HisMarriageBargain (30 page)

“Where you going?” Carly pivoted toward her.

“Home. I’ll call you later.” Autumn jogged out the front
door and down the street to where she’d left her car, flip-flops slapping the
pavement with each step.

Please let him be home.

The drive from Kellie and Quin’s house to the home she
shared with Sammi was mired in construction traffic. She beat a rhythm against
the steering wheel as her Buick crept forward little by little. It was a relief
to be able to exit and weave her way on side streets toward the subdivision
with its unique homes and older style.

Her tires squealed as she turned into the driveway and
jammed the brakes. She jumped out of the car, ran up the walk and threw the
door open.

“Sammi?” she yelled, glancing from the living room to the
office.

She ducked her head into the kitchen and peered into the den.

Nothing.

“Sammi?” She tossed her purse on the sofa as she passed,
making a quick round of the bedroom and bathroom.

What did she do now?

Autumn stood at the foot of the bed and chewed her
fingernail. It was Saturday. She hadn’t been home since Wednesday. He could be
out doing anything.

She circled to her side of the bed and plugged her dying
phone in. As it started, she bounced her knees and chewed her lip.

There were no new messages this time.

Autumn dialed Sammi’s phone, unsure what she’d say to him.

Sorry I left in a rush and childishly refused to talk to
you for days on end.

The ring she heard via the phone echoed through the house.

She frowned and pulled the phone away from her face.

The ring sounded again, coming from the other side of the
house, if she wasn’t mistaken.

Autumn left her phone on the bed and walked through the den
and living room, all the way to the bathroom that was adjacent her studio and
pantry.

She gasped and her blood ran cold.

“Oh my god, Sammi!”

Sammi lay facedown on the bathroom tiles. Between the smell
and smears on the floor it wasn’t hard to guess what had happened.

Autumn dropped to her knees and tried to roll him over.

What were you supposed to do at a time like this?

Hot tears splashed her teeth.

Why had she left?

She could have been here for him.

The phone continued to ring.

Autumn snatched his phone up and ignored her call. She
dialed 9-1-1 and clutched his clammy, lifeless hand to her chest.

Tongue Tattoo—Simple designs or words tattooed on the
tongue. Inks that will include taste are under development.

Sammi started awake, aware only of pain and light. The world
swam around him in colors, some of them moving as if they were people, but his
eyes were unable to focus on any one thing.

He tried to speak, to ask for help, but he couldn’t form words.

“He’s waking up,” someone said.

A chorus of beeping drove invisible nails into his skull.

Just make the pain stop
, he wanted to beg.

“Put him under,” another voice snapped.

He tried to reach toward the voice. If these were his final
moments, he couldn’t go now. Not when he’d finally realized the truth.

Sammi clutched fabric, maybe attached to a person, maybe
not, but Autumn needed to know.

I love you.

He really did.

* * * * *

Autumn bounced her knees, hugging herself, trying not to
listen to the late-night ER visitors. She’d lost track of the hours sitting in
the plastic chair, one fading into the next with little to no information being
passed to her after the first hour.

“Autumn Zimmerman?”

She shook her head and sat up.

“Zimmerman?” A doctor in a long white coat with silver hair
stood near the reception desk, clipboard in hand.

“Oh, that’s me.” Autumn snatched her purse and sprang to her
feet.

The doctor caught sight of her and gave her a tight smile.

“Sorry, not used to that last name yet.” She accepted the
doctor’s hand.

“I can imagine. I’m Dr. Minowitz. Step in here please?” He
gestured to a private room she’d watched families before her enter. Kellie and
Pandora had taken to calling the rooms fishbowls after the last year. She
didn’t know if that was supposed to be funny or disturbing. “Have a seat.”

“How is he?” Autumn sank into one of the plush chairs, a
welcome change from the hard plastic furnishings of the ER waiting room.

“Well, we’re still trying to get a better grasp on the big
picture. I’m actually not a doctor here at the hospital, but since you told the
nurses I’ve been seeing Samuel recently, they called me in. Now I have to be
honest with you.” He folded his hands over the files in front of him. “I
haven’t seen Samuel in probably a year or more.”

Autumn stared at the man. “I’m sorry, what?”

Dr. Minowitz shifted in his seat. What she’d taken for a
disapproving attitude toward her seemed more like genuine puzzlement and even
discomfort now. “I’ve been Samuel’s doctor since he was a teenager. My
predecessor was the doctor who delivered him, so I’m fully aware of his medical
history. Can you give me some more information on what’s been going on lately?”

“He told me he was dying from Guillain-Barré syndrome,” she
blurted.

Again the doctor’s face grew more perplexed, the lines
around his mouth and on his forehead deepening. “To the best of my knowledge
that is not the case.”

