Page 26 of Season of Gifts

Henry

Theemergencyroomdoorsslid apart as Henry approached.A gust of overheated air struck him, carrying a stinging mélange of fear, pain, and chemical cleaning solvents.

He stepped inside.

The décor had changed in thirty-odd years.They’d modernized the waiting area with cozy seating sections, electronic kiosks, enormous screens, and—

And Lina.His family’s former housekeeper rose from a chair near the nurses’ station.

His feet led him, memory stripping away the years with each step.The rich blue chairs faded to sallow green, the floor to a jumble of nausea-inducing vinyl speckles, the air itself a haze of stale cigarette smoke.Flyaway strands of Lina’s thick brown hair bubbled out of her usual braid; she’d been finger-combing it into a mess ever since she’d dashed for the phone.They’d been waiting forever, for hours, and Father hadn’t arrived yet.He might be upset that Henry hadn’t changed from his school clothes to his play clothes.Or that neither were appropriate for the hospital.Father said appearances were of paramount importance.Henry stared at the double doors to the hidden rest of the hospital and willed them to open.Many people had gone through, in both directions.Not the one he wanted.“When can I see Mother?”

Lina flinched.The deep brown of her hair turned silver; her face grew crow’s feet and laugh lines.She shrank, suddenly shorter than he was—but, then, his own voice had emerged deeper than the seven-year-old who’d originally asked that question.

“Lina.”He briefly closed his eyes and shook his head, taking a restorative breath.Time enough later to contemplate unwanted echoes.Duty demanded he maintain composure and control to assess the situation.“My apologies.Are you well?”

Extending his arms, he waited for her to complete the circle if she chose.Her embrace was as fierce as it had ever been, and she still rubbed circles between his shoulder blades.She drew back, then hugged him again for good measure.

“It was so sudden, Henry.She called me, dizzy, confused—she’d stumbled, she said—and her body just ached.I stayed on the phone with her, and we called 911 from Brooke’s phone.”Fishing in her cardigan pocket, Lina produced a tissue that she dabbed at her eyes.Her daughter and the grandchildren weren’t in evidence; at home, most likely.“They won’t tell me anything, but now that you’re here we might coax free an update.”

The front desk would not, in fact, relinquish specific details, though they did confirm his identity as his mother’s emergency contact.He returned to the huddle of seats around a low table and took the one beside Lina.“I’m assured someone from her care team will be out to speak with us shortly.”

Nodding, Lina pulled her braid over her shoulder and fiddled with the ends.“Have you eaten?You must’ve been driving through the dinner hour.”

The instinct to soothe by feeding came naturally to caregivers, perhaps never diminished.For years Lina had called Henry and his mother to teatime, luring them from their obsessions—sketching, painting, reading, gardening.

“I did indeed, I had a lovely snack—” Packed by Alice and Jay.It had been barely five-thirty when he’d left them, and the clock neared nine.He patted his pockets until his phone revealed itself.“Excuse me for just a moment.I ought to inform my partners that I’ve arrived safely.”

He stepped away for propriety rather than privacy; carrying on one side of a conversation in the presence of others would be unforgivably impolite.His spouses would have finished dinner by now.Too much to hope that they had enjoyed the remainder of their dessert crafting experience, the mood undoubtedly having shifted with his hurried departure.

Launching an audio call to Alice, he had just enough time to wonder how often she’d received such a call from her mother during her father’s hospital stay before her voice sounded over the line.

“Henry.Jay’s right here.Do you want to be on speaker?”Her gentle thoughtfulness wrapped ghostly arms around him.Of course Alice, accustomed to delivering only necessary news to her younger sister, would outline the circumstances and inquire about his wishes.

“I haven’t any news yet; I’ve only just arrived.”A desperate energy pervaded the room.People sat, heads bent, praying or pleading or warding off pain.They paced with Jay’s restless nature, longing for a useful task through the extended wait.“But I do wish to thank you both for—”

“Henry?”Lina called softly to him.A woman in a white coat had emerged from the double doors.

“Alice, I’m sorry, I have to—”

“Go, go.We love you, Henry.Call when you can.”

He pocketed the phone and met the doctor as she reached the seating arrangement they’d claimed as theirs.Alice had things well in hand at home; she and Jay would be fine.Dropping a neutral mask over himself, steeling his spine for whatever news would come, he nodded politely and glanced at the woman’s name tag.“Doctor Clark?”

Beneath her coat, the doctor wore business casual, not surgical scrubs, which seemed an encouraging sign.“Yes, and you must be Mr.Webb?”

“Henry, please.”He rested a hand on Lina’s shoulder.“And this is Lina, a good friend of the family.I’m certain my mother will want to keep her informed as well.Shall we sit?”

The doctor sat across from them.Relief thundered through him in a stampede of heartbeats, deafening in their power.If his mother were dead or the topic otherwise sensitive, the doctor would have taken them to a private family room to deliver the news.He’d watched his father through the window blinds of one once.

Calling herself a cardiac care specialist, Doctor Clark walked them through the diagnosis and treatment thus far.A mild heart attack; an immediate transfer from emergency care to the catheterization lab; drug therapy to ease the strain on Mother’s systems.“I’m a bit concerned by the potential for heart fatigue, given your mother’s medical history, so we’ll be taking things slow, but the good news is that we’ve caught this early.I see you’re listed as her proxy?”

“Yes, with my brother as the secondary.”He scanned the room; Robert did not magically appear from behind a vending machine.His brother’s drive would have been significantly shorter.He should have arrived hours ago.“He, uh…”

Lina laid her hand on his forearm.“He’s on a business trip overseas, but I’ve spoken to his wife.”Her grip tightened, a comforting squeeze though she faced the doctor.“Their boys may be too young to visit their grandmother in the hospital, so she’s waiting until we have a clearer picture.”

How he’d hated that rule.His brother had been old enough, but away at school, and Father hadn’t considered it necessary to bring Robert home.

The doctor’s sympathetic smile spread too thin to cover the uncertainty in her eyes.“Well, I am cautiously optimistic that we’ll have her home by the end of the week, but let’s see what the next twenty-four hours bring.”

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