Chapter Four
EVA
The next two weeks went fast. Cage finished his last season with the Hurricanes and I passed all my finals. We were going to be going to Tennessee in two days to look at apartments and Cage had to meet with the team and coach. He would start working out with them and practicing with them over the next month.
Although it would be a long time before next season he would be worked hard to get into shape to play college ball on that level. I was prepared for it and I was happy for him. I had never seen him so excited. Apparently excitement made him even more horny which I didn’t think was possible. It was rare that I walked past him that he didn’t have me pressed up against a wall or sprawled out on top of boxes. I loved his enthusiasm and it was hard not to be just as giddy as he was.
Today I was left to pack my things and Cage had gone to get his oil changed and car checked out for the long drive this weekend. I was planning on going to see Daddy tomorrow. I wanted to spend time with him before we left. I would be back again in a month to see him but I was used to seeing him once a week. I was going to miss that.
My phone rang as I taped up another box. Jeremy’s name lit up the screen and I grabbed the phone and quickly answered. Jeremy never called me.
“Hello?”
There was a pause on the phone. A knot slowly formed in my stomach.
“Jeremy?” I asked when he didn’t respond.
“Eva. Hey. I. . . You need to come home. We need to talk.”
We need to talk? “What? You’re scaring me Jer. What’s wrong?”
“I, I talked to your dad today. He needs me to take him back to the doctor today. He’s sick, Eva. You need to come home. We should be back by five this evening. Come talk to him.”
Sick? I’d just been to see him last week. He was fine. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked as I moved to grab my purse and keys.
“Eva, I don’t want to talk to you about this over the phone. I’d have come there but your dad needs me with him. Come home and we’ll talk.”
My heart was racing as I locked the apartment door behind me and ran down the stairs toward the parking lot. “Should you call an ambulance?” I asked as a horrible bad scenarios ran through my head. Was he having a heart attack?
“No. He doesn’t need an ambulance. It isn’t that kind of sick. He just needs you, Eva. I’m taking him to the County Hospital for a procedure. He doesn’t want you to know but I found him today bent over and he was. . . He was throwing up. . . He was throwing up blood, Eva.”
It was if my heart stopped. Throwing up blood? That wasn’t normal. Oh God that was so not normal. Tears filled my eyes as started the engine to my Jeep and pulled out onto the road. “When are you leaving for the hospital?” I asked anxiously. I needed to get to my dad. “He needs to go now,” I snapped.
“He’s changing his clothes right now. I’m outside waiting on him then we are headed that way.”
“Go inside with him, Jer. Please. Go inside with him,” I couldn’t keep the sobbing in. “Don’t leave him alone. I’ll meet you at the hospital. Hurry Jeremy. Hurry, please,” I begged.
“Drive careful. I’m going inside to check on him now. I got him, Eva. Just meet us there. We will figure this out. I swear we will.”
Jeremy’s words didn’t ease the fear clawing at me. My daddy, my big strong invincible daddy was throwing up blood. What did that even mean? Why would someone throw up blood?
I couldn’t fall apart. I had to be strong. I had to show him that I believed he was going to fine. If he saw me cry he’d worry about me. He didn’t need to be worrying over me. Swallowing the sob in my throat I took several deep breaths.
I was going to have to tell Cage. He would be looking for me. I dialed his number and waited. It rang twice.
“Hey, baby,” he drawled. The ease and happiness in his voice only made the tears burn my eyes.
“I’m headed to the hospital. Daddy’s sick. Jeremy called me. I have to go,” I managed to get out with only a few small sobs.
“Where are you? I can drive you. You don’t need to be driving upset.” I could tell he was moving. Probably running for his car. I couldn’t wait on him. I loved him for wanting to come with me but I couldn’t wait.
“I’ve already left. I have to get there. I can’t wait. He’s throwing up blood. He,” I hiccupped, “he was going to the doctor today anyway for a procedure. Something is wrong with him and he hasn’t told me. That can’t be good. I can’t lose my daddy, Cage. I can’t.” I was freely sobbing now.