“But he told me he’s been going to see you regularly. He’s
had at least a dozen doctor’s appointments in the last month.” Her mind was
reeling. What was going on here? “If he hasn’t been seeing you, who has he been
seeing?”

“I don’t know.”

He’d lied to her about going to the doctor when he’d had
lunch with his mother. Had he lied about more than just the one visit? Was it possible?

“Can you tell me anything at all about his recent health?”

Autumn stared at the doctor, the sick feeling in her stomach
giving over to an all-encompassing sense of numbness. She started at the
beginning, when Sammi had proposed the marriage bargain to her, everything he’d
relayed about his medical history, how his health would decline and all his
illness since they’d move in together. The doctor didn’t take notes, he simply
sat and listened to her. At the end he blew out a breath and shook his head.

Dr. Minowitz removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of
his nose. “I don’t know who he has been seeing, but I’m going to get to the
bottom of this. Have you spoken to his mother? What has she said?”

“Shit.” Autumn rubbed her temples. “I hadn’t even thought
about her. We don’t get along very well and the last time I saw her it didn’t
end on good terms.”

“I’m going to give her a call and talk to her. They are
going to be moving him from the ER to ICU until we learn more. Right now
they’re waiting for a room to become available. One of the nurses will let you
know where he’s being moved.” His manner softened and he even smiled at her.
“If you can think of anything else, here’s my card. I’m going to write my
personal cell phone on the back. Since Samuel’s father passed I’ve thought a
lot about this family. I’d hate to see anything else happen to them.”

Autumn nodded and made the appropriate sounds at the right
time, but her head was swimming with the information bomb he’d just dropped on
her. What was going on with her husband?

She returned to the waiting room but the seat she’d occupied
for the last few hours was taken. Autumn wandered outside and blinked at the
stars. She hadn’t realized how late it was. At a loss for what to do, she
followed the sidewalk to a collection of metal benches and the familiar scent
of cigarette smoke.

Autumn’s fingers itched to pull one out, except she hadn’t
smoked in close to three, maybe even four years when they’d banded together to
quit.

What the hell did she have left to lose?

“Hey, any chance I could bum one?” she asked a trio of
nurses.

The nurses glanced at her, their noses turning up.

“I’ll pay five bucks for one cigarette.”

That got their attention. One of the women offered her a
special blend, long, even allowed Autumn to use her lighter.

Autumn took her bounty to the other side of the smoking
area, sat on the back of the bench and took the first hit of nicotine to her
system in years. She coughed and shook her head but it felt good. It didn’t
make the world right, but for now she had something to hold on to.

* * * * *

Autumn ran her fingers over Sammi’s knuckles. The dim room
only made her grogginess worse, but her snatches of time with him were short.
The visiting spans were every other hour for thirty minutes. It wasn’t enough
time.

She hated the respirator, the beeping machines, everything
that seemed to hold him down. Except as far as she could tell they were keeping
him alive. So far, no one could tell her what was wrong. Every time she turned
around they were running more tests.

“Knock, knock.” Someone tapped on the door.

Autumn glanced over her shoulder. “Isaac, hi.”

She stood and let Isaac fold her into a hug. “Where’s
Ester?”

“They only allow a few people back at once. She’s out in the
waiting room with some of our other friends. How’s he doing?” He squeezed her
before letting her go and turning to survey Sammi.

“He’s hanging in there. No change really. They’re keeping
him sedated and on the respirator.” She took several deep breaths. Even saying
those words made her come close to tears.

“Hey, guys.” Michael followed by his brother Aaron strolled
through the door with Ester in tow.

“Hey. Did they let you guys back?” Isaac frowned and held
his hand out to Ester, but she bypassed him and threw her arms around Autumn.

“I’m so sorry. You should have called us,” she murmured into
Autumn’s ear.

Autumn held on to Ester, soaking up her strength and
ignoring the unwanted visitors. Sammi didn’t even like the two creeps, why they
were there was beyond her.

“We just walked back,” Michael said.

“Yeah, they aren’t going to do anything. It’s not like we’re
packing twenty people in here.” Aaron leaned over the hospital bed and peered
at Sammi’s face. “He’s still breathing.”

Autumn wanted to push him back, to make them leave. Isaac and
Ester could stay, but these other people had no right to be concerned about
him.

“Excuse me.” The nurse assigned to Sammi stood in the
doorway. She had a very stern, no-nonsense expression. “There are only supposed
to be two visitors back at a time.”

For a moment no one moved. The unwanted visitors didn’t
leave. And the last thing Autumn wanted was more questions she didn’t have the
answers for.

“I’ll be in the waiting room,” she announced and snatched up
her purse.

“Don’t go, Autumn,” Ester pleaded.

“No, it’s okay. I’ve been here all night. I’ll grab
something to eat and catch the last few minutes.” She headed down the hall,
around the nurses’ station and out into the waiting area. Families were set up
in sections, settled in for the long haul while their loved ones recovered. Or
didn’t.

