JACKED (8 page)

His mother met him at the entrance of the tea room, arms crossed, ready for battle. He’d dropped Savannah off at the entrance so she wouldn’t have far to walk and his mother must have seen her come in. Now she waited. The stance was one he’d seen a time or two before. He was in trouble.

“Eleanor, you look very nice,” Jack said dutifully, leaning down to kiss his mother on the cheek.

“Don’t give me that shit,” she snapped. “Why am I the last to hear that Savannah went to the obstetrician?”

“It’s nothing. She just wanted to have a little check-up and get on prenatal vitamins.”

His mother’s eyes glazed over. They went soft, faraway and out of focus. A smile graced her lips. “Savannah is…pregnant? With a baby?”

He suppressed a sigh. For a woman whose greatest passions in life were travel, tennis and shopping, she still could be completely undone by some small, smiling baby. He’d seen it before, the glazed look, the soft cooing, moving toward some unsuspecting mother, hands out-stretched in some strange rapture.

So darling. Look at that smile. Oh, he must look just like daddy….

“No, she’s not pregnant. But we’re not trying to prevent it.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you joking?”

“Not joking.”

He peered over his mother’s shoulder looking for Savannah. He saw her inside, sipping a glass of soda water. She looked beautiful wearing a short skirt, a silk shirt and her hair down. It was a mass of golden curls, loose, free, just the way he loved. Deep in conversation she must have sensed he was watching her, because she turned to look at him. The small upturn of her lips, the glint in her eye, it was all for him, and he just wanted to get inside and claim his place beside his beautiful wife.

Eleanor drew his attention away. “If it’s a boy will you call him Hans after my father?”

“Yes. Even if it’s a girl.
Especially
if it’s a girl.”

She turned to leave. “I don’t know how Savannah’s going to juggle law school and a baby, but if anyone can, she can.”

Jack stopped her, setting his hand on her forearm.

“What did you say?”

His mother frowned, then her eyes took on a wary expression. A couple passed by and said a few words of greeting and she nodded politely.

“I thought you knew,” she said, her voice lowered. “Savannah must have forgotten to mention it.”

“So let me hear it from you,” he growled.

“She offered to take the LSAT to see if her scores might get her into Columbia Law School, where her father went.”

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. Weston wasn’t going to give up. He must have called her and offered some small path of redemption to her.

“If she agreed to do that it’s only some sort of peace offering.”

She flustered. He could see she was trying to pick her words carefully, navigate the rocky terrain.

“I’m sure she’s interested in law.”

He looked away from his mother and sought Savannah once more from the depths of the tea room. She met his gaze and he saw the cloud pass over her features. Her smile faded. Her eyes widened.

“My girl wants to be a teacher. Not a lawyer.”

She said nothing.

“You know what her daddy said about that? The man who seems to put a very high value on education, do you know what he said to her?”

She made a face. “Go ahead, Jack. Tell me.”

“He said teaching is just glorified babysitting.”

Her mouth dropped open and she snapped it shut. Then she laughed. “That’s silly. Teaching is nothing like babysitting. There’s no liquor cabinet to break into.”

He shook his head. “Weston didn’t fake another heart attack did he?”

“Oh hush, Jack. He confessed all that to me. How he was ready to do anything to get Savannah back from you. He didn’t think she’d gone with you willingly. Believe me he got an earful. I don’t know why he gets the way he does with his children. For a man who raised them by himself, he certainly is clueless. But he truly believes he’s being helpful.”

“I don’t care. I won’t let him bully her. Not anymore.”

She set her hand on his. “You want me to talk to him?”

“No, I’ll talk to him.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and felt his anger mount. The party, the tearoom, the whole day was nothing more than a bunch of grandstanding.

He continued. “Weston wants to take Savannah away from me and I’m not going to stand by and let him.”

“You’re not going to argue with him on his birthday, are you?”

“Argue? Probably not. Ask him to step outside? Maybe.”

She pursed her lips and stared at him. “I’ve spent the last month working on this luncheon. I’ve never felt so worn out in my life. Please try to be civil.”

He studied her and noticed for the first time how she looked thinner. Her cheekbones were more pronounced. It couldn’t be easy being married to Weston. Seeing his mother so pale and tired only deepened his irritation.

“I’ll be civil.” Leaning down he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “For you and Savannah.”

He moved past her and went inside. The tearoom, a Victorian home that had been converted to a restaurant, was filled with people. Weston had invited at least a hundred people to his birthday party. Large, round tables were decorated with vases overflowing with flowers. A small podium was set up at one side.

Savannah came to his side. “We’re seated at the front with your mother.”

