Chapter 22
Tillman fumbled for his phone. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was in the perfect place at the perfect time with the perfect woman in his arms. He should have known that he didn’t get the perfect life.
But he pushed the thought aside, because maybe, God just wanted to try him a little. And make him better. He knew there was a lot of room for improvement.
So he tried not to resent the interruption and instead focused on the encouraging idea that if Phoebe said she had chosen him, she wasn’t going to change her mind. Because that was the kind of woman she was. The kind who stuck to her word and did what she said she was going to do.
He saw the number and frowned. It was the number that his kids had been calling from, but...it was late. They should both be in bed.
“Hello?”
“Daddy, I don’t feel good.”
It was Erin, and she sounded terrible.
“Where don’t you feel good at?” he asked, immediately concerned, his heart already beating fast because of the kiss he’d just shared with Phoebe but now pounding rapidly for a different reason. Fear.
“My stomach. It hurts.”
“Where at?”
“On the side.”
“Which side? The side on the hand that you write with?” He was trying to think of which side hurt when someone’s appendix was about to rupture.
“Yeah.”
“Did you tell your mom?”
“She told me to shut up and go back to bed.”
“Did you get Rowan to go down and tell her that you don’t feel good?”
“Rowan tried after I went down, and she yelled at him too. She’s... She’s drinking that red stuff, and it always makes her mean.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what the red stuff was. Probably wine.
“The house smells funny, and Daddy...” She started to cry. “I hurt so bad.”
“All right, baby. You just hold tight. I’ll try to call your mother, and if she won’t answer, I’m going to have the ambulance coming to get you. So you stay right by this phone, you and Rowan both, so if anything happens to you, Rowan can answer.”
He didn’t know if she would pass out from the pain, but if her appendix was about to rupture, she needed help and she needed it fast.
“Okay. Daddy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“I’m scared.”
“All right. I can understand why you would be. I can’t talk to you too much right now, because I have to make a call, but I’ll pray, and I know that Jesus is with you.”
He wished he had been able to spend more time with his kids, telling them that Jesus really was with them, not springing it on them sometime when they were afraid and didn’t have any clue who He was.
“Call back, Daddy.”
“I will, baby.”
“Bye.”
All the time, Phoebe had been staring at him, concern on her face. She didn’t have to tell him that she was praying silently beside him. He could feel it. There was just something in the air, something that made him feel brave, and competent, and somehow know that everything was going to be okay, even if it didn’t feel like it was. And even if things didn’t turn out the way he wanted them to.
He pulled Phoebe tighter with one arm as he used his other to dial Nicole’s number. He still knew it. It was etched in his memory. It had been the number that he had called all through their relationship, anticipating with excitement the idea of talking to his girlfriend and then his wife.
No longer. Dialing the number now gave him a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. It turned putrid when she didn’t answer and the call went to voicemail. He tried once more, with the same result.
“I’m calling 911.”
“Good idea,” Phoebe said, and then she was quiet while he talked to the operator who answered. She had to patch it through to the operator in the area where his family lived, which took a little bit of time, and he tried not to be impatient. They were doing the best they could, and him getting upset wasn’t going to help anything. Maybe later, he would be proud of himself for not losing his temper or flying off the handle at anyone or anything, since he stayed calm throughout.
It was the Lord, and maybe Phoebe’s prayers.
As soon as he knew for sure that they were sending someone, and the operator told him most likely it would be a life-flight helicopter which had been dispatched, and it would be taking his daughter to a hospital that could do the operation immediately, that’s when he hung up and called his kids back. He didn’t want the lights and the sirens and whatever else might be happening to scare them.
“Hello?”
“Erin, baby. Are you okay?”
“It hurts, Daddy.”
“I’m sorry.” He flinched. Was there anything harder than knowing someone he loved was in pain and he couldn’t fix it? “I’ve got people coming to help, but it’s not going to be me.”
“But I want you!” And she started to cry again.
“Rowan?”
“Daddy?”
“You’re going to have to be brave and help your sister. There are going to be some lights, sirens maybe, and you won’t know the people who are coming into the house. You’re going to have to let them in. Can you do that?”
“I guess so. Are they bad men, Daddy?”
“I wouldn’t let bad men come in. But you’re going to have to unlock the door and let the good men in so they can take your sister to the hospital so that she can get better.”
“But I don’t want her to go! I don’t want to be by myself!”
“I’m on the way, little man, but it’s going to take me a while. I’m not going to be able to get there before she leaves, so you’re going to have to be brave. Just for a little bit.”
“But I don’t want to be brave! I want to be with you!”
“I will have you with me as soon as I can.” He tried to figure out what to do. “Hang on a second, just hold on, I’m going to get my truck, but we can stay on the line. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He looked at Phoebe, her face resolute, knowledge already in her eyes that he was going to have to leave, and she was going to have to stay. He wanted to take her with him, but he didn’t think that was a good idea. He had no idea what he was going to get into, and she would need to stay and help on the ranch, keep things going with the rodeo.
“I want to ask you to come with me.”
“I want to go.” But she didn’t make any move to. “But I think it’s better if I stay. I... I don’t want to hold you back or hold you up.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“If you want me to go?”
“I do, but I think you’re right. We still have the rodeo to do, and we’ve already been sidetracked with the fire, now this. I’ll do everything I can from the hospital room.”
Assuming his daughter lived. He prayed hard she would.
“That’s fine, we’ve got the notebooks, I know exactly what’s going on with you, because we spent so much time talking about it. I’ll pick up and do what I can, but please don’t worry about me. You stay with your kids. That’s where you need to be, for as long as you need to be there. And secondly, I love you too.”
She reached out and pressed her lips to his, and he almost forgot that he was in a hurry to leave, because he wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her tight, deepen the kiss and make it last longer. But she pulled back almost as soon as it started and said, “Be careful.”
There was so much more he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do, so much time he wanted to spend in her arms, but none of that could happen right now. He nodded, put the phone back to his ear, and strode away.