Autumn couldn’t think about the last option. Sammi would get
better. Whatever was going on would be cured, and then she’d lay into him.

She began to pace. She had no appetite and the only thing
that sounded appealing was another cigarette. Her one indulgence had gotten
under her skin and now it was on her mind.

“Autumn, there you are.”

Autumn spun around and almost collided with Kellie.

“Wow, easy there.” Kellie gripped her arm and steadied her.

“What are you doing here?” Autumn glanced over her shoulder
at Mary, Pandora, Brian and Carly. It was past ten, so the shop should be
opening for the day.

“We heard about Sammi and were worried.” Pandora stepped up
and wrapped her arms around Autumn, squeezing her tight.

Autumn sagged into her hold, and was soon enveloped on all
sides by the girls coming together. She hiccupped and a few small tears leaked
out of her eyes.

“You should have called us,” Kellie admonished.

“Sorry, I just— There’s been lots of nothing going on.”
Autumn wiped her face.

“Are you going back there?” Pandora glanced at her phone.
“Visiting just started.”

“Yeah, Sammi’s friends are here and they needed some of us
to leave.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Looks like I’m the only one who had
to.”

“We brought you some clothes, toiletries and some food.”
Carly had a backpack stuffed full of everything in her lap.

“Is there a jacket in there? Because I’ve been freezing my
ass off.” Autumn rubbed her hands along her arms.

“There is.”

Carly unzipped the bag and dug out one of the So Inked
hoodies. It was big enough to be a dress, but Autumn didn’t care.

“Are you hungry? Need anything?” Brian asked.

“That’s too many questions.”

“Let’s find a place to sit,” Mary suggested. In a few
minutes she’d rounded up enough chairs in the break room for their little group
to cluster together.

Autumn glossed over what she knew. That he was being kept
sedated and tests were being run. It was frustrating not to have more
information, but their presence comforted her.

“What about his mom? Has she been up here?” Mary asked.

“I know the doctor called her, but I haven’t seen her yet. I
imagine she’ll be by sometime today.” Autumn sighed and tried to shove that
thought back into the box it came from. “Mostly it’s wait and see. And think
about how much a cigarette would be awesome right now.”

Pandora groaned. “Don’t say that. I’ve been thinking the
same thing.”

“Hey, we quit.” Kellie wagged a finger at them.

“I know, but just one cigarette would be so good right about
now.” Autumn buried her face in her hands. “I might have had one last night.”

“No,” was the collective gasp around the table.

Autumn laughed. She couldn’t help it. It was laugh or cry
right now, and she was again out of tears, which felt like the way of things
since her life took a trip down crazy lane.

* * * * *

Autumn sat in the only chair in the room and watched the
doctor making rounds give Sammi the once-over. There hadn’t been any new
information since the night before when they pronounced him stable and removed
the breathing tube. For some reason, without the respirator he seemed more
human. Now if he would just wake up and walk out of here.

“Here you are, Mrs. Zimmerman.” A female nurse entered, and
behind her followed Sammi’s mother wearing a sedate black skirt suit, her nose
in the air.

Autumn sat up a little straighter and picked some crumbs off
her shirt. She hadn’t changed since the day before, and she’d only taken a
quick shower in the hospital bathroom. In short, she was a mess.

“Hello. You must be the other Mrs. Zimmerman.” The cheerful
doctor turned to offer his hand to her.

“I am
the
Mrs. Zimmerman,” Tamara corrected him.

The doctor glanced at Autumn, who merely shrugged, some of
the fight leeching out of her. She only had so much energy, and fighting with Sammi’s
mother didn’t rate on her list of things to care about.

“How is he?” Tamara stood at the bedside and stared down at
him without a shred of emotion on her face.

How had a man with so much warmth and feeling come from a
woman so cold?

“I’m glad you’re both here.” The doctor pivoted to include
both Autumn and Tamara. “We took the breathing tube out last night and his
respiratory system is working just fine. There’s no more fluid in his lungs and
he’s doing fine on his own. We’re taking him off the sedatives, so he will wake
up when he’s ready. I wouldn’t imagine it would be for another eight or more
hours. It’s up to him. When he’s ready he’ll come around.”

“Do we know what caused this?” Autumn asked the same refrain
she’d spoken for two days.

“He’s always been a sickly boy.” Tamara stroked his hair,
somehow even that gesture seeming false. Phony. As if she were doing it for
show.

The doctor shook his head and folded his hands in front of
him. “No. We should know more once the toxicology tests come back.”

“When can I take him home?” Tamara asked.

Autumn stared at the woman who hadn’t even been to see her
son in two days. Granted, she probably hadn’t been made aware of things until
Sunday, but there’d been plenty of time for her to see about her son. And now
she thought Autumn would just let her take him home?