when she said that. Hana smiled and closed her eyes.

The doctor came in to see Hana. “Hello, Dr. Brown. Is she doing any better?” Carrie asked, as she saw him walk in with Hana’s chart in his hands. Dr. Brown was a phenomenal doctor, but he had the bedside manner of a rattlesnake. He never smiled, and he always walked in without knocking.