Page 46 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
“You try to handcuff me and I will end you.” Steve lunged forward, taking another swing and missing by several feet.
“Taser him! Taser him!” voices shouted.
Steve’s body suddenly grew rigid, his eyes rolling backwards—the crowd gasped—and he thumped to the ground. The paramedics heaved Steve onto the stretcher and loaded him into the back of the ambulance to thunderous applause.
“Great show. That was almost better than the circus,” one man said.
“Sharon ought to make that an annual event,” Julie said, nodding her head in agreement before waving over her shoulder and leaving.
The rest of the onlookers started to disperse as well. The two men from the car show walked past Edith on their way back to the cars. “Your brother is quite the actor, isn’t he?”the shorter man said. “The way he transformed his face. Amazing. Almost like he really did get Tasered. Wow. Good stuff.”
“I’ll say,” the taller man responded. “He almost reminded me a little of Steve McQueen. Now that guy—hewas quite the actor.”
“RememberBullitt? That 1968 Ford Mustang?”
“Only every time I close my eyes.” They tapped the brims of their hats. Edith gave a half-hearted wave back, watching them disappear down the road.
What just happened?
“This town, Henry, I tell you, it grows more and more—” Edith spun in a circle. “Henry?” The medical tent sat empty. His paint bucket and brushes abandoned. Where did he go? He wouldn’t just leave like that, would he? Without saying something?
Edith stepped back beneath the tent and picked up the fan. Blew it against her face.
This town grew more and morewhat, she didn’t know. Or maybe she didn’t want to put a name to it. Like she didn’t want to put a name to her feelings toward Henry. It shouldn’t matter if he had left. She was leaving him, leaving this town, soon enough anyway. It didn’t matter.
So why was there an ache in her chest telling her it did?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The familiar sound of IV pumps beeping and monitors alarming greeted Edith at the entrance to the ICU. Which room was it again? 203? She peeked past the curtain to room203 and, finding Steve, slipped into his room.
With his color back to normal, his long sandy eyelashes resting peacefully against his cheeks, he looked more like the innocent boy she remembered back in high school.
Okay, maybe not innocent. He was a Sherman after all. Maybe more like good-natured. At the very least, a far cry from the sweaty beast taking punches at an officer yesterday afternoon. Edith looked down at the restraints circling his wrists, attached to the bed frame. Another one was strapped to his right ankle.
“Good gravy, Steve. What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”
His chest rose in a steady rhythm, in sync with the ventilator. According to the nurse she spoke to over the phone, they’d had no choice but to sedate and intubate him when he came into the emergency department like a rabid lunatic.
Overnight, he’d had another savage episode. But apparently he’d also passed a kidney stone large enough to warrant a birth announcement in the local paper, so no wonder he’d looked awful this past week and had been behaving like a wild man. The smack on the head didn’t help matters either. But thankfully it was only a superficial laceration. They were able to close it with a few staples.
Hopefully today would be a better day. And hopefully Edith was nowhere nearby when they took off his sedation to get him off the ventilator in case today wasn’t a better day.
“Excuse me.” The officer from yesterday—James, was it?—stepped into the room. Yes. James. Edith could see his name embroidered on his uniform. Embroidered? She glanced again. Definitely embroidered. With white daisies serving as bookends.
“I know.” He sighed, dipping his chin to follow her gaze. “My mom thought if any criminals saw a mother’s touch on my uniform, they might be less inclined to shoot me.” He shrugged. “The things we do for family, even when it doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
His gaze settled on Steve. Edith stepped back to give James room for what he needed to do. Was this where he formally charged Steve for...? Well, whatever Steve was getting charged for. Assaulting a police officer, disturbing thepeace. Edith had even heard some rumblings around town about some serious littering charges.
“I’m dropping all charges,” James said.
“I understand.” Edith’s head popped up. “Wait, what? Why?”
“Because we do things for family. Even when it doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“My mom thinks the world of you. Sharon,” he added when Edith continued to stare at him.