“Is your father going to give a speech or something?”

“Yes, I just found out. He’s running for mayor next year.”

“Ah. Politics. I should have seen that coming.” He shook his head and held out the chair for her. “Tell me they’re serving alcohol.”

He took a seat beside her and frowned when the waiter set out glasses of iced tea. His mother took the chair beside him and the table filled with older couples. One grey-haired woman smiled at Savannah and him, murmuring a few words of congratulations. He nodded and smiled in return.

“How long is thing?” he asked his mother.

“A couple of hours. We all might as well get used to it.”

“Are you the campaign manager?”

“I am helping, in fact,” she replied. “Weston’s running because he wants to get a VA hospital built in Salinas Pass.”

Her words surprised him. Weston Michaels actually wanted to help his fellow man? Jack watched Weston as he talked with a small group of women. His voice was loud, his gestures big. He probably wanted to build the hospital and name if after himself.

His mother fanned herself. “Is it hot in here?”

Her brow shone and she looked pale.

Jack frowned. “I’m not hot. Want me to get you some ice water?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. The room’s just a little stuffy.”

Waiters moved through the crowd, setting salads down on the tables and people began to seat themselves. The salad consisted of about three pieces of lettuce, two halves of a cherry tomato and some assorted fruits on the side.

“I don’t think I can eat all this,” Jack said to Savannah. “Want to share?”

She giggled. “Let’s go eat a hamburger after this.”

He leaned closer to speak softly. “When were you going to tell me about taking the law school exam, sweetheart?”

She picked at her salad, trying to spear a raspberry with her fork. “My father wanted me to at least take the exam. I’d taken so many test prep courses. He made it sound like I owed him.”

“You owed him. I’m shocked. That almost sounds like a guilt trip to me.”

Giving up on using her fork, she picked up her raspberry and popped it in her mouth. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Me and your father are going to rumble. It’s coming.”

The room quieted as the people sat down to eat. Weston continued talking, his voice as loud as before.

“That’s right,” he said grandly. “I told her, those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach. Savannah’s too damn smart to teach.”

Jack took his napkin off his lap. “This is bullshit.”

Savannah put her hand on his arm. “Just let it go.”

He clenched his hand into a tight fist. His vision clouded with fury.

Weston went on. “She’ll make a great lawyer, and we might even get her into politics too. Once she loses a little of that baby fat.”

Savannah drew a sharp breath, but kept her gaze fixed firmly on her plate in front of her.

“That’s it,” Jack said. “He’s not going to talk about you like that. Especially in public.”

Jack got up from the chair. Weston jerked his head to look at him, a flicker of alarm on his face. Jack stopped in front of him and waited. The group of women, Weston’s audience, got the message and drifted away.

“You’re starting to piss me off, Weston.”

“That so?” Weston took a sip of his iced tea. “For a while I was thinking I’d lost a daughter, but then I realized I’d gained a son. One who looks pretty good on paper. Those two Distinguished Flying Crosses. Not bad, Jack. I’d planned on working that into my speech today.”

“You can say whatever you want about me, but you’re not running Savannah down. Not anymore.”

Weston smirked and was about to respond when there was a thud, followed by a crash.

“What the hell was that?” Weston muttered.

A collective gasp went up from the crowd. Jack craned his neck, seeking out Savannah. He saw her immediately, standing and looking down where his mother should have been sitting.

“Is there a doctor here,” a woman’s voice rang out.

“Someone call an ambulance.”

When he reached the table, he pushed his way through the people and found his mother lying on the ground. Savannah was kneeling, giving his mother CPR. She alternated between chest compressions and breaths.

Jack stared in shock. His mind couldn’t grasp the image of his mother on the floor. He’d just been talking to her. A moment ago. She lay on the floor unconscious, her mouth slack. His thoughts raced to what might have happened.

Savannah worked without a sound. The compressions on his mother made her small frame jerk. Nausea gathered in his gut.

Looking up at him, Savannah spoke. “Jack, you’re calling 911.”

It was a voice he’d never heard her use before. Low, calm and direct. Her words shook him from his stupor and he pulled out his phone to make the call. A glass shattered behind him. Weston stood, pale and stricken, his iced tea glass in pieces at his feet.

“Ellie,” he whispered.

Jack walked the hospital hallway, past the nurse’s station and into his mother’s room. He carried a dozen white roses, her favorite flower. Her bed was empty, a cafeteria tray on the bedside table. She’d eaten most of her lunch, a good sign. Her appetite had increased a little more each day. She’d been in the hospital four days and would be discharged in two days if she continued to improve.

