Matthew's Choice

Conflicting emotions crossed Jessica’s face. Allie sensed Matt’s fiancée was not happy. “Look, I’m kind of in the way here, and I need to get on the road home. Mariah is at Cedar Grove Memorial, if you change your mind.”

“Would you leave the number, as well?” Jessica’s gaze was on Matt.

Allie laid the paper on the coffee table. “Nice seeing you again, Jessica. Matt, I’ll see myself out.”

In the elevator, Allie hugged her jacket closer. Matt hadn’t even tried to stop her. If she never saw him again, it’d be too soon. She’d rather walk through a pasture full of cow pies. Be easier. At least in the pasture, she only had to watch where she stepped. She couldn’t wait to get away from Memphis.

As soon as Allie left the Memphis city limits and traffic behind, she voice-dialed the shelter’s director. For the past year, Allie had volunteered at the children’s shelter, helping several of the kids with their reading and writing skills. Friendship with Sarah had been a bonus. When she answered, Sarah sounded close to tears. “What’s wrong?” Allie asked.

“It’s this boy Jason brought in last—”

“Noah Connors? Has he been found?”

“You know?”

“Yes. Is he hurt?”

“No, he’s okay. I don’t know how the boy did it, but he made it to the hospital where his mom is. Jason found Noah in her room just about the time everything went bad. She stopped breathing, her heart stopped. Jason said it was terrible.”

Allie swallowed. “Did she...”

“No, she didn’t die. Well, she did, but they brought her back.”

“Where’s Noah now?”

“My helper, Brittany, is with him at the hospital. When Jason told me what happened, I just couldn’t make him leave until she got better.”

“I’m an hour away from Cedar Grove. I’ll stop at the hospital and check on him.”

“Does he have any other family?”

Allie hesitated. “His uncle is aware of the situation.”

“Oh, good. That boy needs family around him.”

Allie agreed. She ended the call and pulled over to the side of the road. Matt wouldn’t listen to her, and she didn’t have his phone number, anyway. Maybe he’d listen to her brother. She dialed Clint’s number.

Her brother answered on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“I need you to call Matt.” Allie explained about Mariah and Noah.

“The poor kid.” Clint’s concern came through the phone. “I’ll call Matt and see to it he gets his priorities in order.”

She wished him luck and ended the call. If she pushed it, she’d make the hospital in forty-five minutes.

* * *

WHEN ALLIE ROUNDED the corner to the ICU waiting room, she spied Noah huddled in a chair with his eyes closed. He reminded her of a fledgling bird that’d fallen out of the nest. She nodded to Brittany in the next chair, and then knelt beside him.

“Miss Allie.” He rubbed his eyes.

She brushed his blond hair back. “Are you doing okay?”

His chin quivered, but he nodded. “My mom. They won’t let me see her.”

“Maybe when she feels a little better...”

“But what if she doesn’t get better?” he whispered, his blue eyes round.

Allie gulped. Why couldn’t there be easy answers? Right now she could just about wring Mariah’s neck for putting her son through this hurt. “Let’s don’t cross that bridge just yet.” She squeezed his hand. “Let me see what I can find out.”

At the desk, she identified herself and asked the receptionist about Mariah’s condition.

“Are you family?”

“No. I’m a friend of the family.” Allie leaned in closer so she could see the woman’s name tag. “But, Melanie, I’m asking for a little boy who desperately needs to know how his mother is doing.”

Melanie eyed her, then her gaze slid past Allie toward the waiting room. “We have to ask,” she said. Her mouth quirked down into a frown. “Let me call her nurse.”

A minute later she nodded. “She’s stabilized, and they’ve given her something to keep her knocked out for a while.”

“Can I take him back, just so he can see that she’s okay?”

The receptionist hesitated, visibly tensing.

“If you were in his mom’s shape, wouldn’t you want your child to know you were okay?”

Melanie’s shoulders relaxed, and she nodded. “But you can only stay a few minutes.”

Allie walked back to where Noah sat. “They said I could take you to see her. But, remember, she’s sleeping—we can only stay a few minutes.”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.” He hopped from the chair and took her hand.

“Wait a minute.” Noah grabbed a piece of paper. “I wrote her a letter. Can I take it back?”

“I don’t see why not.” She turned to Brittany. “I can take over from here. I’ll get him back to the shelter.”

“Will that be all right with Miss Sarah?” Brittany asked.

“I’m sure it will be. I’m a certified volunteer at the shelter, and I’ve taken the children on field trips. You can call and check with her while we visit his mother.”

The double doors opened to let them through. When they reached Mariah’s cubicle, Noah pulled at her hand. “Come on, they might change their minds.”

Allie let him pull her inside the room. She hadn’t expected Mariah to look so...corpselike. Noah dropped her hand and approached the bed as a monitor beeped an irregular rhythm. Allie didn’t even recognize the woman lying in the hospital bed. Mariah lay unmoving, her bloated face as white as the sheet covering her.

“Mom,” Noah said softly. He patted her distended hand. “I’m here.”