“I know, baby. He’s gonna be okay. We gotta believe he’s gonna be okay. Please pull over and let me come get you. Driving like this is dangerous. I need you to calm down. Okay, please, please calm down and pull over.” The panicked pleading in his voice was hard to ignore. But I had to get to my daddy. I couldn’t do this for him.
I fought back the tears again. “I’m okay. I am. I can’t stop. I can’t I need to get there.”
Cage swore under his breath. “What hospital?”
“County Hospital,” I replied.
“I’m on my way. Be careful. For me and your daddy be careful,” he begged.
“I will. I promise,” I assured him.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Always,” I replied then hung up. Gripping the wheel with both hands I focused on getting to the hospital then I started to pray.
* * *
I was pacing the entrance to the hospital when I saw Jeremy’s truck pull into the parking lot. I wasn’t sure if he’d told Daddy I was going to be here or not. Either way he was going to fuss. He didn’t want me to know about this obviously.
I waited on them to get to the door before stepping forward to greet them. Daddy’s pinched frown at seeing me wasn’t one of surprise. Jeremy had told him I was going to be here. Good.
“Stubborn boy wasn’t supposed to call you. I was gonna talk to you before you left. I just wanted to wait until you had your new life ahead of you before and were ready to move on before I explained all this,” Daddy said. His voice still sounded as strong and rumbly as always. My fear eased some at the reminder he was alive and he didn’t look like he had been throwing up. Except the circles under his eyes weren’t normal and the pale color of his skin wasn’t that noticeable but it was there.
“I can’t believe you were waiting to tell me you were sick. I could have been the one to take you to the hospital. You don’t have to be sick alone,” I said walking up to him and wrapping my arms around his waist to hug him. I needed to smell his aftershave and the feel his strong body. All the thoughts that had played out in my head on the way here had messed with me. I was afraid I was losing him. But he was here and we were going to get him fixed.
“We need to get him to the third floor. His appointment is in ten minutes,” Jeremy said. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d gotten here. The haunted look in his eyes bothered me. He knew something. Or maybe I was imagining it. I grabbed Daddy’s hand and we walked to the elevator.
“I was coming over tomorrow and I was leaving on the next day. Were you gonna wait until tomorrow to tell me? That was a bad plan,” I informed him pressing the three when we got into the elevator. I didn’t look at Jeremy. The look in his eyes was scaring me. I couldn’t look at him. I had to focus on how my dad was alive. He was fine.
“I didn’t want you to have time to back out of leaving. It’s what you want. I think it’s what is best for you right now.”
My dad thought me running off to another state with Cage York was what was best for me. Did he have a fever? Was this a bad case of pneumonia?
Before I could ask him about that the door opened and we walked out of the elevator. The first thing I saw was a woman standing there with a bandanna around her head. She was bald. I could tell that much. She didn’t even have eyebrows. Her skin was a sickly color but she smiled at me when our eyes met then she walked past me and got in the elevator. I followed Daddy but I could feel Jeremy’s eyes on me. I wasn’t going to look at him. Even if he wanted me to. Then a couple came by us and this man was bald too but he wasn’t covering his head. He was also in a wheel chair and I realized his leg was missing. Glancing up I saw the lady pushing his wheel chair toward the elevator. Two bald people. . . I stopped. I didn’t look to see where Dad was going. Instead I slowly scanned my surroundings. They were all the same. Each one of them. Maybe they were all in different stages but they all had a sickly pallor to their skin. And they were all bald. I reached over and grabbed the closest thing I could find. It was Jeremy’s arm.
At some point he’d walked over to me. He had expected me to figure it out. He had known where we were going. It was hard to take deep breaths. Everything started to get blurry. Jeremy’s arm came around me and he was talking to me. I didn’t understand what he was saying but from the tone of his voice he was trying to ease my mind. That wasn’t possible. I knew where we were. I knew why my daddy had been throwing up blood. The cool hard plastic of a chair touched my back as Jeremy eased me down into the seat.
“Breathe, Eva. Take slow even breaths,” he encouraged. I understood that. So that’s what I did. I focused on breathing. I didn’t think about where we were.