Page 4 of Ghost of Christmas Future
Wolf sounded frantic as he spoke to the 911 operator. Hearing his son give their address shook Cope out of his trance. “Wolfie, unlock the front door and watch for the ambulance. Don’t come down the stairs.”
Hurrying into the basement, Cope felt like he was going to throw up. What if Jude was dead? Or paralyzed or had amnesia from the head injury? “Jude?” Cope shouted again, as his feet hit the basement floor. He knelt at Jude’s side. Blood had pooled under his head. Cope’s hands shook as he reached out to Jude, setting two fingers of his left hand against the side of Jude’s neck, while holding the other one in front of his mouth. Thankfully he felt a pulse and Jude’s breath. “Jude, can you hear me?” Cope went to shake his shoulder, but then remembered, thanks to his years of watchingGrey’s Anatomy,that you weren’t supposed to move people until their injuries could be assessed by a professional.
“JUDE!” a familiar voice roared from the top of the stairs. Wolf must have called Ronan after he got off the phone with 911.
Cope turned to see Ronan, looking half-crazed, running down the stairs. “What happened? Is he okay?” Ronan checked for signs of life, just as Cope had done.
“He was bringing up the Christmas decorations. It sounded like he stumbled. One of the boxes landed on the kitchen floor, while the other is there.” Cope pointed to the ruptured plastic tote. Broken ornaments lay strewn all over the floor.
“There’s another box behind that one,” Ronan said, standing up to survey the scene. “Jesus, what the hell was he doing trying to bring up all of them at the same time. They’re each three feet tall, that’s nine feet of boxes, no wonder he fell.” Ronan’s voice broke.
Cope could see tears gathered in Ronan’s eyes. He was about to ask what he could do when the timer went off upstairs. “Fuck,” Cope muttered, heading back up the stairs. He ran past Wolf, who was being comforted by Tennyson, Ezra, and Everly. He grabbed the cookies out of the oven and shut it off.
“Medics!” a voice called from the front door.
“In here.” Cope ran into the living room and led the two men into the kitchen. “My husband fell down the stairs.”
The medics, loaded down with all their gear, headed down the stairs. Cope was going to follow them, when Cisco Jackson ran into the house. Fitzgibbon was behind him. “What happened?”
Cope opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“Daddy fell down the stairs.” Wolf cried. Tennyson wrapped his arms tighter around his nephew.
“Make way!” A third paramedic ran through the house pushing a stretcher with a red backboard sitting atop it.
Cope felt as if he were in shock. Jude was injured so badly that he couldn’t make it back up the stairs under his own power. Jude was going to be taken out of the house on a stretcher. None of this made any sense. They’d been having a great Sunday putting up the tree and baking and in a matter of seconds, their entirefamily was turned upside down. Cope’s mouth hung open as his brain moved at the speed of light. He had a thousand questions and couldn’t give voice to any of them. Was Jude alive? What if he died? How would Cope go on without him? How would the kids?
“Coming up!” a voice shouted from the basement.
Cisco stepped away from the door and wrapped an arm around Cope as the paramedics brought Jude up the stairs. He was lying strapped down, on the backboard . Jude looked like a mummy, with bandages wrapped around his head. His left arm was splinted and also wrapped in bandages. His neck was secured into a cervical collar. Jude’s eyes were shut, his entire body slack. He was placed on the stretcher and strapped down.
“We’ve gotta go, are you coming with us?” a paramedic with a nametag reading “Jones” asked.
All Cope could do was stare at his husband’s body. He managed a weak nod.
“I’ll bring him to the hospital,” Cisco offered, as Ronan came out of the cellar looking white as a sheet.
Cope’s paralysis broke as the stretcher was wheeled out of the kitchen toward the front door. “Jude, I can’t make it without you, please come back to me. I love you!” A sob tore from his mouth as he hit his knees. Cisco was there to grab him and with Fitzgibbon’s help, moved him toward the sofa.
“Is my Daddy dead?” Wolf wailed. “I don’t want my Daddy to die!”
“Ten, take the kids home,” Ronan said. “I’ll have Kaye grab what they’ll need for the night.”
“Cope, we’ll see you and Cisco at the hospital. I’ll call if there’s any news.”
The meaning of Fitzgibbon’s words hit Cope like a ton of bricks. He was going to call Cisco if Jude didn’t make it. “I don’t understand what happened.” Cope’s words sounded far away. Felt as if someone else were speaking them. “We were putting up the tree. Making cookies. How could this have happened? If I’d just put up the tree while Jude was gone, this never would have happened.”
Ronan took Cope’s hands in his own. “Let’s not think like that. None of this is your fault. I promise you. Jude was carrying more boxes than he should have been and probably missed a step. What I need you to do is put on shoes and your coat and go with Cisco to the hospital. Ten’s gonna keep the kids. Fitz and I will be right behind you. Okay?” He rushed out the front door with Fitz hot on his heels.
Cope blinked and tried to nod. It felt like his head weighed a hundred pounds. He watched numb as Everly led Wolf out of the kitchen. Both kids were crying. Tennyson was behind them, carrying Lizbet and holding Ezra’s hand. “Ten, is Jude gonna be okay?”
“I don’t know,” Tennyson said, looking sadder than Cope had ever seen him. “If I get any information, I’ll let you know.” He hurried the kids out the door.
Cope couldn’t tell if Ten was telling the truth about not knowing or was trying to shield Cope from what he’d seen.
“Here are your shoes.” Cisco set a pair of navy sneakers in front of Cope. Under his left arm was Cope’s winter coat.
Slowly pushing his feet into his shoes, Cope reached out with his gift. He tried to see what was happening with Jude, but only sawblackness in his mind’s eye. He called out for his mother, Bertha Craig, Crow, and Erin O’Mara, but no one answered him.
