Page 87 of A Chance at Forever
Though the days grew longer, they grew darker. Rusty fought the onslaught of his illness with every ounce of strength and will inside him. Bedridden, he depended on Victoria, and it galled him. He should be the one taking care of her. Most mornings he heard her vomiting in the bathroom and cursed his inability to help her. Rusty pounded the mattress in frustration and begged God for a miracle.
During those hopeless hours, Victoria read letters from Rusty’s students and the football team. They expressed how much they missed him. They included terrible jokes to make him laugh. They told him they hijacked the classroom every day from the substitute who couldn’t control them. His team threw his own words of encouragement back at him. And they all assured him how much they loved him.
Rusty cried. He vowed to keep fighting. Until he couldn’t any longer.
One morning he gripped Victoria’s hand and murmured in a hoarse voice, “Call my sister.” His breath came in short gasps.
Tears dripped down her face as she pressed Rebecca’s number on her cell phone. “Becca, it’s time…it’s, oh, I can’t say it…” Victoria’s words ended in a great, choking sob.
Rusty took the phone from her and spoke to his sister. “I’ll call you back.” Victoria had buried her face against his chest, and her tears soaked his T-shirt. He rubbed her back. “Shh, baby. Everything is going to be okay.”
“How can you say that?” she mumbled. “Nothing is going to be okay ever again.”
“I say it.” Alex’s voice boomed from behind her. “Move over, Tori. I have something here that might do the trick.” He swabbed Rusty’s arm with an alcohol wipe and administered a shot. “We did it, buddy. After all these years our research has finally paid off. Though not a cure, we have a treatment for your condition. You should start to feel better in a couple of hours.”
Victoria lifted her head and stared at Alex. “How? How do you know this will work when the other treatments haven’t?”
“Because I’ve been able to track Rusty’s reactions through the illness’ attacks on his body and isolate the elements needed for the best combination of meds.”
“Do you know what causes it? Does it even have a name?”
“We think it’s a rare form of a PI, that is, a primary immunodeficiency. People who suffer from it have recurring infections like Rusty’s. Over time, these infections can prove fatal.”
Rusty brought Victoria’s cold hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I don’t want you to worry, Tori. I trust Alex. We always knew my immune system didn’t work properly, but this type of condition is extremely hard to diagnose. And the current treatment on the market doesn’t work for everyone.”
“I’m going to hang around for a while to see how you react, Rusty. Take a break, Tori. You look like you could use a nap.”
*
Victoria hadn’t meantto fall asleep. After tending to several chores around the house, she stretched out on a bed in one of the guest rooms, intending to close her eyes for only a few minutes. But, fatigue from her pregnancy and fear over Rusty had drained her.
Her fear invaded her dreams. A thick fog covered the lake in the mountains. Victoria heard Rusty calling, “Tori! Where are you? I need you!” His voice sounded eerie and far away.
“I’m here! I’m trying to get to you! Rusty! Rusty!”
“Tori…!”
He needed her and she couldn’t find him. The water and the fog separated them. She screamed his name over and over.
“Tori! Wake up!” Someone shook her and she jerked awake. Her heart pounded and sweat beaded her forehead.
Rusty sat beside her. When she saw his beloved face, Victoria burst into a flood of uncontrollable tears. He gathered her in his arms as she babbled, “You were lost! I couldn’t find you. You needed me, and I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m right here, baby. And I’m not going anywhere. My breathing has already eased. I can feel my lungs clearing. This time we got it right. I’m sure we did.”
She clung to him and sobbed as he stroked her hair and murmured words of faith and hope and love.
*
Catherine Eve Sinclairarrived on her due date, November fifteenth. After ten long hours of hard labor, Victoria brought her daughter into the world in the same hospital where she’d been born, Marysville General Hospital. After Rusty’s recovery, they had returned to Marysville in May. Victoria smiled as Rusty placed his tiny, red-faced, squalling daughter in her arms. With tears of joy in their eyes, they admired their daughter’s head full of dark hair and green eyes and her perfect, little face.
“She’s beautiful,” Rusty murmured. “Just like you.” He pressed his mouth against Victoria’s.
“She has your chin, and probably your stubbornness, too.” Victoria’s eyes sparkled with mirth.
“I hope she inherits your devotion.”
A nurse interrupted them to take Eve (they had agreed to call her by her middle name) to the nursery while Victoria was moved to a maternity suite. There, the couple’s friends waited for them with balloons and stuffed animals. Cries of “Congratulations!” filled the air.
