Chapter 23
The tranquility of the late morning was suddenly disrupted when CK’s phone rang on top of the chest of drawers. She stepped
out of the bathroom, where she had been packing her toiletry bag, and answered the call. Sophie’s anxious voice came across
the line. “Mom, my stomach is hurting so bad! I looked on the internet and think I have appendicitis!”
CK’s heart pounded as she began to pace the bedroom. “Sophie, baby, where does it hurt, honey?”
“What’s going on?” Gemma asked while attempting to zip her overflowing suitcase.
“Lower right quadrant, Mom! Lower right quadrant!” the little girl groaned.
“Put your dad on the phone!” CK frantically searched the room for her wristlet with her keys attached to the strap. She said
to Gemma, “We have to go now. Sophie’s appendix is—”
Suddenly, Celia Kate could not speak. Her mind was clouded with images of her beautiful, dark-haired little Sophie in a hospital
bed, a faceless doctor in a white coat speaking in hushed, concerned tones about sepsis and emergency surgery. Her heart was
about to pound out of her chest, and her vision went blurry. The pink and green bedroom spun around her. Celia Kate gasped
for air while Gemma rushed to her side.
“Hey, sis. Breathe with me. In and out. Slow and steady.” Gemma gently took her by the arm and stood close to her. “Let’s sit down.”
“No!” CK shouted and wrestled against Gemma. “We have to go. We have to get home. Sophie is sick. If her appendix ruptures . . .
sepsis. She could—”
Gemma interrupted by gently saying, “Give me the phone. Let me find out what’s going on.” She pulled the small rectangle from
CK’s white-knuckle grip and pressed the speakerphone button while CK rapidly took in air.
Sean’s voice interrupted the panicked scene with a casual, “Hello?”
“Sean! Why haven’t you taken her to the emergency room yet?” CK shouted into the phone that Gemma was holding while CK continued
to frantically search through the blankets on the bed for her keys. “What are you thinking? Get her there now! Or call an
ambulance!”
“Call an ambulance for gas?” he asked. “That is dramatic, even for you, Celia Kate.”
“Gas? Her appendix is about to rupture!” Spit flew from her lips when she shouted.
“Okay, okay, calm down.” Gemma lightly touched CK’s arm and then asked calmly, “Sean, what’s happening there?”
“Sophie has gas. The kid put down two beef burritos and half a container of chunky guac after church.”
“From Tortilla Town or El Patio?” Gemma asked while she picked at her nails.
Sean grunted. “Do you even have to ask?”
“El Poot-o?” Gemma laughed. “You know, that’s why the seats outside in the courtyard are always taken. Inside it smells like—”
“Sean!” CK angrily interrupted their banter. “She said her appendix was hurting! The lower right side of her stomach? Is that
where the pain is? Is it worse when she coughs? When it’s pressed?”
Gemma handed the phone back to CK and continued working on the stuck suitcase zipper.
“Honey, do you know why Sophie thinks she needs an appendectomy? Because our kids can’t fart without thinking they have a
debilitating disease. You have talked about rupturing appendixes since Silas had colic. You’ve rushed our kids to the emergency
room for mosquito bites, heat rashes, skinned knees—”
“Tucker’s kneecap was hanging off, Sean! What was I supposed to do? Tape it back on?” Celia Kate defended herself and then
sat down on the bed.
“Sophie is fine. The pain isn’t even in her lower right quadrant, I promise. There’s nothing to worry about. She has gas,
CK. She’s okay.”
CK remained quiet for several moments, steadying her breath while her mind raced.
“Babe? Are you there? Did you hear me? Sophie is fine.”
“I have done this to them, haven’t I?” she asked her husband.
Gemma glanced at her quickly before returning her attention to the bags on the made bed.
“Done what?” he asked.
“I have made them terrified.” She stared past Gemma and out the window, focusing on the top of a palm tree. “I have unleashed
all my anxieties and worries onto them. I have made them a mess.”
Sean sighed. “No, CK, you— Our kids are fine,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said all of that. She started searching for stuff on the internet and that’s when she got worried. This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” she asked in a low voice laced with guilt.
“No, it really isn’t. Listen to me. Sophie is fine. Don’t worry about a thing here at home. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon
with Mo and your friends, and we’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Silas is going to make supper for us, and Tucker is helping me clean the house before you get home. Chipper Jones is purring
on the couch, and Sophie will be fine as soon as she lets a big one rip.”
“Wait a minute. Silas is doing what?” She looked at Gemma in shock.
“He’s going to make supper for us tonight. I taught him how to work the grill, and he’s ready to man it on his own. We’ve
already got chicken marinating, and he said he’s making scalloped potatoes. Oh, some of your ranch and bacon pasta too. We
love you and we’ll see you soon. And don’t let Gemma Earnhardt take the wheel!”
“That’s Mrs. Gemma Earnhardt to you!” she called before Sean hung up the phone.
“Silas is making supper. Humph.” CK tossed the phone onto the bed.
“The kid can’t even boil water, huh? Can’t take care of himself? He may starve?” Gemma teased as she sat next to her friend
on the bed and took her hand. “What’s going on in your mind right now?”
CK shook her head. “I’ve made my kids neurotic, haven’t I? My daughter just needs to fart, but she thinks she’s dying. That’s
my fault. They’ve picked up on my fears and adopted them as their own. I’m the reason they’ll all need therapy.”
“Celia Kate, stop talking like that. I have eaten enough El Patio to know that, while it’s delicious, it can make you feel like you’re about to give birth to an alien baby. I’m not at all surprised that she freaked out,” Gemma said with a smile.
“Sheer panic. That is what I felt. You, on the other hand, love my kids like they’re your own, but you stayed rational. Why
didn’t I? Why didn’t I calmly ask more questions before picturing my child being rushed down a hallway on a gurney with a
ruptured appendix and sepsis, with me pacing in an ICU? I felt faint. I thought I was going to pass out. I was that scared,”
CK said, beginning to cry.
Gemma wrapped her arm around CK and pulled her close. CK rested her head on Gemma’s soft shoulder, and they sat in comfortable
silence. After a few minutes, Gemma began to whisper a prayer, echoing Nell’s earlier words about trust, faith, and being
anxious for nothing. CK slowed her breathing and focused on the comforting words Gemma spoke. By the time Gemma concluded
with “Amen,” CK’s heart rate had returned to normal.