Chapter 21 #2
He met Bekka’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Everybody in that whole family is still sick with the stomach flu, baby girl, or they’d be coming with us.”
“They have to be real scared, so we need to call them a lot and let them know what’s going on. Okay, Daddy?”
His eyes stung some, and he had to blink them hard to see the road.
His babies were the kindest, sweetest girls on earth.
He couldn’t be more proud of them than he was right now.
“I think that sounds like a real good idea, baby girl. They’re going to need to know what’s going on from somebody who’s seen it with their own eyes. ”
She nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll fix it up, and then it will be Christmas, and Santa, and everything will be okay.”
Sarah nodded. “Don’t forget, Aunt Lizzie is a nurse. If you need to answer any questions, Aunt Lizzie will know what to do. She is very smart.”
Bekka took a deep breath, let it out. “She so is. She’s been trained to be a flight nurse, an ER nurse. She’s great.”
“She is, and that’s a good idea, baby.” He nodded to Sarah. “That’s great thinking, kiddo.”
“Do you know what happened?” Rachel asked. “Did he get run over by a horse?”
Mitch shook his head. “No, your Granny Halley said somebody threw a firework into the arena. When it went off it scared the horse, and Cam got thrown.”
“Who would do that? Who would throw a firework with a horse there? The horse could have gotten hurt!” Sarah sounded utterly horrified. “I mean, that’s just mean. That’s awful. Shame on them whoever it is.”
“Did they catch him?” That was Bekka.
He had to shrug. “Honey, I don’t know. I guess when we get there, we can find out, but I honestly don’t know.”
“Well, I hope so. I can’t imagine that somebody would be so evil.”
Sarah tossed her head. “I bet it was a teenager.”
“I don’t know, girls.” Mitch pretty much thought it was either that or an animal rights activist, although that seemed stupid as shit given that something like an explosion could traumatize a horse for life.
“I promise, we’ll find out when we get there. Uncle Mark will help a lot.”
Speaking of Mark, his phone rang and he hit play on the hands-free. “You’re on speaker, buddy.”
“Hey, girls!” Mark sounded chipper, filled with energy, which was a little bit of what they needed.
“Hey, Uncle Mark.”
“So, I found us a place. It’s at what they call an apartotel. It’s got a kitchen, two bedrooms, four beds. There’s a Walmart close. Everything about it looks like it’ll work.”
“Yeah?” That seemed perfect.
“It’s not far from the hospital, a bit of a drive, but everything else that was closer I’d have had to have gotten more than one room, and this just seemed better. There’s outside places, there’s a hot tub that the girls can get in. It’ll be too cold for the actual pool. Does that work?”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” The girls could play in the hot tub. That would have to be good enough.
“I went ahead and booked for a week. I figure we can always leave early. This way, there’s a place for us all to relax, we can have snacks, there’s a full-size fridge, we can go to the Walmart and get everything that we need. We’ll have a little mini-vacation.”
Bekka sighed softly. “This isn’t a vacation, Uncle Mark. Cam is hurt.”
“Yeah, I know, I know, sweetheart, but it’ll be good to see you guys anyway. I missed you.”
The little girl’s parroted back in unison, “We miss you too, Uncle Mark.”
What a fucking mess. “I’m on the road. When is your flight coming in?”
“I worked it out so that I get there about the same time you should arrive. I gave you an extra hour because, you know, stopping to eat and stuff. But your name is on the room. I’ll text you all of the pertinent details in case I have a problem getting there.
I’m just going to take a shuttle from the airport, so don’t worry about picking me up.
You just get there and get settled in, and as soon as I get in, I can take over and let you go to the hospital. ”
“I really appreciate this, buddy. You’ve been more of a help than…”
“Hey, you’re my family. Besides that, I haven’t seen you guys in what seems like forever. And I’m not that far away. I should be better at this.”
Better at what? Rescuing him? “I think you’re great at it.”
“We think so too, Uncle Mark.” Sarah’s voice was a little shaky. “It’s going to be okay, you know. Daddy said so.”
“Well, goodness knows your daddy has been through enough, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, sir.” Little Rachel sounded pissed off. “We have had a lot of things.”
Mark barked out a hard laugh. “You have, but don’t you guys worry, I’m on my way. We’ll all meet in Vegas, and we’ll get Mr. Cam fixed up, and then we’ll get everybody home solid as a rock before Christmas.”
Mark sounded so damn sure, and Mitch didn’t have a choice but to believe him.
“From your mouth to God’s ears.”
“You know it. I am evincing my will to the universe, man.”
“Good deal.” He chuckled. “We’ll check in again soon, okay?”
“Sure. I’ll keep you posted.”
“And vice versa,” Mitch agreed. “Love you, bye.”
“Love you, man.”
Bekka met his eyes in the rearview. “We’re okay?”
“Everything is going to be fine, baby girl. Cam needs us, so we’re going to help bring him and Fire home with us, fair?”
“Yeah. Yeah, Daddy. And we get to see Uncle Mark, so that’s amazing.”
“It is. And Cam is going to be fine. We just have to believe that. After all, he helped me get all healed up, right?”
“Right!” Rachel pumped her fist, catching his eye in the rearview. “I’ll read to him.”
“We can all read to him.” Sarah pursed her lips and gave her sister a sideways stare. He needed to keep his eyes on the road, but they were fascinating back there. “Cam likes all kinds of books.”
“He does. Did you pack books and stuff, Daddy?”
“I packed the books y’all are reading, and we have your tablets and eBooks. Also, guess what? Las Vegas has Walmarts and bookstores.”
“I like bookstores.” Bekka sighed. “Is it okay if I take a nap?”
“Absolutely. We’ll stop in a bit for a pee break and to run around.”
He pushed the SUV a little faster. He needed to get to his man. Now.