Look to the Rainbow (9 page)

     Tara sat her computer on the coffee table and inhaled the scent of the flowers. “Only that I really like him.”

     “
Like
him?”

      Tara blushed. “I could probably fall in love with him.”

     Lily took her hand. “Then by all means darling, go right ahead.”

     As Kel walked down the hallway, he was tugging at his tie. The exhausting day was taking its toll on him as they made their way to his suite. His head was pounding and as he opened the door his hand shook visibly. He shrugged off his coat and tossed it on a chair and the thought that crossed his mind was that it was entirely too hot in the room.

     John took his arm and ushered him to the sofa. “Lay down, Kel.” And he was dizzy as he did as John instructed. Skip had poured a glass of orange juice and returned with it before John could even ask for it.

     Kel drank the contents of the glass and lay back down and closed his eyes. He’d made four speeches and five other appearances in addition to those. He was aware that John had pricked his finger to check his sugar levels and heard Kimberly say “You’ve got a fever, Kel,” as she brushed a hand across his forehead, but he didn’t respond to any of it, because he didn’t have to.  Every member of his family was capable of handling diabetic distress and he was simply
too tired
to participate right now.

     He was somewhere between being asleep and being awake, but it wasn’t a feeling that was foreign to him, he’d been in that state several times before. Insulin shock was just something that came with the territory of chronic type one diabetes and even when others around him sometimes seemed a bit panicked by it, he never was.      

     John had placed a call to Evan and ended the conversation with, “Just call when you get here.” He turned to his wife and nephew and said, “According to Evan we have two choices, he can check into a hospital and be monitored there or we can check on him every couple of hours throughout the night.”

     Kel pulled himself back from his semi- conscious state  and said firmly, “No hospital.”

     John sat beside him. “No reason to worry about anyone finding out Kel. It’s probably the best option.”

     “No. Not now any way. You can pull rank if I’m not able to make that decision but right now I am.”

     It wasn’t worth an argument he wouldn’t win, so John agreed. “Drink some more orange juice- Evan’s orders- and then get some rest.”

     Skip said, “Listen, John, I probably wasn’t going to be sleeping too soundly anyway, so I’ll stay here and check on Kel.”

     John hesitated. He was used to the routine; in the early years after Kel’s diagnosis when they were in college he’d done this same scenario several times while Kel got adjusted to taking insulin and repeated it, although with less frequency, from time to time in the years since. He had learned to let Evan take much of the responsibility for making sure his best friend remained in good

health, but never quite let go of watching him for possible symptoms.

     “Every two hours, Skip,” he said, repeating what Evan had suggested. “Call me if you need me.”

     As they went to their adjoining room and closed the door, Kimberly said, “A major milestone, you being able to let someone else watch out for Kel.”

      “Maybe if Skip is worried about Kel he won’t spend tonight thinking about Leah.”

     “He looks a little better every day. This was a good idea.”

     John said, “And he really is helping us. I have to take the blame for tonight.
Skip
warned me we were putting too much on the schedule for one day.”

     “When do we start in the morning?”

     “Not as early as we were. I’ll be cancelling our first appointment until we see what Evan’s opinion of Kel’s condition is. We’ll play it by ear after that.”

     Kimberly knew John would likely not sleep well, he never did if he was worried about someone in the family. “Kel will be all right. You look exhausted too. Try to get some sleep.” John kissed his beautiful wife. “I’ll try my best.” But as he turned off the light and closed his eyes, his thoughts kept wandering back to both Kel and Skip.

     Molly O’Brien let herself in the front door of George and Lily’s house and guessed that Lily and George would be having breakfast in the sun filled morning room off the kitchen. She found them there, with Tara, and saw that Odette was bringing the food to the table. Odette was the granddaughter of Lily’s former housekeeper, Anna, and had a flourishing catering business in addition to being chef for all branches of the O’Brien and Lansing family. She cooked for them three mornings each week and left meals with serving directions. Lily and Molly retained twice a week housekeepers, but had no other domestic help. Odette and her handsome husband Langston, the family’s attorney, lived in the carriage house on the Lansing estate and she had grown up as a close friend to the O’Brien daughters. She was, in fact, slated to be a bridesmaid in Janet’s wedding.

     “Molly, are you joining us for omelets?” Odette called from the stove.