Weston stood by the window, looking out. He turned, smiled and crossed the room, holding his hand out. “Your mom has started Physical Therapy. She’s in her second session right now. They said she’s their best patient. They’ve never had someone do so well after surgery.”

Jack grinned. “Can’t keep her down.”

“I’m going to take her on a trip after this. Can’t believe we’ve been married two years and I haven’t taken her anywhere. Not a single vacation. We’ve been to New York twice but it was on business. I didn’t even take her shopping.”

“I just closed on the hotel in Jackson Hole. You could take her there in the summer after the remodel.”

“I’m going to let her decide where she wants to go. I’ll do whatever she wants to do.”

Jack set the vase of roses on the windowsill amongst all the other bouquets. His mother had made it very clear that she wanted no visitors. Only family were allowed to see her in a hospital nightgown. This had opened the floodgates on flowers. Friends, many of them, who weren’t allowed to visit, bought out the Salinas Pass flower shops. The local florists were probably singing his mother’s praises all the way to the bank.

Weston pointed out the window. “See that spot on the hill. That’s where I want to build the hospital for Veterans. I’m going to raise the funds and get local oversight.”

Jack gazed at the hillside and imagined what the views would look like from that height. It would be beautiful.

“This hospital is important to you. Is that why you wanted to know if I’d been decorated? You were going to work that into your speech?”

Weston gave a sheepish smile. “That’s right. I had a great speech all worked out, one I’m never going to use.”

Jack sat down. He’d heard from Savannah that Weston had abandoned the idea of running for mayor. The man who prided himself on sixteen hour days had not only given up politics, but halted plans to hire two new lawyers for his firm. Since Eleanor’s heart attack, he’d practically lived at the hospital. If he spoke to his staff at all it was to refer new work to other lawyers.

Weston Michaels had a whole other side to him that Jack would never have expected.

“I can get that hospital built without being in politics. I want to take care of what’s important.”

A throng of girls walked out of the hospital doors below. From the third floor, he could make out that they wore teal striped shirts. He smiled. Nursing students. Theo Brooks was half in love with one of the girls in that group. The poor girl probably had no idea.

Jack turned and leaned against the window sill and folded his arms. “You’ve got plenty of money. My mother does too. You should enjoy it.”

Weston scanned the horizon. “I was twenty-seven when I lost Rachel to cancer. I was two years out of law school, still deep in debt and raising three children.”

Jack said nothing. He watched as his father-in-law’s features tightened.

“My wife dropped out of college to marry me. We were so stupid but we were in love. And immortal. Rachel got pregnant right away with Charlotte. In no time we had two more little girls. I used to wonder what would have happened if it had been me that died. Rachel would have had all that debt and no way to earn a living.”

Weston turned to face Jack. “That’s why I always pushed my girls to become lawyers. I knew if they did I could offer them work right away. They could stay a few years and start their own firm if they wanted.”

“Savannah’s never going to have to worry about that.”

Weston turned to face him. “Is that a promise?”

“It’s a promise.”

“Is everyone playing nicely here?” His mother’s voice interrupted them. A nurse wheeled her into the room, stopping beside the bed. “I don’t want to hear any arguing.”

“No arguing at all,” Jack said. He went to her and kissed her cheek. “Weston’s got big plans and we were talking about them.”

She smiled. The pink in her cheeks and the spark in her eye made her look like her old self.

“I’m going to make sure the patients in the new hospital have decent night gowns. That’s for certain.” She looked down at her own gown with disdain and shooed the nurse out of the room.

“Where’s Savannah?” she asked.

“Napping. I’ll bring her in the morning.”

“Thank God she knew CPR,” Weston said.

Jack shook his head, wincing at memory of his mother on the floor, unconscious, and Savannah working on her. Everyone in the room had watched, stricken with shock. By the time EMS got there, his mother was conscious. The paramedics praised Savannah. The doctors in the ER did as well, saying her quick response saved his mother’s life.

“She learned CPR when she started her job at the airline, Weston,” Eleanor said.

If his mother meant that as a gentle reproach, Weston didn’t pick up on it. He jammed his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels.

“I am very proud of her,” he said. “I told her how impressed I was. I got to thinking that maybe she should consider a career in medicine.”

Eleanor got up from her wheelchair. “I don’t think Savannah needs any career advice from you or me.”

Weston hurried to her side and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. He helped her into the bed and pulled the blankets over her. “I know. I’m going to work on my own career now. Taking care of my wife. Raising money for the hospital. Enjoying my children. And maybe grandchildren, right Jack?”

Eleanor and Weston both glanced at Jack.

Jack smiled. “Yes. Someday soon. Hopefully.”