Page 52 of Dirty News
“I will, Mrs. Baker. I promise.” I had no idea she’d thought that way about me. “But you’re going to be okay. You’llsee.”
The other women and I took turns saying comforting things to her as we waited for the paramedics to get there. She held tightly to my hand the entiretime.
When they arrived and put her on a stretcher, she still held my hand in hers. “Can she come with me?” she asked the two men who were seeing toher.
One of them looked at me. “I think that’ll befine.”
Artimus called out to her as we passed him, “I’ll be right behind the ambulance, Mrs. Baker. Don’t you worry abit.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Duke saying something to Artimus, and then he looked at me and gave me a nod. I had no idea what that meant; my mind was a bit scattered at thatmoment.
I had to wait for the EMTs to get Mrs. Baker into the back of the ambulance before I could get in. Her color seemed to be gettingworse.
One of the paramedics got in the driver’s seat while the other one hooked her up to an IV. She winced with the pain of the large needle he had to stick into the back of her hand. Her hand looked a little frail, definitely showing her age. I knew she had to be in her mid to latesixties.
I held her free hand. “I know so little about you, Mrs. Baker. Now I know you have a husband that you love dearly, and he loves you too. Do you guys have anykids?”
“Two.” She closed her eyes as if searching her memory for them. “John and Jane. Twins.” I could tell it was hard for her to speak. But she went on. “They died in a plane crash when they were twelve. They were heading to summer camp inUtah.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. And even sorrier that I brought that up, Mrs. Baker.” I bit my lower lip, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. “You just relax as best you can and don’t worry about a thing. I’ll be right here, and I’ll make sure your husband gets to you as soon aspossible.”
“He’s all I have. Please do, Lila.” Her body arched, jerking up suddenly with a violence that told me she was hurting far more than she had let on. Even with that action, she didn’t utter one single cry. She took it all insilence.
Stoic, noble, and always strong, she was one remarkable woman. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve for her children to have been taken away from her so young, either. But she did have a man who loved her, and I prayed that would be enough to keep heralive.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Duke
Racing to the hospital with Artimus, I couldn’t stop praying for Mrs. Baker. To watch a woman who appeared to be so healthy, strong, and full of life be pulled down the way she’d been wasshocking.
Life was too damn short, and what was happening to that poor woman brought that home tome.
As Artimus and I entered the emergency department, we met Mr. Baker, who’d barely arrived just before we had. He was demanding to be let back to see his wife. “I need to be with her rightnow!”
“Mr. Baker,” Artimus called out tohim.
The poor man looked like death warmed over. “Artimus. Thank God. She’s here, isn’tshe?”
The nurse finally buzzed the door to unlock it. “You can come back, Mr. Baker. We’ve got her in a roomnow.”
He looked at Artimus, his lips forming a straight line. “I should let you know that I don’t want her going back to work at all. It’s clearly taken a toll on her. It’s time to get yourself a new assistant.” And then he was gone, disappearing behind the double doors that would take him to see his ailingwife.
Artimus looked out of sorts. His eyes were wide, his mouth ajar. “Well, that’s not good news. But I should’ve expected it. I’d be the same way with the woman I loved, Isuppose.”
Taking seats, we waited nearly an hour for Lila to come tell us what was going on. When she came out of the same doors Mr. Baker had gone into, I had to fight myself not to grab her up and hugher.
She came and sat on the other side of Artimus. “She’s had a heart attack, but she’s okay now. Tired, sore, not feeling too well at the moment. But she’s going to make a full recovery. They want to keep her for forty-eight hours just to be sure, but I thought she looked much better after they got some medicine into her system and got herhydrated.”
He and I breathed sighs of relief. “Thank God.” Artimus looked much better. “I wonder if I could go back and see hernow.”
“I’m sure you can once they get her into a room and out of the E.R. She’s doing much better now.” Lila patted his hand. “Her husband told me she’d no longer be working at WOLF, or anywhere else. Believe it or not, she was pleased with hisorder.”
“So I will need to find a new assistant then,” he said as he nodded. “The main thing is Mrs. Baker is going to get better. I can deal with teaching a newbie how to assist me. But damn, I’m going to miss thatwoman.”
We all sat there in silence for a long time, the harsh reality of life hitting all of us square in the chest. The nurse broke our silence as she came and told us what room Mrs. Baker was in and that we could go seeher.
After a brief visit with her, we left her with her husband, letting her know to expect all kinds of flowers and cards from everyone at the station. She might not be coming around the station anymore, but she’d always have a place in all ourhearts.