     “I might as well. I’ll get my coffee,” she said, giving Odette a quick hug. “Don’t forget I have to have that hospital volunteer lunch next week.”

     “Already got it planned.”

     Molly took a seat at the antique farmhouse table and said, “I actually didn’t come for breakfast, although I’ll enjoy it and the company. Ross wanted me to pass on that he got a call from Evan at four this morning while he was on his way to the airport to go check on Kel.”

     George looked up from the morning newspaper. “What’s wrong with Kel?”

     “Hypoglycemia and a fever.”

     “Are they continuing with their schedule?”

     Molly added sugar to her coffee. “I guess that depends on what Evan thinks, since Kel refused to check into a hospital there.”

     Lily said, “If John had thought it was serious enough, he would have taken him to the hospital no matter what Kel said.”

     George said, “Maybe, maybe not. Kel can be pretty stubborn about not making that a public issue.”

     “But it already is,” Lily insisted.

     “Well, Evan should be there by now and Kel will do whatever he suggests.”

     Tara recalled Kel talking about trusting Evan with his life. Odette set plates in front of them and then kissed Lily and said, “Sorry I can’t stay. I have a lunch to cater and I’m nowhere near

ready. Let me know how Kel is okay?”

     “I will ,” Lily said. “George, you can bless it and pray for Kel too.”

     Odette stayed through the blessing and prayer and then left, promising to check in later. George finished his breakfast and stood. “I’m off to the hospital for the board meeting. I’ll see if Ross has heard from Evan.”

     Tara left just after George and said, “I’m going in to the office for a few hours. If you hear anything let me know.”

     Molly waited until the front door closed and said “She’s in love with him.”

     Lily smiled. “Yes, she is.”

     “Do you think he’s interested in her?”

     Lily said, “Come with me.” She led Molly to the sunroom where three exquisite bouquets of flowers from Kel still sat. “He sends one every couple of days.”

     Molly said, “Well now
that’s
interesting.”

     “Yes,” Lily said. “Isn’t it?”

     “What exactly do you think you are doing, John, expecting him to keep up with that kind of schedule?” Evan asked.

     “It isn’t that way every day. I’ll take responsibility for yesterday of you need someone to blame Evan.”

     “I’m not blaming anyone, but this isn’t an easy proposition for anybody. For Kel, however, you of all people should know what he’s capable of handling.”

     John sighed. “He wants to be President of the United States, Evan. What do you want me to do? Sometimes that is just going to require sixteen hour days.”

     “I want you to do your best to keep sixteen hour days to a minimum. He’s already shaking hands with hundreds of people every day, it’s not surprising he’s bound to catch something.  I’m putting him on antibiotics since the fever indicates an infection and his lungs sound a little congested. I think we caught this before it turns into anything serious but you need to have him check his sugar level several times a day until its back to an acceptable level. Is there anything you can cancel for the next day or two without raising a lot of questions?”

     “Not really but there isn’t as much scheduled for today and only two stops tomorrow before we head to Atlanta.”

     “Every newspaper I pick up has some article about his diabetes. I get three or four calls a day from reporters wanting me to verify that he’s healthy enough to be President.”

     “What do you tell them?”

     Evan said, “I tell them he is, but he won’t be if you let him continue like this until the election. Don’t give them any reason to write about his medical needs if it’s an issue in the campaign.”

     Kel entered the room, tying his tie. “Are the two of you done arguing?”

     John said, “We aren’t arguing. Evan is reaming me out for not doing a better job taking care of you and I’m accepting the abuse.”

     Kel laughed. “Well, good. I’d hate to think the two of you were breaking up because of me.”

      Evan said, “If I go home now, will everyone agree to do a better job?”

     John rolled his eyes. “You mean you aren’t going to follow us around for the next several days?”

    “If I need to, I will.”

     “You don’t,” Kel assured him, “But have lunch with us before you go.”

     Tara took her story to Bobby’s office. He looked up when she knocked on his door. “Come in. I wanted to see you before you went to Atlanta. Obviously we need to do our own story on Kel being a diabetic. If you could get him to talk to you about it I’d like to run that next and I really think we need to do a story about his single status. If people realize that he hasn’t remarried because he lost the love of his life, they may be more receptive of him as a potentially single President.”

     The love of his life? “You want me to do a story on Alise.”         “No, a story about how much Kel loved Alise. Explain why he’s never remarried.”